MFP Copier Blog

“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

Sales are the engine. Sales drives profits, growth and success.

Just like any engine, your team needs maintenance on a routine basis in order to keep them humming along nicely.

Any mechanic can tell you that the best-maintained engine can break down due to the unexpected failure of individual parts.

I will ask you to think about the following:

• When is the last time you did routine maintenance within your team?
• When is the last time you gave your team a sales health check-up?

The sales health of your team has a direct bearing on the health of their sales pipeline

ARE YOU SETTING THE TABLE OF FAILURE?

It's fair to say, many in sales fail to close every sales opportunity. A consistent batting average of .300 in baseball and a player sets themself up for a huge payday. Ironic isn't it, they fail to hit the ball 70% of the time?

• How many on your team fail 70% or more of the time to close their targeted opportunities?
• How many on your team have holes throughout their sales funnel?
• How many on your team carry the same opportunities every month on their funnel report?

The lack of opportunities can be pin-pointed back to one thing - prospecting!

I'm sad to say, many in sales have developed the dreaded disease called Lackitis Prospectitus

These dreaded disease attacks 1 out of every 2 on your sales team. Lackitis Prospectitus doesn't happen overnight. It is a slow growing, self-induced disease. Through years of scientific research, I have pinpointed the root cause, identified the culprit and even created a name for the culprit.

Allow me to introduce you to... Managementus Enablementus - otherwise known as enablement by management

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

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.

HARSH REALITY

Article upon article on sales tells us how it's harder than ever to sell. Let's layer into this the turbulent, troublesome and chaotic time of the present (COVID19); and where does this leave you and your team?

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

With the course of recent events, more and more opportunities are ending up in “no decision” status than ever before.

I am concerned, many of you have been bitten by your sales 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 is now is the not the way it will be

When is the last time you examined the way your team engages with their clients?

Is it conceivable they could sell smarter and more effectively than they are today?

The status quo, it's not working and it’s getting worse! Fight back and look for better ways to improve your sales results.  Rather than lamenting, bitching and moaning - do something about it! It is not 1999 any longer!

YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR TEAMS FAILURE

Your mindset plays such a critical role in your ability to succeed or fail. If you’re afraid to fail, you’ll stop yourself from trying new things. You will miss out on having the opportunity to broaden your skill set as well as trying a wide variety of 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?

FAILING TO DEVELOP A NEW MINDSET

Are you feeding your mind through education or by uncovering new ideas and trends within your specific industry?

You must continuously be adopting new competencies and skill sets. In turn, it is your responsibility to pass on these new skill sets 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 answer?

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!

"I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying."

Michael Jordan

You must develop the mind of a champion. You must adopt and develop a growth mindset, or you are setting your team up for failure.

A growth mindset is based on the belief 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, in order for your team to succeed within this highly connected, rapidly changing business world, you must adopt a new mindset.

FAILING TO ADAPT TO CHANGE

The gap between relevance and obsolescence is growing wider every day. 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.

In order for your salespeople to remain relevant, they must adapt and self-educate themselves with emerging trends inside their industry; to anticipate new direction and foresee the writing on the wall which demands innovation.

Coach your salespeople to stay relevant and adapt to the rapidly changing environment by:

• Welcoming and learning from failure
• Asking for help and soliciting feedback
• Becoming voracious learners
• Becoming focused on the process of growth
• Becoming extremely accountable to themselves
• Checking their ego at the door

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

General Eric Shinseki

FAILING TO BUILD AND LEVERAGE SOCIAL NETWORKS

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

Take the crisis filled times of the present, if anything it's becoming a bit more mainstream and all the more encompassing. It layers in quite nicely with traditional sales approaches.

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

Stop rolling your eyes! Yes, I know it is a tricky endeavor as you all try to manage your time and patience levels. However, failure to cultivate social networks will become a recipe for disaster within your team.

You are directly responsible to ensure all of your salespeople meet or exceed quota!

Social allows your salespeople to expand their reach exponentially by using technology allowing them to socialize on a grander scale.

Coach your team to develop the mindset and skill set as they tap into their social networks to help grow their business.

