MFP Copier Blog
COVID19 "Remote Working" Day Twenty-Two of Sales
Ah day twenty-two which marks a full selling month of working remote. No driving, no buying coffee, no traffic, no rude drivers, no tolls, no gas and not many buyers was the plot of month one. Wow, could I really still be working remote for another month?
Many times when I'm in the office and cutting it up with new reps I'll pose this question to them, "what type of day is it today?". Then I wait and wait and finally I'm told it's rainy, sunny, warm or cold. I then tell them the correct answer, and that answer is always, "It's a good day to sell something!".
Did I sell something today? Nope, but I did have an awesome 4PM Teams meeting that move my $35K deal a little closer to the finish line. Friday will be the next appointment and I'm hoping we have a go. Absolutely nothing surprises me anymore, thus I'm still thinking this is a 50/50 shot with how the economy is right now.
However I think I did stick an extra feather in the hat this evening.
Tomorrow I need to work on a few additional data points for the prospect. One of those data points was to do the research on cloud fax. Yup, I don't sell cloud fax but it was a good time to show the client that I'm working in their best interest and I'll do the leg work for you. From 5PM to 6PM I did the research (3 solutions) and then sent the email with my findings a little after 6PM. Low and behold I received a thank you around 8:30PM tonight. I guess the prospect and I have something else in common and that's are workaholic nature. If you're not working hard then your competition will out work you.
From 8:30AM until noon I worked on my special Teams meeting for existing clients for two weeks from now. As of right now I'm waiting on an approval for the Evenbrite landing page I set up. The plan is to send out personalized invitations to one hundred existing accounts and prospects in the couple of days. Then a test run at the end of next week.
After lunch it was back to calls and emails. In total I had about 22 calls, 6 emails, and two TEAMS appointments. One for a QBR, one for IT at 9AM tomorrow and one for next week.
For most of us this entire remote aka virtual prospecting is something new, and there's a learning curve for those of us that are winging it. Sales Service Guy posted a cool thread and link on my blog from yesterday. Here's the link to the forum.
It's some great content and I plan on listening to it tomorrow and over the weekend. It is has a good stretch of the legs in it, thus prepare for an hour.
Tomorrow has two training sessions along with prepping for two meetings of Friday. BTW, if you're reading this I in dire need of dealer pricing or Canon Production, Xerox Production and Kyocera Production. I'll comp a one year Premium/VIP membership in exchange and you'll also get an invite to my secret stash. Hoping you can help apost@p4photel.com
-=Good Selling=-
The End Of The Day With Ray! Leaders tell your team to, SWOT your Business
COVID19 "Remote Working" Day Twenty-One of Sales
Another day, another dollar. Actually a great reminder that we can make what ever we want when we want. I may need to bag that for the better days that lie ahead.
Our brilliant Governor just extended the "stay at home" order until May 20th! That's what I heard on the news today. I need to double check that, and if it's true I'm thinking that he'll be bumping heads with our President in the near future. Says he'll re-evaluate the states progress at that time.
We need to open the state back up before there are no jobs to come back to. In addition I heard another other statement on the news that seven of the northeastern states have banded together to perform their own assessment of when the region can open the economy. That can get real interesting to see where something like this could go or backfire. Enough on that.
Today was pretty cool because most of the day was dedicated to prospecting via the phone and email. For those that I got through to, all were happy to hear from me (it was an existing account call day). By the numbers I made 42-45 dials, sent 30-35 emails (not counting the incoming I answered) and set three appointments. Two were for those existing accounts that I'm hoping to close this week and the other was for some tele training. Overall a decent day.
Around 11AM we had our weekly sales TEAM meeting which went about an hour. Of course there was lunch and then back at it for the afternoon.
I also spent some time on thinking how I can get clients, and prospects more engaged with some on-line meetings. The one I mentioned the other day has some merit. That was the one where I just invite clients for an open chat session about business in general. All good, but I really need to sow the seeds for future orders.
