MFP Copier Blog
COVID19 "Remote Working" Day Forty-Six of Sales
Yesterday I had my first appointment in the field in more than two months. It was time to get back in business attire, that meant the dress shoes needed to be shined, the pressed slacks removed from the closet and of course that neatly pressed dressed shirt that's been on hiatus for the past 10 weeks.
Looking in the closed I spotted a nice blue shirt with very think white lines and thought that would do the trick for the day. As I reached for the shirt I thought that this can't be my shirt, I never had one like this. I pulled the shirt off the hanger and looked at the tag. The tag read a 2XXL, okay I never bought a dress shirt this large in my life and it dawned on me that my cleaners gave me another clients shirt. Over the course of the last year I switched dry cleaners because my regular guy passed away (was with him for seven years) and I went back to the dry cleaner that I fired year ago. I had left them seven years ago because they ruined a suit jacket on me.
Over the course of the last year I could swear I was missing shirts from time to time. I have so many dress shirts that I can't keep track of them. I thought it was me and the fact that I had some many that I couldn't keep track. This blue shirt I pulled out was the proof that I needed that yes my dry cleaners was losing shirts on me. I'll be going there tomorrow and will do my best to be calm and have a polite conversation, however the last time I had a polite conversation when it came time to admitted that the business owner had screwed up, suddenly his command of the English language wasn't quite as good as it used to be.
I wanted to tell that story because at times many of our clients can get aggravated with something goes wrong. Thus we as sales people need address the problem and diffuse the issue the best we can. When we do that we'll get to earn the trust of the client and it will enhance the client experience. We'll then have a client for life. I hoping my cleaner guy goes the extra distance tomorrow and does not have a timely memory loss for the English language again.
Today I gad the chance to do some real prospecting after our weekly sales meeting was over. Our meeting starts at 11AM ends at Noon, by 1PM was busy with emails and phone calls. In fact today produced more phone calls than emails. The end result was four meetings scheduled for this week and I created two opportunities for about $9K each with existing clients. One of those opportunities has a really good chance of closing this week or on the 26th which is the last day of the month for us. Another appointment was scheduled for Friday of this week with an existing client with a $5K opportunity. There's a chance this can happen by the 26th also.
Late in the day I had a call from one of my net new prospects in reference to the proposal I provided which turned into a short meeting. The meeting went well but no commitment at this point in time. However I go the feeling that this too could have a chance to close on or before the 26th. End result of the day was three opportunities that have a shot at closing for a total of $25K. Not a bad day right?
The work is not over though and the reason for that is many times I've been in this position before and everything that I thought would close did not. In order to feel comfortable with 4 days left in the month (still 20% of the month left) I need to find another $15K -$20 to have a real shot of hitting my goal of $200K for the month. Thinking by the end of this week I can be at $190 now.
Ah it's a horse race now and we're getting down to the finish line. Now it all becomes how bad do you want it?
Another day of prospecting tomorrow and this should get interesting. BTW Greg Walters and I have our lunch chat this Thursday and you're all invited to join the call. I do love these calls!
-=Good Selling=-
The End Of The Day With Ray! Beware of the Predators!!
COVID19 "Remote Working" Day Forty-Five of Sales
Day Forty-Five and in no time it will be a full quarter since being optioned to the home office. Our blessed Governor post this on Face-book today and the response was WILD!
Of course you can only guess at who captioned it with "The fool on the hill". Within a few short hours there were more than 5,000 responses with 90% or more of them being negative. Geesh I wonder why?
Monday was a good day since I was able to roll through my list of things to do pretty quickly. In addition I also submitted my week forecast which was for $30K. That $30K will be a stretch but when thinking about forecasting a little more what does it actually mean? When weather people forecast the weather they are not always right and in many cases they can miss the mark. The definition of forecast is to calculate or predict. Okay, I understand the calculate part but what about the predict part of it? If I could predict the outcome of every opportunity I sure as **** would not be selling copiers and I'd be right up there with Nostradamus. Maybe we should start calling it "what can you close" in a given time frame. I'm just really really bad with forecasting and the term frustrates the crap out of me.
I had my first on-site appointment in more than two months today! Here's a few takeaways that I pondered on.
Travel time back and forth along with appointment time ate up three hours of my day. Frak that's almost 50% of the day lost. Maybe this entire gig with on-line meetings is the way to go. Mind you I don't mid the driving bit but the time lost is gone forever.