This allows your team to:

• Discover where their clients hang out online
• Discover opportunities to listen, listen and continue to actively listen to what is being said online - dial up the social phone!
• Reach out, start conversations, build relationships geared towards moving to an offline conversation

Social intelligence is the key to unlocking conversations

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.

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.

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.

COVID19 Remote Working Day One Hundred and Twenty-Six of Selling Copiers

It's 10:24 PM with a cool breeze blowing in from the Ocean tonight.  After a frustrating four day work week I finally packed it in about 5:30PM tonight.

It had been a long week of phone calls, emails, inmails and texts.  I was able to get docs for a small A4 black device late today.  I'm hoping that will be the order that opens the flood gates with my 25 plus opportunities.  

I'm going to get a little off the rails here for a bit.  Why do so many peeps in our industry refer to MFP's that only print black as "black & white"?  When the heck did "white" ever work it's way into our language? It's either a color MFP or a black MFP right?  I prefer to use monochrome however that's really not the right definition either since monochrome could mean any single color.  

To make sure I'm correct I got this off wikipedia.

"A monochromic image is composed of one color. The term monochrome comes from the Ancient Greek: μονόχρωμος, romanized: monochromos, lit. 'having one color'. A monochromatic object or image reflects colors in shades of limited colors or hues. Images using only shades of grey are called grayscale or black-and-white."

The time before color copiers became available we just called them copiers.

I was not intending to write this blog tonight.  I was spent for the week and needed to relax and not think about work for a couple of days.  I had a final push at the end of the day to make sure I was ready for Monday,

It was about 10PM when I checked my phone for emails. I run a series of alerts with Google so that I receive the latest and greatest news for our industry.  Checked the gmail and there was nothing worthy to post and I then checked my corp. email just to clear out any junk.

The other day I mentioned in one of my blogs is that as long as you work hard you never know what tomorrow will bring you.  I can't tell you enough how true that is because there was one email that came in at 8:16PM.

Seems one of the phone calls and emails (after I call and get a voice mail I always send an email) to an existing account. My email forwarded to another person in that organization.

This person wants to meet with me next week and see what we can offer in the way of copiers for their 14 locations in the US.  Now that's a pretty fraking big opportunity!  Yes, I'm sure there will be competition, and yes it's not a deal yet.  However we need to be in it to win it.  My email went out a few minutes later asking what time is good for that day next week,

Thus for many of you that are going through the ups and downs in this new normal like I am.  Anything can happen at any time as long we we put in the effort.  We just need to put the effort in on a daily basis.

-=Good Selling=-

MSP & MSSP Industry Notes

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IDC report on mobile workers

• S. mobile worker population will increase from 78.5 million in 2020 to 93.5 million in 2024
• Will account for 60% of total U.S. workforce
• 87% of U.S. enterprises expect their employees to continue working from home 3 or more days per week once mandatory pandemic closures are lifted

Keypoint Intelligence Announces Winners of New Buyers Lab PaceSetter Awards in Three Categories of Managed Services

• The winners for 2020–2021
  • KONICA MINOLTA BUSINESS SOLUTIONS U.S.A., INC.
    BLI PaceSetter 2020–2021 in Managed IT Services

• HP INC.
  BLI PaceSetter 2020–2021 in Managed Print Services
• RICOH USA, INC.
  BLI PaceSetter 2020–2021 in Business Process Services
• XEROX CORPORATION
  BLI PaceSetter 2020–2021 in Business Process Services
  BLI PaceSetter 2020–2021 in Managed Print Services

To determine the vendors that lead the market in each category, Keypoint Intelligence invited the leading document imaging OEMs to participate in an in-depth study that covered areas such as portfolio of offerings, primary differentiators, go-to-market strategy, ability to accommodate remote employees, and much more. Keypoint Intelligence analysts then applied a proprietary scoring rubric to determine the winners.

