MFP Copier Blog

Any time if a great time to help others and a recent chat with @Brent Martin Arlington sheds some light on how Arlington is helping at this time of year.

“I’d say handling people is the most important thing you can do as a coach. I’ve found every time I’ve gotten into trouble with a player, it’s because I wasn’t talking to him enough.”

Lou Holtz

Let's all stop and think about this quote for a moment... The people on your sales team are your most precious assets, yet how many of you engage in true conversation with your salespeople?

How many of you are coaching your people up?

What are their goals, desires and dreams?

Where do they want to be five years from now, do you even know?

Salespeople are the engine that drives profits, growth and success.

Just like the engine in your car, your salespeople need maintenance on a routine basis to keep them humming along nicely.

Mechanic's will tell you that the best-maintained engine can break down due to the unexpected failure of individual parts.

Let's apply this same thing to your sales team... I will ask you to think about the following:

• When was the last time you conducted routine maintenance within your salespeople?
• When was the last time you gave your salespeople a sales health check-up?

Attention to all sales leaders... The sales health of your salespeople has a direct bearing on the health of their sales pipeline

Are you being proactive or reactive when it comes to the sales health of your sales team?

ARE YOU FUTURE PROOFING YOUR SALES TEAM?

Let's just get this one out on the table, your sales team is not going to close every sales opportunity they are involved in.

A consistent batting average of between .275 and .300 in baseball, and a professional baseball player sets themself up for a huge payday.

Ironic isn't it, they fail to hit the ball 70% of the time?

Reflection time...

• How many on your team are failing 70% or more of the time to close their targeted opportunities?
• How many on your team have holes within their sales funnel?
• How many on your team are carrying the same opportunities every month on their funnel report?

The lack of opportunities can be attributed to one thing - prospecting or shall I say lack there of!

I'm saddened that many in sales have developed prospecting phobia.

Prospecting phobia attacks 1 out of every 2 on your sales team. This doesn't happen overnight. It is a slow growing and self-induced.

Through years of scientific research, I believe I have pinpointed the root cause, and even identified the culprit.

Allow me to introduce you to the culprit... It is YOU!

Hear me out on this before you go and hate on me...

When your salespeople spend unquantifiable amounts of time baby-sitting their client base, moaning and groaning about how busy they are, not paying attention to growing new business, cross-selling or referral opportunities because of all the "stuff" they are doing while subsequently being rewarded extravagant President's Club trips, I call this Enablement by Management.

My sales leader friends, you're the reason why many on your team fail to close more new business!

Sales leadership, you have hypnotized yourself into believing what you are not doing doesn't work.

COLD GLASS OF WATER

Article upon article tells us how it's harder than ever to sell. Let's layer into this the current business climate, and where does this leave you and your team?

How many on your team are 'at' or 'above' their plan number year-to-date?

Now let's just stop here for a moment... You might be saying "YES" to question but how much of this was "lay me down" and "recurring" I challenge you on this one.

It concerns me, as many of you have been bitten by your sales management sins of the past.

You have let complacency, your ego and yes fear set in. You have allowed it to get the best of you!

The way it was is the not the way it will be

When was the last time you reviewed how your team engages with their clients?

Is it possible they could sell smarter and more effectively than they are at this very moment in time?

You see, the status quo, it's not working and it’s getting worse! This is the time to rise-up and look for ways to improve your sales results.  Rather than lamenting, bitching and moaning - do something about it!

It is not 2019 any longer!

YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR TEAMS RESULTS

Growth and comfort, they do not play well together

Mindset plays such a critical role in your ability to succeed or fail. If you’re afraid to fail, you’ll prevent yourself from trying new things. You will miss out on the opportunity to broaden your skill set as well and gaining new experiences to help your team grow.

Ask yourself:

What can I gain, what do I want to learn, and what opportunities will be lost if I prevent myself from taking new actions?

How will this affect my sales team?

“Most people miss opportunity because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

Thomas A. Edison

Helping your team to grow their sales is work, are you up for it?

YOU MUST DEVELOP A NEW MINDSET

Right now, what are you feeding your mind?

What new ideas and trends are you uncovering within your specific industry?

You must continuously be adopting new competencies and skill sets. In turn, it is your responsibility to coach and teach this to your team in order for them to become better.

