MFP Copier Blog

“When you’re interested in something, you do it only when it’s convenient. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.”

Ken Blanchard

In Sales Professionals Chase Excellence, Not Shiny Objects; the overall objective was simple... just get to work and stop chasing shiny objects.

What would happen if you got rid of the excuses, overcame your fears and squashed your ego? How would this change your sales results? How would this help you in prospecting for new business or enhancing your client relationships?

The legendary Bob Proctor said it best...

“No one wins the blame game”

Blame is shifting the reason for something going wrong, to someone else.

I'm just going to keep it simple, sales professionals take responsibility and place the blame on themselves when things fail to go as planned. Sales reps deflect, shifting the blame to others.

Sales reps love ‘passing the buck’ so that they don't feel responsible for something that has gone wrong.

The blame game can be very toxic, while accountability can be very empowering. The choice is yours my friends.

JUST DO IT!

I believe committing to excellence has taken a back seat to extreme finger pointing. I believe that committing to excellence is the key to unlocking success today.

"However, I am concerned with the current state of the sales profession. What I’m seeing develop is a lack of commitment to excellence. A culture of excuses and finger-pointing has replaced hard work, grit, and determination. Sales are not easy. Sales are not for everyone, nor for the weak at heart. It requires discipline, determination, and a game plan. It takes a lot out of you, and you must be willing to pay the price, but the rewards are worth it." - Selling From the Heart

Too many of you love playing the deferral game. You love placing the blame elsewhere. A true sales professional takes ownership of everything they do. Sales professionals don’t place blame, deflect, or pass problems on to someone else.

A HIGHER STANDARD

The success you have in sales is a culmination of the decisions you make. Each day you're given opportunities to make choices for yourself, they can be productive or a complete waste of your time.

"Sales professionals hold themselves to a higher degree of standards"

A sales professional doesn't take the easy way out nor cut corners. They know they're different than the majority of sales reps who moan, grown and finger point.

A sales professional doesn't succumb to the slacker mentality. They surround themselves with other professionals who in turn hold each other accountable. They understand finger pointing sales reps are toxic and bad influences that will throw them off course on their professional journey.

NO EXCUSES

Excuses, we've all made them. However; when you fail to hit your sales targets do you take full responsibility or play the deflect game by blaming others?

If you focus on excuse making for not hitting your sales plan, then sure enough you'll end up with a world class list of reasons but then what will you do about it?

Sales professionals take full responsibility for the sales results! You can all find excuses in the world to shift the blame or deflect it on to someone else but does this bring you any closer to hitting your sales targets? I think not.

"Stop listening to the excuses and start doing something about it!"

The reason why many in sales will fail to become a sales professional is because they're too attached to what they've been. They live in their past, struggling to build their future.

To achieve success we need to understand it doesn't happen overnight. With consistency and discipline you must diligently do your job. It doesn't happen all of a sudden.

The great Jeffrey Gitomer so eloquently states, "No excuses, it's yours, the sucking salesperson's responsibility! Plan, prepare, practice then play and you might win. If you don't, you'll lose for sure."

Sales success, it's not a lottery that you win overnight; It's not magic created in seconds. Its sheer effort, effectiveness, consistency, productivity and knowledge.

DEVELOP A PRACTICE MINDSET

What separates an average athlete from an average sales rep? Millions of dollars and their mindset.

A basketball game isn’t won on the court. The game is won in the days, weeks, months and off-season work leading up to the 48 minutes of actual playing time.

The game is won with preparation. The team watches film, memorizes plays, hits the gym and eats properly. Preparation and practice are the keys!

The lie you tell yourself, "But, I practice on the job."

Just ask the all-time greats. Kobe Bryant saw Los Angeles at 4:00 A.M. Michael Jordan was the first person on the court and the last one off. Magic Johnson was the true definition of a work horse. It was his work ethic, growth mindset along with his commitment to practice which made him one of the best basketball players of all time.

So, why do sales reps struggle so much with practice?

"If you aren't willing to help yourself and practice then how can you help your clients do better in their business?"

IT'S UP TO YOU

You can choose to point fingers, chase shiny objects and play the deflect game or you can hold yourself accountable. The choice is yours.

A true sales professional doesn't blame others. They ask, listen, and learn without laying blame (that’s the hard part).