It was back to the drawing board again. Now what I think I'm going to try is a ZOOM or TEAMS meeting based on the theme mobile strategies. In that meeting I'll pick out three technologies that could help businesses operate more efficiently with some of the technology that I have to offer. I'm thinking I could do ten minutes on each and bring in two other people for their ten minutes. I would handle PPDM, one of my other support peeps would do content management and the other would be for unified communications. I would also use Eventbrite for the invitations and the registrations. Using Evenbrite will help me develop the email list.
Anyway you slice it, it's going to be a fair amount of work to pull it off. I'm sure we'll need to have a few minutes about the desired content and then have a short test.
This may not be the best or the worst idea, but it is something that can separate us from other sales people in our space. Now more than ever we need to be the technology guru's that our clients want to turn to. Holding events like these can be that difference maker. Am I going to give it shot, damn straight I am because what do I have to lose buy time?
Time is now on my side!
-=Good Selling=-
Feeding The Front Line
Hey fellow P4P'ers. I'm posting this up for a friend of mine from Cali who is involved with helping our first responders in the healthcare industry. Any help would be very much appreciated!
Feeding The Front Line
As the mandatory shelter in place continues in the San Francisco Bay Area, Global Office is providing copier service & support only for our essential business customers. This leaves many idle resources that we have re-purposed to support front line health care workers.
Our staff is delivering meals from Bay Area restaurants directly to local hospitals, providing meals for doctors, nurses, and others who are working under unprecedented conditions.
The current list of hospitals that we service or have scheduled service for includes:
- Kaiser – Walnut Creek / Oakland / Fremont
- John Muir – Concord and Walnut Creek
- Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital
- LaClinica
- Palo Alto VA
- El Camino Hospital
- North East Medical Hospital
- Highland Hospital
- CPMC
- Sutter
- UCSF
Requests from additional hospitals are now coming in almost daily.
This effort supports local restaurants via our GoFund Me page. Special thanks to The Melt, Kinder’s BBQ, Best Coast Burritos & Slice House by Tony Gemignani, who are working under very challenging conditions.
We are also making deliveries of protective face shields provided by Shield Our Heroes. SOH is a group of designers from IDEO volunteering to design, build, and donate personal protective equipment to healthcare and public service workers around the Bay Area.
Feed the Front Line is a donation driven effort. A contribution of as little as $5 will help provide meals and other supplies to frontline health care workers. Additionally, it supports local restaurants as they fight to stay in business. Any support you can give is truly appreciated. Sharing our GoFund Me page is also a real help.
Steve Tarpley
CEO
COVID19 "Remote Working" Day Twenty of Sales
Okay, okay I did put a few hours in on Good Friday, however I made sure I finished up before noon. Good Friday was a listed company holiday but I wanted to put in the extra time since the company I work for has always been there for me. Those are those months and or quarters when you kind of suck and aren't getting the job done. We'll all had them and most of us are experiencing it right now.
Looking back on last week I was about to book $20K in revenue. Looking forward I've got a shot at getting $48K. Right now it's 60/40 and there's still 4 work days left in the week. Speaking of work days were you aware that there is an average of 22 work days each month? Today marks twenty since I was optioned to working from home. Two more days make an entire month!
Jersey is starting to see a flattening of the curve, yay! Does that mean we'll be brought back up to the team any time soon. The answer seems to be NO, our nanny State of New Jersey stills sees another 30 days of this. The question then becomes who and when will be allowed to go back to work. I mention "who" because there's been rumors thrown out there that those of us that are at high risk (meaning those over 55) would be required to work from home. Under 55 and no underlying conditions means you're back on the team.
My personal opinion...., I can do this remote stuff, but I do need to get back on the road and meet with clients and prospects. But will prospects and clients want to meet with sales people right away? I mean with the virus still going around will they have new rules for who comes and goes? Your guess is as good as mine, however I think that they'll be quite a few worry warts and the first time I sneeze or cough in an office will be the real test. Can anyone say, I've been thrown out of better offices than this?