What do you get when three 60plus year olds are gathered around a table with masks on? I found out today, it was foggy glasses! Something I didn't expect and neither did the other two people in the meeting. We had a good laugh about that. Another item of note is that with masks on I can't see a frown, a grin or a smile. Thus I had to focus more on the their facial expression from their eyes along with body language. The end result was awesome and another signed order for $12K. Brings me to $182K with five selling days left in the month.
One of the issues for this week will be Friday since most clients get out of Dodge early. Should be interesting to see what Friday brings.
$18K left for my goal with 5 selling days. I can make this happen with one net new wide format order and a preowned MFP. Now I liking that the last day of the is the 26th and the day after the Holiday. Time will tell
-=Good Selling=-
Copier Solution Shop Launches New Web Site for Dealers
It was about three weeks ago when I saw the preview of the changes that Copier Solution Shop made to their web site.
If you're not familiar with Copier Solution Shop then it's time you should be. My friends over at the shop manufacturer third party accessories for copiers and wide format printers. The recent update now includes a dealer log in for their e-commerce site. Once logged in dealers can view the dealer pricing for their products and make those purchases. End users can only see and order accessories based on the MSRP. On the dealer page we are welcomed with generous discounts so we can make a profit. That's a good thing because our friends at the shop want you to be profitable.
What I love best about the products is that each product is well made, well engineered and will probably out last the copier. In addition I like that they offer products that you can't source anywhere else such as wide format exit trays, device brackets, mounting tables (keyboards), connectivity covers (security) and a wide arrangement of the best paper tray locks in the industry.
Having and knowing about these products can help dealers win bids, and win more deals. In addition my friends are available to quote on customized solutions for fleets of copiers. When you get down to it as a sales person we still need to perform discovery, find pain and give our clients options. Having Copier Solution Shop offerings in your tool belt will help you close more orders.
I've used them quite a bit for their custom Ricoh exit tray solution and I feel confident when going up against the likes of KIP and OCE (Canon) that I have a complete devices outperforms the specs of those two.
On the home page of the site they've also set up a mini-site for every manufacturer. You can search HP, Canon, Develop, KonicaMinolta, Kyocera, Ricoh, Samsung, Sharp, Toshiba and Xerox. If that's not enough my friends at the shop also have "universal products", here you can find additional specialty products.
I love this product "Assist Handle", specifically designed for wheelchair users to open and close the copier-top. When we speak about bids and compliance this offering is genius! Just imagine if you had this or other products spec'd in your bid. I'd bet dollars to doughnuts you might win a few more bids.
I've been doing business with them both as a dealer and one of my clients for more than three years. The quality of the products are well made and it gives us options.
Please visit them here @ Copier Solution Shop
The Pandemic Gets The Blame
The times we are all navigating through are brutally devastating. The death toll across the globe is tragic, and the human suffering through this pandemic will remain long past its eradication. I am writing this article for the millions of business leaders who are being tested like never before. It is my effort to help them pass the test and prepare for the next one.
"Through candid conversations, new realities can blossom."
Well, I guess Amazon is finally off the hook as the pandemic is now the blame for not only retail's downfall but all those who procrastinated their continuous relevance.
In business, there must no longer be stubbornness to maintain status-quo, regardless of how temporally comfortable it is. Especially when logic has and continues screaming, the time for change is now.
We have all witnessed brink and mortar retailers, and others fade away over the last two decades. JC Penny's looming collapse and other retailers who find themselves struggling immensely during this lockdown are not victims of a virus any more than our friends at Sears were.
"Perceived stability is one of the greatest threats to an organization's willingness to innovate."
Yes, this bastard of a Pandemic will cause businesses to fail, and many without fault of their own outside the apparent lack of liquidity most companies today find themselves in. However, for many others, the prognosis of their failure was determined unconditional of the pandemic.
"Business disruptions are more about the innovators changing the means to the customer's desired outcome, rather than those creating new products for customers to desire."
It seems some are suggesting this current pandemic is also the blame for holding leaders in the status quo over the last decade, prevented leaders from modifying as needed based on changing market realities, and caused business leaders to spend all their liquidity, ignoring any thoughts of a rainy day.
