MFP Copier Blog

All service Providers pride themselves on their Service Departments FCE (First Call effectiveness). However many don’t know their FCE percentage and others aren’t sure how to calculate their FCE properly, or worse they are informed by consultants who lower the standards of measurement by including things like courtesy calls, which creates the perception of doing well above average.

In explaining the cost impact of your FCE, I will first define a service call as an activity where a technician is dispatched to a customer location to fix a problem. Virtually any other service call that happens is created by the dealer or technician. If it’s a callback, (tech), Hold for part (dealer), Courtesy calls are dealer created, etc. So, ask yourself this question, if you took your car in for service, you expect it to be fixed the first time correct? If you had to take it back two or three more times to resolve the original complaint, how would that make you feel about the service organization, how would you describe your customer experience, or how eager would you be to refer this service provider?

Dealers who include dealer generated courtesy calls where no parts are used are padding their numbers which deceives their good intentions towards constant FCE management and improvement. Proper FCE is the percentage of time the customer called, and the device was fixed the first time (First Call Efficiencies)

Today service providers cannot operate on what I call DFCE or Delusional First Call Effectiveness; I hope you all agree. 

Here’s why your FCE is important. First, I will say this. A service providers FCE % is a critical component to how their Customers Experience is valued. The highest cost of a poor FCE or DFCE (Delusional First Call Effectiveness) is a lost customer’. Improving the Customer Experience of your deliverable is a constant process. In this fast-innovative world of ever-changing technologies. Service providers must not take customer relationships for granted.

 “You can be the vendor with the greatest relationships, and quickly lose to the new unknown competitor who provides a better Experience.”

So, we all agree that customers appreciate quick solutions to problems, we should also agree that customers value their service providers by the experiences they provide them. Even above the relationships, they have with them, and we should all agree that doing things right the first time is a centuries-old concept which is more important than ever today.

“Today’s Customers do not have time for Products, Processes, or People who do not provide the experience they desire.”

Now let’s talk about the dollar cost to your organization of a poor FCE % rating. It’s simple it’s all about the numbers it’s your payroll dollars. Service Providers largest cost is parts and people. Each employee has an hourly cost. Assuming your hourly burden is $60.00 an hour, and your average service call takes an hour plus travel time of say 30 minutes, your cost is 90.00 in labor per call. So, if your organization is running a 50 % FCE meaning 50 % of your calls require a callback. Here are the numbers.

Let's look at an organization with five Technicians who average four calls a day. This organization would have 20 total calls a day.Ten require a callback or 50 % FCE rating. In dollars, this would be ten calls times your 1.5-hour average call time including on-site and travel or $90.00 per call equals $900.00 per day. Accounting for a 20 day work month our total equals a $18,000 FCE cost.

That is a large amount of wasted spend for a dealership with only four technicians. Most would agree that no service organization could reach a 100% FCE rating, but we must also agree that a 50 % FCE, or not knowing your FCE is unacceptable, and the dealer with an 80 or 90 percent FCE based on inaccurate benchmarking is deceiving.

So, let’s do the math on a 72 % FCE rating. A dealer performing 20 total calls a day with a 72 % FCE rating meaning 14.4 calls were completed on first call leaving only 5.6 callbacks. The cost of 5.6 callbacks times our $90.00 per hour burden rate with an average call on-site repair time of one-hour equals 504.00 a day or 10,080.00 per month.

Result. If an organization with five technicians dispatched to four calls a day increased their FCE % from 50 % to 72 %, they would lower the cost in service hours by $7,920.00 a month, or $95,040.00 a year in Savings, not hype or fantasy real bottom line dollars. It's the math it's the numbers.

Think about this; In this example organization with five technicians, their customer base would produce around 30 Million pages a year. If they decided not to increase their FCE from 50 % to 72 % giving up the $95.000.00 in potential yearly savings. This overspend would translate to .00316 additional per copy cost for every copy this organization’s customers’ produce, 95K divided by 30 million pages equals .00316. Now add the Toner, the parts, and of course the W-2 on all your technicians. It would be hard for this example organization to raise all their customers per copy charge by .003 per copy, or lower all their technicians pay by that 95K in overspend. However, it just takes the discipline of leadership looking at and acting on the best data to get the same financial result.   