According to a Harvard Business Review article written by Nathanael J. Fast, “A deep set of research shows that people who blame others for their mistakes lose status, learn less, and perform worse relative to those who own up to their mistakes."

When it's all said and done, it’s easy to justify why you did or didn’t meet your daily, monthly, or yearly targets. I get it, many in sales face B.S. that's out of their control but a strong sales professional will fight hard and will not point fingers.

Pointing fingers is a sign of weakness. Don't point fingers, don't chase shiny objects and more importantly, don't be an empty suit.

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 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.

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 and on my podcast by clicking on Selling from the Heart.

It Tuesday evening, just past midnight my time and a little past nine pm Vegas time. 

The flight out to Vegas was comfortable and a nice flight. I had five hours to reflect on meeting Peter (my brother) at McCarren airport. About a week ago I had suggested that he pick me up at the airport on his way to Las Vegas.  Peter agreed and the time was coming to and end when we finally would meet in person.

For the last three weeks we've been chatting on and off.  With most of the calls was more about getting to know each other a little better, what we've done, where we've been, and what's happening now.  Additional over the last two weeks I've been doing some additional digging on Ancestry for additional relatives that may know more about our birth parents. 

I was able to connect and speak with one niece, one nephew and hear about a half brother that resides in Florida.  On one of those phone calls I found out that Peter and I are already rich!  Rich is new family that is, seems we have many great nieces and great nephews that are spread all across the United States.  In addition I was able to put some pieces of the puzzle together as to why we were adopted.  Those pieces was something that I was prepared for.  I won't get into them here, but can attest that both Peter and I have wonderful and caring parents that adopted us many years ago.  Peter's father is alive and well, while both my parents had passed many years ago.

I asked Peter to meet me at the baggage area that Monday night.  Because he was not familiar with the layout of the airport I opted to find him at the pick up waiting area.  In one of our phone calls Peter had described the car that he drives, sure enough the car and Peter were ready and waiting. I knocked on the window and there we were.  Face to face, both of us thinking holy crap, we can't believe the resemblance.  We didn't spend much time together since it was past 1AM for me and we also planned to spend the day together tomorrow. We had some small talk and had a great big Bro hug and tomorrow would be another day.

I was up at the crack of dawn because of the time difference (something I normally don't do). I took some time at the hotel, cup of coffee, check my emails, send some emails and then placed a call to Peter. Peter was staying near Freemont Street while I was on the south side.  The call to Peter went right to voice mail, okay I thought he's on his time, and I'll wait a bit.  Another hour passed and the call went to voice mail again.  All righty then, let me wait a little longer.  It was about 9:30AM  when we finally connected. Peter's phone ran out of juice on the overnight. He stated he would be a little bit, however I'm not the waiting type and hopped on the monorail that would take me to the Stratosphere Hotel. I figured a short walk to Freemont Street from there. Well that short walk was 3 miles!  Peter called a few times and I stated I can see the Golden Nugget, I'll be there soon.

I finally arrived at the Golden Nugget maybe somewhere around 11AM.  We then went to Binion's to grab a bite to eat.  One of the questions I has to ask was "do you feel like you're looking at the mirror when we're talking?" Peter agreed the resemblance is pretty remarkable and the bond we've built in one afternoon is pretty amazing. We shared pictures, stories, laughs and had some good times today.  We ended the night arriving back at the MGM for dinner. It still amazes me that we are so much alike and share many other things.

At dinner I did run into Steve from Innovolt, Steve stated, "is this your brother?' I exclaimed YES it is and introduced Peter.

A little later I had ran into Earl Everson, saw a few others fellow P4P'ers that were engaged in a lively discussion. I decided it was time to turn in and get ready for tomorrow at ITEX.

Tomorrow night, I'll be posting up some ITEX stuff and I'll be seeing Peter later in the day.

-=Good Selling=-

Chris Polek and I are huge fans of baseball.  Chris is a lifelong fan of the Yankees and the same for me except I'm a big fan of the Mets.  You'd think that a Yankee fan and a Met fan would do some trash talking, but that's not the case since we are both avid fans of baseball.

