MFP Copier Blog

I have such a terrible stress headache tonight.  When I get these the only cure is to get some sleep which I will be doing shortly.

Today at sixty-six days marks a full quarter since I was optioned to working remotely.  One quarter of the year has passed, and I'm thinking we've still got a another 30 days of this.  So far working remote has been a very very good to me. No interruptions, not as many breaks, I'm more focused and spend less time chatting with others while I'm in the office.  When I do get the chance to go back I'm thinking I might be at the office one day a week.  I'll also be opting for on-line meetings and setting those chats on the phone that's been working so well the last two months.  

Yesterday is already a blur and the best I can remember about the day is that I finally received the order docs for the 8K existing account deal (this time they were signed).  The wife and I scooted out around 4PM so that we could babysit our granddaughter for a few hours.  It was more like my wife babysitting and I was put in charge of dinner and taking care of my son's dog.  In any case it was a nice evening. What dog pooh's twice when they go for a walk? I only brought one bag and felt terrible when he squatted for the second time.  Thus Rebel and I got an extended walk since I had to walk back and get another bag.  

Today I had with a net new client meeting that lasted the better part of an hour. No opportunity with this account now, however sooner or later the existing wide format copier and the regular copiers will need to be upgraded.  We both agreed that we would have a follow up meeting in four months.  This is another one of those accounts that I've been after for ten years plus.  I figure if I hang around long enough I'll have a good shot at this account also. 

Sometimes simple is better right?  I was speaking with one of my other reps today and we spoke about how many calls it's taking to just get through to someone.  I told him I focus more on emails rather than phone calls.  This appointment was set with a simple email subject line of "Hope you are well" and the content was "Hope you and family are well in these difficult times, do you have time for a short chat?".  I'm not saying that this works all of the time but I've have more success with setting appointments via email rather than phone calls.

More and more of yesterday is coming back to me. My Jersey Plotters site developed a call yesterday that I was able to turn into a lead. Pretty decent lead also since it's for one of those grand wide format printers. I'll be the first one to admit that I'm still a bit of a novice with these printers, however each opportunity is a educational experience.  I'm giving this a 50/50 shot at landing because I'm really not where I need to be with understanding the market and the devices.  

After my 9:30AM appointment I had to take a drive to our office in Bethlehem to print out some samples for that net client.  I couldn't do it local because we didn't have that device available. I finally arrived back at my home office about 3PM and that's when the stress headache developed. I know what brought it on but won't discuss it here.

Another decent day because I also received a verbal for the wide format order for the existing account I've been working.  

Tomorrow in the AM I need to process the one order for $8K, write the other order and send to the client for $14K and then a couple of meetings for the day. I'm still hoping to get the net new deal by the end of the week for the $20K. It's not guaranteed but since we've had emails everyday this week I'm optimistic for this one.  Also on track for tomorrow is to develop a side-by-side comparison for the net new I made the samples for. I'll be dropping the samples off on Friday of this week along with the side-by-side.  Keeping my fingers crossed on this one too.

-=Good Selling=-

Tonight's blog is preempted due to baby sitting our granddaughter.  She's almost six months old now!  I'll be back at it tomorrow.

-=Good Selling=-

Today was not a good day for me.

It's not because I lost an order nor is it because something unexpected happened.  Today was a day when I couldn't get out of my own way.  It was a mental block that kept me from prospecting even though I had plenty of time available to prospect I didn't make the effort.

I've been thinking about this all evening as to what was bugging me or what was stopping me.  On all thoughts I came up empty. Was it me, was it something that was bugging me or did I burn the candle down to far in the last 12 weeks.  It went so far that I walked away from the computer grabbed a quart of stain and finished a project in the back year.  Two hours later I was back in my office and managed to make a few calls and emails.

I know better,  I've been doing this for forty years.  Yes and in those forty years I have events like this before,  You just get so worn down from the day to day events at times. One minute you're up and the next minute you're down. One month every line you cast brings in a fish and the next month your casts bring back nothing. I've been here, I've done this before, but today was a deja vu day.

So what will change tomorrow? This is something I need to kick in the ass right away. Today's woo is me event can't lapse into day two. I will take the day and get back to it.  At times  I think this type of struggle happens to all of us, there's no rhyme or reason why it happens right?  Could it be that my conscious knew I needed the break and that's what lead to the shutdown? That could be the answer and that's the answer that I'll take moving forward.