An accurate FCE measurement is imperative to understand the hidden cost of service.  All leaders who understand their numbers embrace their numbers. These leaders understand the value in knowing their numbers. They realize very quickly numbers don’t lie, and numbers are unemotional. Dealer Owners most definitely understand it’s in the numbers where their success or failure is determined.

So, what if this example was a dealer who had 30 techs, 40 Techs, 50 or 100 Techs? Knowing the facts and then managing the disciplines to accomplish one’s goals of success takes leadership and Data.    

The FCE is just one of many cost factors involved in truly understanding your service cost, and increasing the value of your end-users Experience. There are many components to the service deliverable, and understanding how all these components impact each other is a must for the Imaging Channel. In my next article, we will discuss the reasons for Callbacks (CB) and how to prepare and prevent those unnecessary callback excuses which effect most importantly your Customers Experience and your FCE percentage rating.

R.J. Stasieczko

For over 25 years BEI Services the worlds largest database of service metrics for the Imaging Channel. With hundreds of organizations and thousands of Technicians on the BEI Platform, the data and statistics we provide to our partners are unprecedented in helping them achieve best in class benchmarks. It is from the knowledge of facts in our Trade Marked Worldstats Database which allow BEI partners to improve by accurate measurement eliminating the emotional noise of complacency. 

Aight, it's an older Ricoh MP 3601SP,  However, we still have one in the show room and I thought it would be cool to count how many color and black labels were adhered to the MP3601SP. I didn't not pop any of the covers, but I did open the roll feeder and the toner hopper. 

The method for my madness is to bring attention to labels, especially color labels.  Color labels are all around us, and most of the time we're not paying attention to how many labels are in our lives on a daily basis.

With emerging digital label printers/presses these labels can now be printed in house. Travel back in time for ten years and think about how we prospected and sold color copiers.  Ten years ago we hunted color printed documents and asked where did they come from, how much did you pay for them, how many do you buy a month, how many do you waste, how many are thrown out?  All of those awesome questions led us on the path to placing a color copier/printer with a net new prospect.

What comes around, goes around and today we (imaging sales people) have the same opportunity to place label printers/presses in net new prospects.  Many of these net new prospects are still outsourcing all of their color labels or have older high cost label printers. The time is right to attack this very lucrative market.

K, ready for the pics?

I also just noticed that I counted two 17's.  Thus, there are 36 labels on ONE device, and we didn't pop the covers off.

Look around you, try taking a day and keep a running count of how many labels you see in a day.  I'm thinking you may see more labels than sheets of paper.  There're out there you just need to pay attention.

-=Good Selling=-

Years ago, the most coveted piece of data that you could acquire about the a company was the name of the decision maker.  Almost forty years later the name of the decision maker is almost worthless unless you also have their email address. 

In our last "hack", I wrote about contacting a decision maker through their "contact us" web page, and how to find an email address of an influencer from that "contact us" web page.

Here's the Hack That I Use

I have almost 4,000 connections on Linkedin. With Linkedin, you could perform an export of all your Linkedin contacts to .csv data file.  That's a great feature to get the entire list, but what if you only wanted to cull the email address for each net new connection?

For example, I just had a "C" level exec that elected to connect with me on Linkedin.  I can access that person's contact page (see below). 

Off to the right, you will see three dots and when you hover the mouse over those three dots you'll see a drop down list appear.

From that dropdown list you'll want to click it, and then select "save to PDF".  You've just started the download of the profile PDF document for that "C" level exec.  You'll then want to open that PDF document, once the document is open you'll find that "C" level execs email right below their name.

Big Deal I Have the Email Address

Big deal, I have the email address, what the heck do I do with that address now?

For starters, you could send that person an inmail through Linkedin asking if they would like to opt in for your monthly email newsletter about "How Technology Can Increase Profits and Cut Costs".  Guess what happens when you send that Linkedin inmail?  You've just started a digital conversation with a potential net new client. 

A Few Things Can Happen From Sending That Inmail 

Some prospects will reply with a "yes" and then you'll want to reply with a thank you and maybe ask another question about what topics they would be interested in (make a note of that).  You'll probably also get "no" please don't and you'll reply with "ok, understood, please feel free to reach out to me if I can ever be of service".  Of course, you'll have "x" amount that will never respond with a yes or no.