During the off-season two of the biggest free agents out on the market were Manny Machado (signed with Padres) and Bryce Harper (signed with Phillies). Both are players are very capable of putting the team on their back and stacking up countless wins.  All that winning does come at a price though.  Machado with a 10 year guaranteed for $300 million and Harper with a 13 years with a guaranteed $330 million.

Both players are 26 years old, both players probably won't make the end of their contracts and both have career batting averages under .285.  When it comes to offense that means they fail more than 7 times out of ten where they do not get a hit.  Dang, if I failed 7 out of ten times with prospects, I'd probably be looking for another job.

While Chris and I were chatting the other day we thought we would share some points about signing or not signing that superstar salesperson. That gal or guy that can put the team on their back and help the time meet and exceed their goals.

Okay, so let's get into to it. Chris Polek will give us his thoughts and I'll chime in with a few of my own. 

Chris: These are certainly big bets by these teams, and just like in business, there is always risk. You know the saying: “No risk, no reward”

While it is easy for people to start calculating how many dollars per home run or plate appearances that adds up to, you know the owners of these teams weighed on benefits outside of the player’s stats to justify that investment. Things like more ticket sales, which equals more concessions sales. How many more people want to buy that player’s jersey?

Art: Yup, I can see that. By adding that top sale rep to the team, that person and their performance can enhance the sales team. That’s accomplished with the pecking order moving a down a notch or two with the other sales people on the team. Top sales people don’t like to be anything but first. Quoting from Talledega Nights, “if you’re not first you’re last”.

Chris: And what about the rest of team players? How excited are they to work with an impact player like that? Will they raise their level of play that these teams are playoff contenders? Believe me; these owners were looking to buy more value that just how many dollars each plate appearance cost.

Art: Acquiring that top sales person will inspire others. Other sales people on the team will raise their levels because they need and want to compete. Plain and simple we like to win.

Chris: Pay in sales is different compared to these guaranteed baseball contracts though. In sales the top players are making the big paycheck, because they are bringing in the results. As a business owner, if you are concerned that you are paying your salespeople too much money, you probably haven’t instituted the correct compensation plan. When you pay your salespeople record breaking paychecks, it means you should be having record breaking financial performance in your company.

Art: Agreed, you can’t sell Jersey’s with the names of your top salespeople on the back. But you can ride the backs of the those top performers.

Chris: Although Bryce Harper and Manny Machado were the players that were making the headlines because of the record breaking contracts, what happened after these signings was even more noteworthy. It seems that baseball owners realized something about free agency: it is expensive.

Baseball owners decided that instead of letting those loyal, good performers play out their contracts, and become a free agent, it was better to tear up that contract, and sign them to an extension of 5 or 7 years. These weren’t the pay levels of Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, or even Mike Trout, but all very comfortable and fair contracts to keep that loyalty and production from those players such as: Chris Sale, Jacob deGrom, Luis Severino, Xander Bogaerts, Ronald Acuna Jr., Aaron Hicks to name a few.

The point is those sales people or employees that are there for you through thick and thin, you need to make sure that you take care of them. Sometimes it is money, or new computers, but what goes farthest for a business owner is making sure that you genuinely appreciate the hard work and value that they bring to your organization. Your employees value that recognition over and above the paycheck. Your “A” players will stick with you when they know they are appreciated versus leaving you for a pay increase.

Art: It's all about investment. Invest in your team in order to reap the rewards. Adding a top player (salesperson) will improve the overall performance of the team, as only as you don’t treat them differently. Just getting away from baseball for a second. In New York we had a player by the name of Beckham, who is an awesome talent. Problem was he was not disciplined by the coaching staff, ultimately it lead to the demise of a season and Beckham getting traded.

Chris: That superstar sales person can be that final piece of the puzzle that makes your company a contender; perhaps a World Champion. That one person will not determine success alone. As a business owner, you need to continually invest in taking care of your loyal employees, and providing them the tools to bring successful results for your company. It will create a culture of loyalty, hard work, discipline, and the desire to succeed.

That superstar salesperson is the finishing touch, and the culture of your team is the foundation. If you don’t have the proper culture in place at your company, there is a bigger possibility that huge free agent contract will turn into buyer’s remorse. That superstar sales person will look like the answer, and you need to have the right culture in place for them to fit.