I did get documents for an existing account this AM for an $8K order.  My deal with another existing account is still in the weeds after another email today.  My wide format should order should have legs tomorrow also. Moving into the last six days of the month I've got a $20K net new opp that looks decent for this week.  The rest is all a cluster **** that I need to pull together in hurry if I'm to hit my $300K for the quarter.

I almost forgot it was about 3PM when I went to process the those order docs.  I opened to review and none of them were signed......thinking the client sent me the wrong docs.  Geesh what a day, I'm sure I'll have these tomorrow.

Wednesday of this week I'm off to one of our office to prep some prints  samples for a net new client.  This is the $30K opp if you've been following. I decided that I'm going to make the print samples so I can be in control of what I want to give the client.  Color is in the eye of the beholder and I can't risk having someone else think what might be good or good enough. If I'm going to lose it because I did the work and If I'm going to win it's because I did the work.

Looking for a better day tomorrow.  I know I do all the writing but has anyone else had says like this?

-=Good Selling=-

"Neither the Racer's starting position nor the Racer's optimism in winning guarantee a victory. It's the actions taken before and during the race, which leads to winning."

Too much Optimism Can Blur Visions.  

Recently I heard a leader in the Imaging Channel optimistically say, "The Imaging Channel is positioned perfectly to pivot to Managed IT Services" My response to anyone using the term "positioned perfectly" is this. The Racer had their position in the front row; some thought they were positioned to win. However, the professional Racer knew his position at the start of the race had nothing to do with his skills during the race. In other words, one's position is a defining starting point and has nothing to do with where one ends up or if they win.  

The Document Imaging Channel's unrealistic optimism to their perceived positioning for success in Managed IT Services is what I believe held many of them back in diversifying into or failing at the Managed IT Services deliverable.

It seems as the realities of their core print services deliverable's current circumstances were not sufficiently disturbing them enough to take diversification seriously, and they optimistically believed that when they needed to pivot, they could do so quickly.

Yes, there are some in the Imaging Channel who believes just being present or, in position, would provide them victory in delivering Managed IT Services. That thinking is as delusional as those who believe their customer relationships will last past their product's relevance. It is always through an out of alignment with market realities between customers and those who service them where industries become vulnerable to disruption.

The realities of delivering Managed IT Services seem to be out of reach for most of the Industry's optimistic actors. Unfortunately, after over a decade of good intentions, I would argue that no dealer or manufacture's direct operations are producing north of 20% of their print equipment and services revenues through a Managed IT Services deliverable.

The Industry believed that delivering IT Services would be easier if they could control the vision of its success so, when presented actions needed for success which could not be imbedded in the processess of the print deliverable they were dismissed as unrealistic. Instead of aligning their businesses to be IT services organizations capable of providing print services, they mistakenly remained Print services organizations that would attempt to deliver IT services. This mistake is costing the Industry's actors dearly.

The Managed Print Distraction

As I watched the Industry's dealers chase a fictitious diversification called Managed Print Services, I was concerned about the distraction over Managed IT Services. Managed Print Services was never a diversification; it was merely a reclassification of transactional to contractional revenue.

The thing which was common to both types of agreements was the revenue would continue declining. In other words, print equipment and its services would never grow within an account regardless of what one called, labeled, or classified its contractional component.  

The marketplace realities of the declines in Print Equipment and its services have been and will continue to be clearly defined in the numbers. Regardless of any optimism that those numbers will keep growing. This pandemic has brought an awareness to all involved with the print deliverable. More importantly, the Industry's end-users will now be presented with alternatives from new actors who also became aware.

The Numbers are Coming will the alarm bells finally be heard?  

Sometime in July, the Industry's manufactures will report earnings for the quarter ending in June. As we all remember, the previous quarter ending in March was a blood bath. It seems all signs would indicate that this coming quarter's end will be even worse. In reality, whatever the numbers, the cost cuts to achieve them are themselves redefining an industry's relevance.

"It's through the financial microscope where realities once blurred by too much optimism are clarified; it's through this clarity where visions must realign with realties."  

The quarterly results of an industry's key players are the barometer for that Industry. For the Document Imaging Channel, those key players are the equipment manufacturers and those mega dealers who represent them. Over the last decade, as print volumes continued to decline, many of the Industry's key players denied the merits of the decline, believing that growth through acquisition would outrun the market's reality.

