MFP Copier Blog
Do You Really Know What Your Clients Think Of You?
“Every contact we have with a customer influences whether or not they’ll come back. We have to be great every time or we’ll lose them.”
Kevin Stirtz
How many of you love your clients?
Do they know you love them?
Let me just say this... The experience you think you’re delivering to your clients may not remotely resemble what they're actually experiencing.
How many believe there's a lack of loyalty and trust brewing within their client base?
Curious, how would you even know?
Are you listening to the heartbeat of your current clients? If you want to understand and gauge what your clients really think of you then you must be willing to eat vulnerability for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
When's the last time you stood in your clients shoes?
When's the last time you looked at things through their eyes?
We all know that success is built upon excellent client relationships. Why do so many in sales fail to nurture the clients they’ve already won?
How well do you truly know your clients and how well do they know you?
A few years ago, IBM published a C-level research study, based on interviews with more than 1,700 chief executive officers and leaders across the globe. The study indicated that over 70 percent of CEOs sought out a better understanding of individual customer needs. Two of their biggest challenges were learning how to engage with clients as individuals and gaining the insight to be able to do so.
Imagine the outcome of the same study if those in sales management and in sales were asked the same set of questions?
I'm going to throw it out there, I believe many in sales aren’t asking enough from their best clients.
CLIENT ENGAGEMENT AND INVESTMENT
Think about this one... how many of you ask your clients how things are going, only to get this response, "Fine"? My challenge to you is to peel back "fine". Is this a code for “Everything is not fine, but I really don’t want to talk about it?”
Yes, it's work to get to know your clients. This is part of what you must do. The only way to determine their level of engagement is to invest in the relationship.
Are you involved in generating new ideas with your clients?
Relationships are a two-way street, and if your clients aren't engaged then it's up to you to find ways to make this happen.
Client engagement means to get emotional. It's the human heartfelt connection between you, your client and your brand. Highly engaged clients buy more from you, promote more of you, and demonstrate more loyalty. Providing a high-quality client experience is an important component in your engagement strategy.
GET TO KNOW YOUR CLIENTS
How well do you really understand what your largest clients want? Do you understand what they really desire? Are you even relevant in their eyes? Do you even know?
How would you feel if you lost your largest account? It sucks, it's painful, it's horrible and it happens. It's preventable but think about these two questions... How well do you really know your clients? How well do they know you?
If you truly want to get to know your clients and prospects then take the sales hat off, roll up your sleeves and engage in healthy conversation.
Are you having meaningful conversations with your clients outside of the selling process?
How many relationships are you developing and building inside your current account base?
Are you opening up a real human conversation with your clients? It's about uncovering the conversation your client is having with themselves. In doing so this opens up honest communication as to what's really going on which provides you to engage in a win-win situation.
If your client's don't feel like they're being heard and understood, they may withhold critical information as to where they really are or what they really feel about you. In turn, this may diminish or eliminate your ability to impact your future with them.
YOU THINK YOU KNOW YOUR CLIENTS
Egos rear its ugly head in sales. Let's set aside your ego, I would like for to think about your best client, got it... here's what I'm going to ask you to do... go face to face belly to belly with your best client and ask them this...
What's the value I've been bringing to you and your business?
You can't say a word after you ask this question. If your best client without hesitation can't answer this question immediately then I'm here to tell you that you don't know them and they don't know you as well as you think. This means you have some work to do.
PERCEPTION IS REALITY
If I were to ask each and every one of you what your clients think about you, you would probably say something about them generally liking you, or they love you… after all, they're doing business with you. And you’d be right.
But what if you’re not?
Understanding how your clients perceive you can be critical information in establishing your sales strategies and alignment.
We live in a digital age, where virtually everything is a Google search away. This makes what you do and the services you provide easier to find. On the flip side, your competition is easier to find as well. This means it’s easier for the unhappy, unsatisfied or "I'm just fine" client to leave.
Your clients all have choices. They will continue to do business with you if you genuinely care about them, are truly interested in solving their problems and have their best interest at heart.
How well are you aligned with your client's perception?
UNDERSTAND YOUR CLIENTS BUSINESS
Creating true, authentic and appreciative relationships by spending informal time with your clients will help you to understand them and their businesses. In turn, they get to know you and what makes you tick.