Build Your Email List and They Will Buy

Those "yes" contacts are your future business opportunities!  I have a few  contact lists and the one that I use for my technology newsletter has about one hundred email addresses with thirty or so being net new.

Once a month, you'll want to send your "How Technology Can Increase Profits and Cut Costs" newsletter.  Constant Contact has a FREE service, I believe you can send up to five hundred email addresses with out incurring any additional charges. 

This blog was more about the "hack" to get the email address and not about creating and making your own technology news letter. If you're interested in learning more about that, please feel free to send me and email. apost@P4Photel.com

-=Good Selling=-

"If you don't challenge yourself, you will never realize what you can become"

THEDAILYQUOTES.COM

Being brutally honest with yourself as a sales professional is tough. If you want to succeed in sales you must get brutally honest with career.

How are you as a sales professional continually evaluating yourself to improve to become better at what you do?

Brutal Honesty: How Self Reflection Is Essential To Becoming A Better Sales Professional addresses how daily self-reflection allows us to understand what is important, and to focus on what might be done differently.

If I can’t lead myself, how could I possibly lead other people?

In Brutal Honesty Part II: How Well Do You Know YOU As A Sales Professional? This simple statement sums it up...

"If you don't know yourself then how can you help your clients?"

SELF-AWARENESS MEANS KNOW YOURSELF

Quite simple, self-awareness means you know yourself so well that you become amazingly happy which in turn allows you to live a wonderfully balanced life.

• Are you living as the real you and not someone else?
• Do your thoughts match your actions?
• Does your walk match your talk?
• Are you emphasizing the positive aspects of your personality?

Living a lie comes out sooner or later. Living a sales lies is even worse as this will ultimately screw with your career.

All of this leads to this...

If YOU, as a sales professional can't challenge yourself to improve then how can you challenge your clients to improve?

I CHALLENGE ALL SALES PROFESSIONALS, V.P. OF SALES AND EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT

Sometimes it's difficult to ask yourself self-directed questions; tough questions that challenge you to become a better person. It's not easy to have these conversations with yourself.

Why is this? Mental barriers such as ego or fear of what may be uncovered prevent some of us from being the best versions of ourselves.

The time is now to change all of that!

AM I INVESTING ENOUGH IN MYSELF?

As sales professional's, we invest in making sure our clients are well taken care of that sometimes we forget about ourselves.

Investing in yourself is clearly one of the best return on investments you can make. Whether it’s investing in learning a new skill, developing yourself professionally or personally, investing in community service; you need to give to yourself first before you can give to others. 

Investing in yourself, this sends a powerful message to yourself and to those around you.

Consistently challenge yourself by:

• Setting goals
• Reading books
• Finding a mentor
• Helping out in the community

What can I do every day to work on me?

On a daily basis invest in yourself. When you are the best version of yourself, you will become an attraction magnet to others!

AM I HELPING OTHERS TO BECOME BETTER?

My motto has always been, "Help others without asking for anything in return as this will come back tenfold."

I have found the best people are those who empower and lift up others. What are you doing to help the people around you become better versions of themselves?

Two suggestions in how you can help others...

1. Find a charity near and dear to your heart. Volunteering is the most fundamental act of citizenship and philanthropy in our society. Volunteering is the greatest gift you can give to those who need it the most.
2. Get better acquainted with your clients. Build stronger more meaningful relationships with your clients. Help them do their job better. Help them do better business. Help them grow their business. Introduce them into your network of friends, peers and colleagues.

WHAT CAN I BE DOING EVEN BETTER?

As we get bit by the "success bug" in sales we also get bitten by the "complacency bug". Let's face the truth as it has happened to all of us at some point in time. You've been cruising along making good money, life is good and your career is going well, so why don't you think of what you could be doing differently to become even better?

Success can be blinding. Take off the dark sunglasses and uncover ways you could change to become even better at what you do.

Think of the 1% rule. What would happen if on a daily basis you made a 1% improvement to your personal and professional life?

If you make a 1% improvement every day, it would be an increase of 3778% over a year, meaning you would be 38 times better off compared to when you started. Isn't this worth the investment in challenging yourself every day?

