MFP Copier Blog

See, it's not only you, all of us can have a bad day, a week or dare I say a month!

It all started last yesterday afternoon when I had a pretty decent failure with my brakes on the way home yesterday.  I was able to nurse my car to my mechanics with out any incidents. Whew!

When I woke, I felt like I was Murphy from "Z Nation", and wondering if our cat had parked it's fat ass on my head during the overnight.  After an hour or so I climbed the stairs to my home office and made sure I alerted my 9AM appointment that I wouldn't be there. Twenty minutes later I had an email from the office asking where I was.  Oh no, there was an 8:30AM meeting that I forgot about.  What a day today is going to be!

Then the flood of emails that never stopped.  I was able to take care of every email, only made maybe sales ten calls, five emails, and three inmails (Linkedin). 

I did receive a lead from my jerseyplotters web site for a high end wide format.  Although I  was able to make contact, I felt like I was chasing my tail trying to nail down that appointment. After thinking about it I spent way too much time on this opportunity and was not able to move it forward.  We'll see what tomorrow brings with this. 

But, I was excited that my site had generated another wide format lead in as many days.  Yesterday, I gave a lead for a wide format MFP to a Premium Print4Pay Hotel member in York, PA.  I guess the effort of writing content is finally paying off.  Thus, I wrote two additional blogs today for that site.

I'm a firm believer that content is King and pull marketing can work much better that push marketing. 

"Pull marketing is the science of attracting leads and sales rather than applying more work-heavy traditional ‘push’ marketing approaches. In an increasingly tough marketplace, pull marketing is overtaking push marketing as the most effective way to drive business."

The rest of the day was spent following up with outstanding opportunities. I was able to secure the paperwork for about $8.5K today, and will process that probably late tonight, because I need every minute of tomorrow to make up for today. 

One of the other action items was to crunch some numbers for a color production device, get that to my Veep and have a strategy session at some point this week.

Ok, yeah, bad day, however I did get my car back and you know what's so great about this business?  You just never know what tomorrow will bring you as long as you keep hustling.

-=Good Selling=-

“Attention Legacy Companies! While you continuously fight to get buy-in for change your new competitor bought in for continuous improvement and bets on your complacency.”

What do you mean you can’t get buy-in. Why are management teams so focused on the pacification of Buy-in Management? Too many organizations are losing the battle of their relevancy because they insist on focusing on Change Management over Relevancy Management. And yes I believe there is a difference.

It seems that the arguments for moving in a different direction always relate to Buy-in for so many legacy organizations. In the world of business today the winners will be those who can move fast, those whose teams understand it’s not about change, it’s about constant relevancy. Think about Amazon, a company that started out selling books online; they are now a 150 Billion Dollar organization selling everything under the sun including the clouds, with a market cap which eclipses each of the top ten retailers north of 100 billion making their owner, Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world. If Amazon”s leadership constantly worried about “Change Management” does anyone believe they would be building their second Headquarters, a headquarters where the chosen city benefits from a 5 Billion Dollar Boom?

While the brick and mortar retail industry wasted time getting buy-in and refused to change.  Amazon continued in its relentless ability to modify constantly. Jeff Bezos bets on and takes advantage of the time his competitors waste fighting against or for change. While Amazon’s competitors are contemplating the reasons for the change, Bezo’s Amazon team is modifying to the new relevancy, this then forces his competitors to change, and for many, it becomes too late.     

“Those who deliver the Future to the Present, are always delivering relevance, those who don’t temporarily deliver their past relevance.”

Teams today must be held accountable for relevancy making. The word Change and the word Relevancy are not relatives. Change is the process or result of becoming different. Relevancy is Something relevant to a task if it increases the likelihood of accomplishing a goal. Relevancy is a constant process; change is a forced process caused by not staying relevant.

The goal of all businesses is to provide the means to a buyers desired outcome or goal. In my view, the desired outcomes and the means to their achievement constantly evolve, so the relevancy of both the outcome and the means to their achievements must stay relevant for sustainability. When organizations tasks themselves with what many call Change Management, they find themselves running around trying to get buy-in. This constant battle for buy-in from team members becomes a bartering system of demands and bribes between management and their teams in the hope things move forward; they hope things change. When you are forced to change the pain it causes becomes distracting. The cost of forced change is the fine you pay for not modifying along the way.