Get to know what’s important to them and their business; the return will far outweigh the investment.
With all sincerity, when you get to know your clients inside and out, you can personalize the attention you give them.
Do you really know what your clients think of you?
True leadership is your ability to affect change and influence people inside your current accounts.
The more you can lead with a servant mindset the better off you'll be in the long run. Your goal is to be seen as a trusted adviser. When your input is greatly appreciated, it’s less likely they'll engage with your competition.
Stop taking your clients for granted.
How well do your clients know you?
YOUR HEART MUST BE AT THE CENTER
Are you really giving your clients what they value more effectively than your competitors?
Are you bringing your heart to help your clients do better business?
When you sincerely and deeply understand your clients this will open the door to more creative solutions. This becomes huge stepping stones to a synergistic and profitable partnership.
How well do your clients really know you?
Your clients are the lifeblood to your success. No clients, no business. Lead with a servant mindset and heart. I promise this will be bring about a positive change.
Focus on their success not your success
Meaningful and credible relationships do matter! Discover the power of relational selling at Selling From the Heart. Be on the lookout for upcoming webinars, training workshops and coaching programs around how to prevent all of this from happening.
I understand and I get it. I get where you all are coming from. Every day, I walk in your shoes. I'm fully committed to helping your sales team integrate social aspects through the eyes of a practitioner 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 and Kindle. You can click on the book image below and this will take you to Amazon.
I encourage you to find out more about 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 and on my podcast by clicking on Selling from the Heart.
Perfect Copier Feature Update for July 3rd, 2019
Jesse sent me this on the 3rd. This video shows some of the new updates for the Perfect Copier Quoting tool. It's awesome and I find my self using it most of the time now I can develop a professional quotes in minutes now.
If interested please send me an email or reply here since there is special pricing for P4P Members.
Being Comfortable With Yourself Can Go A Long Way in Sales
Be creative, be authentic, be knowledgeable and be passionate are all great traits for sales people.
For most sales people it takes time to feel comfortable with who you are and the message that you want to bring to your clients. It's not something that you can change over night. It's something that successful level sales people develop over time and sometimes it's coupled with trial and error. The great thing is that we all learn from our mistakes. Trust me been there done that.
Clients Can Sense Your Expertise
It's more about that feeling that the client gets when you're on the phone or meeting with them. They feel comfortable with you, they are comfortable with your message, comfortable with your tone of voice. Selling today is nothing like it was back in the eighties, the hard close is all but gone along with those leading questions to make the client say yes. I'm not saying that getting a yes is bad, however clients are so educated they can sense where you're trying to take them down the "yes" road and that's when the walls go up.
A Recent Cold Call
Last week I wanted to pay a visit to an existing account where we just placed a new wide format. Actually I was chopping at the bit to visit them because I noticed there were four other companies in the same location that were wide format users.
My last cold call was probably the best of the afternoon and it wasn't because I developed a lead. I was greeted by the receptionist and I stated my name, my company and explained that I had meet one of the principals at a recent event. She corrected me on the first name of the principal (yeah, I had a senior moment), I asked if she would forward my information to the person in charge (I knew who it was, but did not mention their name). I then stated. "when you're in need to replaced or add a new wide format we'd like to me included in that process". KISS
The receptionist then thanked me and told me that I was the most courtesy sales person she had meet in some time. Also stating that others would ask too many questions. I told her, "thank you, that means a lot, I've been doing this for a long time". I followed up with a call just today, spoke with our receptionist and she put me through to the decision maker. Appointment was then scheduled. Seems this was more about being comfortable with myself and the message I wanted to send.
Saturday Afternoon
After returning from Virginia for a few the days the wife and I needed to go on some errands. Lowes, Hobby Lobby (for me), food store and I had to find a place to ship a package to Virginia.
My wide told me about there was a UPS store just up the road. It was Saturday, I was dressed in boat shoes, shorts and a tee-shirt. Of course the first thing I noticed was the three KonicaMinolta copiers as I arrived. I made my way to the counter and was waited on by a clerk. Next to the clerk was an older man and I surmised that he was the owner because of the way he interacted with the clerk. I got my package shipped and then asked the owner, "how is the copy business", his reply was "it's okay". I then stated, "good, but does anyone really make copies anymore?". "No, not really, but UPS mandates that I have to have three copiers, one for color, one for black and one has to have a Fiery" he said. "Wow, I'm surprised, is that because of the franchise agreement?" I asked. "Yes, are you in the copy business?" the owner asked. "Yes, I am"
We chatted for another 35 minutes which included one major point that I was not aware of. UPS wants the franchise owners to diversify away from shipping. UPS wants them to add other printing devices such as wide format, and color wide format.