Well, it's raining, and now business leaders must eliminate any indecisiveness or in-action to all they know needs modification to create a new relevance. This pandemic is, in fact, for many businesses, their Blockbuster/Netflix Moment.
Even now, with the apparent shifts in the marketplace, we are observing first-hand. Some organizations are still defying logic over a false sense of their pre-virus perceived relevance returning. The digitalization of the business world is now the greatest threat to many leaders, organizations, and entire industries. Those who ignore these digitalization threats to outdated processes will find themselves added to the list of fallen empires.
"During disruptions, many will fight for comfort, leaving opportunities open for those who fight for relevance."
Now is the time to cast aside all that is status quo to yesterday's comfort, it's time to stare into the new future, and create a new normal from what you see. Otherwise, it will prove to be your time to fall victim to a new normal others created.
Over the last couple of decades, many industries have held stubbornly to their past. During that time, innovative organizations such as Amazon were creating a new normal for retail. As Amazon challenged the status quo with what could be, the status quo ignored, those new realities Amazon created.
"Market-shifts always start as arguments between the old and the innovative way; survivors are the aftermath of the customer's choice."
During this pandemic, some are still arguing the merits of their outdated relevance. Customers decide what's relevant; customers determine the price they will pay for one's added value. Unfortunately, many organizations are out of alignment in the perception of their added value with those they serve.
Some organizations still seem convinced that their need to provide customers access through a digital means is not warranted. This lack of digital intelligence defies logic, and those who maintain this belief are their own worse enemies.
Today, "One's digital intelligence, is quickly becoming the measurement of common sense."
Over the last few years, I have been vocal about the need for all those organizations that provide products and services to get themselves in sync with digital market realities and align their expectations of value with those they serve around those realities.
Many organizations and industries have wasted a decade arguing the merits of outdated value adds. It seems for some their belief that relationships and in-person engagement would always be preferred over digital disruptors, even as Amazon and other digital disruptors continued to destroy those stuck in the status quo.
It appears people think that digitalization omits relationships. I would say it complements relationships by delivering better experiences. As people receive great experiences in reaching their desired outcomes through digital platforms, they will create a relationship with the digital process.
Most legacy organizations cannot accept that customer experience is a greater value than customer relationships. This misunderstanding continues to defeat these legacy organizations as they continue to believe their outdated relationship will win against the innovator's better experience.
As I witnessed organizations and industries losing their battle for continued relevance, I realized these three things.
1)"You can be the organization with the greatest relationships in the world and lose to the innovator who delivers a better experience."
2)"Customer experience is being measured more and more in the intersection between the digital and physical worlds."
3)"A company becomes obsolete when it focuses on delivering the past to the future instead of delivering the future to the present."
As businesses begin opening again post-virus, they must pay attention to the customers they serve. All pre-virus stubbornness must be left in quarantine. In the post virus world, it is no longer feasible to disregard the realities of the advances in technologies. Those who do this, please don't blame Amazon or other innovators for your failure; instead, blame your stubbornness.
For many industries the time is now to modify your deliverable to meet the new market realities. Nearly all business models will be challenged as they create their new normal. Those who accept the challenge of a new relevance will prevail.
Caution! Status Quo will fight for survival!
Don't be fooled by a temporary success in sameness as the quarantine ends; customers may temporally proceed as they did pre-virus. However, this will not last as the new disruptors will align to offer the old way's customers a better experience. Innovators watched and noted the many outdated processes the pandemic brought to life.
As you vision your business post-pandemic, you must imagine from the new realities observed what could be based on what should be—keeping in mind that your per-virus customers are also re-imaging their visions. Most importantly, don't discount a competitor educating your customers' in a better way.
"As a business insists on selling based on yesterday's outdated value, they will lose the customers who bought based on today's realities."
Today's new realities are being observed and continuously created, and that was also true yesterday and the weeks, months, and years before the pandemic. Everyone in business and even as individuals must use the shock of this pandemic to cause a motivation, a motivation to ensure we maintain enough liquidity, and never again defy, misinterpret, or take for granted the tenure and comfort of current circumstances. In business and life, ongoing relevancy takes both the ability to compromise and sacrifice.
"Status Quo is the Killer of all that will be Invented; don't get stuck in Status Quo."