Innovative organizations understand that needing to change is the essence of a failed attempt at constantly staying relevant. Innovative organizations understand their corporate culture is about providing exceptional experiences to their customers. Today's innovative companies don’t chase Buy-in, and they don’t have to waste time with change management tactics. They instead have a process which ensures their constant relevance. Staying Relevant is in the first sentence of their job descriptions.  

Today’s customer has more access to define not only new outcomes but also the means to their achievement. A company with a constant focus on relevance will modify keeping pace with the evolution of their product or its services. It’s this constant modification which defines their management. The outcome of Constant Relevancy is dependent on the leaders and the teams they lead understanding the power and importance of the word “Currently.”

“In business, of the doors which open to yesterday, today or tomorrow only the door to tomorrow is locked, and relevancy is its key.”

R. J. Stasieczko 

Wide-eyed and bushy tailed I was not this AM.  I was just thankful that I didn't have to wake up to temps in the twenties, forties I can handle. 

Some wonders cease to amaze me, my drive to office only took me the better part of an hour! Thus, one of the reasons that I love living in New Jersey.

At 7:30 AM I was ready for work, the world would be ready for me, today I would hit all of my goals by noon and I would have more than enough time to do a few in-person cold calls! 

Did you ever have one of those days where it seemed like it took forever to do some simple tasks?  That's kind of how my day when.

My first fifteen minutes of the day was spent on Linkedin.  There I cruised through my wall, like a few posts, shared a few threads and made sure that I wished nine or ten of my contacts a happy birthday.  Note to self, the more contacts you acquire on Linkedin means your wall of threads just keeps getting longer and longer.

I had a few items that had to be done today, one was to process a hold over order from last week. I had thought about sandbagging that order but thought it would be best to get it in today so I could focus on other action items on my list.  In addition, I needed to reach out to my Fiery Guru too schedule an appointment later this week with an existing client.  Done, scheduled appointment with my Guru and the client for later in the week.

Write the order for the MP 6700SP that I had a verbal on the other day and send that off to the client.  Usually, I will not email docs, pricing or proposals, but in this case, the client has some severe pain and needs to act quickly.

Sometime in the late morning, our CRM either crashed or stalled. I then opted to take a trip to our local WAWA and grab a bite to eat.

After lunch, I was in full prospecting mode and needed to clean up some calls from last week.  I was able to develop a small op for a color A3 device.  This client had asked me to send her the info, I stated I'm not allowed and mentioned that I could drop off and we could do a quick review?  I then slotted that client in for Thursday AM.  After slotting that client in I scheduled a drop in for 8 AM on Friday morning,  that prospect needs a new device, but is only there in the early AM.  I'll bring the doughnuts and the coffee and we'll have a closing party!

One of my other prospects also wanted to see a demonstration for a color production system. That was a little bit of a cluster ****, since I had to schedule the CEC, schedule my Fiery Guru and then schedule the prospect. All of the back and forth with different parties took quite a bit of time.  Finally had everyone on the same page and now just waiting to hear from the prospect.

At 4 PM, I had scheduled a drop/off stop-in for a net new client for a color product. While on my way to the account, which was also on my way home, my beautiful 2005 Pontiac thought it would be a fantastic time to develop braking issues!  My mechanic is in the same town as the prospect thus, I finished up the last ten miles of the trip pumping the brakes, leaving a lot of distance and not going over 25 miles an hour.  Yes, many, many Jersey drivers told me I was number 1!

Had the wife pick me up at the mechanics, then did my drop/off in-person. My contact was not available, thus I left the media and finished up my day.

-=Good Selling=-

Failure and success, a one-two punch for those living inside the sales world. View it as the two headed monster. You can’t have one without the other.

WHO'S SETTING THE TABLE OF FAILURE?

The best sales professionals don't close every sales opportunity. It would be fair to say they don't close on a majority of their opportunities. A batting average of .300 in the big leagues and a baseball player has set themselves up for a huge payday. Ironic isn't it that they fail to hit the ball 70% of the time?

Are your sales reps failing 70% of the time to close their targeted opportunities?

Why I am being so harsh?

Your sales reps have developed the dreaded disease called lackitis prospectitus

These dreaded disease attacks 1 out of every 2 sales reps. Lackitis Prospectitus doesn't happen overnight. It is a slow growing, self-induced disease. Through years of scientific research I have pinpointed the cause, identified the culprit and even created a name for the culprit.