If the Industry's dealers are ready to expand their relevance, they must admit to the reasons why the transition to IT services failed. The Industry must acquire the needed human capital to make the IT pivot. For too long, the channel has ignored the fact that delivering IT services is not about its positioning; it is not about its optimums. The Industry's leaders must admit providing Managed IT Services is about the actions they take, which will lead them to victory.

While the Imaging Channel aligns its optimism with its realities. They must also acknowledge, that it will be much easier for IT Services providers to delver print equipment than print providers to deliver IT services. The IT industry was waiting for the evolution of A4 equipment to align with the declines in printed output. This pandemic has brought awareness to what the IT industry was waiting for.

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

If not already Let's connect here on Linkedin and I welcome everyone to subscribe to my YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channe...A?view_as=subscriber

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

Ray Stasieczko   

“Whether they stem from business or personal situations, our relationships are what support us, connect us, and allow us to progress in all aspects of our lives.”

Michelle Tillis Lederman, 11 Laws of Likability

Your clients are undeniably one of your most precious assets. Without them 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, end of story.

"Your clients smell what you're cooking and not cooking really fast."

Building meaningful relationships and connecting with your clients is mission critical to your sales success. We as humans crave and value relationships.

Do you think your clients crave the same?

Relationships are a part of human nature. We long for and value relationships. It's hard-wired in our DNA.

"The more you give, ultimately the more you receive."

On a scale of 1-10...

• How well are you personally engaging with your clients?
• Are you authentically investing in building meaningful relationships?
• Are you doing what they believe is necessary? Would you even know?

CREDIBLE RELATIONSHIPS

"Trust is the foundation of a credible and healthy relationship."

Your ability to build trust and credibility is mission critical to maintaining healthy client relationships. Lack of credibility and how believable you are, causes your clients to not trust you.

Lack of trust costs you your clients and diminishes your ability to consistently succeed in sales.

Credibility = Trust + Expertise + Authenticity

Building and keeping credible relationships is not simple and straightforward. You must authentically invest in order to build a credible relationship.

This means it takes careful planning, consistency, discipline and heart to nurture relationships in order to become an integral part of your clients' lives.

You simply can't do this with a monthly call, a quarterly visit, a semi-annual visit or the classics... "I'm checking in with you" or "Just touching base."

RELATIONSHIPS AND GARDENING

Nurturing and growing your client relationships is similar to gardening in many ways. It takes time and dedication.

Do you have a green thumb when tending to your relationship garden?

Fail to water your garden and we all know what happens. A relationship which is started, but not watered will wither and die, it is the natural order of things.

"Gardening is a process. Planting is a task."

A garden which is planted and not tended or cultivated, ultimately will grow weeds, wither and die. 

How many sales reps walk out into their relationship garden and find that it has been decimated from neglect (no deposits of relationship trust) and overrun with weeds (competitors).

"Sales professionals fertilize their relationship garden while sales reps struggle to water their garden."

The expert gardener will never skip a day of weeding or watering. The next day the garden may not look much different, but they know that over time the results reflect the effort.

A sales professional will never skip a day of relationship gardening. They realize the more they tend to their garden the more the relationships blossom.

Most sales reps are like average gardeners. They blame nature for burning their plants (clients), not raining enough, bugs, weeds, poor soil and crappy results.

A true sales professional is like expert gardeners. They shield their plants (clients) from getting burned, provide water during droughts, protect against bug(competitors), pull weeds, enrich the soil and enjoy spectacular results.

THE GARDEN OF TRUST

I believe gardening is a powerful example as any for the lifecycle of a process. I see a direct correlation between what it takes to grow a beautiful garden and what it takes to build trust with your clients.

Growing a relationship garden with your clients involves the commitment of a shared vision, deep respect, ongoing mutual effort, and patience.

The loyalty and trust you build with your clients will continue to reward you in unexpected ways, as long as you fertilize your relationship garden.

“A garden requires patient labor attention. Plants do not grow merely to satisfy ambitions or to fulfill good intentions. They thrive because someone expended effort on them.”

Liberty Hyde Bailey

Be authentic, share your gifts, maintain and cast your vision, bring sincerity and most of all bring relationship substance to your client gardens.

