Is the Fear of Conflict Killing Your Business?

"Those who continue to feed off comfort will die of malnutrition for comfort in business will not nourish continued relevance."  

There's a great book titled "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team." The book was published in 2002, and today its message is still so relevant. I recommend all the Document Imaging Channel's leaders read this book at least twice. Actually, all business leaders from all industries will find the book worthy of reading.  

Patrick M. Lencioni, the book's author, describes "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team." as 

1.   Absent of Trust

2.   Fear of Conflict

3.   Lack of Commitment

4.   Avoidance of Accountability

5.   Inattention to Results

In this article, I want to share my thoughts on how dysfunction number two, Fear of Conflict, is destroying the document imaging channel's chances to reinvent itself. 

Patrick defines Fear of Conflict as- Seeking artificial harmony over constructive passionate debate. 

Over the last decade, there has been more focus in seeking harmony in status quo then fighting for relevance. These (Seeking Harmony Parties) were plentiful pre-virus, and still today on Zoom, we can find the gatherings of all those in fear of a different future. 

Fear will always lead to coveting comfort.

Why are some in the channel still obsessed with seeking comfort over the needed pain for improvement? Do they not realize the problems they are creating?

The easiest way to determine you are in the presence of an insecure leader. Is to listen to the reasons they stifle something new or disruptive to the established method. 

We have all heard the Self-Survival Excuses. In other words, the new way could eliminate the old way, and thereby those who can't imagine alternatives will remain steadfast to status quo. Even if that Status Quo eventually kills them, and nearly always these folks fall victim. 

"Think about the executives who quickly quote what those above them think, unfortunately rarely do those above them know they are being quoted." 

Why is there so much fear? I blame leadership because leadership is always the decider of an organization's protocols. 

It seems as those leaders who rely on others to help them navigate through disruptions better take the time to go downstream and question their navigators' realities. A declining industry in need of a major overhaul as the document Imaging Channel is - must put before all; the business's current and future relevance even if that new relevance eliminates once sacred cows, as they say. 

Leaders can longer accept that those they have trusted are eager to bring attention to things or ideas that cause them to be insecure of their place in the future. During disruptive times the possibilities imagined may indeed scare many into complacency. 

 "Those insecure of their place in the future will hide in the shadows of status quo."

Ironically all those who repeatedly avoided conflict in hopes of extending the tenure of their status quo - will always be surprised when their tenure is up. 

"When leaders focus on why things won't work, they are fighting to remain in the past; when leaders focus on how things could work, they are exploring the future." 

During disruptive times and all must agree this pandemic is absolutely disruptive for many industries. The Document Imaging Channel is not alone in experiencing a prequel to the post virus world. 

This pandemic has caused an evolutionary event and has increased the speed in which may technologies will replace and change many of the comforts of a pre-virus world. Leaders must weed out complacency form the chairs in the decision rooms and the hallways of the rank and file management; leaders must welcome constructive conflict. Leaders must eliminate the useless obsession in Seeking artificial harmony.

"Leaders must recognize their management teams insecurities otherwise innovating could be derailed or sabotaged."

Leaders in all ranks must spend time down ranks to evaluate for themselves that which they trust is being assessed. Nothing can be assumed during unprecedented times, and when there is strong evidence of teams seeking harmony, that harmony must be questioned. 

The five dysfunctions, as outlined by Patrick Lencioni, are all valuable. However, it is that Fear of Conflict that will absolutely destroy all good intentions of constant relevance. Leaders make sure there are no harmony filters trapping needed conflict in silence to protect the status quo.  

There are many threats and opportunities for those bold enough to seek them out. There has never been a better time to explore the once unknown. Those leaders who have both boldness and curiosity will prevail. Unfortunately, those who have in the past and continue seeking artificial harmony over the pain of improvement will perish in complacency. 

There are great team members in all organizations waiting for direction so give them the guidance they seek and create environments that welcome, more importantly, demand constructive conflict. Don't be fooled that getting along without constructive conflict is a sign of great leadership. In-fact it's a sign of weakness.

"Those leaders who never raise the bar and brag about how great everyone gets along, are foolishly being led into obsolescence."

