COVID19 Remote Working Day Two Hundred and Thirteen of Selling Copiers
Not much has changed since I wrote my last blog on the thirteen from last week. One opportunity is in and still looking to see if I can land two net news by the 25th of this month. Seems like every opportunity has some sort of hoop that needs to be jumped through.
One opportunity is solid for $35K as long as I can get the lease approval and the other potential client is extremely price conscious. At my meeting today with that the price conscious client I felt I was saying no more often than I was saying yes. But using the "no" word did lead us to additional discussions about different hardware. I rate this opportunity 50/50 at best for closing this week or any other week. We had all intentions of writing the order today but there was a snag with something that was not in my control. Thus it's back to drawing board one more time for this opportunity.
This afternoon produced a great meeting with an existing account with the possibility of them changing their BDR and Managed IT to me. There's much more work to be done and I was delighted that we were able to schedule an appointment with the next step for this client. Always schedule that next sterp before you leave a clients office or end the call.
Again prospecting has eluded me for quite a few days in a row. But I can tell you that the act of asking for referrals has picked up some. In the last week or so I've been able to add two additional opps based on asking for a referral. It's the old adage of "if you don't ask you don't get".
Cost Per Page
In the last week I worked a lead for and net new opportunity. That net new client was in the need for a small A4 black device but also had a volume of 8-10,000 pages per month. During discovery I found out that they were using an "x" brand of a small inexpensive (cheap) MFP. I also knew the cost per page for that device was around six cents per page because of the high cost for the toner, drums and fusers.
As much as I tried to convince the client that a $2.5K A4 device would save them thousands of dollars. It all fell on deaf ears. After much going back and forth I found out that they only wanted to spend $400 for the device. I stated do you realize how much you're going to spend on consumables? It didn't matter and I guess they thought I was trying to give them a snow job. I blame this on me, I should have asked them what their budget was and I did not. If I would have asked that up front I would have walked away. I will tell you it's hard to walk away when you know you can save the client so much money! My fault but I will chalk this up to what do you expect from a pig but a grunt.
Just yesterday I ran across another user who stated they were running 10K per month on an inkjet printer. I was at the shop for another purpose and I wasn't able to see the printer. I estimated that they are spending $20K a year just on ink! This client will warrant a call however the logistics of having something bigger just may not work. But another account to call on because there is a story to tell.
NJ COVID Update
We're still stuck in the same place we've been since August. In August there was a partial opening of some services like dining, gyms, barbers and salons. Next week our Governor will decide if he will continue the health emergency act for another 30 days. The extension of the act will mean that offices will not go back to any sense of normal. I also might ask what is normal now?
On average we are vaccinating 22,000 people per day. In order to vaccinate 9 million New Jerseyans it will take almost 406 days!
-=Good Selling=-
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