MFP Copier Blog

Contex (Chantilly, Virginia), an industry leader in large-format scanning, has announced the availability of a new report, Requirements for Successful Large Format Scanning. The report addresses four “must-haves” for scanning – hardware design, software options, productivity and flexibility, and image quality. “Combined, these essential requirements make it possible to deliver the best scans at the fastest speeds with the highest image quality,” said the company. “Our latest report is a helpful resource for understanding the subtle nuances of a well-designed scanning solution. For anyone considering a new scanner or upgrading, this document is a must-read,” said Steve Blanken, General Manager of Contex Americas.

Requirements for Successful Large Format Scanning addresses several key issues, including subtle design features that “make a big difference” with scanning. For example, said Contex, scanners should have large-capacity input buffers that allow operators to scan one document after the next without a delays or lag time. High-quality camera lenses and scanning technology also make it possible to capture every detail in detailed, clear colour. Guide-plate options should also let operators scan any type of document – thick or thin, rigid or flexible. A simple and intuitive interface should allow even the newest of operators to feel confident when using a scanner.

Please visit contex.com/scanning to download the free report.

The big 70! 

Since the weather has turned nice I find my self waking up earlier than every before.  This morning it was 5AM when I grabbed a cup of coffee and then sat in the back yard to see the sun rise over the ocean.  This morning was a little different from the others because I dozed off on the lounger after a half over or so.  I was brought back to reality when I felt a thump on my chest and was there was Angus.  Angus came to us a few years ago and adopted us as her people and yes she is a female cat and yes I named her Angus.  There I was face to face with Angus and she was sporting a dead mole in her mouth!  Guess she just wanted to show me what she caught.

By 8AM I took the long commute to my home office, gotta love no traffic,  no tolls, no gas to buy and the extra time I have every day.

This morning I had a 10AM appointment with an account that was about an hour away. I left the house at about 8:30AM because I promised the wife I would take her car for any oil change.  I've been going to the same place for the last ten years for those oil changes and every year I see a new printer that was purchased.  In every case it's one of those cheap A4's that are $400 bucks or so.  Today the old printer had been replaced with a Brother A4 MFP.  Every transaction produces and invoice for the client.  I would tend to think they do 300 plus oil changes or services every day.  Yes, I've tried to talk to them about getting a better product, however the owner is never there and it's been difficult to track that person.  I've got bigger fish to fry and get a chuckle every time I see a new device.  My paper invoice from today had dark shading along the left side of the invoice.  Thus where the toner cost per page is about 3 cents for clean pages they are probably paying double that and don't even know it.  I had another one of those chuckle moments when I saw the invoice.

I spent a good hour at my appointment today. A few weeks ago we replaced and A3 color with an A4 color and upgraded the wide format MFP.  Today was a discovery meeting to find out more about if they were a prospect for IT services.  After the first 20 minutes I saw a couple of issues with someone needing licensing information for Adobe, (they didn't know where it was) and then a printer driver issue that was of the employees was trying to fix.  After forty minutes I found out that they don't meet our minimums for IT services.  I think it was seven PC's and one server, however I did develop and opportunity to replace one of the smaller black A4 devices that's not working.  Small opp but everything counts to get to where I need in July.  Short month means everything is fair game.

While at the meeting I received a verbal from one of the net news that I'm working on. I believe it's $20K or maybe a little less.  I replied asap to that email and stated I would send the docs in the AM tomorrow.

My afternoon was filled with furniture hunting with my wife for our apartment. After three years it's complete and now we need to add furniture because out plan is to rent it out for weekends or a week at a time during the summer.

Tomorrow will be busy with another appointment (remote), develop the order docs and then catch up on prospecting, follow ups and I still need to create my constant contact email.

Yay, two days till vacation!

-=Good Selling=-

Today marked the last day of the month and the last day of the and quarter for me.  Nothing changed from yesterday, however I did get a tad bit exciting when I had a call from my net new prospect for a call meeting as soon as possible.  Of course I dropped everything and jumped on the call. That call was more about understanding the two proposals so that he could present to his team later today.  Keeping my toes and fingers crossed that this may happen tomorrow or the end of this week.

We had a weekly sales wrap us today at 11AM. I was impressed because we put up some great numbers for last week at almost $200K.  Then this week which we're only two days into it we logged another $150K.  Pretty awesome numbers and a pretty awesome team.  Seems no one has given up and as we enter the last half of the year those numbers will only get better.

In a day that I had no meetings scheduled I ended up with three.  One was the email that I spoke about and the other two were from a couple of calls I put in. One of those calls resulting in creating a small opportunity for $7K.

Today I read a thread from a Linkedin connection that posted a comment to one of my posts.  The headline was "82% of the workforce will be back to the office in the next 12-18 months".  That reply is below.

I really didn't think much into it but agreed that cold calling in person is not acceptable now. In addition I replied to the public sector bit and those that are working from home.  At least in NJ I'm thinking most that are working those public jobs will be back in the office at some time this year.

Later in the day I had a chat with our Major Accounts rep and the chat was about the tough time getting those majors to do something. I was told that many of the objections to not moving forward is because more majors are looking to reduce office staff (more remote) and reduce space.  Therefor the thought of the decision makers is that they will not print as much and will not require as many print devices.  Which makes sense from what I've been reading and what I've heard from others and then the reply on Linkedin today.

Sometimes right place, right time does matter.  I've never been a majors person and I believe that's because I don't have the metal capacity to wait months on end for orders.  Seems to me now that maybe there is a slight advantage to doing business with smaller companies that don't have the logistic issues that COVID19 has created. 