During disruptive times or during the time you intend to disrupt. Let your competitors surround themselves in harmony camps and as they sit around pacifying and unwarrantedly complementing each other. Go take their customers.

Business leadership is not for the weak it never was and will never be. Leadership is the ability to drive an agenda through teams, and most importantly, leadership is the ability to create teams who challenge each other they also avoid artificial harmony and are not afraid to question those who lead them.

These are challenging times; however, tough times weed out complacency and tough times allow those with confidence of their place in a different future, tremendous opportunities to flourish in the future they help create. 

Remember this, my friends.

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

Ray Stasieczko 

CEO/Founder TEASRA,The Innovation Channel and Host of The End of The Day With Ray! https://www.endofthedaywithray.com/

I welcome everyone to subscribe to my YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channe...A?view_as=subscriber

MSP & MSSP Industry Notes

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Applied Imaging acquires Florida-based office technology dealer

• Applied Imaging acquired Upstream Office Solutions, which is headquartered in Tampa Bay
• The acquisition gives Applied Imaging a total of 14 offices spread throughout Michigan, Ohio and Florida
• Applied Imaging offers services including copier and printer sales, document management, managed IT services and document shredding

Netsurion Named to MSSP Alert's Top 250 MSSPs List for 2020 Fourth-Annual List Honors ...

• MSSP Alert, published by After Nines Inc., has named Netsurion to the Top 250 MSSPs list for 2020
• The list and research identify and honor the top MSSPs, managed detection and response (MDR) and Security Operations Center as a Service (SOCaaS) providers worldwide
• The rankings are based on MSSP Alert’s 2020 readership survey combined with the digital media site’s global editorial coverage of managed security services providers

Accenture Named a Leader in European Managed Security Services by Independent Research Firm

• Named a Leader in the latest Forrester Research report on European Managed Security Services
• The report — “The Forrester Wave™: European Managed Security Services Providers, Q3 2020” — evaluates Accenture prior to the company’s Symantec CSS business acquisition
• Accenture’s strength is in its high flexibility, customer focus, and a strong emphasis on automation

BearingPoint expands its portfolio in the area of new ways of working

• BearingPoint announced today that it has acquired Paris-based Steerio, an engagement platform (SaaS)
• The acquisition is part of a bigger strategic move: the independent consulting firm has been investing for years in new and better ways of working
• Steerio joins BearingPoint’s portfolio of team and project management assets such as Active Managerand enhances its People & Strategy offering

Managed IoT connectivity from Telenor Connexion now available in AWS Marketplace

• By 2025, more than 5 billion cellular Internet of Things (IoT) connections are forecasted globally, according to the Ericsson Mobility Report
• Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) today announced it will now enable the sale of managed connectivity for its CSP partners, available in Amazon Web Services (AWS) Marketplace
• AWS Marketplaceis a digital catalog with thousands of software listings from independent software vendors that make it easy to find, test, buy, and deploy software that runs on AWS

NTT Communications Honored in Two Categories by the Frost & Sullivan 2020 Asia Pacific Best ...

• NTT Group(TOKYO: 9432), announced today that it was recognized as the award recipient for 2020 Japan IoT Service Provider of the Year and 2020 Japan Data Center Service Provider of the Year by the Frost & Sullivan 2020 Asia Pacific Best Practices Awards program
• NTT Com was named 2020 Japan IoT Service Provider of the Year for the second year in a row.

Introducing Fiverr Business, a New Platform Targeting Team Collaboration for The Future of Work

• Announcing the official launch of Fiverr Business™
• designed for corporate teams and departments to collaborate with each other while managing projects with freelance talent
• Per a recent survey Fiverr conducted of over 2,000 businesses globally, 52% said they are allocating more budget to freelance services

ePlus Delivers Managed Powered Protection for Enhanced Business Continuity

• ePlus inc. (NASDAQ NGS: PLUS– news) today announced that it has extended its Managed Services
• Capabilities to include proactive monitoring, management, and remediation of APC by Schneider Electricuninterruptible power supply (UPS) devices