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
This Week in the Copier Industry 15 Years Ago for the Third Week of May 2005
Sunday and tomorrow starts the last 5 days before the end of the month. It can be bad or good, all depends on how you look at it. I see that I still have 20% of the month left to finish my goal. How do you look at it? Half full or half empty?
Below were the most popular threads about copiers from 15 years ago this week!
Re: KIP 3000
Re: Aficio NEW 3260
Re: Lan Faxing from mac on 2035eS/P
Lan Faxing from mac on 2035eS/P
Re: Aficio 240W & Autocad 2006
Re: CL4000dn and envelopes
Ricoh Info Tools
Re: 1060/1075
KonicaMinolta C500
Re: Canon iR3220
Xerox Docucolor 3535
Re: Canon iR 3200
Re: Canon iR 3200
Need a Kyocera Dealer
eCopy ShareScan OP will be available in June 2005
Re: Aficio NEW 3260
Re: Aficio NEW 3260
Re: Aficio NEW 3260
Re: CL4000dn and envelopes
Re: Printer and scanner combo
Aficio NEW 3260
Re: Equitrac or Technesis?
Customers Recapturing costs
Equitrac or Technesis?
CL4000dn and envelopes
Re: Printer and scanner combo
RICOH DEMONSTRATES PRODUCT OFFERINGS AND
New Aficio 5560
Re: KIP 3000
Re: KIP 3000
Canon iR 3200
Canon iR3220
Sales Professionals Can Clearly Define Themselves, Can You?
“A great person defines himself; an average person defines others.”
Debasish Mridha
Getting to know yourself allows you to tap into the road of happiness as this is critical to your success.
How would you define yourself?
What makes you tick?
How are you continually evaluating yourself to improve your results and become better at what you do?
You live in highly competitive sales world. You're living through some chaotic and crisis filled moments. You must be able to clearly differentiate yourself from all the other empty suits.
If you don't know yourself then how can you help your clients?
This may sound a bit harsh, no one cares about you, at least not at first. You must make them care about you, and you accomplish this with the how you define yourself.
You must be able help them answer these questions:
- Who are you?
- Why should I care?
Uncovering what does define you is your own personal journey, not anyone else's.
DEFINE YOURSELF THROUGH YOUR STORY?
Stories are powerful. They give you a narrative to live by and lessons to pass on that shape the person you are and will become. Your story calls out your best self. It calls upon you to bring your full attention, strength and personality, creating a life of significance and career full of abundance.
This requires you acknowledge the good and the bad of your story. A big part of this is learning how to let go of past guilt, failure and regret as you start living your life with conviction.
We all have baggage in the closet. The sooner you come to grips with it the better.
Make a concerted effort to stop defining yourself by what you are not. Stop beating yourself up (lord knows I have learned this the hard way). Every day starts a day filled with new opportunities, so start living a better story.
I encourage you to grab a sheet of paper and a pen, start rewriting the story of yourself. Redefine yourself as the hero and set aside the cast members. Focus on defining you.
How many of you know your story?
DEFINE YOURSELF THROUGH SELF-AWARENESS
Quite simple, self-awareness means you know yourself so well that you become amazingly happy which in turn allows you to live a wonderfully balanced life.
- Are you living as the real you and not someone else?
- Do your thoughts match your actions?
- Does your walk match your talk?
- Are you emphasizing the positive aspects of your personality?
Living a lie comes out sooner or later. Living a sales lies is even worse as this will ultimately screw with your career.
Knowing yourself is the process of understanding you. What makes you tick? Knowing yourself brings you face-to-face with self-doubts and insecurities. Self-reflecting upon this allows you to take a serious look into just how you are living your life and sales life.
“How much we know and understand ourselves is critically important, but there is something that is even more essential to living a Wholehearted life: loving ourselves.”
Brené Brown
Knowing yourself is a conscious effort; you must do it with intention and purpose. This is the same approach you must take with your career. You must lead your sales career with intent and purpose.
DEFINE YOURSELF THROUGH "I AM" STATEMENTS
"I Am" statements are a direct way to tell the story of yourself.
Every single day, saying to yourself and out loud, “I am this” or “I am that” you give a specific and direct instruction about how it is for you.
Creating "I Am" statements does you no good if you don’t put it to regular use.
Speaking your "I Am" statements every day, now this is a game changer.
You are solely responsible for the thoughts your mind produces.