Boy was my wife upset when I finally got back to the car. I apologized and told her about the chat. She stated. " I would expect nothing less".
What started as a routine visit to ship a package ended up with a casual conversation about copiers and then some. I was not a sales person, I was a customer in his eyes and that led to conversation that he and I was comfortable with. Needless to say, he wants me to pop in when I'm in the area again. Always be prospecting!
_=Good Selling=-
Master IT Service Providers, Will They Continue Being the Masters?
After experiencing Master Service Providers first hand as the COO with a very successful Managed IT Security and Services Firm, I wanted to share some thoughts regarding how I see the future of these providers. First, I must say that I am not a fan or proponent of outsourcing to Master Service Providers in today's world of commoditizing IT. Master Service Providers attempts to scale the complexities of more sophisticated MSP's customers is hampered by their need to continue to support the less sophisticated customers, which are the majority.
The Future MSP
In 2019 and beyond, successful MSPs must be more focused and verticalized to separate themselves and ensure their survival against innovative disruptors. Success for the future MSP will come from delivering the service requirements to the more sophisticated customer. These customers will also compensate the MSP much higher than those who utilize Master Service Providers and continue providing canned services to the lower paying customers.
When you look at the industry, a common theme is that the most successful MSPs do not use Master Service Providers. Also, their average monthly reoccurring revenue is much higher than those MSPs who are relying on a Master Service Provider for their core customer deliverable. Those in the Imaging Channel who are transiting to IT Services should evaluate this fiscal disparity and ask why. Like all things, there may be one or two outlying success stories. However, I would presume that the deliverable will be less sophisticated, and the customers they service will be vulnerable to innovative disruptors.
The Master Service Provider's Future
The looming challenge for today's Master Service Provider will be the consolidation and merger of smaller MSPs into larger MSPs. These larger, more operationally mature organizations, for the most part, do not use Master Service Providers. Another threat is the entrance into the space of huge corporations which will go directly to end-users.
I believe that those MSPs whose monthly service contracts average less than $2,500 per month will quickly find themselves competing against innovative disruptors like Amazon, Google, and HP.
Will the Master Service Providers see a mass exodus of MSPs from their ranks? I think, yes. If so, will the larger Master Service Providers modify their platforms, enabling them to deliver services directly to end-user in the way Konica's All Covered does? I can visualize Continuum along with other Thoma Bravo owned companies attempting just that. However, smaller Master Service Providers will ultimately run into innovative, competitive threats and commoditized buyers.
The market is shifting more to cloud services, technology is getting easier and easier to use, and the end users become more tech savvy every day. The MSP's lower revenue-producing customers will seek more commodity-based approaches, and they will be comfortable making those buying decisions from well-known, global branded companies.
The growth will be in IT Security Services. However, that space is quickly filling up with national and global organizations as the example we see with AT&T's acquisition of AlienVault. IT Security is a much more complicated and potentially mission-critical deliverable than helpdesk and NOC Services. Therefore, buyers of these services will perform more due diligence and be far more selective when they choose a provider. MSPs who engage a Master Service Provider for helpdesk, backups, and NOC services might have reservations placing their customers' security in the same hands.
It seems that some Master Service Providers are attempting to capitalize on the IT Security moniker as a marketing strategy more than a comprehensive deliverable. Teaching MSPs the language of IT Security is only a tiny first step in actually delivering it. Littering websites with the latest buzz words will not prevent the security threats customers face. When looking at the security services that many Master Service Providers offer there are still vital components missing. Things such as comprehensive fee-based security analysis, fee-based compliance readiness services, and fee-based educational services are necessary services but seem largely ignored by most providers.
The IT services firms with higher operational majority levels and average monthly reoccurring contracts above $5k will do well in delivering IT Security Services to specific verticals and customers who are not commodity buyers. These organizations have the revenue and profits to hire the appropriate human capital allowing them to provide critical services that Master Service Providers are not offering.