TierPoint Announces Cloud to Cloud Recovery Powered by Dell EMC RecoverPoint

• Tier Point announced its newest service: Cloud to Cloud Recovery powered by Dell EMC RecoverPoint
• Replicating to a TierPoint-managed Hosted Private Cloud built on the Dell VxRail platform
• Offers a cost-effective way to leverage Dell EMC RecoverPoint, achieving real-time protection per VMware virtual machine and recovery time objectives (RTOs) as low as 15 minutes

TPx Achieves HIPAA Compliance for Managed SD-WAN & Firewall Solutions

• Announced today that it has attained the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) attestation for its Managed SD-WAN and Firewall solutions
• Healthcare continues to be a prime magnet for cyberattacks, with electronic health records being a lucrative target
• Verified by a third-party audit, TPx's attestation confirms that technical, physical and administrative safeguards, as well as company policies and procedures, meet HIPAA requirements

Check Point To Buy Secure Remote Access Startup Odo Security

• Check Point Aoftware Technologies agrees to purchase cybersecurity startup Odo Security
• San Carlos, Calif. based platform vendor said Tel Aviv, Israel-based Odo has developed a cloud-based, clientless secure service edge (SASE) technology that secure remove access

DataTribe Co-Founder Named A Finalist in the 2020 Maryland Cybersecurity Awards ...

• Announced the Maryland Cybersecurity Awards has named its Co-Founder and Investment Board Member, Mike Janke, a Finalist in the category of Cybersecurity Champion of the Year Award
• The competition is poised to identify and curate Pre-Series A, seed high-technology start-ups with a vision to disrupt cybersecurity and data science

Mopria mobile printing update

• The Mopria Alliance announced that Google Android 11 operating system, used by mobile devices, offers new features for printing and scanning
• Share-to-Print feature enables users to print images and documents from thousands of social media and productivity applications directly from device
• Allows users to share files such as JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF and PDF
• Supports specific enhancements to ensure best fit and higher resolution
• Users are able to select and install additional print services directly in their print workflow to enable more printer/MFP features

Panasonic Webinar | Win with our Scanning Solutions

Panasonic gives you winning advantages against the competition by creating better solutions for your customers. Panasonic's scanning solutions give your clients the ability to better allocate their resources, minimize time spent on document management, and give them easier access with better clarity to their m