Crawford Technologies and Nuxeo partner to provide document management solution

• Crawford Technologies and Nuxeo, are collaborating to develop a new integration that will allow organizations to move their high-volume documents and customer service data
• CCM Gateway for Nuxeo integrates Crawford Technologies’ transformation, indexing, and document classification techniques with Nuxeo’s robust cloud-native platform
• solution makes it possible for enterprises to move from problematic legacy storage systems to a modern, cloud-based, natively web-enabled solution to accelerate digital transformation initiatives

SolarWinds Backup Recovery Testing Adoption Underscores MSP Security Growth Opportunities

• MSPs replace manual backup verfication with efficient automated testing
• Reports in June 2020, with more than 3,110 devices currently enabled

Ontrack Announces Global Data Recovery Agreement With Toshiba

• Announced the provision of data recovery services to customers of Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation hard disk drive products
• Toshiba customers will receive the following benefits when choosing Ontrack
• Free shipping of their Toshiba hard disk drive (where Ontrack operates)
• Free consultation and evaluation of the media
• An exclusive 10% discount off Ontrack Data Recovery services
• A dedicated Data Services Representative to help at every stage
• Fixed pricing, with no hidden charges
• No recovery, no fee policy
• Data recovery services performed by expert engineers
• Complete end-to-end security and peace of mind

Ricoh Canada joins Vizetto Inc. rBoard™ Alliance

• Announced that it has joined Vizetto Inc.'s rBoard alliance
• rBoard alliance is a group of technology companies that share a common commitment towards promoting the highest standards and user experience for team collaboration
• Ricoh Canada certified rBoard^TMsolutions integrate with display, touch and computing technologies

Lead for IT Services in Colorado

• Information Technology Staff Augmentation

Free Educational Event Helps IT Service Providers Scale with Managed Security Services

• GreatAmerica Master Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP), announced a free online event focused on best practices for technology providers to grow their IT business with cybersecurity
• MSSP Accelerator will feature different cybersecurity industry thought leaders from: CharTec, Pax8, ID Agent, SolarWindsFortinet, Datto, PathShare HR Services, and GreatAmerica
• MSSP Accelerator is designed to educate progressive technology providers how they can capture more opportunities with cybersecurity

Konica Minolta Expands Portfolio of Software Solutions with Introduction of PaperVision Enterprise

• Konica Minolta Business Solutions (Canada) Ltd. (Konica Minolta) announced that it will begin offering PaperVision Enterprise
• PaperVision Enterprise, a Content Services Platform (CSP) or Enterprise Content Management (ECM)
• PaperVision Enterprise delivers any document, anywhere, anytime – including email

DataTribe Announces Third Annual Cybersecurity Start-Up Challenge

• DataTribe announces the launch of it's third annual DataTribe Challenge
• Competition to identify and curate Pre-Series A, seed high-technology start-ups with vision to disrupt cybersecurity and data science
• Three finalists will split $20K in prize money, one winner will be eligible for receive up to $2 million in seed capital from DataTribe

Trump administration introduces cybersecurity policy for space systems

• Space Policy Directive- 5 (SPD-5) puts in place key systems for global communications, navigation, weather monitoring, and other critical services
• Trump administration announced a new cybersecurity policy for systems used in space

About 56000 records hacked at Northwestern Memorial HealthCare system

• Notified the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services about a data breach
• Blackbaud provides software to manage fundraising databases and said it notified the healthcare provider that in mid-July