Allow me to introduce you to... Managementus Enablementus - otherwise known as enablement by management

When your sales reps spend a majority of their time managing their client base, moaning and groaning about how busy they are, not paying attention to net-new business opportunities because of all the "stuff" they are doing while then being rewarded extravagant President's Club trips, I call this Managementus Enablementus. This is why your sales reps fail to close more business!

HARSH REALITY

Article upon article on sales tells us how it's harder than ever to sell. The buyer is now in control and ignores sales reps throughout most of their buying journey according to industry pundits.

Are most of your sales reps still stubbornly trying to sell in chronological order as they dictate their sales process to their clients or prospects? Would you even know?

The modern buyer has evolved. They are much more sophisticated in the way they evaluate their buying options, where they get their information from as well as how they view your sales reps.

How many of your sales reps are crushing quota? How many are developing net-new business?

More and more sales deals are ending up in “no decision” status than ever before. Deal sizes are dwindling. All these sales statistics thrown around by industry pundits are very sobering but this doesn’t mean you simply accept this and effectively throw in the white towel! Unfortunately, most of you have given up. You have let complacency, your ego and yes fear set in. You have allowed it to get the best of you!

The way it is now is the not the way it will be

What if you examined the way your sales reps engaged with your clients and prospects? Is it conceivable they could sell smarter and more effectively than they are today? The status quo, it's not working and it’s getting worse! Sales leaders, fight back and look for better ways to improve your sales reps results.  Rather than lamenting, bitching and moaning - do something about it! It is not 1999 any longer!

3 REASONS WHY YOU ARE SETTING YOUR SALES REPS UP FOR FAILURE

Mindset plays such a huge role in your ability to succeed or fail. If you’re afraid to fail, you’ll stop yourself from trying new things. You will miss out on having the opportunity to broaden your skill set as well as trying a wide variety of new experiences to help you and your sales reps grow. Take a deep breath and be willing to take the leap.

Ask yourself:

“What can I gain, what do I want to learn, and what opportunities will be lost if I prevent myself from taking new actions? How will this affect my sales team?"

FAILURE TO ADOPT A NEW MINDSET

Whether it's staying ahead through education or by uncovering new ideas and trends within your specific industry, you must continuously be adopting new competencies and skill sets. In turn, it is your responsibility to pass on these new skill sets to your sales team in order for them to do their job better.

Imagine the coach of any professional sports team... if they aren't enhancing the level of their teams' play, what usually happens to them? Need I answer?

Being open to new ideas and sales approaches does not come easy. In fact, change plays mind tricks on us all but without the right mindset, learning will not occur. Your sales team will not grow!

You and your sales team must develop the mind of a champion. You must adopt and develop a growth mindset or you are setting your team up to fail.

A successful sales team obsesses with a growth mindset. They thrive by treating their minds like muscles, stretching and developing them to learn new things. Failure is not being able to move forward and seize the opportunities to stretch for the things one values.

A growth mindset is based on the belief you can cultivate your sales teams ability to learn. It’s not about getting things right the first time, it’s about learning over time. You must realize, in order for your sales team to succeed inside this highly connected, rapidly changing business world, you all must adopt a new mindset.

FAILURE TO ADAPT TO CHANGE

In today's sales environment, the gap between relevance and obsolescence is growing wider every day. If your sales reps are to stay relevant then they must adapt to change. They must do so before "change" beckons the call. This means you must adapt to change yourself.

I leave you to ponder this picture for a moment...

In order for your sales reps to stay relevant they must get connected, connected with their current clients and more importantly connected with future clients. They must adapt and self-educate themselves with emerging trends inside their industry; to anticipate new direction and foresee the writing on the wall which demands innovation.

You are letting your sales reps down and setting themselves up for failure if have them failing to adapt to emerging threats, themselves.

"If you don't like change, you're going to like irrelevance even less."

General Eric Shinseki

Coach your sales reps to stay relevant and adapt to the changing environment by:

• Welcoming and learning from failure
• Asking for help and soliciting feedback
• Becoming voracious learners through self-education
• Becoming focused on the process of growth
• Becoming extremely accountable to themselves and their clients
• Checking their ego at the door

FAILURE TO BUILD AND LEVERAGE SOCIAL NETWORKS

Sales in all facets has evolved immensely over the last 5-10 years. We can thank the internet and Google for driving much of the change. It is unfortunate, as sales leaders and their teams are wrestling with how to combat their selling efforts to these changes.