Cybersecurity Update

• Adobe Corp. notified customers that it has fixed 5 critical flaws that would allow hackers to run JavaScript in browser
  • Would allow hackers to steal info, and move laterally through network
• Microsoft notified users that specially crafted Windows 10 themes and theme packs could be used in “Pass-the-Hash” hacking incidents
  • Could steal Windows account credentials from unsuspecting users
• IBM is warning users of new Raccoon malware, which can attack TLS 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2 protocols
  • TLS 1.3 is considered safe
• KPMG is warning users of a new ransomware gang named ProLock
  • Original name was PwndLocker
  • Uses a “big game hunting” methodology
  • Ransom demands range from $400,000 to $1 million
• UF (University of Florida) Health of Gainesville, FL notified an unknown number of patients that their PHI may have been exposed after breach.
• Bitdefender Software’s Mid-Year Threat Landscape Report:
  • 715% increase in detected and blocked ransomware attacks in 2020 vs. 2019
  • New ransomware gangs include; Sodinokigi, REvil, Zepto, DoppelPaymer and
    Cryptolocker
  • 1 billion samples of malware samples are roaming the Internet
  • 23% increase in ransomware overall
  • 49% of information security professional worry about their organization’s
    readiness
• ZDNet magazine reports that 41% of all cyber insurance claims made in first half of 2020 were for ransomware attacks.
  • Increase of 260%
  • Average ransom demand increasing 47%
• NorthShore University Health notified 348,000 patients that their PHI was exposed after data breach.
• Catholic Health of Buffalo, NY notified an unknown number of patients that their PHI was exposed after breach.
• University of Kentucky HealthCare notified 163,000 patients that their PHI may have been exposed after hacking incident.
• Main Line Health of Pennsylvania notified 60,595 patients that their PHI may have been exposed after hacking incident.
• Imperium Health of Louisville, KY notified 139,000 patients that their PHI may have been exposed after hacking incident.
• Baton Rouge Clinic of Louisiana notified 308,000 patients that their PHI may have been exposed after hacking incident.
• Lukes Hospital Health System of Kansas City, Missouri notified 360,212 patients that their PHI may have been exposed after hacking incident.
• MultCare of Washington notified 176,677 patients that their PHI may have been exposed after hacking incident.
• Atrium Health of Charlotte, NC notified an unknown number of patients that their PHI may have been exposed after hacking incident.
• Moffitt Cancer Center of Tampa, FL notified 4,056 patients that their PHI was exposed after hacking incident.
• Adams Memorial Hospital of Indiana notified an unknown number of patients that their PHI may have been exposed after hacking incident.
• Hartford Public School District of CT notified an unknown number of students that their info may have been exposed after ransomware attack.
• Toledo Public School District of Ohio notified an unknown number of students that their info may have been exposed after ransomware attack.
• Pickens County School District of South Carolina notified an unknown number of students that their info may have been exposed after ransomware attack.
• Sherry Russell, a widow from Woodstock, NY, filed a lawsuit against HealthAlliance Hospital of NY
  • Claims that hospital is denying access to the PHI of her now deceased husband, who died from cancer
• Hennepin Healthcare (aka Hennepin County Medical Center) of Minnesota, reported that it fired an unknown number of employees after they illegally accessed the PHI of George Floyd, who died while in custody of Minneapolis, MN police.
• UT (University of Texas) Health San Antonio notified an unknown number of patients that their PHI may have been exposed after hacking incident.
• Equinix, which operates 50 data centers in the U.S., announced it was hit by Netwalker Ransomware, and hackers demanding $4.5M in ransom
• Trinity Area School District of Pennsylvania notified an unknown number of students that their info may have been exposed after hacking incident.
• Razer Gaming, headquartered in Irvine, CA, notified 100,000 online gaming customers that their info may have been exposed after email phishing attack.
• Enloe Medical Center of Chico, CA notified an unknown number of patients that their PHI may have been exposed after security breach.
• Inova Health System of Falls Church, VA notified 1,045,270 patients that their PHI was exposed after data breach.
• Chesterfield County Public Schools of Virginia notified an unknown number of
  students that their info may have been exposed after breach.
• Fort Dodge Community School District of Des Moines, IA notified an unknown
  number of students that their info may have been exposed after cyberattack.

The Week in Copiers Fifteen Years Ago the Third Week of September 2010

Everything changes, our industry can't stand still and wait for things to happen.  As an industry we need to get creative and give our clients the FREEDOM to print.  Take away all the rules and regulations and simplify our products and services for our clients.  Where there is mystery there is margin is not the type of business model we want!

Enjoy these super threads from 15 years ago this week

“Empathy is simply listening, holding space, withholding judgment, emotionally connecting, and communicating that incredibly healing message of you’re not alone.”

Brene Brown

Let's face it, we've all lost a client for some reason or another. How many of us fail to understand the "why" behind why they left?

What healing message are you using with your clients? Are they feeling alone and abandoned by you?

Your clients are undeniably one of the most important factors.

Without clients would you exist in sales?

The more you understand that meaningful and credible relationships with your client's matter, the more successful you will become as a sales professional.

Your clients smell what you're cooking really fast

Are you personally engaging with your clients?

Are you authentically investing in building meaningful relationships?

THE COMPASSION REVOLUTION

To come out ahead on the other side of this crisis, think about leading yourself and your clients with compassion.

Merriam Webster defines compassion as,

"Sympathetic consciousness of other's distress together with a desire to resolve it."

We live in a post-trust and soon to be a post-virus sales world. Businesses have been rocked, sales results have been rocked and your client relationships have been tested.

The compassion revolution is for those professionals who care. It's for those professionals who give a rip.

The compassion revolution calls for salespeople to unite, take action and make change.

If you want to stand out from all the other empty suits and "me-too" sales reps, it can't just be about you. It has to be bigger than you.

"I think technology really increased human ability. But technology cannot produce compassion."

