MFP Copier Blog

"The heaviest thing in the world is an empty pocket."

Yiddish Proverb

Let's rephrase this a bit for the sales community...

The heaviest burden a sales rep can carry is an empty pipeline.

Indulge me for a moment, as I go on Yiddish rant!

Get off your Tuches (Butt), prospecting is 100% nonnegotiable!

Failing to prospect, and over time you will have Bupkes (zero, nothing) at the end of the month. How does that one feel?

Seasoned, highly tenured salespeople with inflated egos who feel they don't need to prospect are Shmendriks (idiots).

To each one of you in sales... stop the kvetching (complaining), stop pointing fingers and making excuses, take personal ownershipwhen it comes to prospecting for new sales opportunities.

I love my heritage. From my great-grandparents who came to the United States in the early 1900's to my grandparents and through to my parents, a series of life-long lessons were instilled or should I say overly reinforced in me.

We all can learn from our heritage, the stories and the life-lessons.

Through a bit of humor, bits of philosophy and quotes from some of the great ones, my hope is that this gives all of you something to think about.

SUCCESS IN SALES STARTS WITH HONESTY AND INTEGRITY

"As rare as honesty is, integrity is even more difficult to find.”

Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb

Together, let's explore the following passage from Stephen Covey’s, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People:

“Integrity includes but goes beyond honesty. Honesty is … conforming our words to reality. Integrity is conforming reality to our words — in other words, keeping promises and fulfilling expectations. This requires an integrated character, a oneness, primarily with self but also with life.”

Let's stop right here for a moment and reflect...

If you struggle to become honest with yourself and carry yourself with integrity, then how do believe your clients and future clients will perceive you?

Today, how rare has honesty and integrity become?

It is concerning, sad and disheartening that year over year, salespeople rank near the bottom when it comes to trust. And whose fault is it?

Allow me to take you back to the ancient Greeks, and the philosopher Diogenes.

Diogenes was a Greek Cynic philosopher, who was best known for holding a lantern (or candle) to the faces of the citizens of Athens claiming he was searching for an honest man.

By holding a literal light up to Athenian faces in broad daylight, he forced them to recognize their participation in practices that prevented them from living truthfully.

He rejected the concept of "manners" as a lie and always advocated complete truthfulness under any circumstance.

Isn't this interesting...

Imagine your clients or future clients shining a flashlight in your eye forcing you to recognize the truths or lack thereof in your conversations?

Of course, this is far-fetched, however; what do you believe is going on inside their heads?

Let's flip back to my heritage, as I quote, Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb,

"For Judaism, truth, emet, is more than just a virtue. It is one of the three fundamental principles, along with justice and peace, upon which the world stands. In the words of the Talmud, “The signature of the Holy one, blessed be He, is truth.”

And folks this is how I was raised. To tell the truth was a fundamental principle in our household. It was valued!

WE ARE PRODUCTS OF HOW WE WERE RAISED

Salespeople are products of the environments they were raised in

My father was an Aeronautical Engineer, Rocket Scientist, as a civil service employee for the U.S. Air Force.

One of the first questions I was asked when he got home from work, "So, tell me and be honest, did you complete your homework?"

Being raised with an 'Ivy League' educated father was pressure all by itself. That single question became the measuring stick throughout my early years.

What I took into my sales career was honesty and integrity. I believe it got me to where I am today. There is no greater temptation to cut corners than in sales, especially where one can earn massive amount of commissions.

Sales professionals overcome this great temptation, as they rise to the occasion with high levels of character, one in which others revere. Your clients and future clients will soon covet what you have to offer.

When you are honest, your business grows.

SUCCESS ALSO INCLUDES BEING HUMBLE, ACCEPTING AND ENCOURAGING CRITIQUE

"The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice."

Proverbs 12:15

In my younger days, I ate a tremendous amount of humble pie. I had to learn how to accept and deal with critique, as school wasn't my favorite past time.

I had to learn how to ask the wise for help.

Question for all of you... What prevents you from asking the wise for help? Sage wisdom and advice is priceless.

I'm a firm believer that pride, ego and fear get in our way of success. We're human, we all make mistakes, and we are all not perfect.

Never think you're always right. Accept and encourage critique, feedback and help - especially from those more experienced than you.