Remember... gardening adds years to your sales life.

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.

For me 15 years ago was the start of the Golden Age of Color Copiers.  Almost everyone wanted one and the talk track was more about how people retain information better when the content is presented on color.  It was also kind of easy betting up on those old, slow and expensive color laser printers.  My what a run it was.

Enjoy these threads from 15 years ago this week:

Reply

Re: Leads in Florida

Boston Mike · 6/20/056:57 AM

PowerLinx, Inc. http://www.power-linx.com OTCBBWLX WHAT IT DOES It designs, manufactures and markets powerline communication products that transmit video, audio, voice and data. (number of employees: 24) EVENT 06-08-2005-Announced the appointment of a new Vice President of Consumer Sales and Marketing OPPORTUNITIES potential opportunity to provide... - products and services to support increased sales activities - products and services to support increased marketing activities; services may

MSP & MSSP Industry Notes

Sponsored by

Arcoa Group

ARCOA Group is here to help you successfully manage your IT Asset Disposition process. We help you recover value from retired electronic equipment through responsible methods of reuse and recycling.  We ensure proper handling of assets which may contain data, while being environment stewards for assets that have no reuse value and are headed for recycling. We’ve built a robust de-manufacturing process to offer additional options for asset value recovery by disassembling equipment for commodity grade materials, which can be diverted from landfills and be used to create new base materials.

Fujitsu Hybrid IT Service Supports DX by Optimizing Hybrid IT Environment with the Latest ...

• Announces the launch of Fujitsu Hybrid IT Service
• Fujitsu Hybrid IT Service is a portfolio of solutions that combine services and technologies related to the cloud, data center, network, security, systems operation and maintenance
• New solution can reduce the operational burden on IT systems by 20-30%, lower the total cost of ownership by 20~30%, and shorten the delivery time by 30-40%
• Digital enhanced EXchange (DEX) network (New: planned to be available in Q2, 2020)

SOSi Reorganizes Business to Drive Growth in the Defense IT and Intelligence Markets

• Announces the consolidation of its defense information technology and intelligence solutions business units under the leadership of Ed Bachl
• Defense and Intelligence Solutions Group aligns its intelligence analytic, information operations, and technical collection capabilities
• As part of the reorganization, SOSi promoted Christopher Alligood to Vice President of the Intelligence Solutions Division, where he will lead the delivery and growth of SOSi’s analytic and technical solutions for IC customers
• Founded in 1989, SOSi is the largest private, family-owned and operated technology and services integrator in the aerospace, defense, and government services industry

IT professionals not getting enough rest

• Survey results published by Core Company
• 71% of IT workers are getting less than 2 hours per day of genuine downtime - 29% find their current job too stressful
• 75% are suffering from sleep deprivation during pandemic

Is working from home productive?

• Survey results published by Engine Insights/Smartsheet
• 89% of Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2012) workers report difficulty working from home during pandemic
• 91% of Millennial (1981-1996) workers report difficulty
• 64% of Gen Z feel the amount of time spent on video calls makes it hard to get their work done
• 61% of Millennials report same
• 85% of Gen Z feel less connected to their teams
• 81% of Millennials report same
• 79% of Gen Z feel less informed about what is going on within their company
• 69% of Millennials report same

Concurrent Technologies Corporation to Continue Cybersecurity Support to the Marine Corps ...

• S. Marine Corps Installations Command (MCICOM) has awarded Concurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC) a contract modification worth $2.75 million
• To provide functional and technical programmatic support for securing the Marine Corps’ Facility Related Control Systems (FRCS).
• The current cumulative contract value with the original base period and two option periods is $7.0 million
• Concurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC) is an independent, nonprofit, applied scientific research and development professional services organization

StorMagic Introduces New MSP Program to Enable Partners to Build and Deliver Differentiated Data Security Solutions

• Announced the launch of its new MSP (managed service provider) programthat enables MSPs to integrate StorMagic SvKMS into their own suite of services
• Enables partners to expand their businesses by adding simple, flexible key management services to their suite of offerings
• The multi-tenancy feature allows MSPs to manage one instance of SvKMS but deliver key management resources to each of their customers and ensure secure, segmented tenant databases for each one
• StorMagic SvKMS is FIPS 140-2 certified and helps companies meet all major compliance regulations including GDPR, HIPAA, PCI-DSS and SOX

Fuji Xerox Bolsters Intelligent Information Management with M-Files AI-Powered Hybrid Cloud ...