Dalai Lama

A Selling From the Heart professional is driven by a mission to make the business world better, help others and bring compassion to their client relationships.

COMPASSIONATE RELATIONSHIPS

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania based teaching pastor, Eric Mason, "Truth without love is criticism; truth with love is compassion."

When was the last time you asked one of your client's their concerns, issues or even how you can help?

When was the last time you had a meaningful conversation that helped you understand why and how one of your clients was struggling?

"Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive."

Dalai Lama

Compassion is truly having genuine sympathy for the hardship or suffering other people might be experiencing, and a sincere desire to ease their pain.

Let's think about this in a sales context.

How many of you show a heartfelt desire to help ease the pain from all the broken promises left behind from all the other unscrupulous sales rats?

A compassionate sales professional is motivated to take action and to stop the pain inflicted by empty suits.

There are many different ways to show compassion; however, the important thing is it must come from your heart.

A compassionate sales professional understands their clients crave to be part of something meaningful and special. They hold a deep concern for how their clients feel and what they’re getting out of working with them, especially the experience.

Bring compassion into your client relationships. Dig in and ask heartfelt questions.

• What do you truly expect and desire from me?
• What do you value?
• What matters to you the most?
• What can I do to better serve you?

Compassion and care over commission and deception

CONNECT WITH COMPASSION

Compassionate salespeople seek to influence, not take advantage of their clients. They encourage. They lead with hope. They guide, acknowledge and support their clients. They combine their efforts, skills, talents, insights, passion, enthusiasm and commitment to work because they care.

Integrating compassion, caring and connectivity is jet fuel for building meaningful client relationships.

"Serving truth is compassion; selfish truth is criticism."

Bruce Kirk

Forever change your client relationships through care and compassion.

A recent comment on one of my social posts caught my attention.

My friend Bruce Kirk shared the following:

"Compassion must come from the heart---it cannot be faked. The other person's best interests and well-being must be of genuine concern (Serving Truth)."

"Compassion doesn't mean we avoid the truth. In many relationships, there are often hard truths that need to be said for the relationship to deepen. But truths shared with the wrong heart can be disastrous (Selfish Truth)."

• You must care intensely about your clients.
• You must have compassion for your clients.
• You must connect with meaning with your clients.

Your success is not just about closing more deals, where you sit on the sales totem pole, or the size of your last commission check; it's about how well you connect, care and have sincere compassion for clients.

My sales friends, watch what happens to your relationships.

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.

You can find more material inside Selling From The Heart.

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. 

I appreciate getting the opportunity to share my stories. Integrating the use of social and sharing my story on LinkedIn was my “game-changer” in the highly competitive office technology world. 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 inside the sales process. You can follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and on my podcast by clicking on Selling from the Heart.

The Week in Copiers Ten Years Ago the Third Week of September 2010

Over the last two days I've had the opportunity to speak with four dealer principals, one dealer sales manager and a CEO of an industry supplier.   There is good news!  The good news is that we are recovering along with dealers pivoting to other products and services to offer to their clients.  It's refreshing to speak to so many people that have found a way to see the good in a bad situation.  May we all treat this time as a learning experience that will make us all stronger in the future!

Enjoy these kickass threads from 10 years ago this week!

The Week in Copiers 5 Years Ago the 3rd Week of September 2015

How many of you would be willing to roll the clock back to 5 years ago?  There's no doubt for those of us that still selling these are difficult times.  The only thing we can do is remain calm, keep putting in the hard work and this will pass.  Try and see this as a character building moment and a chance to try all of the those marketing ideas that you never put in place.  Now is the time to build for a great 2021.

Enjoy these threads from 5 years ago this week.

University of Texas Athletics teams with Ricoh to bring football fans to the stadium in the form of printed cutouts

EXTON, Pa., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Ricoh USA, Inc. has teamed with University of Texas Athletics to produce individualized fan cutouts to help fill the stands at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, home of the Texas Longhorns football team, during game days. These cutouts, produced in conjunction with local Ricoh partner UT Print San Antonio, allow fans to show their school spirit while respecting social distancing guidelines. A portion of the proceeds contribute to the health and safety resources for more than 500 Longhorn student-athletes, including weekly COVID-19 testing, special health monitoring related to COVID-19, clean masks, face shields, and more.

