Above: Larry Weiss offers a warm welcome to all the guests at Atlantic Tomorrow’s Office holiday party.
For the past seven years, Carol, CJ, and I have attended Atlantic Tomorrow’s Office holiday party. It is truly an incredibly special event and one we would like to share with you.
The setting is a busy and bustling New York City. The location is a large catering facility known as Sony Hall. This is a room that can manage a myriad of presentations and diverse types of events. What makes this event so special is that Larry Weiss, CEO of Atlantic Tomorrow’s Office, has the most significant list of industry executives, employees, and friends in attendance. It is an event that the host uses to say thank you to the major manufacturers they represent. It was a full house with an estimated 250 people.
At this event were Larry White, CEO of Toshiba; Jim Coriddi, chief dealer officer, dealer division, Ricoh USA; and Laura Blackmer, president of dealer sales, Konica Minolta. Each of those manufacturers had key executives accompanying them. There are far too many to mention. There was also a representative from HP, Tricia McGrath, channel MPS partner manager.
The Atlantic Tomorrow’s Office holiday party has the same feeling we experience when attending an industry event with so many key players. We were not in journalist mode and wanted to enjoy an incredible event. After spending such a special evening, we changed our minds (CJ played the photographer, and I was the writer).
Adam Weiss also thanked the dealership’s employees, friends, and business partners.
Larry always gives the warmest of welcomes and expresses the greatest acknowledgments to his manufacturers for their support and what they mean to Atlantic. Knowing Larry very well, we can attest that it is very genuine. He makes a point of singling out at least one of his employees and wants them all to know how much their contributions help to make all of them phenomenally successful.
This year, he also took a moment to thank the Cannata’s “for all they do for our industry.” He has done this before, and it is kind of him to do so. He is a great supporter of ours, and we have a wonderful personal relationship with him that entails invitations to 4th of July celebrations, birthday parties, weddings, and other extraordinary occasions.
The man is a giver who has raised more money for charities than anyone I know, from his annual Mariano Rivera Foundation Golf outing and a list of charitable events that are too numerous to mention. We would be remiss if we did not include Linda Weiss, Larry’s amazing wife, who, like her husband, is warm, kind, and beyond friendly. She and Carol have become fast friends. We all love her dearly. She brightens the mood and complements Larry’s incredible sense of humor. An invitation from the Weiss’s is always a true family affair.
Atlantic Tomorrow’s Office Annual Sales Blitz
This is all worthy of note. We have been to one of Atlantic Tomorrow’s Office’s internal events, where they were celebrating a successful sales blitz. The concept is brilliant. Larry schedules an annual blitz in October and November when no other dealer we know of would consider a sales effort at that time.
We asked him why it was that time of the year. Larry’s response was consistent with how this man thinks. “I was tired of seeing our salespeople heading into the Christmas season with very low commission checks,” was his response.
He prefers we not share more of this activity for obvious reasons. We understand and will only add he highly values the support he has received from all his manufacturers, Toshiba, Konica Minolta, and Ricoh. They are all incredibly supportive in a way that makes a dramatic difference, and we can say no more than that.
In turn, he is loyal to them. When a competitive manufacturer comes along and wants Atlantic to take on their line of A3 or A4, he has an amazingly effective way to add them to his product offering. If he believes they can bring something of value he says, “We will take it on with the understanding that we will only sell your product to net new customers.”
The degree of success he has achieved with that approach is unbelievable. Without mentioning names, one manufacturer welcomed the opportunity to work with Atlantic under those guidelines. They have been extremely pleased with the millions of dollars in revenue from one of the country’s top 10 dealers (revenue based on our annual Survey results).
Beyond the Business
The most amazing thing of all is Larry has the time to engage in a continually active way with charities. We want to tell you how successful they are. Let me share the first of two specific charitable events we attended. On both occasions, the hosts acknowledged that Larry and Linda were responsible for raising $715,000.
This is the man who singles out our family for our charitable efforts. You get the message. Larry and Linda are very generous in more ways than we can count. We are privileged to know them and call them friends.