Imagine the head coach on any professional sports team... if they aren't enhancing the level of their teams' play, what usually happens to them? Need I say more?

We all can agree, being open to new ideas does not come easy. In fact, change plays mind tricks but without the right mindset, learning will not occur. Your team will not grow!

"When the leader lacks confidence, the team lacks commitment."

Craig Groeschel

Do you believe that you can cultivate your team's ability to learn?

It’s not about getting things right the first time, it’s about learning over time. You must realize, for your team to succeed within this hyper-connected, rapidly changing business world, you must adopt a new mindset.

YOU MUST ADAPT TO CHANGE

The gap between relevance and obsolescence is growing wider. If your salespeople are to remain relevant, they must adapt to change. They must do so before "change" beckons the call. This means you must adapt to change yourself.

Relevancy... You must foster an environment of self-education. You and your team must immerse themselves in emerging trends within your industry; to anticipate new direction and foresee the writing on the wall which demands innovation.

Coach-up your salespeople to remain relevant by:

• Welcoming and learning from failure
• Asking for help and soliciting feedback
• Becoming voracious learners
• Becoming focused on self-growth
• Becoming focused on self-accountability
• Checking their ego at the door

"If you don't like change, you're going to like irrelevance even less."

General Eric Shinseki

YOU BUILD SOCIAL NETWORKS

Reality, like it or not, the presence of all types of social is here to stay.

Social networks offer an excellent opportunity for your team to demonstrate their expertise.

Your clients have social networks. Your targeted accounts have social networks. Prominent people in your marketplace have networks.

Are you starting to smell what the social networks might be cooking?

Failure to cultivate social networks will become a recipe for disaster within your team.

Sales managers and leaders... You are responsible to ensure all your salespeople meet or exceed quota!

Coach or find a coach to help your team create the mindset and skill set to develop their social networks to help augment growing their business.

Salespeople are one degree of separation from their best sales opportunity, many fail to capitalize on this as they are poorly connected to their client's networks.

Questions to ponder right now...

Are your salespeople building networks or finding excuses?

Are your salespeople looking for and actively listening to their client's networks or finding excuses?

Are you salespeople starting new conversations and building new connections or finding excuses?

Social networks might be the key to unlocking new conversations and new opportunities.

ONE FINAL THOUGHT

Are you accepting a failure to adopt and adapt growth mindset, thus settling for status quo?

A status quo mindset, it's a sales death sentence.

Set aside and squash “that’s the way we’ve always done it” mindset.

This would be acceptable if your current sales conversion rates for profitable new business was 2-3X higher year over year.

The growth of your sales department rests with your ability to grow yourself.

What will you do about it?

I understand, I get where you all are coming from. Every day, I walk in your shoes. I am fully committed to helping your sales team integrate social aspects and heartfelt strategies into your current sales process to grow new business. I want you to get results. This is why I am passionate about doing this the right way, the genuine way, the authentic way! It's about understanding value before visibility.

Selling From the Heart is making a difference! I poured my heart into every page of this book and I think you're going to love it. You can find it on Amazon in paperback, kindle and in audio. You can click on the book image below and this will take you to Amazon.In a world full of empty suits, I'm passionate about helping sales reps succeed by getting valuable before they get visible. I help sales teams understand the true value they bring to the market.

In a world full of empty suits, I'm passionate about helping sales reps succeed by getting valuable before they get visible. I help sales teams understand the true value they bring to the market.

With great pride I transform, challenge, coach and inspire sales teams to grow new business by helping them share their story and how they communicate it out by integrating the use of social and Selling from the heart inside the sales process. You can follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and on my podcast by clicking on Selling from the Heart.

Note the picture of Governor Phil Murphy from New Jersey.  Our beloved Governor was in attendance at the New Jersey State League of Municipalities today in Atlantic City, NJ giving a speech to those guests pictured.

I'm thinking this was a select group of guests he was speaking to. However let me regress a bit.  Each year the NJLM holds a conference in Atlantic City, NJ and in most cases that conference can attract 8K-16K attendees and vendors. I was in attendance for three days working the Stratix booth with my buddy John.

I've never been involved with a show that featured 600 vendors and a multitude of attendees.  The attendees was off this year because of COVID19 and along with the restrictions still in place.  All attendees, vendors and speakers were required to show proof vaccination before entering the convention, show ID (don't need ID to vote but you need it to prove the vax card is yours), in addition everyone was required to wear a mask at all events.