One of my favorite quotes is by a near and dear friend of mine, Kody Bateman.
In his book, "Promptings, Your inner Guide To Making A Difference" He states,
"You learned that the stories in your mind become the stories of your life and that you have control over the stories you put in your mind."
How will you ever breakthrough when you play mental gymnastics with your mind?
How will you ever breakthrough if you struggle to clearly define you?
Rewrite, reframe and rewire the story you tell yourself.
"When you create an 'I AM' statement, visualize it, and state your compelling 'why,' your subconscious mind goes into action delivers exactly what you tell it."
Kody Bateman
HOW CLEARLY CAN YOU DEFINE YOU?
What makes your heart sing?
I encourage you to become your own Sherlock Holmes. Become interested in what grabs your attention and tugs on your heartstrings.
Stop looking it the dictionary for words that define you.
Getting to know yourself allows you to tap into the road of happiness as this is critical to your success as a sales professional. Your beliefs, your attitude and your daily routines are mission critical.
Understanding yourself can mean recognizing your shortcomings. It's about putting them on display for others to judge.
Yes, this means getting extremely vulnerable. This starts with looking in the mirror and saying to yourself, "This is me. This is the real me"
Brene Brown says it best when she refers to self-love,
"It means learning how to trust ourselves, to treat ourselves with respect, and to be kind and affectionate toward ourselves."
Get used to it. The road you take to define yourself will be filled with roadblocks and potholes.
At this very moment, how would you define you?
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.
This Week in the Copier Industry 10 Years Ago for the Third Week of May 2010
Saturday night here is Jersey. Was a great day to get things done around the house. Enjoy these awesome threads from 10 years ago this week in the copier industry!
Konica Minolta Contributes to Minimize Environmental Impact with a New MFP for Emergi
Konica Minolta to preview new IC-307 Print Controller
Nuance Paves the Way for Truly Unlimited Possibilities for eCopy Sharescan OCR Docume
Taking Managed Print Services to the Bank: Xerox to Manage Print Operations for Hunti
Xerox Honors Digital Printing Excellence at IPEX 2010
Xerox's ColorQube 9200 Series Solid Ink Multifunction Printer Delivers on its Promise
Toshiba e455 Series Meditech Certified May 2010
CBS Follows Up on Copier Security Investigation
Equitrac Named a Xerox Alliance Partner of the Year
Ricoh Americas Corporation and IKON Office Solutions Recognized for Leadership in Man
Xerox brings colour at low cost to multifunction market
Re: Identity Thieves Can Hit the Jackpot with Digital Copiers
First European Installation of KODAK PROSPER 1000 Press for SAGIM in France
CANON U.S.A. BRINGS A COMPACT, MOBILE IMAGE CAPTURE SOLUTION TO MAC USERS
Xerox Board Elects Werner and Carone Vice Presidents of Corporation
Xerox announces new enhancements to iGen4 press
At the end of term, who pays to ship the copier back to the leasing company?
4 MFP's In Oklahoma 6/16/10
The "pRINTERnET" The future of Newspapers?
New Ricoh 6501C
Congress to get involved with Copier Hard Drives
Need Help Against Konica
Memjet Printers are Here (Sort of)
Some Copiers Store Personal Information
printerlobbydc
For the Copier
Re: Best description of RBS
Best description of RBS
Rochester Software Associates Named
AUXILIO, Inc. Appoints New Executive Vice President of Operations
IKON Class Action Lawsuit
Lexmark acquiring software company
Re: MFP Refurbishing & Recycling
John Kingan
mschupp
Re: Best description of RBS
Re: Ricoh closing Irving, TX office
Re: Need Help Against Konica
End of Life
REQUEST FOR COMPETITIVE PROPOSALS
fuser MP C6501
Copy machine bid
Re: What will come of this?
Re: KM Promo
Re: MFP Refurbishing & Recycling
Re: CBS Follows Up on Copier Security Investigation
This Week in the Copier Industry 5 Years Ago for the Third Week of May 2015
Saturday morning here in Jersey. Looks like it's going to be a nice day while the we are still in lock down. I'm seeing more cars than every on the highway leading to Sandy Hook, thus the order of stay home is not being heeded by the regular people of NJ. Which is a good thing because people need to be living their lives as they want and not by what the government mandates.
Enjoy our marvelous threads from five years ago this week!