First and foremost early today comprised of a few follow up emails to two of those prospects that I wrote about for this week. I was looking to set the stage for some Wednesday meetings.
At 11AM it was time for Monday Morning with Ricoh, this weeks theme was about unified communications. Took some notes, captured some slides and will be attacking some new prospects in the next couple of weeks. One thing I can tell you is that this remote working is giving me additional time to work on those projects I never seemed to have the time for. Meeting lasted about 45 minutes and that meant it was time for lunch.
At 12:30 we had a two hour long webinar for training. After 2:30PM was a short break, made a few more calls, a few more emails and it was time for the NJ Teams meeting. Later in the day I had a short 4PM with Tim our VP of Sales.
Yes, not the toughest day but I was able to move stuff forward. Tomorrow is an entire day of calls and emails.
-=Good Selling=-
The “Relationship-less” Sale
Yes, I created a new word. “Relationship-Less” As time moves along so must our thinking.
I first published this article in March of 2019, With the current circumstances we are all living through I wanted to re-publish. The world's businesses and the world's people will advance in their digitization by at least five years. I fear many B2B sellers will confuse their temporary great relationships; relationships created for and in a different time.
The changes caused by this pandemic regarding digitalization will be profound. It will be most important that B2B sellers align their expectations of customer and prospect relationships to the realities of a new buyer's mindset. This pandemic was an Evolutionary Event and the speed to buyers becoming disenfranchised with outdated seller mentalities will be shocking to the un-prepared.
Here's the article as previously written
We hear a lot about relationships and their importance in the sales process. I agree with that. However, I also caution those who believe that their success will hinge on only building 1990 style relationships. In these times we live relationships are modifying too.
Yesterday's relationship building as a must before selling. Is not the reality of many today's buyers. There are many things purchased every day both goods and services which are void relationships as defined in 1990. Today there are too many in sales who still believe that without a relationship they can’t provide the means to a prospects desired outcome. This misguided thinking is costing them business to the savvier sales organizations.
The disconnect, is based on what precisely defines a relationship with a buyer? The old school thinking will make it near impossible to face the realities of today’s buyer. Many buyers today see this obsession from sellers who must build relationships ahead of delivering as an aggravation, not a benefit. The old-way is pushing and the new buyer wants to pull.
Buyers and more of them every day want to pull to them want they need and then build a relationship. Quite frankly with the speed to action available through technology today. Buyers what to act, and buyers expect to be treated fairly and when they need assistance they expect cooperation as a way of doing business.
Buyers do not purchase relationships they buy desired outcomes. If the means to those outcomes fails the customer will replace them, and in reality, most of the replacements are with someone they do not have a relationship with.
Understanding the relationship required of the deliverable is essential. Times are changing, and it seems buyers are changing their buying habits quicker than sellers are changing their selling habits.
Selling must live in two worlds for those who provide both goods and services. These two worlds are re-shaping commerce across the globe. Understanding how to navigate between the Digital World and the Physical world is a must as this defines the new world of selling and the new world of relationships.
Today Customer Experience will win over Customer Relationships. Sellers cannot merely focus on relationship building or taking advantage of their relationships they must concentrate on giving the better experience and in 2019 and beyond that better experience might just be without a relationship as defined by 1990.
In Closing:
“You can be the vendor with the greatest relationships and lose to the innovator who delivers a better experience.”
If you wish to connect here on LinkedIn send me an invite be well.
Ray Stasieczko
CEO/TEASRA, The Innovation Channel and Host of The End Of The Day With Ray! visit my website here
Attention Sales World... What Would Happen If You Saw Your Significant Other Every 90 Days?
Marriage problems are relationship problems, they are the result of how two people interact with each other. You may abandon a troubled marriage, but you will still bring the way you interact with others along with you.