Throughout the convention there were many announcements over the PA systems that stated due to CDC guidelines and the mandates from our Governor that everyone had to wear a mask while in the (NJ State owned) Atlantic City Convention Center.  In fact there were mask police (security) that were walking the floor asking everyone to wear the mask the right way and remind them to put the mask back on when they were finished eating or drinking.

Now let's get to the picture I posted in the title and below. This picture was posted on his facebook page tonight.  I suspect these pictures are from today since there was not event last year and our Governor loves photo ops.

I confirmed that these pictures are from today since he did another photo op earlier in the day and he is wearing the same tie.

NO ONE IS WEARING A MASK

Not one person that I can tell has a mask anywhere close to their face.  This goes on while the general order is for everyone to where a mask and there are no exclusions. Eight to Ten hours with no excuses.

Things like this have happened before with this guy. He it the epitome of DO WHAT I SAY, but not as I do.

What a shame we have four more years of this joker to deal with.

-=Good Selling=-

Very short blog tonight. It was almost 11 years ago when I was turned on to a new net opportunity.  I felt the account was right in my wheelhouse since they liked wide format as much as I did.  However this opportunity was not for wide format but for those awesome down the street copiers in a decent SMB account.

My first appearance resulted in a loss and thinking back I'm not sure I can remember why I lost.  I entertain the reason I lost was because the client was happy with the current brand and service provider. Nothing against me or the dealership I work for.

My second attempt was a little more that five years ago and that resulted in my second loss. I do remember the reason I lost and it was because one of the Admins did not want to have training outside of their office for my new brand (that was the objection) of copier.  Of course without notifying me or me probing the edict came down that they would stay with the same brand and service provider again. I was told that my product was the pick to move forward with if it wasn't for the training glitch.

The third time around came somewhat sooner (3 years into the 5 year lease) and after a follow up call I was brought in to quote new devices because the client was fed up with the support and service.  It was on again for the third time to secure this account, after performing another great job I was told we won again, however the account needs to by down the remaining lease payments.   A few months later COVID19 struck and it was inevitable that the lease would go all the way down the last frigging payment.

After three competitors and more than eleven years I was email a few hours ago that they are good to move forward with the new 5 year lease.

This made by day and is the reason why all of my losses go back in the hoppper when the next opportunity us ready.

-=Good Selling=-

Just want to let you all know I'm at an event this week and back on late Thursday.  Thus I've preempted our weekly email address and our Managed IT notes.  We'll be back at this next week.

Art

Free Assessments, Save 30% on Service, 90 Days Zero Payments!

The Biggest Inflation Increase In Three Decades and The Print Equipment and Services Industry Is Still Having Sales? (WTF)

I discussed this topic in a recent The End Of The Day With Ray Episode but thought it necessary to share the message in a written post as well.

How are the industry's analysts not addressing this topic? Maybe they are waiting for someone else to discuss first, then copy and paste an article in their blog. Finally, the wait is over, and all are welcome to share today's article with your audience.

Or maybe the industry's analysts are too busy figuring out what a particular club actually does or just busy preparing their next press release?

Either way, the insanity of selling no different than pre covid during the worst inflation period in three decades is something our industry must analyze immediately. So, I will share my thoughts.

We are aware of many unfunded leases based on dealers or direct operations unable to execute equipment delivery. Why is this? Some will say supply chain issues, and I will say, "Some are wrong."

Yes, our industry has boatloads of **** stuck on boats like the rest of all business sectors. However, Is the print equipment industry begging its customers to upgrade equipment? Or are the industry's customers begging the industry? If we are all honest, we know the answer.

So now that we know the answer, what can we do to fix the biggest crisis in the industry's history? First, stop begging customers through unnecessary discounts to buy things you can't deliver and start selling services you can deliver.

Our industry had an excellent opportunity to bring so much more value to their services, and many missed the boat (pardon the pun.)

Think about the account that had twelve payments left on their five-year lease. The sales rep loads up with discounts and heads out to upgrade. (BTW, A stupid term the industry uses to replace equipment, after all, most of the time, the customer downgrades what they pay for the new deal, and we all know they stopped printing more at least a decade ago.No one is actually UPGRADING.) Maybe our industry should call all new sales "Price Downgrades" instead of Equipment Upgrades?