This Week in the Copier/Office Equipment Industry 10 Years Ago Third Week of May 2005
Canon U.S.A. Enhances imageCLASS Printonomics® Managed Print Services Program Through Strategic Collaboration
RICOH UNVEILS BRIGHTER, SHARPER LINE OF PROJECTORS FOR BUSINESS AND EDUCATION
What Really Happened with Print: History Lessons for 3D Printing Equipment Manufacturers
Canon extends office print portfolio with 4 new devices
Need Help withKonicaMinolta & Xerox Pricing
DEX Imaging Acquires Mid-South Digital
Canon U.S.A. Answers Customer Demand for a Compact and Cost-Effective Color Multifunction System
Canon Unveils New Compact Binoculars Featuring Improved Image Stabilization and Reduced Power Consumption
District looks to cut copier, printer paper costs
Need help with Sharp MX503N
Canon Announces imageFORMULA DR-C240 Office Document Scanner
Sharp To Showcase Information Management Solutions At DocuWorld Annual Conference
Sharp Knockouts against Ricoh C4503
Print Audit Proudly Announces Promotions for James Hills and David Thorne
How to Not Prospect for CEO's with Linkedin
sharp a market leader?
Jgarlow62
Re: What Really Happened with Print: History Lessons for 3D Printing Equipment Manufacturers
Ricoh invents super-efficient power-producing rubber
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich Invests in Multiple Stratasys 3D Printers to Stimulate Engineering Curriculum
EFI Delivers New Innovations in Large-Format Inkjet with LED Imaging, Advanced Workflow Productivity and More at Fespa 2015
Sharp Agent Program
OKI going to enter wide format business?
Re: Need help with Sharp MX503N
Re: Canon extends office print portfolio with 4 new devices
Re: Current Canon imagePress Pricing
Out of market Sharp
Xerox IJP2000 Wide Format
Blank Pages when printing from browsers
HP changing the rules for monitoring pages?
Re: Xerox IJP2000 Wide Format
Re: sharp a market leader?
MPSCertified.com Helps OEMs Benchmark and Improve Auto Toner Fulfillment
TAVCO Customers Standardize Scanning with Contex Wide Format Scanners in Oil, Gas Industry
All Covered Bolsters Help Desk Capabilities with new Acquisition
Re: Sharp Knockouts against Ricoh C4503
JT
Re: Print Audit Proudly Announces Promotions for James Hills and David Thorne
Re: Current Canon imagePress Pricing
Re: Current Canon imagePress Pricing
Re: Current Canon imagePress Pricing
Re: Canon Unveils New Compact Binoculars Featuring Improved Image Stabilization and Reduced Power Consumption
Re: Blank Pages when printing from browsers
Re: Blank Pages when printing from browsers
Re: sharp a market leader?
COVID19 "Remote Working" Day Forty-Four of Sales
It's 10:36PM on a warm night in New Jersey. Finally we have a day in the low eighties and there was no wind that blew in from the ocean. When that wind comes off the water we can be anywhere from 10-20 degrees cooler from inland parts of Jersey. There's also a chance that a week from today we just may be feeling the effects of a tropical storm that is suppose to move up the coast. If this storm becomes a tropical depression that stormed will be dubbed Arthur. What a great way to start off the Memorial Day weekend!
Today was all about prospecting there were no orders to process and nothing was hot. My plan was to make additional touches to my opportunity list, send a few inmails from Linkedin, make some phone calls, and send emails from my CRM.
One opportunity that I was tracking for a potential order in 3rd quarter needed some attention today. I can't get into details because of the local competition that reads my blogs. End result is that I had to put in a couple of hours today to give me the best opportunity to win. Winning is a funny thing, we all like to win, however how much fun would it be if we always win? I'm thinking it wouldn't be that much fun and we'd never get better at what we do because we would never be able to experience losing. Losing is a part of winning. Losing builds character, losing makes us more determined to win, we then make the extra effort to make ourselves better. None of us like to lose but we all understand that losing is part of the game.
Maybe 15 calls today along with a half a dozen emails and maybe another dozen or so emails from my CRM. I also took the time to catch my CRM up to date and make a plan for next week. It was the who's who of who I wanted to call that gave me the best shot of reaching my goal for the month.