Mark Gungor, Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage
If you want a relationship, crave a relationship and it means something to you then you must be direct and intentional about it.
If it looks like a relationship, acts like a relationship, smells like a relationship… it isn’t always a relationship. For all those in sales, management and leadership roles, think about what I just said.
A healthy relationship is when two people develop a connection based on:
- Mutual respect
- Trust
- Honesty
- Support
- Fairness
- Love
- Good communication
Relationships are a necessary part of healthy living, but there is no such thing as a perfect relationship. Relationships take time, effort, patience, respect, giving and caring.
Client relationships are a necessary part of a healthy business.
In healthy relationships you:
- Can express yourselves to one another without fear of consequences
- Trust each other
- Are honest with each other
- Maintain and respect each other
- Feel secure and comfortable
What makes a great client business relationship?
I'm deeply concerned that the concept of a client business relationship has become lost inside the sales world.
There's no significant depth and genuine meaning. The walk doesn't match the talk.
What many in sales think is a relationship, may not be what it really is
I believe that before anyone in sales, management or leadership throws the term, "We have great client relationships" or "We love our clients" on the business table and out into the community, they should give some serious thought as to what it really means to them and how they will execute on it.
“So, get to know your customers. Humanize them. Humanize yourself. It’s worth it.”
Kristin Smaby
PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS AND MARRIAGE
How often do you communicate with your significant other?
Some of you are thinking, "What the heck, where's Larry going with this?"
I want everyone in sales, management and leadership to pay close attention to the following:
What would happen if you went 90 days without speaking to, looking at or even hugging your significant other?
It's fair to say most couldn't go more than a day.
Then why on earth do you go 90 days (most instances even longer) without communicating and showing how much you care about your clients?
Call me delusional (I've been called worse) but let's get real for a moment. Without clients you have no business. Without a real, loving, caring and meaningful relationship you have no marriage.
It's time to wake up and stop taking advantage of your most precious asset, your clients!
I'm keeping it real folks; I'm massively concerned with the weak relational skill set that many have in sales.
Right now, throughout the entire world, we're faced with a crisis. This is the time where relationships, connections, love, caring and a sense of belonging must be placed at the forefront of humanity.
You would never in a million years say to your significant other, "It's been a bit, I'm just touching base to make sure everything is OK."
Then why on earth are we calling our clients and saying the following:
- "I'm calling to see if you need anything"
- "I know it's been a bit, how are you doing"
And you all wonder why many of you are babysitting (at best) your customers until someone else comes along who truly values what it means to be in a business relationship.
"Truth is in the eye of the beholder"
MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIPS MATTER
Heartfelt professionals build meaningful relationships with their clients. They get it! To build meaningful relationships, they understand as humans we crave and value relationships.
Credibility and true meaning provide:
- Connectivity (knowing we're in this together)
- Support (knowing we're helping each other)
- Validation (knowing we feel the same way)
Relationships are a part of human nature. It's wired in our DNA.
"The more you give, ultimately the more you receive."
- Are you personally engaging with your clients?
- Are you authentically investing in building meaningful relationships?
A HEALTHY MARRIAGE, A HEALTHY BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP
Just like a marriage, businesses that are built around partnerships tend to have a better chance of success than those that aren’t. When it comes to the world we live in today, I believe that business is personal.
Care and compassion are how we connect
Compassion helps forge strong bonds. Letting your clients know that you will be with them every step of the way, no matter what, can go a long way in the success of any business partnership.
Being compassionate requires trying to understand things from the other person’s point of view before reacting.
According to the American Psychological Association, about 40 to 50 percent of married couples in the United States divorce.
What are you doing right now to ensure your client relationships don't end in a divorce?
Think of the following relationship equation with every one of your clients.
Engage + Excite/Conversation x Caring = Meaningful relationship
Now think about this one more time... What Would Happen If You Saw Your Significant Other Every 90 Days?
