Small Business Awards 2020

XBM is a specialist provider of office and production print equipment in the UK and works with clients ranging from sole traders through to large PLCs. Recently, we caught up with XBM’s company director to find out more about the firm’s meteoric rise to success and how it earned the titled Photocopiers Supplier of the Year – UK. To date, XBM is one of the fastest growing print management companies in the UK. With more than 30 years of experience, Richard Taylor, XBM’s director, and his team have built an organisation to deliver vision, a vision can only be achieved by ‘living our values’. Those core values include customer first; deliver with integrity; development in people; and invest for growth and underpin the overall company vision, “To become the preferred supplier for organizations when choosing products or services for making documents work.” XBM began trading in 2008 from offices in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, and started out as a Xerox-only branded reseller. Having success supplying Xerox only equipment, the firm chose to diversify and improve its offering and client options, with electronics giant Sharp becoming the next partner. “Their machines are regarded as one of the most cost effective machines to run, backed with state of the art technology including i-pod technology and ‘Sharp Desk’ enabling a simple user friendly interface,” highlights Richard. In 2010 Xerox production equipment was added and, later, Ricoh joined the growing list of brand names that XBM worked with. All this growth culminated in 2013 when the firm tripled in size and moved premises to occupy 4,500sqft of office space in Leeds. Since then, further offices in Newcastle and Birmingham have opened up, allowing for the company to serve more clients in the South of England. The latest, based in London, opened just last year. “This success has been down to our unbeatable pricing, professional service and listening to the customer’s requirements,” states Richard. “Since inception, we have helped thousands of clients save money on their photocopying and printing, whilst also enabling them to digitise their workflow and be more efficient. “We always put our customers first, making sure the pricing we supply is always unbeatable, allowing our customers peace of mind they are getting the best deal. “Listening to our customers’ needs is key. We do not offer a one size fits all solution, everything we sell fits perfectly with the customers’ requirements at the time of purchase.” As well as this unwavering customer loyalty, XBM has another unique selling point that Richard is keen to talk about. This being the speed of the service provided. “In the past we have turned around installs just one hour after paperwork has been signed. We are always striving to uphold our company vision and the benefits are coming on-board with XBM are plentiful. “Our proven document outsourcing and services can help transform your enterprise and lower costs; we can optimise your office printing environment to improve productivity and reduce costs; we cut the Photocopiers Supplier of the Year – UK Sep20967 complexity of customer account management with an agile, digital approach; and we can streamline your business processes for immediate access to your financial information.” Despite having experienced massive growth over the last 10 years, Richard tells us that the internal culture of the firm still has that personal, family-run feel. “We treat each other like family. You spend a lot of time at work and its better doing it with a smile on your face. “In addition to this, we also heavily invest in software and hardware making our people’s roles as easy as possible, and we always look to recruit good honest people and train them to be ‘our’ people. Enthusiasm, resilience and hunger to succeed is a must!” So what is on the cards for the future? Richard and the team have more growth plans to take them through the next decade. “Looking ahead to what the future holds, we plan to grow over the next ten years, increasing our turnover tenfold! To do this we need to make sure the customer is always at the forefront of all decisions. Ultimately, we need to adhere to our company vision.” Contact: Richard Taylor Company: XBM LTD Web Address: www.xbmltd.com Richard Taylor, Sales Director & Naz Haider, Sales Manager at the Birmingham site.