• Announced today its partnership with M-Files
• A hybrid cloud offering with a subscription-based model
• No upfront Capital Expense (CAPEX) investments required
• Enhanced cloud security with global-scale infrastructure and full service organisation control (SOC) compliance
• Advanced AI features intelligently tag, search and organize content with metadata based on what the content is, not where it is stored
• Founded in 1962, Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. is a leading company in offering smarter ways to work with its document-related solutions and services

Wipro Extends Partnership with VMware to Deliver BoundaryLess Enterprise Solution

• Announced the launch of its BoundaryLess Enterprise Solution (BLE), powered by VMware Tanzu product portfolio
• integrate VMware’s latest innovations into its BLE, Wipro is also a Design Partner for the VMware Tanzu portfolio
• Wipro will offer these services across Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific
• Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO) is a global information technology, consulting and business process services company

Connection Honored by Intel With U.S. Partner of the Year for Excellence in Accelerating Innovation Award

• Recipient of Intel 2020 US Partner of the Year Excellence in Accelerating Innovation Award
• The title of Partner of the Year is awarded to companies achieving the highest standards of design, development, integration, and technology deployment to accelerate innovation, growth, and go-to-market strategies
• Connection, an Intel National Partner, was recognized for its go-to-market strategies and dedication to selling devices consistently across all segments
• PC Connection, Inc. and its subsidiaries, dba Connection,( connection.com; NASDAQ: CNXN) is a Fortune 1000 company headquartered in Merrimack, NH

SolarWinds Updates APM Suite Designed to Simplify Application and Infrastructure Management

• Announced new and improved features to its award-winning SolarWinds ® APM Suiteof SaaS-based infrastructure and application performance management (APM) solutions
• Highlights of the newest features and updates to the APM Suite include:
  • New AppOptics service map:Shows the dynamic relationships between services and their dependencies
• New web transaction recorder for Pingdom:Automatically captures how an end user interacts with a web application
• Enhanced Loggly custom parsing and search UX:Speeds time to insight with automated indexing and parsing of logs

SolarWinds APM Suite was recently recognized in the April 2020 Gartner ® Magic Quadrant ® for Application Performance Monitoring (APM) based on the completeness of vision and ability to execute for its APM suite of products—Pingdom, AppOptics, and Loggly

Logically is Recognized on CRN's 2020 Solution Provider 500

• Announced that CRN®, a brand of The Channel Company, has named Logically to its 2020 Service Provider (SP) 500list
• The SP 500 list is widely accepted as the industry standard for the highest-performing technology integrators, strategic service providers, and IT consultants on the basis of revenue
• According to CRN, this year’s Solution Provider 500 companies collectively generated $393 billion in 2019, up more than 3 percent from the $381 billion last year’s Solution Provider 500 generated in 2018
• Logically is a Managed IT Service Provider (MSP) to small and midsize organizations

BCM One Announces Strategic Partnership With CNSG

• Announced a strategic partnership with Converged Network Services Group (CNSG)
• CNSG's network of partners can deliver BCM One's array of managed network solutions to its customers including UCaaS Hosted Voice, SD-WAN, Managed Connectivity, SIP Trunking, Technology Expense Optimization, Microsoft Office 365, MS Teams and Azure
• Founded in 1992, BCM One is a leading managed solutions provider offering businesses a one-stop shop for integrated technology needs. Serving over 17,000 customers worldwide

Rackspace changes name in preparation for public markets

• Reported on Bizjournals
• Rackspace is now Rackspace Technology, the company announced Monday morning
• name change is meant to reflect the end-to-end technology solutions the company will now be providing, which includes cloud optimization, security, cloud native enablement and data modernization

Comodo and NuMSP Announce Strategic Partnership

• Comodo and NuMSP today announced their strategic partnership
• Comodo delivers next generation cybersecurity solutions to protect businesses, schools, and government organizations
• NUMSP providing IT services and security solutions for SMBs

Ricoh Named to CRN's 2020 Solution Provider 500 List

• A
• Announced today that CRN_®a brand of The Channel Company, has named Ricoh to its 2020 Solution Provider 500 list
• CRN releases its list of top 500 solution providers, a ranking of the leading IT channel partner organizations across North America by revenue
• CRN's complete 2020 Solution Provider 500 list is available online at CRN.com/SP500and a sample from the list will be featured in the June issue of CRN Magazine