IN CONCLUSION...

Challenges present several learning opportunities. If you’re consistently nurturing your mindset, you will build up a tolerance against negativities, procrastination, self-doubt and insecurities.

The more success you accumulate, the more challenges you’ll come across to maintain and grow it.

I encourage you to build confidence in your abilities. I challenge you both personally and professionally around these 5 areas:

1. Seek to become an expert in your field of work
2. Constantly crave feedback on YOU
3. Be brutally honest with yourself
4. Set goals and create a business plan
5. Never ever stop learning

Please let me know how this works out for you.

If YOU Can't Challenge Yourself To Improve Then How Can You Challenge Your Clients To Improve?

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 copier world. With great pride I transform, challenge, coach and inspire B2B Office Technology Sales Professionals to grow new business by helping them tell their story and communicate integrating the use of social media. My commitment is to help office technology dealers thrive in a drastically changing marketplace. You can follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter, Social Sales Academy and on my podcast at Selling from the Heart.

Why doesn’t the Imaging Channel’s Owners and Leaders pay sales reps 250k salaries with no accountability or quotas?

Why do dealerships have millions in obsolete parts, spend millions on repairs and supplies, have a First Call Efficiencies’ or an FCE rate of less than 72% spend thousands doing Callbacks, spend thousands more on technical staff with very little Owner, or Senior Level executive oversite? Hum, read along and let me know your thoughts.

Let’s talk about the sales rep who wants a 250k salary and insists they have NO Quota. Ok, that would be a short conversation, the sales rep asked, and then you showed them the door and maybe said good luck.

So now let’s talk about the Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars in parts you have written off in the past and at the end of this year will more than likely write off more. Maybe you already know how many Dollars it will be this year? A different conversation the reason is simple. The first conversation you had control over you knew paying 250k to a sales rep with no accountability would be insane and prevented it from ever happening, in all reality by your actions and knowledge you prevented that conversation from ever happening.

The question regarding part write-offs and the components of your service depts. The answer is not so easy. You gave control away, and those you gave control to either weren’t properly trained or lacked near the concern as you about throwing a big chunk of your EBITA in the trash. Many are spending large amounts of unnecessary operating dollars to perform average or below.

All owners love EBITA, so whatever that number is now it will be minus the dollar amount of the parts that will be written of at years end and thrown in the trash. Or maybe the boxes they came in are marked with the letters N/I (Non-Inventory) and then stacked in the section of the warehouse I call the “EBITA Thief Section.” I would say if you're writing off 1-2 percent of service revenue, not total revenue in parts and supplies annually it is a cost of doing business. However, if your writing of more it might be called not paying attention to business, and most would admit that’s a costly mistake, most leaders avoid at all cost.

 “In business, only the profits from good intentions can control the runaway cost of emotions.”

The leaders in the Imaging Channel, for the most part, have an absolute understanding of all the components of the sales engine. Sales leaders continue to get creative in changing and doing the necessary things to ensure that quotas and sales expectations are achieved, and we all know the result of missing expectations. Dealers rank their sales teams, monitor their sales teams activity, provide their sales reps with protective territories, and sales reps most always have one on ones with their managers.

Dealer owners love to cheer on their sales teams; many dealerships have sales boards where they write with green markers how much they sold and how much they made. Dealer owners always know whats going on in the sales department they get the results every month and understand how to manage the areas which need improvement.

Accountability in sales is an absolute. Owners can walk down the hall and gasp as they stare at a blank sales board they quickly scream for reports. The Sales leader is quickly summoned to the office at the end of the hallway. Once inside they would get the message from the questions spoken loudly and passionately “Where’s the sales, was the 30-day hotlist just made up? Or is it a 90-day hotlist? Why are the sales reps not closing? Why don’t we call their forecast a hopecast? Why are Sales Reps not utilizing the CRM Software the company paid thousands of dollars for?” Those reading this who lead or led sales teams will know what the last question asked was as you were dismissed it went something like this. “Can you get this team on track, and get results I can take to the bank or do I need to look for someone else who can? A dealerships sales numbers or lack of them stares everyone in the face constantly. Am I right?

Yes, Sales is managed, monitored, and continuously driven to get results, there are no secrets in sales, every month is a new beginning and the previous month’s dysfunctions always show up in the math.  