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 most important information

Cybersecurity Update

• Advocate Aurora Health of Wisconsin & Illinois notified 1,907 patients that their PHI was exposed after a mailing error by Diamond Healthcare Communications.
• The Idaho Board of Nursing reported a potential breach exposing info on nurses in the state, being used by a hacking group to extort funds.
• The Philadelphia Archdiocese of Pennsylvania notified 47 clergy abuse victims that their info was exposed after email leak.
• Morgan Stanley, headquartered in New York City, NY, was sued by current and former customers who had their confidential info exposed during recent data breaches.
• BeneSys, headquartered in Troy, MI, notified 1,070 patients that their PHI was exposed during recent data leak.
• The Connection Inc., headquartered in Middletown, CT, notified an unknown number of patients their PHI was exposed after email phishing attack.
• Summit Medical Associates of Fort Wayne, IN notified an unknown number of patients that their PHI was exposed after ransomware attack.
• Hoag Clinic of Costa Mesa, CA notified 730 patients that their PHI was exposed after laptop computer was stolen.
• USA Today newspaper reports that hacking attacks on hospitals for PHI increased during the pandemic
  • 80% of medical practices have been victims of cyberattacks
  • 51% reported patient safety concerns from attacks
  • 20% had business interrupted for more than 5 hours
  • 6000% increase in spam attacks
  • 75% increase in security incidents
  • $50 each being paid by hackers for PHI
• The American Payroll Association, headquartered in San Antonio, TX notified 20,000 members that their info may have been exposed after discovery of skimmer malware on its website.
• Cook Children’s Medical Center of Fort Worth, TX notified 1,768 patients that their PHI was exposed after a box of medical records were stolen.
• Utah Pathology Services of Salt Lake City, UT notified 112,000 patients that their PHI was exposed after hacking incident.
• United Memorial Medical Center of Houston, TX notified an unknown number of patients that their PHI was exposed after a ransomware attack.
• Greenville Technical College of South Carolina notified an unknown number of students that their info may have been exposed after a ransomware attack.
• Selma Unified School District of Selma, CA notified an unknown number of students that their info may have been exposed after a ransomware attack.
• University of Virginia reported that one of its researchers was arrested after attempting to board a flight to China with stolen materials.
• The City of Rocky Mount in North Carolina notified an unknown number of citizens that their info was exposed after ransomware attack.
• Sudhish Kasaba Ramesh, former Cisco Corp. employee, pleaded guilty to deploying malware to shut down 16,000 Cisco WebEx Teams accounts and deletion of 456 virtual machines.
  • Faces 5 years in prison and deportation.
• Ponemon Institute report states that average global cost of insider-caused breach is up 31% to $11.45 million
  • Frequency of incidents up 47%
  • Average of $211,533 per company cost per year
  • Average incident takes 77 days to contain
• ZDNet magazine reports on BEC (business email compromise) hacking attacks:
• Average attempt is now $80,000
• Use email phishing attacks that focus on stealing login credentials
• Then distribute malware
• New BEC hacking group is Cosmic Lynx of Russia
• Crowdstrike Security is reporting that an Iranian hacking group, named Pioneer Kitten (aka Fox Kitten or Parisite) is now selling access to compromised companies on the Dark Web.
• Bryan Connor Herrell of Aurora, CO was sentenced to 11 years in prison for selling stolen items on the Dark Web.
• Palau Corp. of Orlando, FL notified an unknown number of customers that their info was accessed during a recent cybersecurity incident.
• Amphastar Pharmaceuticals of Rancho Cucamonga, CA notified an unknown number of patients that their PHI may have been accessed during recent cybersecurity incident.
• Mansfield City School District of Ohio notified an unknown number of students that their info may have been access after ransomware attack.
• Somerset Berkley Regional School District of Massachusetts notified an unknown number of students that their info was exposed after ransomware attack.
• Jewish Federation of Greater Washington in Maryland reported that it lost $7.5 million after cyberattack.
• Oregon State University in Corvallis, OR notified 1,700 students that their info was accessed during recent hacking incident.
• Northwestern Memorial Healthcare of Chicago, IL notified 55,983 patients that their PHI was exposed after ransomware attack.
• Spectrum Health of Grand Rapids, MI notified 52,500 patients that their PHI was exposed after ransomware attack.
• Roper St. Francis Hospital of Charleston, SC notified 6,000 patients that their PHI was exposed after email phishing attack.
• Miami-Dade School District of Florida announced that David Oliveros, a student, was arrested and charged with conducting 8 cyberattacks on the schools.
• University of Illinois at Chicago Pain Clinic is being sued by a former patient, Bianca Anderson, for allegedly changing her medical records to wrongly label her as a cocaine user.
• The federal government is warning U.S. universities, such as University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, that the Chinese government is ramping up its hacking attempts in order to steal COVID-19 vaccine research.
• Hamilton Health Center of Harrisburg, PA notified 10,393 patients that their PHI was exposed during recent email phishing attack.
• Assured Imaging of Tucson, Arizona notified 245,000 patients that their PHI was exposed after ransomware attack.

COVID19 Remote Working Day One Hundred and Twenty-Five of Selling

The last week or so with almost no orders has seen me fighting with myself.  Am I doing everything right? Is there something I'm missing? Am I prospecting enough?  Am I asked the right questions?  What can I do to turn things around?