If someone asked me, how should I go about selling in COVID19?  My first suggestion would be to not focus on majors and go after those the low hanging fruit.  Of course the revenue won't be as much from majors but something is better than nothing.

Our sales meeting last for about 45 minutes and I was able to set up shop in my backyard.  It was quite awesome that I could soak up some sun for those 45 minutes.  Of course lunch was next course of action.

The afternoon was spent developing a quote for a smaller opportunity that popped up yesterday, crossing off to do's and then a meeting with that small opportunity.  This opportunity may have some legs later this week.

About 4PM I wrote another blog for my Jersey Plotters site.  This one was a little tough and took the better part of and hour. You can read that here if you wish.

Tomorrow I have one on-site appointment and I'll also spend time sending my once a month constant contact email to 700 net news that I want to stay in front of.  This email will mark the third one since I restarted doing them on the first day of the new selling month. I've generated one order for $7K for those two emails. Just something I need to keep doing because I'm thinking no other rep is doing their.  Set yourself apart from others, dare to be different right?

As always when I start a new month I take a look to see how many selling days there are.  With the Fourth of July there are only 21 selling days. In addition I'm taking a weeks vacation. July will be interesting!

-=Good Selling=-

New Jersey is now in full swing for Phase Two opening. Our Governor announced today that in-door dining will start on July 2,  in addition Casino's can now open in Atlantic City that day. The caveat because there always is one with our Governor is that a maximum of 25% occupancy.  Most businesses are open with conditions for occupancy,  health clubs, gyms, and pools are still closed. In addition most business offices are still closed.

The statement today centered on people behaving, if we behave with masks and social distancing more will open in the coming weeks rather than months.  It was mentioned that our Governor had reports of crowds at the beaches, no masks and no social distancing.  He then stated that if we don't behave he will pull back on re-opening.  Yes it is a tough state to do business in these days.

With one day left in the month I probably going to finish in the $265K range for the quarter.  Far short of my $300K goal.  Would have been nice to hit it, but certain things just don't pan out the way we want them to.  I'm happy with the effort and the numbers for the last three months.  What I thought was going to be a **** show quarter turned out to be my best month and my best quarter in the forty years I've been doing this.

I had a couple of follow ups today and the most important was one of the news for $20K.  In an email I asked if there were any additional questions along with the statement that we'll be closing our June books on the 23rd.  I did not beg for the order, all I implied was the month is closing.  In an email a few minutes later my DM stated that he thought I needed everything by the end of this week.  The reference for the end of this week is because of the time constraints we have with deliveries and Phase 2 in PA & NJ.  I replied that all is good it it happens tomorrow that's great and if not the end of the week is great also.  That email pretty much told me that yes we're getting the deal, however there's some finishing touches that DM needs to finish up.

I was able to add a small opportunity for about $6k that should be an order in July.  Right now I have 28 opportunities working for July, if we ever open up the state July could also be a super month.  As of now I'll be happy with making sure I have my quota and anything else will be a bonus.

I really didn't do anything special today except prepping for the new month.  Which means updating the CRM, rescheduling calls and weeding out some of the crap.  Tomorrow I'll process the one deal, pray for another and get to work on designing  a constant contact email to go out on the 24th.

One other note, I an email request from a Print4Pay Hotel member asking what I though of their email for obtaining an appointment.  Before I post it, I thought it would be great to see what others are doing and what we can share.  I've posted a lot of what I've been doing with emails and would like to hear from others. 

Please post in the reply and tell us whats working for you!

-=Good Selling=-

Wow, must have been a slow week or I was taking a break during the summer! 

Enjoy these threads from 15 years ago this week!

I had no idea it was 11:30PM!  I'll make this a short review since it's so late and there's much to do tomorrow.

I received my order for the existing wide format client this AM.  Thus I'm around $262k for the quarter. I had some clean up to do with emails in the AM and it was time to leave for the NJ office.  Yes, I was back to the office for the first time in 67 days.  I needed to print off by side-by-side report in color and a few power point pages for my net new drop-off aka meeting. I'm not back for good but it was good to pay a visit, too bad no one else was there.

Our office is in one of the largest corporate parks in New Jersey.  I read that Raritan Center has fourteen thousand workers and who knows how many businesses there are.  One thing I noticed while driving to the office is that scarcity of cars in the parking lots.  If someone asked me to guess what the percentage of occupancy is I would say it was 20% of what the normal is.  I can only hope that things will change for the better in the next 30 days.

I had my mini meeting with the person collecting all of the information and was proud to drop off the print samples, the side-by-side and the power point slides. I asked if she had received the other quotes and that was a yes. I was told they will review the samples and the information and we'd schedule a meeting the middle of next week.  Of course I asked where do we stand at this point in time and I was told that we have the highest pricing for hardware and the highest pricing for service.  What a great way to end the week and the first thing that came to mind is to bounce back to my value points. However this was not the place or time to do that.  Let's see how the samples and the side-by-side shakes out first and I can address the value points with the next meeting. In that next meeting I will also clarify that we are comparing apples to apples with accessories and buyout numbers. 

After a few stops on the way home (to do list), I finally arrived back at my home office around 3PM.  I sent a few additional emails, made a call and called it a week.

I've got two days left in the month.  Monday I'll be calling the other net new to see if there's a chance of pulling that 20K order together.  As far as my month goes I'm about $5k short of my monthly quota.  There's still some work to to do.

Everyone have a great weekend!

-=Good Selling=-