One huge area you and your sales reps are setting themselves up for failure is not effectively building and tapping into your social networks.

Reality, like it or not, the presence of all types of social whether it is social media, social selling or social networks is here to stay. It is not going away any time soon. If anything it's becoming a bit more mainstream and all the more encompassing as it layers in quite nicely with traditional sales approaches.

Social networks, offer an excellent opportunity for you and your sales reps to demonstrate their expertise. Yes, I know it is a tricky endeavor as you all try to manage your time and patience levels but failure to cultivate your social networks will become your recipe for disaster within your sales team.

Traditional techniques are still alive and well albeit time consuming by limiting the exposure your sales reps can have within their client base. Social in all aspects enables your sales reps to expand their reach exponentially simply by using technology allowing them to socialize on a grander scale.

Coach up your sales reps to develop the mindset and skill set as they tap into their social networks to help grow their business.

This will allow you and your team to:

• Find out where your clients and prospects hang out online
• Listen, listen and continue to actively listen to what is being said online - dial up the social phone!
• Reach out, start conversations, build relationships geared towards moving to an offline conversation

In the sales world of today, intelligence is key. Social is changing and influencing the way your clients and prospects view your sales reps. This is the harsh new sales reality my sales leader friends!

HELP YOUR TEAM SUCCEED!

Every quarterback in the National Football League has a quarterback coach. These are the best players on the planet and they all have a dedicated coach to help them improve performance. Why shouldn’t the people directly responsible for generating revenue for your company have the same?

Let me be very clear, every sales rep has an area of development they need to work on to get better. A good sales coach (yes this is you) knows the strengths and weaknesses of each sales rep and always has a working development plan in place.

You are directly responsible for ensuring all of your sales reps meet or exceed quota!

What are you going to do about it?

ONE FINAL THOUGHT...

My question to all sales leaders, why are you accepting a failure to adopt and adapt growth mindset, thus settling for status quo? This is equivalent to a sales death sentence.

You all must set aside and squash “that’s the way we’ve always done it” mindset. This would be acceptable if your current sales conversion rates for profitable net-new business was 2-3X higher year over year. We know the harsh reality as your sales death spiral hits you by not adopting, adapting and leveraging social networks for business growth.

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!

In 2016, I was recognized by ENX Magazine as, “The Difference Maker,” as someone who is making a difference inside the B2B office technology sector. I am passionate about helping sales reps succeed in creating their online brand image

You can find more advanced training material inside the Social Sales Academy website.

I appreciate getting the opportunity to share my LinkedIn stories. Integrating the use of 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 tell their story and communicate it out by integrating the use of social media. You can follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter, Social Sales Academy and on my podcast by clicking on Selling from the Heart.

If you haven't noticed, for the last few months I've been posting pictures of my trip to Japan. It was during the summer and can't remember if it was 2002 or 2003.  I was there for seven days on Ricoh's dime, it was an awesome trip and just maybe I can get back there one day.  Enjoy these popular threads from ten years ago this week!

Weekend Copier Notes from 11/25/07

Yes, it's Thanksgiving here in the United States and yes, after eating my fill of turkey, mashed potato's, cranberry's, stuffing, turnips and small piece of cherry pie, I felt the need to get back to work.

Many years ago, when I would bring in an awesome order, my former dealer principal would state, "the harder you work, the luckier you get".  That statement is so true!

Today, I had a text from a friend to go fishing this Saturday on a head boat about of Belmar. Now, I like fishing, I like eating fish, however I promised my-self that I would put in a couple of hours on Saturday to send about twenty emails to prospects and existing clients to get a leg up on next week.  Thus, I'm opting out of the fishing trip.

The Day Before Thanksgiving

Yesterday was one of those interesting days of the year.  The day before Thanksgiving can be boom or bust. However, one thing I can tell you, is that everyone you will speak to is in a good mood.  Thus it's a great day to make the some calls, right.

I spent the first couple hours of the day reviewing all of my opportunities and making notes (yes, I use an old fashioned pad of paper that lists every opportunity, the revenue and the percentage of close, it's good for me since it's right there on my desk for a quick look when needed) about the next step for each one. 

It was then off to my CRM to cherry pick who I was going to call today.  My goal was for twenty calls, five emails and five Linkedin researches. 