I thought quite a bit about where I'm at for the month with 9 selling days left in the month last night.  I figure that I'm right back to where I was in March & April where just keep making the calls and sending the emails.  My break out month was May went I billed more than $200K.  Thus it has crossed my mind that September and maybe October might be more like March & April.  I don't like it and don't want to accept it but until our Governor tells everyone to get back to get back to work in our offices it's going to be like this for quite sometime.  Almost thinking it maybe the right to time to make a move to another state.

Moving to another state is interesting, would it be New Mexico, or maybe Arizona?  It then hit me that moving to another state would be giving up.  I've never given up on anything in my life. I've always had the attitude that I can get whatever I want whenever I want it.  The pandemic has thrown a tiny wrench in the attitude for the time being.  No, I'm not going to move and yes I will see this new normal play out here in the North East.

Not a lot went on today. I'm still stuck with my middle four digits for the month.  Today saw a little more action from a few clients but nothing to get super excited about.

The totals for today for prospecting was 16 emails, 18 calls, 3 Teams Appointments, 2 Inmails, 4 texts and 1 Linkedin post.  Three appointments will put on damper on your prospecting for the day.

I mentioned something new in today's prospecting and that was the one Linkedin post.  I went through some of Ricoh's Youtube posts, thought of a nest thread for the video and then posted on Linkedin.  While I'm trying to connect with more peeps on Linkedin I thought posting something about my services could help the cause.  The next thing I need to do is make a list or a couple of lists of the people that I want to see the thread and incorporate them on the post (post lol).

Tomorrow means more of the same....prospecting and growing the funnel because sooner or later the funnel will burst.  I'm hoping sooner than later.

-=Good Selling=-

COVID19 Remote Working Day One Hundred and Twenty-Four of Selling Copiers

Eight more business days and we'll be at the 6 month mark since I was optioned to working remote.  Never in my life did I expect something like this. 

Something like this does make for some great small talk with the gatekeeper though. On many calls I find my self having a laugh with the gatekeeper because at this point in time I'm happy to speak with anyone.  It always gets a chuckle and seems to break the ice when I tell them I'm just happy that I have someone to talk to since I'm remote. In most cases the info I need which  is when is the best time or the best way to contact/communication with the decision maker.

I took yesterdays blog and put Jake Dunlops plan in action today.  One of his taking points with connecting with DM is to mention something to the CEO that they would not expect that you know.  I use Linkedin for most of my research and came up with the C Level Executive that I thought was in charge of buying what I have to offer.  You may ask how did I know that?  It's because I cruised through their contacts and saw a 1st level contact with one of my competitors.  It's a great thing being connected to so many sales people because since I'm connected I can see their level of connection.

I did the research on Linkedin, then Google and I really didn't find much. I went back to Linkedin and read some of the recommendations from others that have worked with or for this person.  One of those referenced a book that the C Level Exec wrote back in 2018.  I googled the book, it was on Amazon and the cost was $9.00 thus I made the investment in myself and ordered the book.  I then sent that Exec a message stating, "just ordered your book and can't wait to read it".  That was all I sent.

In a few days I'll have my book and I'll read the book (hoping it's not too long). From there I'll write a few notes and my plan is to send additional Linkedin messages with maybe thoughts or comments about what I read.  Will it work?  I have no clue, but I do like Jake's plan because it is different.  I'm a firm believer of throwing enough crap on the wall and see what sticks.  In addition what do I have to lose?  I have nothing to lose and more to gain, who knows maybe the book will help me in other ways that I'm not aware of.

The point is to be different, try different things in this new normal

I did this with another Exec also today. This person is the Business Administrator and in most cases they either do the buying or they know who the buyer is.  Yet again it was another trip to Linkedin.  After reading the persons bio and reviewing that persons job history I got what I needed.  In this case the BA served in the Army as an infantry officer and from what I can see maybe still be in the reserves. I sent off an email thanking that person for their service and then asked if he had trained in Fort Benning, Georgia.  The reason why I asked about For Benning is because my son went to basic training there as infantry.   In that same email I also asked if he was the right person to contact or if there was someone else to contact.  

In both cases I put the plan in action and we'll see what comes out of it.  AS I mention last night it's not something that will get me a quick sale but is something that can be nurtured over time.  Hey,  as long as you're prospecting you never know what tomorrow will bring you.