Those resellers with lower operational maturity will struggle with successfully curating a security deliverable. The MSPs will find their smaller customers courted by the likes of AT&T and other well-known entities which will soon litter the market with IT security choices for customers at the lower end of the revenue scale. The locally owned MSP will struggle to retain these customers against the national and global entities which will continue to drive down end-user cost.
The next generation MSP will be too sophisticated for Master Service Providers as they exist today. The MSPs who have invested in an internal support infrastructure will be better suited to transform into specialized security firms. The Managed IT Services deliverable is changing along with how customers consume technology. These changes will challenge many MSPs and the Master Service Providers they currently depend on for their success.
"Status Quo is the killer of all that will be invented."
Ray Stasieczko
How Would You Feel If You Lost Your Largest Account?
“Get closer than ever to your customers. So close that you tell them what they need well before they realize it themselves.”
Steve Jobs
How well do you really understand what your largest clients want? Do you understand what they really desire? Are you even relevant in their eyes? Do you even know?
How many of you can honestly answer these questions?
Gut check time, isn't it?
I would like for you to think about your largest client, got it? Think about how much they mean to you and your company.
What would it mean to you and your company if you lost your largest client?
If I had a dollar for every time I've heard these statements, “We service the heck out of our customers. They’ll never leave us.” "I own this account." "They love me, they're not going anywhere." All of a sudden a cold dose of reality sets in, a competitor walks away with one of your largest accounts and no one ever saw it coming.
I'm not here to throw ill-will on you or your company. I'm asking you to think. I know you work hard for your clients. You take them seriously. You provide great service and yet some still leave, why?
Let's get real for a moment... Your competitors are calling on your largest clients. They're ripe for the picking if you simply fail to take care of them, listen to them, love them, learn from them and even grow with them.
All of a sudden and it does happen, a long list of 'little things' develop, things begin to silently fester over time and before you know it, you’ve been replaced with a shiny new sales professional.
If you fail to continually enhance the client experience, don't be surprised if they look elsewhere for new experiences
THE DREADED MOMENT
There comes a time in every sales rep’s career when this conversation happens: “After careful consideration, we have chosen to buy from someone else.”
This stings even more when it's one of your largest clients.
If you start making excuses as to why you lost the deal, you’ll never correct the behavior. The sting of the loss will linger much longer than you want it to.
Michael Pedone
Mope. Cry. Complain. Point Fingers. Deflect. Do whatever you need to do allow yourself to feel bad! Yes, feel bad. It sucks! The initial wave of stress and anxiety is completely normal and probably inevitable. Let it happen and rightfully so.
Question becomes... Whose fault is it?
What I believe matters is how long you choose to dwell over it and more importantly, what you choose to do afterwards to recover (I bet now you wished you took prospecting serious).
Worrying a bit can fuel a positive change!
Losing a large client sucks. I get it. It's hard not to take it to heart. It happens but what can you do to prevent it from happening?
According to Tom Cates, founder and chief client officer of salesEQUITY, a client engagement platform that measures B2B relationships.
"Clients leave for all sorts of reasons," says Cates. "Occasionally it is for a product or service failure, sometimes for a breach of trust or contract. However, we find these situations to be in the minority. When clients leave, it is usually because the provider is not properly managing the relationship."
PERCEPTION IS REALITY
When's the last time you've asked one of your largest clients what they think of you? Are you ready to hear the truth? Or a better question would be, "Do you want to hear the truth?"
"Your perception may not be my reality"
Aporva Kala
No matter how excellent you think you are, your success depends first and foremost upon how good you are in your clients mind.
John Mackey (CEO, Whole Foods) nails it, “For us, our most important stakeholder is not our stockholders, it is our customers. We’re in business to serve the needs and desires of our core customer base.”
Question becomes...
Are you delivering on your promises to your largest clients?
Are you placing your largest clients on a pedestal, placing their needs above your very own?
A complacent mindset towards your largest clients is a death sentence, slow and painful
COLD HARD TRUTH
Do you really truly care about your largest clients? Do they know how much they mean to you?
Are you taking your largest clients for granted?
"If you truly care about your clients, then they’ll care about you!"
I would like for you to reflect on the following...
If you do very little to educate, engage and enhance your relationships inside your largest accounts then why on earth should they continue to do business with you?