"The fans make Longhorns Football what it is, so the thought of not having the full force of that cheering spirit in the stands was simply unacceptable. We needed to be innovative to deliver for our team, school and fans," said Chris Del Conte, Vice President and Director of Texas Athletics. "When we decided we wanted to have fan cutouts, we of course reached out to our partner, Ricoh, to make it a reality. As we worked out logistics, it became clear we could produce the cutouts locally and put the proceeds toward supporting health and safety, all while giving fans a chance to show their pride. This quickly turned from a morale booster to true investment in the community, one that wouldn't have been possible without our partnership with Ricoh."

The program is already widely popular. In fact, fans bought more than 500 cutouts within the first 24 hours of the promotion. To support this high demand, Ricoh helped manage the overall process while working closely with Texas Athletics and UT Print San Antonio. This approach reinforced Ricoh's ongoing commitment to growing alliances with partners and customers, while helping ensure collaboration between experts at each organization was seamless. UT Print San Antonio prints the cutouts in-house on its fast, versatile RICOH Pro T7210 flatbed.

"At the end of the day, sporting events are about community, and in the era of social distancing, supporting communities isn't always achievable in person," said Gavin Jordan-Smith, Senior Vice President, Commercial and Industrial Print, Ricoh Americas. "This project helps fans feel connected to their team and brings cheering fans to game day 'in person.' At the same time, it offers a new way to contribute to student-athletes' health and well-being, helping keep them safe on and off the field. Each of our companies are invested in the University's success, and are committed to collaborative innovation to help move communities forward."

"The way this local community comes together for Texas Athletics is truly something special to see," said Garry Boytos, Director, UT Print San Antonio. "It has been an honor and a joy to play a role in bringing the fans back to Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium while helping keep student-athletes, staff and fans safe."

Ricoh's partnership as the Official Workplace Technology Provider of Texas Athletics is managed by Longhorn Sports Properties, the Austin-based Learfield IMG College team and Texas Athletics' multi-media rightsholder.

For more information on Ricoh, visit www.takealookatricohproduction.com or follow along and engage on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter using #LookAtRicoh.

| About Ricoh |

Ricoh is empowering digital workplaces using innovative technologies and services enabling individuals to work smarter. For more than 80 years, Ricoh has been driving innovation and is a leading provider of document management solutions, IT services, communications services, commercial and industrial printing, digital cameras, and industrial systems.

Headquartered in Tokyo, Ricoh Group operates in approximately 200 countries and regions. In the financial year ended March 2020, Ricoh Group had worldwide sales of 2,008 billion yen (approx. 18.5 billion USD).

For further information, please visit www.ricoh.com.

© 2020 Ricoh USA, Inc. All rights reserved. All referenced product names are the trademarks of their respective companies.

SOURCE Ricoh USA, Inc.

Copier Manufacturers Shrinking MFP Offerings

Wow, first  time in months that I'll blog about something other than my days of selling copiers during COVID19.

By now what I'm about to state shouldn't be considered  breaking news for the copier industry.

It was a few weeks ago when I received an email from a Print4Pay Hotel member that Ricoh was making some major changes to their MFP offerings.  For many years it's been my belief that all manufacturers have too many devices offered to end users.  The reason I take that stance is because of new reps coming into our business, it's impossible for a new rep to wrap their head around that many models.  Especially when different speed devices may or may not have different features along with different accessories.  

It was a few weeks ago that Ricoh removed these MFPs from their monochrome lineup.

• MP 2555 ARDF
• MP 3055 ARDF & SPDF
• MP 3555 ARDF

What this means is that Ricoh will still offer the MP2555 SPDF (single pass document feeder) and not longer offer the MP 2555 ARDF  (regular document feeder).  The MP3055 (30 page per minute) ARDF & SPDF is eliminated from the line-up.  The 35 page per minute SPDF version is still available.  Thus four models were eliminated from the monochrome line-up.