What about service? Why should sales have all the accountability fun? The Imaging Channel is a 50/50 split on the revenue of their deliverable half from sales of hardware and the other half from service annuity which by the way contributes nearly all the company’s profits this is an undisputed fact. The EBITA is in the service, and the revenue dollars from hardware will never transition to EBITA. The Imaging Channel is not a retail platform it is a Service Annuity Platform. The healthier the service platform, the healthier the EBITA.

Too many dealer organizations still do not take the same measures in managing service departments and their service personnel as they do in managing sales departments and sales personnel and there are enormous potential increases to a dealers EBITA inside their service departments. This potential EBITA increase will only come from leadership taking charge of driving the best practices. It’s time for dealer owners to inject themselves and their business acumen into the other 50% of their business their Service Departments this is more important than ever in the Imaging Channels history. Here’s why and a solution to help.  

“Current Circumstances can postpone the good intentions of change if you fall victim to the delusion of how good things currently appear to be.”

What if there was software that could hold fair accountability to the service department like our sales department? There is it’s called BEI Services the information and metrics gathered by BEI Services for decades on millions of printers and thousands of technicians are unmatched in the Imaging Channel Worldwide. What if there was a tool that managed our parts and inventories eliminating uncontrolled write-offs? There is it’s called BEI Services. If your parts warehouses are loaded with obsolete parts, ask BEI Services about their Overstock Parts Network or OPN Network. BEI Services is the world’s largest Service Partner Platform we can help dealers reduce inventory write off losses by buying their obsolete or overstocked parts and at the same time helping other partners lower their cost on inventory purchases. What if there was a software that defined technician’s territories based on skills and real-life service metrics territory mapping which can be set up in minutes not months? There is, and BEI Services invented it. What if there was a detailed report that owners could look at and identify potential problems which would impact their customer's experience and their bottom line? Again, there is and it’s located in the executive summary section of the BEI Services software.

Imaging Channel Dealer Owners it’s 2017 you know how to run your sales department now it’s time to understand with the expertise only BEI Services data can explain so if you’re ready to hold service accountable in the way’s you have always held sales accountable call BEI Services. As things change and change evermore quickly the time for having total control over your future is now.

“When an industry is experiencing declines, it becomes an absolute necessity to extract as much cash from current circumstances while possible and reallocate it to diversity and transition.”

A warning

Those dealers who are considering Managed IT Services as an additional deliverable I would say this. Managed IT Services is not in any way a sales silo and service silo business model. No successful IT Services company would ever sell anything which they were not clear on the absolute profitability of not only the hardware they understand the cost and the margin required to manage and maintain the integrity of the SLA their customer buys. IT Services is an all-encompassing deliverable. Managed IT Services is delivering Services which may include hardware. IT Service Providers must understand total cost from birth to death of all customer engagements. The Imaging Channel was built on selling products then servicing those products this is the opposite of the IT Service Deliverable; the Imaging Channel must adopt a Service first strategy to transition to Managed IT Services. Understanding the whole story is the path toward respectable improvement to not only your Customers Experience your EBITA as well.

Without the tools of Data, and leadership to oversee their use businesses are crippled by a disease, I call EBITA-Erosis.

Let BEI Services help you keep your business and EBITA healthy.

R.J. Stasieczko

I had a few minutes before I had to get to three appointments on Thursday of last week.  Thus, I thought I would visit our Ricoh MP 3601SP demonstrator unit in our showroom (yes, we still have one of those).  I was curious how many labels did Ricoh adhere to the MP 3601SP.

I was shocked!  If you have a Ricoh MP 3601SP, here's a little bit of homework for you.  Check all of the outside covers, then the toner hopped and then the roll feeder.  Let us know how many labels you find (color or just black).  Inj a few days I'll be posting pics and a blog about how many I found.

At the top of each blog you'll see .  Clicking that link which is at the top of each blog will then bring you the collection of blogs for Color Label Press University.  It's pretty neat, you'll see all of the blogs that we've posted for an easier read and simple way to toggle from blog to blog.

Color Label Presses can be used as seeding devices in larger Print4Pay opportunities, or help that dealer or rep get a conversation going with an account where they have never had any traction with MFP's or IT services.  In addition, the competition is ripe for takeover.   Let us not forget about the GP!