What if, instead, the sales representative met with the customer and explained the supply chain issues and made the customer aware that their current equipment is just fine and that continuing its service is not a problem. This conversation would have easily led to a discussion where the sales rep could have presented the service price increase based on the supply chain issues and then discuss a fee based IT Assessment.

OK, My friends, before you start screaming RAY, IF WE DON'T UPGRADE THE CUSTOMER, OUR COMPETITORS WILL! Realize if you believe this, you just verified that our industry's actors are, in fact, creating a false demand.

The activity of selling at discounts during the highest inflation in three decades defies logic, especially during a supply-demand crisis.

I still see advertisements for Free IT assessments and call us to save on printer service. The reason is, unfortunately, over the last decade-plus, there have been too many consultants misguiding print dealers in what is needed to transition their business to broader IT services.

Based on actual experience, had our industry's dealers taken seriously the need to transition, many more than just a few would be positioned to continue in relevance. They would be selling value at value prices instead of having little value selling things on sale.

The industry's reaction to the supply chain crisis. Is a SCREAMING LOUD ALARM! Warning all the industry's actors to the reality that the business print equipment its sales, supply, and services deliverable is on life support with very little hope. It will ever recover from yesterday's already outdated business model.

It is time dealers question those consultants who keep enforcing how your great relationships, great sales people, all based on print services will allow you to sell more profound IT services.

Whenever I hear this, I immediately realize those who say this have ZERO knowledge of the print services business. Which makes it really ironic when we hear consultants from the print channel throwing up this nonsense themselves.

However, I am somewhat hopeful that by now dealers are no longer going to YouTube college to learn how to bill print without collecting a meter.

The good news, I predict many of these halfway retried print executives will fully retire soon. Oh, Did I write that - as I thought it out loud?

Your success in transitioning to IT broader services will result from extremely hard work guided by detailed directions. So please don't forget the details, my friends.

Get your IT restarted NOW! Otherwise your next sale might just be a Going out of Business Sale! and no one wants that, except the competitor looking to deliver your great relationship a better experience.

Status quo is the killer of all that will be invented.

Ray Stasieczko

"You do not move ahead by constantly looking in the rearview mirror. The past is a rudder to guide you, not an anchor to drag you. We must learn from the past but not live in the past."

Warren W. Wiersbe

It is human nature to review our past. After all it is what has led us to where we are today.

Our sales past is familiar. We know what happened, however; our sales future is scary and full of the unknown.

Henry David Thoreau so eloquently said,

“Never look back unless you are planning to go that way”

I am concerned that many in sales are stuck as they are still looking into the rearview mirror.

They have become prisoners, trapped within their past success, hoping and praying their past success will carry them into the future.

Let this one sink in for a moment... The way it was is not the way it will be.

Sales growth doesn't occur looking through the rearview mirror of past sales success

We all know the business world is competitive and chaotic.

Therefore sales professionals always take charge, rise-up and double-down on themselves.

One of my favorite rock bands growing up was Boston. 40 years later the lyrics within this song are as relevant today as ever.

It's a new horizon and I'm awakin' now

Oh I see myself in a brand new way

The sun is shinin'

The clouds are breakin'

Cause I can't lose now, there's no game to play

I get it, it is human nature to review our past. After all it is what has led us to where we are today.

However, many in sales are stuck in the past, dwelling on the past and wishing what was will be.

How can you see yourself in a brand-new way when you allow your past sales success to stunt your future sales growth?

What do you think could happen to your sales results if you consistently look forward as opposed to reliving your sales past?

Our past is familiar. Our past is comforting. However, our past is sometimes numbing. The past is called the past for a reason. The future is unknown, scary and nerve racking. Growth happens when we stretch our minds.

“Focusing on your history robs you of your destiny”

Bishop T.D. Jakes

Sales professionals learn to win the war in their mind. They understand that a growth fueled mindset will future proof their sales career.

You see, the business world has changed, your clients have changed, your community has changed... so the question becomes have you changed?

If what you see in the sales rearview mirror never changes, you’ve parked yourself in the past.

Sales professionals shift themselves into overdrive. They put their foot all the way down on the gas pedal as they drive their career forward by cruising within the relevancy fast lane.