Yesterday I made mention of my handwritten list of things to do. That list consists of my daily goals, those are the tasks I want to accomplish day in and day out. Setting small goals daily helps you get to the larger goal. No goals for every day means you're probably not going to cut it in sales.
It seems Fridays with COVID19 is putting a strain on everyone. I've noticed the incoming emails from clients and phone calls have taken a serious dive on Fridays. I understand because by the end of the week and I'm shot also, mentally drained just from the stress of trying to have conversations. I get it!
Yesterday I made a call to one of my clients that was on my opportunity list. They've been closed for the better part of 10 weeks now. Luckily I have that clients cell phone number and since it was about three weeks since we last spoke I figured it was time to reach out. While calling I had the message on my cell that read "can I call you back" text. Thus I rolled that call for today and made that call somewhere around 2PM or so. We were able to speak and in 30 seconds or so my slump was over! They gave me the verbal for a $12k order and I'm going to be on-site at their location on Monday afternoon. Wow, not a bad way to end the week. Of course this order will count for next week and didn't increase by numbers this week.
By late Monday I should be at $182K for the month with 5 days (20%) of the month left. Now I'm down to $18K and I have no clue where that's going to come from. Should prove to be a very interesting time going into Memorial Day Weekend.
Everyone have a great weekend!
-=Good Selling=-
COVID19 "Remote Working" Day Forty-Three of Sales
This is the first night since I started writing this blog series that I wasn't sure what I was going to write about. After 43 days of writing how much more can you cover or how much more content can you provide for other peeps with help they might need.
Tonight I'd like to cover a few things I've been doing everyday other than taking the occasional break and lunch.
Many weeks ago I learned that I can't work with the TV on in my office. It's too distracting especially when I have the news on all day. Plus the fact that most of the news is bad news and I can't function with bad news. Yup, there's stuff that will bring me down also.
What I Do Every Day
- Update my list of things to do. It's constant list and it never ends, learned many years ago that I can't remember everything
- Prospecting, whether it's a lot or a little I'm prospecting everyday. It's more emails, and inmails (linkedin) and not us much phone work. Once I find that there's an opportunity that leads to the phone call.
- Review my hand written opportunity list for the month. Every time I make a touch on that opportunity I'll put a check mark next to the business name. Seven touches is the goal, however with COVID19 it's taking many more touches to get to the order
- Search and offer up connections on Linkedin and send those inmails.
- Post content, share content, like content and make comments on threads from companies I follow
- Google search for motivational quotes and write it on my white board in my office
- Always thinking about good content to post on my blog or an article on Linkedin (doing more of this lately)
- Increase the amount people I'm connected with on social media (facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and Alignable)
Just a moment on Alignable, it's something new for me and I'm on it everyday for a few minutes. I do find it interesting because the site will suggest connections for you. In addition you don't have to belong to groups in order to get alerted for new threads in your geographical area. Kinda liking that part right now.
Moving to today I've declared that I'm back in a slump, nothing hot and few clients that are lukewarm at best. The only way to break out of that slump is to keep getting up to the plate. Of course that plate is prospecting. There's nothing that will drain your emotions more than a day of prospecting. Ending the day with not creating an opportunity or an appointment and you feel like crap.
Nothing much went on today. Two meetings, one was internal and the other was a review. Emailing, inmailing and phone calls produced nothing.
I've got 8 clients/prospects I need to reach tomorrow and the rest of the day is prospecting with one late appointment at 4PM.
With that it's now 10:19PM and it's time to check my google alerts.
-=Good Selling=-
3 THINGS Your Dealership Needs To Do To Recover From the Pandemic
The Global Pandemic has hit the Imaging Industry hard. We are not alone though. All businesses are experiencing extreme hardship, and that should make us feel better about that, correct? I agree; me neither!
This Global Pandemic is a first time for everyone. No one had a playbook on how to do business in a post pandemic world, however, here are three things your dealership can do to get things started on the road to recovery:
Reduce your inventory
Inventory is money. Converting that inventory to cash is money that you can put back to work in your business versus borrowing it from a bank. I talk with many dealers across the country, and I am surprised when I hear from some dealerships the level of supplies inventory they keep on average. From some dealers I hear that they keep an inventory level as high as three months; this is way too much!