By The Numbers

I ended up with twenty-one calls, five emails, two Linkedin researches and added one client to my constant contact email list.  That's good, but what's even better is how the numbers panned out.  Three appointments (one net new), and from one of the emails I had a response from an existing client that wanted to move forward with a wide format device.  Yay!, this order was not even in my pipeline for the end of the year.  I'll finish this up on Monday.  Hey, the harder you work the luckier you get!

Opportunities

I also found three opportunities, one account for both black and color, and another for color.  These opportunities were not immediate but can be labeled as 2018 business.

Oh, one other item that was pretty neat. All of my calls to existing clients was to wish that person and their family a Great Thanksgiving.  That was it, no mention of copiers or any thing else unless they asked.  Two appointments off of those calls.

Yeah, I was very happy with the results.  My method of madness till the end of the week will be to outwork and out hustle everyone else.  Because if you're not working hard then your competitor is.

-=Good Selling=-

Over the last couple of months, many of my peers asked if I would be doing another blog series about outlining my daily sales activities for the end of 2017.

I stated, "No", the other two blog series (12 Days of Selling, 57 Days of Selling) wore my sorry ass out and I'm no spring chicken anymore! 

Next year, I'll be staring my thirty-eighth year in the copier industry.  Many of you know that I started as a technician, had my ninety day review and was told, "you're doing a great job of taking these copiers apart, however you're not so good at putting them back together". 

Arrgghh!, I was toast, lost my job and it's back to living on the dole from the State of New Jersey.  As I was leaving the dealer principals office, he pulled a "Columbo" on me.  It was the "Just one last question" before you go. The dealer principal reached into to his pocket, pulled out a few Benjamin Franklins and then asked me, "What would you rather do to make this money, finish out the week as a tech or try to talk me out of it?"  Fifteen to twenty minutes later I was not able to talk him out of the cash, however he did ask me if I would like to be a copier sales rep. 

Thirty-seven years later, I can truly say that I've accomplished almost everything I've ever wanted in the copier industry.  The copier industry has been very, very good to me.  Never been laid off, never was a slacker, always set attainable goals and always willing to learn and share knowledge. Thus the P4P Hotel forums.

Starting tomorrow, my goal is to reach $200K in revenue on or before the 26th of December (those darn bean counters are always closing the month out early).  That $200K is attainable since I have almost $225K in the pipeline and will adding to it over the next twenty-two selling days. I'm sure that all of the $225K will not close, thus the need to add more opportunities to the pipeline. I would feel much more comfortable if that pipeline was $600K.  I'm a firm believer that whatever your monthly revenue number is that you need three times that to feel comfortable.  I'm starting with a bank of $20K, thus my number is down to $180k already (yay!).

The plan for tomorrow is to process an order, and put a plan together for all of those opportunities that I've got out there. In addition,  I'm planning to make at least twenty calls to start setting up next week.  I'll also probably put some time in on Saturday for a few calls and a few emails.

I'm looking forward to this new series and hope everyone enjoys.  BTW, if you know of anyone looking for a copier in NJ, please PM me! 

-=Good Selling=

“Zombie Management is when old bad management habits you once killed with improvement, have come back to life.”

When you know the old way is no longer relevant why insist on allowing the old irrelevant ways to continue coming back to life. Like you would kill a Zombie, it’s time to pierce the brain of the Zombie called Status Quo, it’s time to eliminate those insecurities which cause you to resurrect Status Quo from the thoughts and habits of yesterday. I  guess for some what they see in front of them is easier visualized when they look through the lenses of yesterday glasses.

“Focusing on the commonalities of yesterday will always blur the visions of tomorrow.”

Never in history did the marketplace consist of so much technology, innovation, and generational differences. In the past changes could take generations. Today unbelievable changes happen multiple times within a single generation. The new generation of leaders can visualize what some see as impossible, not only as possible but also probable. And while some simply look to improve yesterday, the new generation looks to reinvent tomorrow.

The apocalypse of a once slow-moving world of decision making has occurred. Those full of life working hard for a better future must have no tolerance or mercy for the Zombie named Status-Quo. When the inclination of retreating to your past approaches you must respond with a fierce fight. Stop allowing those who are known as the Walking-Dead, to consume your brain, your visions of the future. The brains of visionaries are a smorgasbord to a Zombie, made up of positive attitude, sautéed with a desire to learn, a baked-in willingness to seek out constant relevance, and topped off with the vision to bring the future to the present.