If I Were King

Personally I would have gone a step further.  I would have eliminated the entire monochrome line-up except for the 6503 (65 ppm), 7503 (75 ppm) and 9003 (90 ppm).  That would eliminate nine monochrome devices.  The elimination of these models and accessories would save Ricoh tens of thousands in manufacturing, and engineering costs.

My next plan of action would be to keep the IM C2000 A3 color MFP (this model was also eliminated from the line-up of color devices).  In addition I would have lowered the dealer cost of all the color A3 MFP's to the price of the corresponding monochrome (black) devices.  

Subscription Service

Okay so now we're offering color MFP's for the same price as monochrome MFP's?  Not really because I have one more change to be made.  I would add a color license to turn on color for these MFP's and I would offer that as a subscription service (yes a monthly or annual fee).  Thus clients could still get a black monochrome device if needed and clients who want color would just pay the subscription fee. 

This could also be the plan for the faster black A3 devices also.  The only move I would make is to eliminate the 90 ppm A3 MFP.

It makes a lot sense because we remove ten models from the line-up. In the long run we're supporting far few devices, lower parts inventory, and lower device inventory.  This would make the manufacturers more competitive along with the dealers with the shrinking click scenarios we're experiencing.  

We can even take this a step further with the color-line up.  A manufacturer could offer only two models for color. One model to cover low end usage and one for higher end usage. 

Speed Licensing as a Service

Let's call one the A model and one the B model.  A dealer would buy the A model and then purchase a speed license for printing and scanning (20-35ppm speed). In addition we could offer any speed that the client wanted whether it's 20, 23 30, 33 for printing and we could do the same for scanning.  We could also make this a subscription service for the speed.  

The B model could be configured for speeds from 35-65 pages per minute.  The B model would only be offered for clients that are producing higher monthly volumes.

Anyway that would be my plan to increase sales, lower costs and simplify our industry.

Would love to hear comments.

-=Good Selling=-

Not a lot happened today and that's probably because I had a nagging sinus headache for most of the day.  It wasn't until about three PM that my head cleared a bit and I was able to log a few calls and emails to finish the day.

For most of the day I concentrated and getting additional research and information to clients that I wanted to move forward. 

For one account I put together two simple word documents for each device.  Each file made reference of the existing device situation for each device and then proposed upgrade for each device.  It has to be simple because the information was not going to the decision maker but a "gatekeeper".  

Both of these devices were interesting since the one A3 black MFP had close to a million prints and the other A4 MFP was closing on on 600K.  The A3 was almost ten years old and the A4 was close to six years old.  I received an email back later in the day stating that they would run it up the ladder.

My day wasn't all that bad since I was able to add another three opportunities for about $13K. Not a lot in the revenue department but it was something.

I have this saying that when it get's tough out there and that means whether you're negotiating or every opportunity is stalled.  The it's time to drop back to your value points. Those value points when negotiating  is to tell the client(s) why your company or product is the best product for them.  When it comes to having every opportunity stalled then it's time to get back to sales 101.  That sales 101 tool is your friend the telephone.

Recently Greg Walters and I had a chat about business in general and he asked me for a line or two about sales.  Greg was working with another industry rag and wanted a quote from someone who's been working through COVID19 in copier sales.

I can't post the entire article but with Greg's permission I can post a snippet and a link back to the other site.

Cold Calling Post COVID-19 is More of the Same

There is great pressure in the sales realm no matter what you’re selling.  But for those of us in the imaging industry, the stress is exacerbated.  Our volumes were dropping before COVID-19, consolidation was a daily occurrence, and layoffs happened almost every month.  COVID-19 kicked all that into high gear, accelerating the transformation in a most turbulent way.

Today the talk about town is working from home, the death of the office and surviving the next month.  Few meetings are centered on new copiers and toner supply management. you can read the rest here

So for those that may need a little encouragement or help I found this blog to be a good tool for the rookies, the novices and even the tenured like me.

I also took a snap shot of the the paragraph that starts with "Warm up the Call".  It's not that I didn't know about it but more about it being a gentle reminder to use it more often when calling.

Down to six selling days left in the month and there is still much work to be done.

-=Good Selling-=