GROWTH OCCURS BY GETTING REAL WITH YOURSELF

“The strongest force in the universe is a human being living consistently with his identity.”

Tony Robbins

What sets you apart? Why should people choose you? Or learn from you? Or listen to you? Or do business with you? Or even have a conversation with you?

Are you truly an exceptional sales professional? If you answered yes, WHY do you think so?

What specific skill do you bring at this very moment that allows you to stand out from the other salespeople out there?

I encourage you to look in the mirror and ask yourself...

• Am I reading to feed my brain?
• Am I making a difference?
• Am I going the extra mile for my clients?
• Am I serving others?
• Am I serving the cause?
• Am I developing a deep, genuine concern for my clients?

Gut check moment, isn't it?

Unfortunately, way too many of you in sales are stuck looking into the rearview mirror waiting, wondering and wallering around operating in a state of complacency.

What got you to where you're at in sales today will not keep you there moving into the future.

RELEVANCY FUELS GROWTH

How can you become relevant if your focus is looking in the rearview mirror?

Each one of you are unique and different. Then my question to all those in sales... Why do you all walk, talk and act the same? Becoming relevant just might be the key to your sales success.

In this highly competitive digitally driven business environment, it is mission critical to stay relevant, competitive, marketable and yes, desirable. You MUST make sure that you’re continuously improving and evaluating yourself regularly.

"The longer we keep looking back in the rearview mirror, it takes away from everything that's moving forward."

Dan Quinn

How many of you are speaking and thinking in the past tense?

How many tenured salespeople out there are relying on what got them to where they are at to get them where they need to be?

ARE YOU LOOKING THROUGH THE RELEVANCY WINDOW?

Rearview mirrors are small. How many of you have lost sight of what's in front of you because your focus has been on what's behind you?

Sales professionals are sales hungry. They are lifelong learners.

You must become an educator. You can't become an educator without being a student first.

You must gain a thirst for new knowledge. You need to stay up to date on new developments, always looking for trends and changes before they happen.

Get uncomfortable, it's okay. Show up very day and be present. Sit with the discomfort.

"You can make excuses or you can make progress but you cant make both"

Craig Groeschel

Acknowledge discomfort. Shake hands with it, get used to it and welcome it on the journey to better yourself.

How can many of you in sales grow if you're constantly carrying your own dead sales weight of the past?

Way too many of you are living in yesteryear. You will consistently struggle with the mentality of ‘that's the way I've done it'.

In today's sales world, looking in the rearview mirror will stunt your sales growth.

I ask you to think about the following questions...

• Am I reaching my sales potential?
• How do I rise up and rise to the top in sales?

I encourage you to take a very personal look at how you define success in your heart of hearts and then find your path to get there.

I understand, I get where you all are coming from. Every day, I walk in your shoes. I am fully committed to helping your sales team integrate social aspects and heartfelt strategies into your current sales process to grow new business. I want you to get results. This is why I am passionate about doing this the right way, the genuine way, the authentic way! It's about understanding value before visibility.

Selling From the Heart is making a difference! I poured my heart into every page of this book and I think you're going to love it. You can find it on Amazon in paperback, kindle and in audio. You can click on the book image below and this will take you to Amazon.In a world full of empty suits, I'm passionate about helping sales reps succeed by getting valuable before they get visible. I help sales teams understand the true value they bring to the market.

In a world full of empty suits, I'm passionate about helping sales reps succeed by getting valuable before they get visible. I help sales teams understand the true value they bring to the market.

With great pride I transform, challenge, coach and inspire sales teams to grow new business by helping them share their story and how they communicate it out by integrating the use of social and Selling from the heart inside the sales process. You can follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and on my podcast by clicking on Selling from the Heart.

This Week in the Copier Industry Ten Years Ago

Third Week of November 2011

Attendance news for ITEX 2021

• Dealers owners on different days stated the venue was much smaller than in the past (2019).
• Multiple dealers agreed that they did not see more than 80 dealers on the show floor
• Another dealer stated "in one of the of the talk tracks today there was only 5 attendees".
• Heard from my third attendee today and that was from a vendor mentioning attendance.  Here's the quote  "It was brutally low"
• Couple of vendors stated it was worth the investment to speak with the clients they've been trying to track

Enjoy These Copier Threads from Ten Years Ago