Some of my best sales ideas have come from my clients, centers of influence and my mentors. I realized there was a wealth of information sitting right in front of me.

Unfortunately, I see many in sales who struggle with listening. I mean REALLY listening to their clients or even asking for help.

What a monumental and catastrophic mistake.

Be humble, be genuine, act on suggestions, and accept critique, as you can greatly improve your sales career.

Sales professionals accept critique, sales reps take it personal.

SALES REPS AND YIDDISH WORDS

The Yiddish language is a fabulous source of rich expressions, especially terms of endearment, complaints and insults. Or at least it was at my grandparents' house, especially at Saturday brunch.

Some of you might be saying to yourself, "What is Yiddish?"

Literally speaking, Yiddish means “Jewish.” Linguistically, it refers to the language spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. These were Jews from Central and Eastern Europe, and their descendants.

Though its basic vocabulary and grammar are derived from medieval West German, Yiddish integrates many languages including German, Hebrew, Aramaic and various Slavic and Romance languages.

So..... Are you ready to get this Yiddish party started?

Far gelt bakumt men alts, nor keyn sechel nit. Translated... Money buys everything except common sense. Trust me on this one, if a sales rep could finance common sense they would, oy to they vey!

KIBBITZ - translated means to stand around talking and making wisecracks, and it can also mean to give someone advice and commentary when they are trying to work.

Whether in the past or present, walk into a sales bullpen from 7:45 AM to 9:00 AM on any given day and listen to all the sales reps discuss non work related chitter chatter. "Hey Bob, did you catch the football scores from the past weekend?", "Saw a great movie last night, you ought to check it out." Small talk amongst team members is healthy but get to work and stop the kibbitzing!

You've just lost an hour of productive work time. Sales professionals protect their time and pay attention to what's important... growing their business and taking care of their clients.

SCHMOOZE - translated means to chat.

Listening to a sales rep schmooze a client that they haven't seen for quite some time is fascinating. You wouldn't have to schmooze if you made a conscious effort to maintain a healthy, proactive and intentional business relationship. This is what sales professionals do best!

TCHATCHKE - translated means trinket or knick-knack.

All the company branded USB devices, calendars, pens and notepads... stop it as your clients have enough of your Tchatchke's!

Sales professionals consistently educate, engage and excite their clients by building rock solid relationships. It is not based gifting based but what they bring to the business table which is themselves.

SCHLEP - translated means to travel from one place to another when one would prefer not to or an annoyingly long journey.

“I had to schlep through traffic for over two hours for a meeting and it lasted only 15 minutes, OY VEY!” Suck it up sales reps as this stuff happens. A true sales professional will find a positive outcome in those precious 15 minutes.

NUDNIK - translated means a person who is a bore or nuisance.

Sales reps who consistently bring zero value, take their clients for granted but expect them to continue to do business with them are nudniks.

Do not allow your clients to view you as a nudnik, a pain in the ass, nagger, and nuisance!

SPIEL - translated means to give a long-winded speech about why people should do something.

When you meet with a new prospect, they don't want to hear your spiel... In other words, a long-winded sales presentation around how great you are, how great your company is, how great your products are, and all the promises I know you'll break.

Make it about them! Share with them how much you know about their business, why you and how much you care about them.

SAGE ADVICE FROM MY ZAYDE (GRANDPA)

My grandpa was a self-educated man. He had to drop out of school before the age of 10 to help support his family. His first job was working in the tobacco fields in Mississippi in the 1920's.

He always stressed to me you must have "Chutzpah" to succeed out in the real world.

My grandpa faced a ton of fears at a very early age, as do I and as do you. He would always tell me... "Each time you face your fears, you make a deposit into your chutzpah account."

The battles in life whether won or lost produce more chutzpah. Think about how this can play out for you in your sales career.

Chutzpah seasoned with charm translates as enthusiasm.

Charm strengthened by chutzpah reminds your clients and future clients you have a respectable, professional purpose.

Loaded with both, you can win and sell with confidence.

To quote Rabbi Tzvi Freeman,

"You have to recognize the world is not about you. There is some purpose, something that you and only you are going to have to get done. So chutzpah is the attitude where you say, ‘Nothing is going to stop me from making that happen.’"