If you do very little to help your largest clients do better business then why on earth should they continue to do business with you?
How would you feel if they went elsewhere?
When is the last time you looked your largest clients in the eyes, shook their hand and said, "I sincerely thank you for allowing me to serve you. You and your company mean a lot to me. I'm here to always help."
In today's environment that's becoming increasingly competitive, you must focus on building meaningful and credible relationships with your largest clients.
- Become genuinely interested in their business.
- Be on the lookout to help them do better business.
- Connect with meaning rather than just contacting them to sell them something or waiting for them to contact you.
You all have choices. The choice is yours but don't be surprised if **** happens. The only person you have to blame is yourself.
Yes, this is cold and in your face but I'm asking you to think...
What would happen if you lost your largest client?
Meaningful and credible relationships do matter! Discover the power of relational selling at Selling From the Heart. Be on the lookout for upcoming webinars, training workshops and coaching programs around how to prevent all of this from happening.
A Summer Night Chat With Greg Walters about ArcDrive
If you follow industry press releases like me then you're aware that the King of MPS aka Greg Walters recently released his Arc Drive. Yes, I was curious as to what is the Arc Drive and what does it do?
A few nights ago Greg and chatted about Arc Drive and below is how our chat went.
Art: Hey Greg, okay first question for you, where the heck is Oconomowoc, Wisconsin?
Greg: It’s in between Madison and Milwaukee in lake country. A quaint town, there are 12 bars within a square mile or so. I occasionally write about the town, https://ocondomowoc.com/
Art: Is an Indian word that’s used for your town?
Greg: Yes, that’s right.
Art: Do you know what that translates to in English, I’m betting it means land of managed print, right?
Greg: It means “falling waters” or something like that
Art: Cool, you never know what you’re going to learn from day to day. Your ArcDrive, would that be similar to a Datto box?
Greg: You’re on the right track if you see the similarities. ArcDrive provides hybrid storage of documents and Datto provides hybrid BDR services. Today’s ArcDrive convergences three disciplines; advance capture, managed print services & intelligent workflow.
Art: So could a dealership that’s a little challenged with MPS increase their footprint/market share with ArcDrive?
Greg: Yes I designed ArcDrive to help dealers defend the base, easily add income streams, and enhance monthly recurring revenue in MPS. ArcDrive is intended to bring in those devices most ‘down the street’ sales rep walk by everyday.
The idea is to embed managed print services with easy to use advance capture
Art: Okay, I hear workflow tossed around a lot, what do you mean workflow when it’s comes to the ArcDrive?
Greg: A great example is in Accounts Receivable. Imagine a local insurance agency, with five agents and one admin. As UPS delivers invoices, paper documents, etc., the admin will typically sort
Art: Is there a monthly subscription price for the client or the dealer?
Greg: Dealer cost is extremely affordable.
Art: Who is InkCycle?
Greg: US based toner manufacturer out of Kansas. I’ve known the company and Brad for years. They are obsessive about their customer experience, and eager to share a new story.
Art: Alright, the DCA tool that you use, will it have challenges with windows updates like the other tools?
Greg: For two reasons: The DCA does not utilize .net, so upgrades to Windows have no effect. More importantly, because the DCA resides on the ArcDRive, the risk of losing DCA connection due to inadvertently powering down, is reduced.
I thought this was awesome for Greg to do this for our members. Greg thanx for the time and hoping we can connect sometime in the near future. If you have additional questions you can visit Arc Drive here and I'm sure Greg would be more than happy to chat with you.
-=Good Selling=-
We All Can Agree Stories Sell... Is Your Story Inspiring Others To Take Action?
"We're telling a story. And the demands of that are different from the demands of a documentary. The audience must believe in order to keep faith in the story."
Bradley Whitford
We all love a great story. If you want to successfully sell your products, your vision, or your ideas, you must recognize the power and importance of storytelling.
You must become an expert in telling your own story! You do have a story and it deserves to be told.
Here lies the question, how well do you know your own story and how well are you sharing your story?
If you want to sell, you have to make people want to listen to you AND storytelling is a must have sales skill.
Reflect on this for a moment... Many of you tell stories just to tell them. However, when you start asking people why they listen to and then share, there's always a reason. It might be to encourage or inspire you to think differently.
Do you believe stories help you sell?