Konica Minolta’s Laura Blackmer Recognized as One of CRN’s 2020 Women of the Channel

• Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. (Konica Minolta) announced today that CRN®, a brand of The Channel Company, has named Laura Blackmer, Senior Vice President, Dealer Sales to its esteemed 2020 Women of the Channel list
• Laura Blackmer has extensive industry experience, including various roles in both sales and executive leadership positions. She is now a three-time honoree of CRN’s prestigious Women of the Channel list and is a 2020 CRN Channel Chief
• The 2020 Women of the Channel list will be featured in CRN® Magazine’s June issue and online at com/WOTC

Cybersecurity Update

• Tessian Security published research report showing that there is a 47% increase in breach incidents over the last 2 years caused by insiders (existing employees) o Includes both accidental data loss as well as deliberate data exfiltration by negligent or disgruntled employees
• Amtrak, headquartered in Washington D.C., informed an unknown number of customers that their info was exposed after hacking incident
• Advanced Intelligence LLC is reporting that operators of NetWalker ransomware are “conducting extensive attacks” on the healthcare industry. - Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic States, headquartered in Rockville, MD, notified 2,756 patients that their PHI was exposed after employee illegally accessed the info
• The Southeastern Veterans’ Center of Pennsylvania notified an unknown number of patients that their info may have been exposed after an employee illegally accessed the info
• Aveanna Healthcare, headquartered in Atlanta, GA, was hit by a class action lawsuit as a result of a HIPAA breach that exposed PHI of 166,000 patients. - DSA Connect published report showing a 350% increase in email phishing attacks during the COVID-19 pandemic
• Takes 100 days or more before breach is discovered on average -
• Saint Joseph Health System of Indiana notified an unknown number of patients that their PHI was exposed after paper medical records were improperly dumped in an unsecure location.
• Advanced Intelligence has published research report showing that operators of NetWalker ransomware, are now conducting extensive attacks on healthcare industry.
  • o Originating out of Russia o Offering as “ransomware-as-a-service” to other hackers, allowing affiliates to keep up to 84% of the ransom collected
• A hacker leaked online the database of Daniel’s Hosting, the largest free web hosting provider for dark web services. Includes thousands of email addresses, passwords and private keys

• Capital One was ordered by a federal judge to turn over results of a digital forensics investigation into its huge breach last year o Former Amazon Web Services employee, Paige Thompson, was charged with stealing personal info of 106 million Capital One credit card customers
• The NSA is warning users of Exim, a mail transfer agent found in Unix operating systems, that it is being hacked by Sandworm, a hacking group in Russia.
• The Kentucky Employee’s Health Plan notified 971 patients that their PHI was exposed after hacking incident
• Digital Management Inc. of Maryland, an IT contractor for NASA, announced it was hit by ransomware
• Lookout Security reported that there is a 37% increase in hacking attempts on smartphones, as a way into company networks.
• The City of Minneapolis and its Police department announced that its websites were hit by cyberattacks, which may have exposed info on some citizens

I started the day at 7AM because I had to get a revised quote out early this is client that was in the weeds on Wednesday, out them yesterday. I sent the email off about 8:00AM prepping for a good start to the day.  That client ended up back in the weeds and never got back to me today.

From 8AM to 9:30AM I was able to finish off another blog for my Jersey Plotters site. I'm a firm believer in writing interesting content to will establish myself as the go to person for wide format printers in New Jersey.  It doesn't happen over night, but after two years of writing my site places on the first page of Google when search for wide format plotters.  In those two years I've been able to move 8 wide format MFP's and one color MFP copier.  You might say that's not a lot but it's 8 more than I had and you never know when the big one might hit.

That act of writing content is called "pull marketing", the act of sending emails, knocking on doors and making phones call is "push marketing".  Writing content on a consistent basis will grow your brand and reputation.  Eventually those leads will come to you. Much better than making 100 calls and setting one net new appointment in my book.  In addition when you have a decent book of accounts there's a lot of work that goes into supporting those accounts which limits your phone prospecting.

