RJ Young
50/50 Lead Generation
80% Close Rate in Verkada Demos
10% Est. Total Company Revenue from Verkada by 2023
Background
Headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, RJ Young first opened its doors as a photocopy dealer in 1955. Today, the company has grown to over 680 employees across 31 locations and is committed to helping organizations of all sizes increase productivity with a modern technology stack.
After joining the team in 2016, AJ Baggott first served as Chief Financial Officer of RJ Young before being named Chief Operating Officer. As someone who was new to the industry, he came in with a fresh perspective on where the future of cloud-managed building systems was headed - and how RJ Young could stay ahead of the curve.
The Challenge: Helping Customers Adjust to Remote Work
“We as a company want to make sure we’re doing everything possible to bring our customers into the future. As we work with customers, we see how core technologies are integral to improving productivity in the workplace.”
RJ Young takes a customer-centric approach to everything they do. At the start of the pandemic, they found that many customers weren’t prepared for being away from the office. Helping customers adapt to the new landscape of remote work was a challenge that RJ Young hoped to solve.
“A lot of our customers were asking for a physical security solution, so we started looking into high-end technology that could meet their needs.”
The Solution: “The Modern Office” with Physical Security
“Verkada was the first, and has been the most successful, offering we’ve added to our portfolio over the last two years.”
Office work faced a new reality in 2020, and RJ Young quickly pivoted to a five-year strategic plan which was carried out over the span of three months. Verkada was the first product they onboarded within their new diversified portfolio, coined “The Modern Office.”
Today, RJ Young offers more than 30 solutions to over 55,000 customers across the United States. They leverage Verkada to effectively start conversations and expand their relationships with customers.
“We exclusively offer Verkada for physical security, which serves as the perfect on-ramp to the rest of our offerings.”
Key Result: 50/50 Lead Generation with an 80% Close Rate
“Driving net new business for a company with over 55,000 customers is huge. Verkada brings net new opportunities to us to take that number from 55,000 to 75,000. With 50/50 lead generation, we don’t have another partner in any space that's even close to that.”
With Verkada, RJ Young provides customers with a modern video security solution and an expanded suite of product offerings – including access control, environmental monitoring, alarms, and visitor management. Additionally, RJ Young owns and operates two leasing and financing businesses, allowing them to lease the product out to customers and drive interest.
“Verkada brings us customers who might need a cycle or lease of another product we sell, and we can have that conversation to take action right away.”
Creating End-User Demand By Solving Key Challenges
“I don't think we've had a single demo with a customer where they haven't been impressed with Verkada. Once they see the technology, our close rate is incredibly high with those customers.”
AJ estimates around 80% of the customers who are given a walkthrough of Verkada’s platform end up purchasing the solution. To drive demand, RJ Young focuses on solving real customer challenges when it comes to physical security, including the scalability of the system, secure remote access, and ease of use with an intuitive cloud-based software platform.
An Equal Partnership with 50/50 Lead Generation
“We’ve grown our relationship beyond the door of sales, and that’s how we gained traction in our partnership. The more deals we bring Verkada, the more deals they bring us - we’re had a great success rate being able to do that with Verkada.”
Every dollar that RJ Young brings to Verkada is doubled in return. Building trust has allowed RJ Young’s sales team to be more comfortable with reaching out to their dedicated Verkada representatives and engaging them in opportunities for large accounts. “That’s when we really saw the effect on our growth.”
“The key to any partnership is the relationship. We treat our Verkada reps like they’re a part of our company - we want them onsite, dealing with our customers as frequently as possible. We treat them that way, they treat us that way. That relationship is what’s driven our success so far.”
Looking Ahead: Customer-Focused Growth
With Verkada, RJ Young has been successful in solving core customer challenges, as well as cross-selling across different product lines. As a result, Verkada has now become one of RJ Young’s core offerings.
“Our goal as an organization is that Verkada will make up 10% of our total company revenue in 2023. We want to grow at the same pace as Verkada by doubling what we do with them every year, and making sure that they know we’re a partner they can rely on so we keep bringing each other more business.”