Call it moxie, courage, guts, or chutzpah. Call it what you will. You better use it to make it happen, to stand out from all the other sales reps who all walk, talk and look the same.

Chutzpah just another way of saying no guts, no glory in sales.

I encourage you, give chutzpah a try. Chances are that your real clients and future clients will find it to be a refreshing change.

Thank you so much for going on this Yiddish journey with me.

Would you like to increase your sales success and fulfillment?

This was my goal when recording all-new materials for the new Selling from the Heart Masterclass, to increasing your sales success and fulfillment in your business.

If you enjoyed the Selling from the Heart book, you’re going to love this masterclass! It takes the tools given to the next level.

Have yet to read Selling from the Heart? No worries, you will receive an audio version as a part of the Masterclass. As an option you can get a free signed copy of Selling from the Heart (just pay for shipping and handling).

You can get your copy here - https://www.sellingfromtheheart.net/book

Together, we will go on a journey where we’ll dive into how to apply the ideas in the book to help you achieve even greater sales success.

With each of the 10 sessions, you’ll receive questions that will help you increase your sales in a way that also makes selling more enjoyable and fulfilling.

This masterclass is configured with you in mind where you can complete the course in chunks from any mobile device, iPad or computer, based on your availability.

You’ll also discover fun bonus materials throughout the course.

ACCESS THE MASTERCLASS HERE.

Johns tells us about his favorite Ricoh print device along with chatting about net new business

see attached file

see attached file

see attached file

see attached file

see attached file

I copied the title of this blog from a recent Linkedin post from Greg Walters. I haven't figured out how to share it and not sure it can be shared.  If I can I will in the reply section from this blog.

I thought it would be fun to share how I ended up in copier sales and hope to hear from others in the reply section for "How Did You End Up in Copier Sales?"

I'll go first and I will try to shorten it, but I've never been a guy to shorten a great story

1980

The year was 1980, I was 23 years old and out of work during the summer that year.  My job at the glue factory got in the way of trying to have a great summer.  Many of those summer days saw me searching the help wanted ads in my local newspaper. Jobs for someone like me (long story) was few and far between because I had no path to college, the economy was in shambles along with high inflation and high interest rates.

Making the Effort

At least I was making the effort to look for something, right?  Finally I  found something that was interesting (actually anything that paid was interesting), I called and was asked to come in for an interview in the next few days. That ad was for a Copy Machine Repair person, the ad made mention of the interview, and taking a mechanical/electronic aptitude test.  Hey, I thought I'm okay with my hands since I've been able to fix my own cars and my Dad was a communications Sargent during WWII.  My Dad taught me morse code and showed me how to make a morse code machine in my younger days.

The Test

Frak,  the aptitude test was difficult for both the mechanical and electronics (tough for someone who left school during the junior year in HS).  Three weeks passed since the interview/test and there were no calls, at this time I seriously considered entering the Army because there were no other jobs. Yikes!

The Call

Ring, ring went the phone that was next to my bed (I was never far from a phone especially when I was sleeping), that call was from the copier company, they asked if I was still interested in the job?  Hell yes I was still interested.   I was told that I needed to be at there place tomorrow because the class had already started!

Whoa, I got the job!  I was getting paid to go to school to learn how to be a copier technician.  Thank goodness it was summer because my only transportation was my Harley and there was no rain in the immediate forecast.

Training at $3.75 per hour

I think it was three months of hands on training for mechanics and then a crash course of electronics (I still remember zener diode).

At the end of graduation the company that sponsored the class then found everyone a job as a copier repair person.  Yes, I landed a job as a real copier technician in New Jersey.  Back tracking a bit here, the day that they called me I was an alternative option for the job.  Seems the first person was female and she was the only female in the first day of class.  Well, she opted out and I was next on the list.  Funny how things work.

90 Days

After 90 days I had my review with the company that hired me. I was brought into the owners office and he told me that I was doing a great job at taking the copiers apart but not so good at putting them back together (that wasn't the exact conversation, but you get my drift because I wasn't that good).  I was told that I was being laid off, however on the way out the owner reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of cash.  He stated "would you rather finish out the week to make the rest of this money or would you rather talk me out of the cash".  I had no job and trying to talk him out of the cash seemed like the best option.  I thought it was 30 minutes and I tried every thing I knew to get that cash. It was probably more like 5 minutes, and I was never able to secure the cash, however the owner stated "would You like to give it a go selling copiers?"