Today's stats saw me with 22 phone calls, 21 emails, 3 inmails (linkedin), 1 text and I was able to knock down two appointments.  Opportunities for the day was zero.

Tomorrow means another day of the same. I usually reserve my mornings for completing tasks on "things to do" list and the afternoon is spend prospecting.

I think I closer to maybe a couple of orders in the next couple of days.  I've got 10 selling days left in the month and don't have much to show for September yet.

I may waiver every once in a while but I will not let this pandemic defeat me in attaining my goal for the end of the year.

-=Good Selling=-

The Week in Copiers 5 Years Ago Second Week of September 2015

I had some big news today. Well it was big for me and may or may not be big for others.  Most of you that I sell a lot of wide format MFP's.  I've been with the Ricoh wide format product since 1998.  There are or let me say there were three toner based wide formats models that Ricoh offers to their dealers and direct channel.  Seems COVID19 has now caused Ricoh to eliminate both the MP W7100 and MP W8140 (10 ppm & 14ppm) from their lineup.  Thus leaving only one toner based wide format.  I asked myself what happens when a client needs four rolls?  The answer is they will now buy Oce (Canon) or KIP. I'll be blogging more about this shortly.

Enjoy these threads from five years ago this week!

Sooner or later, the chasing of revenue through acquisition would prove unworthily for the Document Imaging Channel's investors. Unfortunately, this pandemic is highlighting faster what many were hoping wouldn't happen so quickly. 

The realization from the end-users themselves that much of the oversold print equipment is not needed. Another realization is that transitioning a print/copier business into a Managed IT Services business, which sells and services print equipment, seems implausible by the lack of adaptation. 

Since the start of this pandemic, more and more of the investment dollars are going outside the print channel.

Is Private Equity Giving up on Print?

Since the beginning of 2020, the IT services industry has seen over 300 acquisitions. The Imaging Channel, on the other hand, only needs one hand to count its M&A activity over this same period.

In one publication I read it described over 30 Private Equity groups investing in Managed Service Providers. Even our friends at Oval Partners invested last week in a roll-up of four IT Service companies called "New Charter Technologies." See the below link

https://www.channele2e.com/inv...s-forms-new-charter/

As well, Manufactures as Konica and Ricoh are way more focused on Managed IT and IT Security as Acquisition strategies. These two organizations must be watching "The End Of The Day With Ray!" For three years, I have cautioned on the coming bubble burst as mega dealers insisted on buying up more of the same declining revenue without a strategy to eliminate the over cost to their go-to-market strategy and make the serious adjustments needed to align with the market's realities of the deliverable. 

What's the endgame for the current roll-ups? I guess by the start of 2021; some will answer that question.

In my vision, I see some more asset sales as some escape doom and retire; I see the investments in the mega dealers shift to the end game. Maybe Staples doubles down and grabs one or even two mega dealers at discounted prices. Perhaps the private equity groups decide on pulling cash out through a leveraged lending strategy. 

One thing has to be evident to all, continuing in the ways of the pre-virus world will not withstand the pressures in the realities of print equipment and its services.

It seems as Private Equity is looking outside the Document Imaging Channel, and I predict there won't be near the excitement as in the past in chasing declining revenues. Investment bubbles burst once the realization of the perceived glories is exposed as an actual fantasy. The document Imaging Channel has had its perceived treasures revealed. Growth through acquisition in a declining deliverable without diversification or significant cost reductions to the deliverable was and is pure fantasy.  

Maybe it's time to take a note from our friends at Oval Partners, Ricoh, and Konica and start investing in IT Services companies.

I am starting to form an opinion that Managed IT Services and Managed Print Services are so far apart in their deliverables. That putting these organizations together isn't realistic and honestly is probably the reason for the decade of failures in the many who attempted it. 

Maybe it is time for dealers to own two separate organizations, one of Managed Print and one of Managed IT or IT Security Services. 

Here's a thought, If a mega car dealer went out and bought a chain of gas stations, they would surely not make it one company. Even though all the cars they sell use gas! Managed Print and Managed IT are too far apart to bring together. Especially from a print driven agenda hasn't the last decade proved this?