Stop allowing the Walking dead to consume you, when you see them coming towards you holding the sign welcome to the past, you must run faster towards the future. Zombies can’t see what is not right in front of them they have no vision. However, they can smell those who fear the future and will feast off the insecurities of the complacent.

Things will continue to change faster and faster. Today Change Management must be replaced with “Constant Relevance Management.” When you are continuously fighting to resurrect the past, you will find yourself in the Army of the Walking-Dead, an apocalyptic world created by Zombies who consumed your good intentions, turning all your dreams into nightmares.

“In today’s innovative world there is no patience for arguing change adapt like the innovators and instead constantly modify.” And never become a Zombie named Status Quo.

R.J. Stasieczko       

What do you mean we have OVER $100,000.00 in parts which haven’t had usage for over 18 months?

Well, it’s November the end of the year is just weeks away. Over these next few weeks, many in the Imaging Channel will be writing off obsolete parts. First, let’s define Obsolete parts, all part’s in your inventory with no usage in over 18 months. Of course, no one would expect that they buy parts and never use them. Well obviously, all service industries have parts which become obsolete. However, that dollar amount should never equal more than one percent of your total parts spend, should it? What percentage do you accept, or how much of your money are you willing to throw in the trash? Ironically it seems that Thanksgiving weekend or the Christmas holiday is such a wonderful time to realize just how out of control your inventory is. I guess the grief of throwing money away when balanced with the cheers of the holiday season is less painful.

In 2017 why are organizations still operating like it’s 1990? Sadly, it may be that organizations don’t shake things up enough. When was the last time your organization challenged itself to re-examine every aspect of your operational cost? Does your organization create a budget for the new year or do you work with no budget?

With the technology, today and in some cases technology that has been around for decades, technologies which can help organizations truly understand the habits of the moving parts of their business. I use the word habits because most profit-robbing problems in business are directly related to behaviors and behaviors are habits. Fixing or controlling behaviors which are not conducive to profitability standards will only be corrected with discipline. Data will outline the disciplines needed, and strong leadership will obviously manage to those disciplines. There is no automatic perfection; perfection comes from leadership wither you are an owner or those whom an owner delegated control too. You must become obsessed with having complete control over operating cost. Today you must employ a proven data system to assist you in this obsession. Fancy software, fancy PowerPoints, and fancy talk about the same problems which never get corrected must end for the survival of the industry. It’s time to correct the direction of the ship.

 “Over the next couple years, the industry will see more innovation around how the products are sold and serviced then the products themselves, and we must be ready.”

The Imaging Channel is going through massive changes. 2017 will prove to be one of the most aggressive acquisitions years in the channel's history, and this will carry on in 2018. The time for The Imaging Channel, to get control of their service operations has come. The only area to increase your EBITDA is to control your service operating cost. Your service profitability can no longer be the shell game of moving numbers from one area of the PnL to the next depending on who you consult with in hopes of a better return. Experience the satisfaction of knowing the details of your spending. Service has a cost, and when your revenue from it comes in tenth’s of cents, you better make sure what you do makes sense.

In 2018 and beyond it is getting harder and harder to outsell poor decisions. The need to completely understand every cent of your service cost has always been important. However today it’s mandatory. It will take a complete understanding of current circumstances to create your future circumstances from them. Don’t let false analytics and outdated management strategies fool you into complacency the future will not forgive you.

So make this season the last time you participate in burning your cash. Welcome 2018 as the year you invest your time and passion for completely understanding the story of your service department, and its numbers, not from strictly a PnL follow them back to where they came from, after all, it represents at least half of your revenue and all of your profitability.

In Closing: The Industry we all call home is changing all aspects. We will not sell, deliver or service in the way we always have forever, and those who gamble with status quo on the tenure of forever will miss the evolution, and their relevance will fade.

“Transformation is a process which defeats irrelevancy. This happens when instead of fighting to stay relevant we collaborate with people and organizations and create the new relevancy.”