If we agree stories help you to sell then what makes up your sales story? Sit for a moment and self-reflect upon your sales story.
Why should you do this?
- People retain more through stories
- Stories appeal to our emotional side
- Stories create visualization
- Stories encourage action and inspire
So... if we're in agreement that stories sell...
- Is your story real, relevant and relatable?
- Is there a point to your story?
- What's the message behind your story?
PEOPLE BUY STORIES
Stories are all about people and the relationships between them. Is your sales story worth telling? Can it influence your clients and prospects in some way? Can it inspire them on a journey to better business?
Michael Margolis is one of the world's leading experts in Narrative Strategy. A 2x TEDx speaker. A strategic advisor to Silicon Valley's biggest brands.
- People don’t buy a product, service, or idea; they buy the story that’s attached to it.
- Storytelling is our most basic technology, turbocharged through 21st century innovation.
- Storytelling is like fortune-telling. The act of choosing a certain story determines the probability of the outcomes.
Stories are memorable, but more importantly are your stories tugging on the heartstrings? Let’s move our focus away from B2C or B2B. Let's realize that every business interaction is H2H, Human to Human and Heart to Heart.
MY HEART, MY BREAK THROUGH, MY STORY
Allow me to take you back to spring time 2007. I found myself amongst hundreds of middle school aged kids, my son being one of them, listening to someone pour their heart out as they shared their rags to riches story.
I didn't realize it but this event would trigger my a-ha moment. I love sales. I'm a sales nerd. I love everything about sales. So you all know, I was 20 years into my career inside what many call a crazy sales channel (I'm being nice), the copier channel.
MY A-HA MOMENT
Weeks later I found myself in a conference room. I was in yet another boring sales training with a bunch of unmotivated reps where management attempted to drill scripts into our heads urging us to regurgitate it back word for word. I know you get what I'm cooking up!
Sitting bored to death in the middle of this training, the lights came on. I realized that my best clients didn't really care that much about the specific brand of the product they used.
What they cared about was me:
- Was I trustworthy?
- Did they get the sense that I cared for them or was I reeking of commission breath?
- Did I seem like someone that could truly help them, not just an empty suit with a blank sales order?
- Would I be there for them to take care of issues?
I realized that the key to my success was not spitting out scripts but being authentic. It was about being me.
In fact, if you boil it all down, most of the corporate sales training you experience is people asking you to be fake. It's all about fitting into the corporate mould: say what we want you to say, act like someone you aren't, become a sales robot as you puke out corporate fodder.
Guess what? This old school crap just doesn't work. Sure, we need to know our product. I ask all of you to set this aside, our clients need to know we care about them and their business.
I needed to do SOMETHING different, otherwise I might just explode!
REMEMBERING THE MIDDLE SCHOOL MOMENT
Before my head exploded, I reflected back and replayed in my mind what I listened to weeks prior at my son's middle school. If someone in my community can go from drugs and gangs to becoming a multi-millionaire by the time they were 21 then what was preventing me from getting to the next level in my career? The answer... it was me. I was holding myself back.
I reached out to the individual who spoke at my son's middle school and asked if he would speak at my company. He obliged and I soon found myself again listening to his story.
Fascinated once more, I asked him if I could speak with him in my office. I didn't know it but it was at this moment, my life would forever change. I poured my heart out to him, became vulnerable and asked for help. I simply asked him, "Would you ever considering coaching me?"
A COACHING MARRIAGE
It was at the point I took my own money ($10,000) and hired my coach and everything changed.
- My coach showed me things that I couldn't see on my own. He exposed me to blind spots.
- He brought out the best in me.
- He challenged me to take action. He encouraged me.
- I was able to be vulnerable with him in ways I simply couldn't be with my manager.
What are you thinking right now?
What's holding you back?
Can you relate?
BECOMING THE BEST VERSION OF YOU
In my heart, I know I wouldn't be where I'm at today without becoming vulnerable with myself and allowing a coach to step into my life.
I encourage all of you to follow your dreams. Becoming the best version of you does matter. New opportunities sit right in front of you. I understand what you're going through. I've walked a day in the life in your sales shoes. I'm here to help.
"Every story you tell is your own story."
Joseph Campbell
ACCEPTING RESPONSIBILITY
Once I accepted responsibility and it was up to me to make it happen. My coach helped me to uncover it was not all my fault. I became a product of my environment, the culture of my company was holding me back. New opportunities lie ahead.