After all the failed attempts for over a decade, maybe Print and IT Services were never supposed to be together. Perhaps the private equity is ahead of the industry on this thinking. Oval Partners did not buy the four IT company roll-up through Flex; they kept it separate, and I believe they were correct in that decision. Time will tell, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense to separate the deliverables. 

What if dealers focused on cutting all costs possible regarding their print services company, realigning to sell and deliver print equipment to the marketplace's realities, stopped overselling A3, Built digital customer engagement platforms (E-Commerce), stopped chasing the fantasy of production print without a business plan and understanding of its potential and concentrated on growing their print business through a lowering delivery cost thereby increasing margin. 

While at the same time, they owned a separate business engaged in Managed IT Services without the noise of Managed Print and focused on growing a profitable IT Services company. I my thinking, there are thousands of Managed IT Services companies doing very well without selling print. It just might be time to re-evaluate the last decades' failures honestly.  

Maybe the dealers need a different way to think about the future. That future might be better with two companies doing what they do best instead of one company floundering in mediocrity as its best. I look forward to exploring this strategy more.   

"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

I'm thinking it should be 124 days but yesterday here in the USA was a holiday.

Over the long weekend I read an excellent thread about the top 5 ways to get in front of a CEO.  Jake Dunlop wrote this and I'm sure he won't mind me sharing as long as you connect with him.  

Jake's stuff is below;

Most sales reps should not waste time trying to get in front of a CEO. They can’t talk the talk yet.

But hey, why not try...here are the top five ways to get in front of a CEO from a CEO

1. Act like you understand there is zero chance I’m available next week and pick a date a few weeks out - show you get it

2. Talk about something you know about me outside of my role and what my company does. Impress me with something non-obvious

3. Leverage your CEO or senior executive - high likelihood I’m going to resonate with their narrative and that’s ok.

When I was 28-29, I leveraged my CEO and COO to get meetings with the CEO of Kimpton Hotels and CHRO of Intel.

No way I could have ran those meetings 😂

4. Never talk product.

Make the goal of the first meeting to educate me on the space, it’s importance, and why we should meet again.

5. Be relentless.

Call my EA, mail me stuff, and send highly customized notes. 80% of the time people are just busy and might take touchpoint 14 to breakthrough.

Compare this to what you are doing now...

Setting C-level meetings is hard and if you want to actually get there, you have to be willing to research and prep like you’ve never done before.

Set the big meetings my friends - good luck 💯

I agree with all five and number two is the best of all.  If you're doing your research on Linkedin or Google you can find something to break the ice rather than spouting speeds, feeds and products.  I especially the line after number 5 about reletness and increasing those touch points to 14 (maybe even more).  Jake is also right about the time thing especially during COVID19, most CEO's are focused on surviving along with how to still grow the business.  Shooting that person with an email or an inmail with interesting subject matter can go a long way.  This is not a method that will get you an appointment in weeks or months, but a relationship that you cultivate over time.

Today was all about prospecting and research and a little bit of following up.  After the long weekend I thought it would be best to let the ball travel for another day.

I logged 45 touches today.  Fifteen of those were via email, nineteen phone calls, ten inmails via Linkedin, and one text.  I was able to schedule one appointment and create a small opportunity for this month.  Not a great day but a good day to kick off the week. 

Another one of my goals for September was to get control of my CRM because there is no way I can make 100 calls or touches a day.  If I had zero clients to attend to then yes I could make the those calls.  I believe I'm at that point of finally being able to look at my CRM and be upset because there's no way I can make those calls.  For instance tomorrow I have 37 touches (calls or emails) on tap for the day. I know that's a goal that I can accomplish, this enables me to have a better mindset for the day.

Late in the day I received a verbal for a net new order and I'm hoping this is the order that will open the flood gates for September.  It's not a big order nor is it a decent size one, it's for a small mono A4 but it is a net new client!

Tomorrow will be more of the same, I believe I have another appointment mid-day.  More of the day will be spent following up on the opportunity list and trying to bring some of these to the finish line.

-=Good Selling=-

The Week in Copiers 15 Year Ago First Week of September

Thursday night here in NJ.  I'm hoping when the Labor Day Holiday is finished that things will break wide open for business.  Jobs report is due today.

Enjoy these threads from 15 years ago this week

Seems like maybe I was on vacation from the amount of threads below