The market for full color digital labels in huge and the potential to make some serious commissions is enormous.  BTW, isn't that why we're in this crazy business? 

Color Label Press University "Glossary for Pressure Sensitive Labels"  Course One

(Sponsored by Muratec a Konica Minolta Company)

Clarity:   Degree of clearness.

Clay Coated:  A term used to describe a paper with a clay coating on either one or both sides. (geesh, I remember clay coated paper, was best know for use with some of the first color copier/printers)

Clear Area:  A required clear space, containing no dark marks, which precedes the start character of a symbol and follows the stop character. Also known as quiet area.

Clear Coat:  A coating that protects the printing and the surface of a pressure sensitive label from abrasion, sunlight, chemicals, moisture, or a combination of these.

Co-Extrusions:   Film produced by more than one extruder through a common die. Films have been made with as many as 13 layers.

Co-Polymer:  Two or more mixed monomers which, when polymerized, yield a complex product having properties different from either simple polymer alone.

Coated Paper:   General term applying to all papers which have been surface coated with pigments.

Coating:   In printing, an emulsion, varnish or lacquer applied in-line or off-line, often over a printed surface to give it added protection.

Coating Weight:   The weight of a coating per unit area, such as lb/1,000 square feet, lb/ream or grams/sq meter.

Cobwebbing:   A filmy, web-like build up of dried ink or varnish that appears on the doctor roll or the end of the impression rolls.

COD:   Cash on Delivery. Customer must pay in full at time of delivery. Shipper retains title until carrier obtains remittance.

Cohesion:  The internal strength of an adhesive mass; resistance to flow, and resistance to failure in the adhesive when labels are removed or are under stress. See cohesive strength.

Cohesive Failure:   The mode of failure wherein the adhesive splits, leaving some residue on the labeled surface and part on the label.

Cohesive Strength:   A measure of that property of an adhesive which resists forces parallel to the surface, I.e. resistance to adhesive splitting.

Cold Cracking:   The breaking or shattering under stress of plastic coatings that have become brittle due to lowered temperatures.

Cold Flow:  The tendency of a pressure sensitive adhesive to act like a heavy, viscous liquid over long periods of time. Such phenomena as 'oozing' or 'incraeses in adhesion' are the results of this characteristic.

Cold Temperature Adhesive:  An adhesive that will enable a pressure sensitive label to adhere or stick well when applied to a cold substrate, often in cold ambient temperatures.

Collating:   Assembling in proper order.

Color Correction:  Any method such as masking, dot-etching, re-etching, and/or electronic scanning used to correct for color errors in process inks.

Color Key:  A series of colored films used to check individual colors and stripping. When overlaid in printing sequence it will produce a multicolored image. A color key is limited to yellow, orange, dark blue, magenta, cyan, black, white, gold, brown, green, red, beige and any combinations thereof. Basically a photographic positive of the separation negatives in generic color.

Color Matching:   To duplicate the hue, value and intensity of a given color sample usually by blending appropriate elements.

Color Permanence:   See color fastness.

Color Process:  A reproduction of any subject where the colors are separated by any method utilizing at least the three primary process colors - yellow, magenta and cyan. Using halftone plates to produce intermediate colors and shades. Linework and screenwork can be utilized.

Color Proof:  A printed or simulated printed image of each process color (cyan, magenta, yellow and black) using inks, toners or dyes to give a simulated impression of the final printed reproduction. Color proofs are now most often generated by computer.

Color Retention:   The property of a color to resist fading or other deterioration on exposure to light.

Color Separated Art:  See pre-separated art.

Color Separation:  The process of separating colored originals into yellow, magenta, cyan and black printing negatives. Mostly done on computer controlled scanners.

Color Stability:   See color fastness.

Color Stations:   Each printing section of the press or set of rollers used to print each individual color.

Color Transparency:  A full-color photographic positive image on a transparent support from which color separations are usually produced. Can be viewed with the aid of a lighted color transparency viewer.

Colorant:   The color portion of an ink; may be a pigment, dye, or a combination of the two.

Combination Plate:   A single engraving which includes both line and halftone.