We must set aside our fears, our egos and our bravado. I get it what you're thinking. I've been there.
What are you afraid of?
OWN YOU
Let's face it, you live in a sales world where people don't trust you, they're skeptical of you and their B.S. radars are constantly on. I get what you may be thinking right now as your suspicious mind is thinking the same thing.
I overcame my suspicious mind by succumbing to vulnerability. I am asking you to get vulnerable. Get to know you. Become the best version you. I'm here to help.
I took a stance against poor, inconsistent training and support. I did something about it. I stood up to me. I said to myself, "enough is enough". I hired a coach and threw mental rocks at bad sales training.
I get it. Some of you understand what I'm sharing with you and some will understand but fail to do something about it. Failing to work on you and you're throwing away golden opportunities to catapult your sales career.
CARING: DO YOU CARE?
If you fail to take care of yourself then how can you take care of your clients?
If you take yourself for granted, sit back, become complacent, fail to continually educate yourself and build upon the relationship with you, you’ll lose you.
Today, your clients are asking so much more of you than they ever have before. They're holding you to a higher degree of accountability. If you fail to nourish yourself and continually bring value, I flat guarantee somebody else will eagerly step right in.
One of the best ways to ensure your clients feel valued and appreciated is to show them you care.
Caring for your clients is not that hard. It's looking them in eye and saying, "I'll be here for you at all times. I have your best interest at heart."
I care about you. I care about your success.
Having a coach who cared changed everything for me. I'd like to coach you to get to the next level in your sales career. I'm going to ask and encourage you to invest in yourself.
Thank you Ryan Blair. I love you! I wouldn't be where I'm at today without you doing what you did for me and stepping into my life.
I understand and I get it. I get where you all are coming from. Every day, I walk in your shoes. I'm fully committed to helping your sales team integrate social aspects through the eyes of a practitioner 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 and Kindle. You can click on the book image below and this will take you to Amazon.
I encourage you to find out more about 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 and on my podcast by clicking on Selling from the Heart.
This Week in the Copier Industry 5 Years Ago (Third Week of June 2014)
Oh how I miss "bandit", taught me so much about wide format. Hoping "bandit" can get back in the industry one day!
I posted "Selling Copiers (A week in my life) 5 years ago. This thread starts off with Monday and what we do on Sunday. Because any good sales person needs prep and plan going into Monday AM. Check it out.
Enjoy these threads from 5 years ago this week!
This Week in the Copier/Office Equipment Industry 10 Years Ago Second Week of June 2004
Top 10 Copier & Printer Proposals for May 2014
Sharp Expands A4 Product Line With New Color Desktop Printer
Ricoh selected by Agilisys Document Solutions as print supplier to offer high quality and secure services
Ricoh Canada Inc. signs agreement to acquire Commonwealth Legal Inc.
Selling Copiers "A Week in the Life" Monday
Direct scanning to OneDrive with Udocx
Kodak Alaris' i3000 and i4000 Series Scanners Win Better Buys for Business Editor's Choice Award
Mobile Printing?
Xerox WorkCentre 7120PT.pdf
Xerox Phaser 3635MFP.pdf
Xerox Phaser 3320DNI.pdf
Xerox WorkCentre 7225 Color.pdf
When Does Your IT Provider Start to Care About Your Cost Per Page?
All Covered Named to CRN's 2014 Solution Provider 500 List
How fast will the first HP PageWide technology wide-format printer be? How productive will it be? Let's speculate!
Stratasys 3D Printing and Legacy Effects Suit Robocop
OKI Develops Printing Application for Android(TM) Operating System
Xerox WorkCentre 6605DN.pdf
Cintas Leverages TIS' eFLOW(R) to Meet Market Demand for Subscription-Based BPO Services
EFI and AMSP/NAPL/NAQP Join Events to Create the Industry’s Ultimate Thought Leadership Conference
DocuWare and Access Announce Partnership
Samsung Announces New Executive Appointments Across Strategic Growth Areas
Nuvotera Launches NuvoSync for Autotask Integration at Autotask Community Live!
Parascript Announces Key Partnerships for its Document Capture Technology in IT, Document & Content Management Industries
marcciv
richj
Re: ECM and DM solutions
Re: When Does Your IT Provider Start to Care About Your Cost Per Page?