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 modern 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.
Top Ricoh Copiers from 1990 Focus on Ricoh FT2260
Ricoh FT2260
Classified as a tabletop copier with a stationary platen, clamshell design for easy jam removal and a dual feed paper trays.
The Ricoh FT2260 went on the market in late 1988 and has a suggested retail of $3,095. This copier was also sold as the Savin 7150.
The Ricoh FT2260 featured a front loading paper tray that held 250 sheets plus and additional side tray that held 100 sheets of paper. From the side paper tray the FT2260 featured a straight thru paper path.
Maximum copies that could be made at one time was 99. In addition this copier had a zoom lens that could be used for reductions or enlargement of documents at 1% increments. There were also reduction and enlargement pre-sets that the client could choose from (5 in total).
Features included auto exposure plus 5 step manual control graphic monitor, dual page, split page, auto copy mode and optional color toner changes.
Black toner yield was rated at 3,635 pages and color toner came in at 2,600 pages. Drum life was about 35,000 pages and fuser rollers life was 120,000 & 300,000 pages.
Optional accessories included ARDF/SADF that were capable of holding 30 originals in the feeder. Sorters were also available for 10 bins or 20 bins and each bin had the capability of holding up to 100 sheets of paper. Those early sorters were so unreliable and most were from third party suppliers.
Weight of the copier was 110lbs.
Preventative Maintenance cycle was for every 60,000 copies.
If you sold these we would love to hear from you, please feel free to respond and tell us of your sales experience with these copiers.
-=Good Selling=-
Top Ricoh Copiers from 1990 Focus on Ricoh FT2220
Ricoh FT2220
Classified as a tabletop copier with a moving platen, clamshell design for easy jam removal and had a one sheet paper tray.
The Ricoh FT2220 went on the market in late 1989 and has a suggested retail of $2,039.
The Ricoh FT2220 featured a straight paper path, dry toner, 11x17 copy capability along with a moving platen (which meant that the glass on the copier moved back and forth for every copy made).
Maximum copies that could be made at one time was 99. The maximum paper tray yield was 100 pages.
Features included auto exposure plus 5 step manual control graphic monitor, dual page, split page and optional color toner changes. Blue, red, black and green were the color choices The previous version was the Ricoh FT2010 and the copy speed was a blazing 15 page per minute.
Black toner yield was rated at 3,635 pages and color toner came in at 2,600 pages. Drum life was about 35,000 pages and fuser rollers life was 80,000 pages.
Preventative Maintenance cycle was for every 60,000 copies. The only available options was for the addition of the color developer and toner units.
If you sold these we would love to hear from you, please feel free to respond and tell us of your sales experience with these copiers.
-=Good Selling=-
COVID19 "Remote Working" Day Eighteen of Sales
Make no bones about it, I'm mentally drained. Jersey is still the same and I don't want to keep harping on what's going on here.
What was cool today is Greg Walters & I had our third installment of "How to Sell Copiers in the Age of Corona Virus. For those that haven't caught the first three episodes it's basically me and Greg talking about what's going on and shooting ideas back and forth.
What I liked about today is that we turned the mics on to hear from others in our Zoom meeting. We heard from David Whitten (Nothern Cal), John Anderson (Central Florida), West MCDonald (from the Candadian shore of Lake Erie) and then Chris Polek (from Polek & Polek in New Jersey). All four shared what's going on in their neck of the woods and all four gave everyone insight as to what we can do to keep the pedal to the metal. I forgot who it came from but one idea was for reps to invite their clients to an open discussion Zoom meeting. Meaning, we're not their to sell but to pull DM's together from various businesses and have open dialog about business in general during these times.
Personally I thought it was a splendid idea and I'm going to give it a whirl next week. I'm thinking of inviting 15 people and hoping that 5 or so can make it. It should be interesting if I can pull this off.