It doesn’t take three months for your vendor to deliver it, so it doesn’t make sense to tie up your cash resources in that extra inventory. Maybe on some items for current machines you are selling where big placements would spike activity, however, outside of that, you should look to carry a maximum of one month of inventory.
Look at the bottom 10-20% of supplies and parts you sell, and look at the inventory value. Any excess inventory you should get rid of immediately.
How can you move this? Many dealers belong to industry peer groups. Leverage your group by communicating with dealers that sell similar brands you do. On inventory for equipment that has been discontinued for a while, you can communicate amongst your peers and each dealer share a list of inventory they have in this category that they are willing to take offers from any interested dealers. This type of inventory will eventually depreciate to $0.00, so you should be open minded to reasonable offers.
You will get more value from items that are more current, and you can work with your group providing a list of the items you have surplus inventory. Every dealer in the group will agree that when they need those items, they will check with the group first to see if they can make any purchase from their dealer network before turning to the manufacturer. In one month, your dealership (and your peers) would take a significant step in reducing your inventory towards an ideal level, and conserve cash.
Watch this helpful 7 minute video on inventory management
Be an Experimenter
You ever notice those times when ideas are suggested for change, that our minds immediately go to how that can’t work?
Something we are seeing talked about in the industry that is hotly debated is a flat rate billing program. Think about some of these services we all use: cable, cell phone, managed services; all flat rate subscription for cost certainty. Is it any surprise when it comes to print those customers would ask if they could buy it the same way?
30+ years ago, a new form of billing was introduced to the industry called Cost Per Copy (CPC). Pundits said it was doomed to fail, and today it is the standard way business is done. But at the beginning, this was very scary. 30+ years ago, the amount of data available was a sliver of what it is today, and it is simpler to construct a flat rate billing program with data available now.
Change is scary. I don’t recommend a scary big risk jumping off the high dive; I do recommend experimenting with minimal risk.
Use this down time from the pandemic to ask your team about a flat rate program:
- What type of customers are a fit?
- What new opportunities are available with a flat rate program?
- What model devices would work with a flat rate program?
Find a client or two that looks like a fit, and experiment with it. See what you learn. Make adjustments to improve it. The outcome you want to hear for the rest of 2020: we know who and where a flat rate program works; we’re prepared. If a customer asks us for a flat rate option, we are ready to present it.
When we suggest radical change our instinct is to resist and justify how it won’t work. When we experiment, we take smaller risks, see the possibilities, and believe there are alternatives. Then we implement actions that make a difference. So be an experimenter, and leverage your peer groups to reduce your inventory.
Check out these interesting flat rate billing articles from the April 2020 issue of ENX magazine:
State of the Industry From Bundling to Flat-Rate Billing: Making XaaS Work for Dealers, End-Users by Erik Cagle
XaaS and IT X Marks the Spot: Everything-as-a-Service Gaining Steam as a Way of Doing Business by Greg VanDeWalker
iDaaS and Print Device as a Service: The Hows and Whys of Flat-Rate Billing by Wes McArtor
Case Study Meter-less Billing: Marco Finds Success in Embracing Device- and Seat-Based Models by Erik Cagle
Make the Choice
It’s easy to feel paralyzed by the disruption caused by COVID-19. You know those times when you’re afraid to make a decision, because you are worried it, could be the wrong decision? Instead of choosing to make a decision, we do nothing and take a wait and see attitude. By the way, doing nothing, is making a choice.
I never believe that doing nothing is the best choice. When we choose a course of action that is the wrong one, we can make adjustments, and make a new decision, because we have learned what the right decision is. We can decide to do nothing, or we can decide to take actions to navigate through this difficult challenge, and come out through this better than we were before. That is hard work, however it is possible.
Watch this video from John O’Leary on making difficult choices to navigate through adversity (6 min.)
You have what it takes to recover from this pandemic. You’ll leverage the help and support of your peers to reduce your inventory, and put more cash to work in your dealership. You’re an experimenter, where you risk experimenting new ideas, seeing the possibilities, and understanding how other alternatives can grow your business. You’re a leader that knows better days are in front of you, and you will make the difficult choices to navigate through this storm, and become a better version of your dealership than it was yesterday.
Polek & Polek has helped hundreds of dealers get through and recover from some of the most difficult economic storms over the past five decades, and we can help your dealership through this one. Schedule a call with us, and we can show you how we are helping other dealers.