Re: Selling Copiers "What Would You Do"?
Cost Per Page Discussion "Has the time come for one cost per page"
Curious about how everyone verfies Cost Per Page
Docurated Furthers Growth, Adds Former ExactTarget EVP as Chief Revenue Officer
DocuWare Group – Nearly 25 Percent Growth in 2013
MakerBot Launches MakerBot Mobile
One Source Networks Acquires the Business of StarView Solutions
Re: Curious about how everyone verfies Cost Per Page
Re: Mobile Printing?
Re: Mobile Printing?
This Week in the Copier Industry 10 Years Ago (Third Week of June 2009)
Let's see ten tear ago Polek & Polek was celebrating 35 years in business. Thus in 5 more years Polek & Polek will be celebrating an amazing 50 years of giving excellent support. Polek & Polek is a fantastic sponsor of the Print4Pay Hotel and I urge all members to click on their site and see what they have to offer. Back in 86' I was buying 50% of my generic Mita toner from them. Please check them out Polek & Polek.
Enjoy these threads from ten years ago this week!
Weekend Copier Notes from 06/14/09
Polek & Polek Celebrates 35 Years in Imaging Supplies Business
Weekend Copier Notes from 06/07/09
RICOH CORPORATION ANNOUNCES PRINT COPY SCAN DIRECTOR: UPGRADE TO ITS POPULAR PRINT DI
Someone Sold a RICOH Pro C900!
RICOH AFICIO MP C2550 PRESENTED WITH FIVE STAR RATING FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE F
Pearson-Kelly picks up most of office equipment company's customers and employees
FIVE RICOH FACILITIES EARN ISO 14001 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
Re: Weekend Copier Notes from 06/14/09
Re: What's the Next...
Xerox ColorQube "Poll Results"
ricoh C900 (Video)
Re: Someone Sold a RICOH Pro C900!
Re: Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On
Re: Hot Spot Printers
Agreement will save city $50,000
Re: Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On
Re: Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On
Re: Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On
Re: Hot Spot Printers
Re: Hot Spot Printers
Re: Polek & Polek Celebrates 35 Years in Imaging Supplies Business
This Week in the Copier Industry 15 Years Ago (Third Week of June 2004)
Each week I try to go back and pick out an interesting thread from many years ago. The one I reread for this week was "Sell Solution - Not Price". Dang it's been fifteen years since that thread. There are many excellent responses from Steve, Scott, Neil, JSWin & Old Glory. What's old becomes new you can view that thread here "Sell Solution Not Price".
Enjoy these most excellent threads from 15 years ago this week!
Canon U.S.A. and eCopy Honored
Ricoh Printers Make Desktop Color More Affordable
Konica-Minolta Bizhub C350
Ricoh 2035/2045 v.s. Canon
Ricoh Plans To Triple IT
INTRODUCES THE AFICIO 1515
Minolta Di520
Lock In Your Customer by Bundling Value-Added Benefit and Sell More Copiers
Sell Solution - Not Price
Re: Sell Solution - Not Price
Re: Konica-Minolta Bizhub C350
For All the Sales Gurus
Has anyone hear of this....?
Several Best-in-Class Awards from BERTL
GMAN
Re: Leads in California
Re: Sell Solution - Not Price
Re: Sell Solution - Not Price
Re: Minolta Di520
Re: Minolta Di520
Re: Minolta Di520
Re: Leads in Virgina
Re: Leads in Ohio
E-Reader Automates Meter Readings
Question with plotbase w/240W
Re: Leads in Maryland
Re: Leads in New Hampshire
Re: Leads in Texas
Re: Sell Solution - Not Price
Re: Sell Solution - Not Price
Re: Sell Solution - Not Price
Re: screen resolution for aficio 240 plotbase
Re: For All the Sales Gurus
Re: For All the Sales Gurus
Re: screen resolution for aficio 240 plotbase
Re: Has anyone hear of this....?
Re: E-Reader Automates Meter Readings
Re: Kyocera vs. Ricoh
Re: Ricoh 2035/2045 v.s. Canon
Re: Z-Fold Unit Type 2105 Option !!!!!!!!
Re: Ricoh 2035/2045 v.s. Canon
-=Good Selling=-