Compatibility:   The ability of ink, film, substrate and/or solvents to function together in an acceptable manner.

Condensed:   Type Proportionally narrow or slender type faces.

Conditioning:   Process of subjecting material to specific temperature and humidity conditions for stipulated periods of time.

Conformability:  The ability of a pressure sensitive material to yield to the contours of a surface (curved or rough). See flexibility.

Consistency:   Usually refers to the general body characteristics of an ink or other coatings.

Continuous Code:   A bar code or symbol where the space between characters (intercharacter gap) is part of the code.

Continuous Label:  Fan-folded labels manufactured from a continuous web of label stock which is not cut into units prior to execution. Continuous labels are mostly used for data processing applications.

Controlled Release:   A release level greater than that provided by an unmodified release coating.

-=Good Selling=-

"Listening is one of the most important things a brand can do online. If your brand is just broadcasting its own agenda, it isn't truly engaging in a conversation"

Jeremy Goldman

It is no secret, digital and online resources are playing a major role in altering the way buyers buy. The landscape is changing rapidly as buyers conduct pre-purchase research to understand their options through a multitude of channels including search, social, and numerous competitive websites. 

Sales reps must recognize and learn how to not only engage the new digital buyer but to align their online and offline resources to the buyer journey.

How far is today’s B2B buyer through the decision-making process before engaging a sales rep? Whether it is 57%, 67% or 77% the actual number probably doesn’t matter. What’s important is today’s self-educated B2B buyer increasingly turns to sources other than salespeople for information.

They must realize the one critical part of addressing the new buyer’s journey is not merely creating digital tactics, but focusing on how they engage prospects and clients once they engage digitally.

Think about it...

Does A Digital Buyer Want A Digital Conversation?

Sales reps must acknowledge the content they generate or curate must engage the digital buyer in conversation.

Sales reps must augment their prospecting efforts by generating new business conversations online by focusing on making their LinkedIn profile a desired destination stop for information with custom content. Why? According to the 2014 State of B2B Procurement study from the Acquity Group, 94 percent of business buyers do some form of online research:

• 77% use Google search 
• 84.3% check business websites (This could be your LinkedIn profile)
• 41% read user reviews (This could be recommendations on your LinkedIn profile)

3 REASONS WHY CONTENT & CONVERSATION FUEL A FIRST-IN MEETING WITH A DIGITAL BUYER

As part of your prospecting approach; relevant and educational content does drive conversation with the modern digitally driven B2B buyer. Sales reps must learn to integrate the use of content as an additional method of communication along with email and the phone.

Calling all sales reps, how you... Capture, Converse, Collaborate, and Connect by providing insightful Content to grab the attention of the digital buyer will determine your sales success in the 21st century. 

CONTENT DRIVES A DIGITAL CONVERSATION

My friend Jack Kosakowski says it best, "Content drives value, value drives conversation, revenue is a result of both of these combined once you go offline."  Content may include blogs, social posts, videos, webinars, white papers and more. All the content your company produces to engage customers is marketing collateral that translates directly into sales. Posting content online (LinkedIn as an example), one of the most important things to remember is you are starting a conversation.

The content posted must be relevant, educational and worth reading. As opposed to a bunch of self-centered sales propaganda. The goal is to teach, tailor and encourage conversation. 

CONTENT NURTURES THE RELATIONSHIP

As sales reps speak with potential customers, they need to remember it’s a conversation involving talking, listening and hearing. Selling in today’s connected digital space is about building long-term business relationships. Before you can get to the closing opportunity, you need to understand each potential customer on a 1-1 individual level.

Learning their business challenges, what problems or concerns they have, and what is important to them allows sales reps to make better recommendations and most importantly educate. Getting to the first-in meeting starts with small conversation and listening; as content is fuel to engage the digital buyer.

CONTENT PERSONALIZES THE START OF THE BUYERS JOURNEY

Conversations are personal, by nature. Unfortunately, most sales funnels are not very personal. This may leave sales reps struggling to engage with prospects who may or may not know much about their brand and how they can help.

The only way to overcome any initial disconnect is through education. However, bombarding prospects with general marketing materials is not the answer; 1-1 personalizing is. It’s time to change the pace of sales by changing the way you sell. Sometimes just slowing down allows sales reps to sell faster. Check out more by reading...