R.J. Stasieczko 

For decades BEI Services has been the trusted provider for an unbiased imaging device and technician performance benchmarking. BEI offers a complete array of solutions to address every aspect of your service department’s performance and profitability. Exclusive solutions including Advanced Comparative Reporting, Effective Workload Distribution (EWD) Territory Management, Technician Compensation, Advanced Inventory Management (AIM) and the Overstock Parts Network (OPN) are utilized by the most respected and awarded dealers and manufactures in the industry. Visit our website it’s just a click away.

https://www.beiservices.com/

Thanksgiving week is now here, the end of the year is just 6 weeks away for most of us.  Put the pressure to metal, finish strong, leave no prospect unturned.

Weekend Copier Notes from 11/18/07

What can your sales reps do to become the true master, the expert sales rep in the eyes of your clients and prospects? How can you coach and facilitate to fast-track their process in becoming true masters of their craft?

First things first, you must realize there’s no graduation process in sales. You and your sales team aren't studying a certain number of years until your get your degree. There’s no such thing as a PhD in Sales because you can never stop learning.

Becoming the best requires perpetual practice. Along with your sales team, you need to study the sales game mentally, physically and emotionally; pretty much every single day of your business life.

A successful sales team is innately curious. They have a deep-seated, burning desire to learn and grow not just financially but deep within them; intellectually, emotionally and spiritually.

Sales leaders must inspire their sales team to become lifelong learners. It all starts with studying yourself. Make self-analysis and self-reflection, a regular habit. With brutal honesty, have them self reflect upon their personal sales performance.

The biggest opportunities your sales team has to improve their sales game is hidden inside of them.

THE NEW BUSINESS CHALLENGE

One enormous challenge your sales reps face centers around securing new meetings with C-level executives. Securing the initial meeting with senior level executives is relatively straightforward, as your team must have a strategic plan along with some personal chutzpah. 

Executives don’t waste time with salespeople who bring zero value. How effective is you sales team in bringing...?

• Business value
• Financial value
• User value
• Solution value

How does your sales team overcome the new business challenge? Where do they start? It starts with their personal brand and how they look in the eyes of your clients and prospects.

3 CRITICAL AREAS YOUR SALES REPS MUST MASTER IN ORDER TO CONSISTENTLY CRUSH THEIR QUOTA

When each one of your sales reps LinkedIn profiles offer no clear path for visitors (your prospects or clients), that's the exact impression they give about them and their ability to help their business, a big fat zero, zilch; as this affects their thought process.

YOUR SALES TEAM MUST LOOK LIKE SALES PROFESSIONALS ONLINE

With nearly every business transaction in the United States today starting out as an online search or visit to a website, how much new business are you and your sales team potentially missing out on because their LinkedIn profile's look like a broken window?

When referring to “nearly every transaction,” that’s because "89% of B2B transactions begin online", according to Google research.

As the sales leader, your sales reps come to work wearing business attire then why on earth do you allow them to look like this online?

Line them up, one by one and including yours, take a look at their LinkedIn profiles and ask yourself...

• Would I buy from any of my sales reps based upon what I currently see on their LinkedIn profile?
• Do any of them clearly articulate their value to your clients and prospects?
• As the sales leader, are you clearly articulating how you lead and inspire your sales team?

If the answer is NO, I encourage you to ask yourself, “What am I doing to coach my sales team to repair the major cracks within their LinkedIn profiles?" 

Image this happening to you and one of your sales reps?

YOUR SALES TEAM MUST SOCIALLY SURROUND YOUR CURRENT CLIENTS

A frequently-cited stat from the CEB is on average there are 6.8 people involved in today’s B2B purchase decisions. Driven by decentralization and organizational structures, these people may be distributed across different divisions within their company or even locations.

As the sales leader, I encourage you along with each member of your sales team to develop relationships with at least 6 people inside every single one of your current accounts. Your sales reps must strengthen their personal relationship as well as their social relationship with each of these accounts. A social fortress must be built around their current clients.

Say with me... I, as the sales leader, will coach my sales reps to connect to 6 people inside each one of their current accounts

Each contact inside these accounts have different agendas, motivations, and preconceptions. Sales reps who fail to build strong ties to any one of these people could see important deals collapse, relationships lost and more important revenue loss.

Sales leaders, you must promise to make client obsession part of your sales culture. It is about building relationships within your clients. You and your sales team must always be looking for blind spots within your client base.

If any one of your sales reps lost any one of their top 5 accounts, how would they get to their budget number?  

