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The Client: Friday Law Firm

The Account Representative: Dave Duke

If sales victories could be put in trophy cases, this would be included.
Friday Law Firm, situated 22 stories high covering four floors of a building in downtown Little Rock, is not only the biggest – but also one of the most prestigious – law firms in the state of Arkansas. The Friday Law Firm/Datamax partnership had an existing foundation (They’ve got Datamax copiers and PCs in their office already).

But Dave Duke cemented that partnership with 147 printers, thanks to a well-orchestrated strategy and personal, long-standing relationship with the CIO there.

The installation itself was a victory. The previous competitor took more than three weeks to install roughly the same number of printers. Datamax did it in four days. But to tell the Friday Law Firm Story, we have to begin about eight years ago, when Dave Duke first set up a business lunch with Greg, the CIO there.

The Business Challenge

Dave’s first call of duty when he came to Datamax, almost 10 years ago, was to build a relationship with the CIO.

“I wanted to just get to know him. So over several business lunches, over the course of time we built a pretty strong relationship,” Dave said.

The printers were up for renewal, and though Dave and the team did their due diligence, they lost the deal because “one of the law partners had a daughter who worked for HP.” Undeterred, fast forward to five years ago, when the fleet of copiers came up for renewal. Dave’s strategy? Discover where he could not only right-size their fleet but help give them a fair rate on service.

“I had a strong enough relationship with the CIO that he would give me the invoices from the other vendor; what I really wanted to see was what they were paying on service. If you’re going to save money in this business, it’s about paying attention to your service maintenance costs. And I noticed that several things were going unchecked.”

When Dave brought that to the Friday Law Firm’s attention with his proposal, it made a big difference. Enough so, that Friday Law Firm went with Datamax. Fast forward again, to about one year ago, when Dave set his eyes on the 140+ printers there.

The Thought Process

In speaking with end-users and executives, something stuck out about the relationship with their current print vendor: Service seemed to be slipping … and fast.

“Toner delivery. Service response times, nothing was as clean and crisp as it once was. It seemed like, toward the end of the contract, the vendor didn’t seem to care as much. And the Friday Law Firm was noticing it,” Dave said.

Thankfully, Datamax’s copier service record there, and Dave’s dependability over the past five years, spoke for themselves.

“They were already comfortable with us. What put us over the top was the service we’ve done on their copiers. Those guys downstairs take great pride in what they do, and they go over and above. They do whatever it takes. We as salespeople speak to and expect great service, and that’s what clients get. It makes it easy for us in sales,” Dave said.

Dave’s sales methodology, meanwhile, is as rock-solid as it is simple in nature.

“It’s first and foremost building that relationship. Knowing what I’ve got and the team I’m on, the group I represent is solid.”

The Prevailing Results

“More than anything, the service dependability. That’s really all you have to say,” Dave said. “The way the folks at the Friday Law Firm put it is ‘it’s been a non-issue.’ And that’s great! When Greg picks up the phone or sends me an email, he knows this is my issue now. I hang up, and we take care of it. That’s it.”