It is like having the key to your success, but you have the wrong keyhole. That will cause frustration, and will lead to a losing season. So focus on getting your company culture rock solid, then adding that superstar sales person can set you up for a season that takes you to the World Series!

Art:  Chris and I enjoyed writing this blog. If you enjoyed reading it please share and like.  Chris Polek is President of Polek & Polek. Polek & Polek is a 2nd generation wholesale distributor of toner, toner cartridges, drums, mfp, copier, printer supplies, parts, staples, power protection and more. Visit thier web site here

-=Good Selling=-

It's a very short month for me this month. In fact my month ends on the 18th.  On the 19th I'll start the Easter celebration and on Monday it's off to Vegas for ITEX 2019 along with meeting my new brother!

We put the effort in every day and we can only hope that all of the hard work gets us to where we want or need to be at the end of the month. Thus, I knew that if I didn't put the extra time in this month I would put up a stinker (sales month). Stinkers are not an option, but they can happen.

After received multiple orders over the last few days I'm just about where I want to be with two days left. Do I celebrate now, yes you're damn straight I do.  One of my ways to celebrate is to put on some of my favorite music. One song in particular does it for me.

Mr. Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra is my fav!  It's upbeat, live and the lyrics scream with the life of a sales person. If you're not familiar with Mr. Blue Sky it was recently the opening song for the opening scene for Guardians of the Galaxy 2. This is where the cute and cool little Groot does his happy dance.  At times I will imitate Groot and do my own happy dance.

I'm sure everyone has that kind of song, and if you don't I urge you to find one, make it your own and use it when things are slamming.  Hey, maybe if things aren't slamming it use is as a pick me up, motivator, whatever floats your boat.

Check out these cool lyrics from Mr. Blue Sky

Morning! Today's forecast calls for blue skies

The sun is shining in the sky
There ain’t a cloud in sight
It's stopped raining, everybody's in the play
And don’t you know, it's a beautiful new day, hey
Running down the Avenue
See how the sun shines brightly
In the city, on the streets where once was pity
Mr. Blue Sky is living here today, hey

Mr. Blue Sky, please tell us why
You had to hide away for so long, so long
Where did we go wrong?
Mr. Blue Sky, please tell us why
You had to hide away for so long, so long
Where did we go wrong?

Hey, you with the pretty face
Welcome to the human race
A celebration, Mr. Blue Sky's up there waiting
And today is the day we've waited for

Mr. Blue Sky, please tell us why
You had to hide away for so long, so long
Where did we go wrong?
Hey there, Mr. Blue
We're so pleased to be with you
Look around, see what you do
Everybody smiles at you
Hey there, Mr. Blue
We're so pleased to be with you
Look around, see what you do
Everybody smiles at you

Mister Blue Sky
Mister Blue Sky
Mister Blue Sky-yiy

Mr. Blue, you did it right
But soon comes Mr. Night
Creeping over, now his hand is on your shoulder
Never mind, I'll remember you this
I'll remember you this way

Mr. Blue Sky, please tell us why
You had to hide away for so long, so long
Where did we go wrong?
Hey there, Mr. Blue (sky)
We’re so pleased to be with you (sky)
Look around, see what you do (blue)
Everybody smiles at you

It's awesome, especially the verse of "on the streets where there was once pity", how often can we relate to that in our sales life?  But, now Mr. Blue Sky is here and it's the day we've waited for. We're always making things happen to get to the days that we're waiting for.  

See, our sales life is lived in days, weeks and months. We are measured in those days, weeks and months. In most cases we're only as good as our last month, our last quarter or year. Our life is more about what have you done for me lately!

Get your Groot on take the time to treat yourself, and you'll feel refreshed and read to start the grin all over again.

Here's the video. GOOD SELLING!

“It is always from what we anticipate which leads to what we get. However, many anticipations are misaligned with realities, causing a surprise to what we get.”

Everyone in business understands the importance of staying relevant. Yet nearly half of the companies on the Fortune 500 list in 2000 are gone. The reality is too many organizations fall victim to a lack of diversity, and an inability to pivot their deliverable to follow the direction of the market.

It makes no difference what you sell or how you sell it; it only matters what customers buy and how they buy it. May sound simplistic. However, simplicity is where complexity is always defeated.