I wasn't able to finish out the week with any additional orders.  I had one early in the week for the pre-owned wide format and everything else stalled on me.  Of course the deal in the weeds for 8K (who knows whats going on there), the verbal I received on Tuesday produced no documents today.  After following up with that account I was promised order docs this coming Monday.

During the summer months in New Jersey, Friday is the day that many people cut out of work early and head for the beaches.  It's common to have bumper to bumper traffic by 3:30PM on the Garden State Parkway.  The nicer the day the heavier the traffic. For years I would pack it in at the office and leave by 3PM so I didn't have to fight the traffic since I live so close to the beach.  

Nowadays I'm always at the beach and the thought of leaving work early to beat the traffic is not an option.  Today I had a 4:45PM appointment scheduled with an existing client for a telechat.  Yup, 4:45PM on a beautiful Friday and I'm still grinding.  That meeting went well and it should produce an order for late Monday or Tuesday AM (14K).

I have seven days left in the selling month for June.  We close out books at end day on the 23rd. As of today I'm sitting at $25K for the month.  But I still have more than 25% of the month left.  I have a decent shot at pulling in $45K next week with $20K being net new business.  If I get all of that I'll be close to my $300K for the quarter goal.   Of course anything could falter thus I need to find a few more opps during the week and something that can close quickly.  

It's late, I'm beat, everyone have a great weekend!

-=Good Selling=-

It is better to give than to receive.  We've all heard it and many of us give in times of need or in times of emergencies.  It's just what we do.  Some even believe that it's good Karma. 

Karma: the sum of a person's actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences.

I think it was the third week in April that I made a $300 donation to a non-profit group that's one of my clients.  In May of each year they have a walkathon and due to COVID19 they had to do a virtual walk and I could tell they were nervous about getting the funds they needed.  I signed up for their virtual campaign and kicked it off with three hundred dollars and then sent invitations to friends.  In total we raised $400.  Not much but it was better than nothing.

A week later is when the orders started coming in for May.  I can believe that those orders were from hard work in March and April or I could believe that it was the karma that I created with giving back.  I'm a believer in hard work but also a believer in the harder you work the luckier you get.  Indeed I thought I was really lucky with a few of those orders in May.  It seemed more like I had the Midas touch because every touch produced an order.  Strange times indeed.

On tap for today was zero appointments, it was a day that I should have been prospecting.  That full day of prospecting eluded me again today, however I was able to schedule two appointments today for today.  One was with the existing client where the deal went in the weeds when the DM thought they only had a few payments left on a lease.  After chatting for a few minutes it was time to give back.  This company was in one of the hardest hit industries that I know of, thus I added an additional incentive that came out of the GP.  I knew that the were worried about incurring any additional costs. In order to make it a no brainer I threw in two quarters of maintenance and supplies. I'll have my answer tomorrow if this will move forward.

No paper work for the verbal I received on Tuesday but a call from the client promised the docs today or tomorrow. 

Later in the day was a meeting with a net new company (major) that wants to buy local.  We had been emailing back and forth through out the day and I got to the point and asked if we could have a tele chat meeting.  That meeting went off about 4PM and lasted almost until 5PM.  In addition another mfp could get into the mix for another location. I feel good about this one since this client has been a two year project also. Thinking this has a good shot at closing next week for about $20K

Another great thing happened today.  I was finally able to secure a recent KM flat rate lease with T's & C's. I plan on reviewing this tomorrow and writing a blog about those T's & C's some time next week. I was also stunned at the price for a 30PPM color MFP.  More about this next week.

Today was the day the wife and I had been waiting for.  A new fridge was to be installed today, after 20 years it was sorely needed.  The price?  Well let's say it wasn't cheap.  We had been kicked the idea around for a couple of months. It was two weeks ago when I reached in the fridge to get a drink and everything on the top shelf came with it.  I said it's time!  We did the research which is horrible to do on-line (I can only imagine what copier buyers go through) and we finally decided on one that was more top of the line.  

Here was my thinking, the more I spend the more I'm going to want to replace those funds in a hurry.  To me it was more like losing $2,400 bucks and I needed to replace that cash.  Thus I created a "to do" on my list for "make up fridge money".  How do you make up the fridge money?  Find more opportunities!

Hoping tomorrow goes well. I could be at $8K for the week or $36K, hoping the karma stays intact for another 24 hours.

-=Good Selling=-