First thing this AM was to process the order that I received yesterday. Yeah it took me the better part of the hour. Next on tap was to prepare a slide presentation for my 3:30PM teams meeting with another account. First I had to do some crunching of the numbers like current costs, past volume, current volume (yes big drop in volume) and then migrate that volume to new MFP scenario. That entire process took the better part of two hours. I kept the power point to 4 slides and the reason for that is because the CFO told me he only had a few minutes. Short and sweet it is.
Noon was the working lunch meeting with Greg Walters. Then it was off to two webinars at the same time. One of the things I like about the Teams meeting is that I could turn on the captioning, thus while I was listening to one I was reading the other one. The first webinar ended in 30 minutes and the other one went for two hours.
By the time we finished up it was a little after 3PM. Made two phone calls and then hoped on my 3:30PM. Surprisingly the meeting went well, the data was well received and the meeting went almost 45 minutes. Dang, I could get used to this. We both agreed to schedule another meeting for Monday (key schedule that next step before you end the meeting). After finishing I then jumped on our NJ Teams meeting for a recap of the day.
By the time I looked up it was after 4PM. I futzed around with a few calls and then finished the day with another producing another virtual demo video for PPDM.
Tomorrow is a scheduled holiday, however I'm going to put a few hours in early and then take some time off. Tomorrow night there will not be a blog installment. To everyone be safe, be well, enjoy Passover and Easter.
-=Good Selling=-
Epson establishes Epson X Investment to accelerate innovation
April 2020
Epson establishes Epson X Investment to accelerate innovation
SYDNEY, 8 April 2020 – Epson has established Epson X Investment Corporation (EXI), a new corporate venture capital (CVC)1 subsidiary. The aim of the subsidiary is to accelerate collaboration and open innovation, grow existing businesses, and create new ones. A multi-million dollar fund will be set up for venture investment.
One of the basic policies of Epson's Phase 2 Mid-Range Business Plan is to accelerate growth by taking maximum advantage of assets and through collaboration and open innovation. In the past ten years, Epson has invested millions of dollars in mergers and acquisitions and in collaborative projects and capital tie-ups with venture businesses.
Epson have primarily pursued opportunities in which they could take advantage of synergies with their core devices, especially their core inkjet devices. This has helped the company break ground in new businesses and develop new markets that expand the scope of applications.
M&As are the most common way for enterprises to enter other industry sectors. In recent years, however, CVC has gained attention as an effective way to form collaborative relationships and capital tie-ups with venture companies in a wide and diverse range of fields and sectors. It is also seen as a way to prepare for major environmental changes and disruption.2
This situation prompted Epson to found EXI as a CVC subsidiary capable of rapidly making decisions and investments. This will help the company further accelerate their open innovation strategy.
Epson's general partner3 in EXI will be Global Brain Corporation (GB), an independent venture capital company with considerable expertise in CVC management. The Epson Group will have a 99% interest in a new corporate venture fund with many millions of dollars available for investment. Fund management will target investments in venture companies worldwide.
Epson will help to achieve a sustainable society by creating a variety of partnerships and synergies based on its proprietary technologies, products, and services.
For more information on Global Brain Corporation go to:
https://globalbrains.com/en/
1 Corporate venture capital (CVC): An investing scheme in which an operating company sets up a fund by contributing its own corporate funds and works with a GP as a limited partner (LP) to invest in and support mainly unlisted venture businesses. The objective is to develop synergy with the investing company's core business by investing in businesses that are relevant in some way to the investing company's business operations.
2 Disruption: Disruptive innovation using digital technology to radically shake up or break down existing industries.
3 General partner (GP): An unlimited liability partner. It forms an association with its joint investor and takes 100% of liability for administration. The liability of the limited partner (LP) is limited to the amount of investment.
Picture Credits
Epson X Investment Corporation graphic
Follow Epson on social media:
Facebook: @EpsonAustralia
Twitter: @EpsonAust
Instagram: @EpsonAust