42 years later..........

What's your story I'd love to hear!

-=Good Selling=-

See attached file

Technological advancements have made inter-and-external-office communications faster, more streamlined, and generally paperless. However, despite the decline in faxing, paper memos, and direct mail, printing remains an essential function for any business. When the printers go down or there are service interruptions, it directly affects the office’s productivity.

This importance to both the home office and home office operations is exactly why office printer service providers and printer manufacturers continue to make improvements that will ensure printing continues to integrate well and perform to today’s fluctuating business needs.

Here are three interesting facts that show the importance and evolution of office printing.

1. Highly Sought After

There is something about tangible printed paper that makes people more productive. According to a recent survey from Pharos, more than half of office workers prefer to work with actual paper, while fewer than one quarter leans toward digital documentation. But it’s not just the average worker that turns to the printed word to get things done.

Most IT decision-makers think office print is essential to how businesses run today. Their opinion is supported by over 70% of up-and-coming workers aged 18 to 34. These are the people and generations shaping the future of business. Despite their clear preference for digital interactions, their reliance on print and paper in business is a clear indicator of the future outlook of office printing.

2. There is Room for Efficiency and Savings in Office Printing

One employee or worker prints over 10,000 pages per year. That equates to approximately 27 pages daily and an average total of $725 per employee annually. But not all of those printed pages are necessary. Around 17% end up in the trash bin right off the press, and another 65% don’t make it to see the next day.

Despite the continued print and paper waste, many companies ignore around 40% of their printing costs. These hidden expenses are wrapped up in consumables, cartridges, maintenance, service, employee time, and waste.

Waste from laser printers alone in the United States accounts for around 100 lbs in annual losses. The prints thrown away represent toner, paper, and energy lost due to incorrect printing, accidental printing, or even temporary need. The costs associated with inkjet printers can be even higher as the costs for ink cartridges continue to rise.

There is a lot of room for improvement across the office printing environment. Strategies range from helping employees modify printing behaviors to updating equipment and supplies to be more energy and cost-efficient for the office size and needs. Studies from Gartner Group note the potential savings for businesses that implement office print management solutions can reach up to 30%.

3. Sometimes Savings is Just a Partnership Away

For any business, making sure you cut operating costs determines final profits and overall success. So, what are the best solutions to minimizing printer operating costs? Fortunately, it is not hard for companies to start saving money.

One of the best ways to provide the efficiency of printing while managing costs is to partner with a Managed Print Services (MPS) or other printer service provider. These businesses study printing trends, determine potential green goals, and model solutions to their office partners’ printing budgets. In addition, these solutions can help resize print configurations to fit the needs and criteria of each business.

Millennial IT managers are also rising to the challenge of tackling office printing costs and efficiencies. Rather than defaulting to the status quo, these up-and-coming leaders are looking for less expensive options that are a better fit for today’s office setting—solutions like the A4 printer.

In the past, many businesses defaulted to the larger A3 printer model. The decision made sense because printer manufacturers at the time focused heavily on that model as their flagship for the office setting. In addition, these machines were designed to produce high volumes and service large, multi-departmental offices when filing, office memos, and printed text were the primary forms of communication and storage.

Post-COVID, printer manufacturers have seen the shift to smaller office and hybrid office formats, where the sheer capacity produced by the A3 unit is not necessarily what is required. Today, higher-end A4 printers are being built with increased Wi-Fi and wireless capabilities, faster scan speeds, and more robust features, including increased support and more applications. And Millennial IT managers are here for the transition.

But that doesn’t mean there is no place in the modern office for a more robust A-3 machine. It’s possible for an office looking for lower equipment costs to move to an A4 model, only to spend additional time, energy, and money attempting to force the smaller machine to meet office needs. It’s all about sizing the machine’s performance to the appropriate business requirements.

Office printing isn’t going away anytime soon. Fortunately for today’s businesses, there are multiple ways to improve efficiencies and decrease costs while continuing to meet the needs of employees. Understanding employee needs, creating appropriate printer management rules, and partnering with a reputable office printer services business are a few of the ways any company can regain control of their printing operations.

Need to know more about MPS? Follow here

see attached file

See attached document