YOUR SALES REPS MUST LEVERAGE THEIR CURRENT CLIENTS

Your sales reps must leverage their clients and ask for help! Wouldn't you agree a warm introduction from someone who knows, likes and trusts your sales reps validates the relationship they have built? Referrals from happy clients are about as good as it gets, wouldn't you agree? In fact, a Dale Carnegie study found that 91 percent of customers would be willing to give referrals if they were asked. Unfortunately, only 11 percent of sales reps actually do ask.

The right activity + enhancing the skill set + daily habits = Sales Success

Your sales reps must get uncomfortable. They must suck it up and ask for help from their clients. A healthy sales funnel will determine their success along with your peace of mind.

The right activity will catapult their success.

Answer the following question...

How many new business meetings versus current client visits are your sales reps going on per week?

Here is the formula to use to help them drive more sales opportunities. Since I don't know how many accounts your sales reps handle, I will use 75 for this example. If each one of your sales reps connect to 6 people inside of their accounts, they now have created 450 prospecting opportunities all around people who know, like and trust them.

Now comes the hard work! Every week they will be tasked by you to take one relationship within three current accounts and mine their LinkedIn connections looking for five people to be introduced to; thus starting the edification process. Remember the rule of 6 to connect within each current account.

Watch the math play out...

1 current account x 3 (one on Monday, Wednesday, Friday) = 3 current client connections to mine

3 individual connections within these accounts x 5 new people (look inside their network) per connection = 15 new introductions per week (these are 2nd degree connections). This is one connection from company one then company two then company three.

15 new introductions per week x 4 weeks in a month = 60 new prospects

60 new prospects per month x 12 months = 720 new prospects to start a conversation and build a relationship with based on a common connection.

Repeat the process... Repeat the process... Repeat the process... Repeat the process

At a miniscule 5% conversion ratio this equates to 36 new sales opportunities added to each one of your sales reps sales funnels. Multiply this by the number of sales reps you have and you my friend have an abundance of new business opportunities.

By asking for introductions from people who know, like and trust your sales reps; what could each one of them do with 36 new sales opportunities?

Successful sales reps focus on their unique value and target prospects which will have the greatest impact on their business and their quota! The answer lies right in front of you and your sales team, it's your current clients.

With consistency, coach, critique and council integrating these 3 tips and watch your sales reps crush their quota.

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!

In 2016, I was recognized by ENX Magazine as, “The Difference Maker,” as someone who is making a difference inside the B2B office technology sector. I am passionate about helping sales reps succeed in creating their online brand image

You can find more advanced training material inside the Social Sales Academy website.

I appreciate getting the opportunity to share my LinkedIn stories. Integrating the use of 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 tell their story and communicate it out by integrating the use of social media. You can follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter, Social Sales Academy and on my podcast by clicking on Selling from the Heart.

Just and interesting nugget for everyone that I received today via email.  I had a new registration for the Print4Pay Hotel. I check every registration to make sure that person is somewhat connected to the imaging industry. We don't want the scammers and lurkers to ruin a good thing.

After reading though the fillable fields, I noticed that the person applying for membership was the production print buyer for a large corporation.  Over the years, I've gotten to know many of our Premium/VIP members very well. 

Our Premium/VIP members are the most knowledgeable reps in the industry, they are without a doubt the best of the best. They have the desire to continue the learning process, willing to share their knowledge and the desire to add to their knowledge with the use of our forums!

That buyer has listed his city and that triggered me to think of KITZ (premium/vip member),  I immediately placed a call to him because if this print production buyer is applying for membership to our site, I'm thinking he is in buying process.

As we all know, buyers are reaching to the internet to find out as much as they can before they meet with a rep. In some cases they are seventy-five percent of the way into that buying process. 

My first call to Kitz resulting in leaving him an email, he then left me a message and we finally connected during lunch time.  I then asked him if that city was in his territory, and it was.  I then mentioned the name of the account and Kitz told me that he had an appointment with that person tomorrow. 

After fourteen years of running this site, I'm always thrilled when the site can develop interest with end users and we're able to connect them with the best reps in the imaging industry.

Even though this wasn't technically a lead, it was confirmation that a buyer was in the process of learning more.

I can't promise every Premium/VIP member receives leads, because our site isn't really built for that. The Print4Pay Hotel site is built to share our knowledge and collaborate with others in our industry in a private forum and not like Linkedin in an open forum.

What I can tell you is that I will continue to develop this site as the "go to" site for all imaging reps, and dealer principals. 

-= Good Selling=-