Many leaders still believe the industry they live in is safe from disruption. Today nearly every disrupted industry fell victim because their perceived value proposition was out of alignment with their customer desires, needs and expectations.

“The Innovator is more aligned with the customers’ expectations to a product or a service.” 

Instead of recreating a deliverable to match the direction the market is going. Legacy organizations can become vigilant to save what they know. They double down on saving the past, they refuse to explore the unknown, and they surround themselves with the comfort of the past. Many declining industries are attempting to pull back their customer as to fit them into their old methods. Many still strive to delver the past to the future.

 Innovative disruptions are about processes 

The Innovators understand the customer is the master of the market and innovators go where the customers are going. It's there, they take many great relationships as they deliver a better experience. This better experience is nearly always about a better process in helping customers reach the outcomes they desire. 

Diversification or pivoting are critical components to an industry’s longterm survival. Creating a new process requires the ability to pivot; it will take open minds, imaginations, and stands void of any desire to save any outdated processes.

The past has shown many who have not pivoted or diversified, and we have all witnessed those who have. Here’s a perfect example of two organizations in the same industry. One defeated, and one succeed beyond expectations.

The Defeated

Blockbuster- no vision, and no passion to go where the future was heading. They doubled down on pushing the deliverable they had, instead of creating what the market wanted. The market simply wanted a new means to the desired outcome of watching a movie at home. Blockbuster thought the market wanted their stores. Blockbuster thought the deliverable was about them.

This defines Blockbuster. “A Company goes obsolete when they focus on delivering the past to the future instead of delivering the future to the present.”

The Winner

Netflix some thought of as a competitor to Blockbuster both providing physical products which allowed their customers the ability to watch a movie at home. However, Netflix understood and followed where the customer was going. While Blockbuster insisted that their deliverable remain stores and physical tapes, or DVDs. Netflix understood the deliverable as providing the customers’ the ability to watch a movie at home. Netflix realized the customer’s desired outcome was viewing a movie in the comfort of their homes.

Netflix never saw Blockbuster as their competitor; they saw the Theater as the competitor, and they focused on doing whatever they could to make the experience of watching a movie at home increasingly better. Netflix business model started by mailing content to their customer's homes, they then provided downloading capabilities and soon after offered live streaming. Netflix did not stop at merely providing content they now create content.

Netflix is recognized as one of the great success stories in a business pivoting and diversifying. Netflix continues to destroy aspects of their deliverables which become obsolete to their customers. Yes, Netflix listens to customers.

So, whatever industry you call home the lesson from Netflix or the lesson from Blockbuster can provide a window to your industries future. Or, how you as a participant in your industry prevail during the coming disruption which is already scheduled by an innovator.

Netflix proved that if you focus on customer outcomes, you will be rewarded. Netflix also confirmed that if your organization can recreate your deliverable based on customers the customers will in-fact welcome your re-invention.

Imaging Channel there is no denying the similarities in the print equipment and its services deliverable. Just as the home entertainment industry realized, the print industry must recognize. The customer wants a desired outcome; the means to its achievement always changes. Most innovations are about a change in the processes to the desired outcome. Imaging Channel you must align your deliverable with the market realities and like Netflix you must be willing to destroy and recreate your old product-centric processes, to those of an innovative customer-centric nature.

The Innovation to the Print Equipment and Services industry will most definitely be a result of new processes designed to the realities of the market and based on data. I am quite excited to help in the architecture to innovative the deliverable of printers and their services.

In closing:

“Disruption is a result of changing the customer experience so drastically that the old-way becomes a customer nightmare.”

Ray Stasieczko   

By Joan Honig • March 28, 2019 at 7:05 PM

In the last two blogs and in this blog I used some scene pictures. If anyone can tell me what country these are from we'll comp you a one year Premium/VIP membership at no cost. You need to post your answers in the reply section.

Enjoy these threads from 15 years ago this week!

Super thread below titled Where do you see this industry in 5 years???? A must read to see what everyone thought back in 2009 about 2014.

Enjoy these threads from ten years ago this week!

When I started in the business I was told all you have to get through is the first five years and then the rest is gravy. Meaning you could live off your lease renewals.  I'm thinking that was a BIG fat lie!

Enjoy these threads from ten years ago this week!