Sales is just relationship-building at scale. It might be difficult for sales reps to spend the time to get to know each prospect or customer personally, but this doesn’t mean they can’t personalize their approach integrating the use of content.

Let's face reality, most prospects feel sales reps are full of Sh%T. As you capture, converse, collaborate and connect with your prospects; share with them with your posts, educate them and help by guiding them in the right direction. One direction you can point them to is to your LinkedIn profile. This is where you promote your business professional brand, your story, how you have helped your clients and what your prospects can expect when the get engaged with you. You can check out my profile here...

PROVIDE VALUE TO FUEL THE FIRST-IN MEETING

Courtesy of the Acquity Group, "Digital content is becoming a deal breaker for consumers who are looking for information online. Companies (I will add in sales reps) that aren’t there with answers to prospects’ questions will fall off the radar, while brands that anticipate questions and provide useful resources will win brand awareness and, eventually, conversions."

Being completely honest, authentic and genuine will greatly enhance your credibility online and face to face. Make you as a helpful resource known by offering your knowledge to the rest of your community by driving a digital conversation. Whenever possible, put your potential prospects at ease by reducing the amount of risk associated in doing business with you. The fewer roadblocks and red flags the more they’ll be able to trust in you. 

Position yourself as the expert by providing value to your prospects. Answer questions, socially listen and provide relevant information that will help the digital buyer engage with you. Offer solutions and share your expertise as I guarantee you will earn a sit at the first-in business table. This is another flow of communication inside the modern business world.

Remember, nothing happens in sales until you start a conversation!

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 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 copier world. With great pride I transform, challenge, coach and inspire B2B Office Technology Sales Professionals to grow new business by helping them tell their story and communicate integrating the use of social media. My commitment is to help office technology dealers thrive in a drastically changing marketplace. You can follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter, Social Sales Academy and on my podcast at Selling from the Heart.

Were you in the copier industry ten years ago?  If so, can you remember what accounts you sold along with the model numbers of the copiers that you sold?  Can you remember what was and what was not?

Many of the questions are some of the main reasons that so many Print4Pay Hotel members love reading This Week in the Copier Industry 10 Years Ago This Week.

For many it brings back memories of what we love best about the industry!  Enjoy these threads from ten years ago this week!

Weekend Notes from The Copier Industry 9/24

With many athletes practice makes perfect.  It's that repetition of completing certain tasks over and over again the create muscle memory.  That muscle memory then becomes an instinctive reaction when that athlete puts those skills in motion. 

Since I'm pretty familiar with baseball, it's the day to day tasks of taking batting practice, long tossing and fielding that builds the muscle memory of the athlete.

Over the years, there are many tasks that I perform daily, weekly and monthly that have helped me to be successful in the copier industry.  In many cases, I'm not thinking about the tasks that I perform. It's just that I've been doing them for so long that they become my muscle memory for my sales processes.

Thus, I'd like to share some of these tasks and I guess you can call them tips that can help you sell more copiers.

1) Many times, it's hard to connect with a net new prospect via phone, social media and or in person.  Most of us understand that before we call that prospect that we should also pay a visit to their website.  Visting their website enables us to get a better understand of what that company does and who some of the decision makers may be. 

On many occasions, I will scout the "contact us" page to see if there is an email contact form. If there is I will send my intro email through their website. It's definitely going to get read and makes a cold call on the phone a bit easier when you can tell the receptionist that it's in reference to an email I sent through your website.

Now, there's another little trick that works from time to time when you're on that companies "contact us" page.  While on that page you may be able to capture the email address that is being used for that contact form.  In most cases that email address is usually used by a person that has some authority within the company.

You can capture that email address by "right clicking" on your mouse.  You'll then see a pop-up appear on your screen.  You want to find "view source", once you've found it you want to click view source. You will then the source code or the HTML that was used to create that page.  Now, somewhere on that page, there may be that email address that we're looking for. The quickest and easiest way to find that address is to type the @ sign in the search field and then press enter.  All of the @ signs on the page will then be highlighted.  See the picture below for exact instructions.

I'll be posting the rest of these in the next couple of days, getting late now and I need to get ready for tomorrow. Only two days left in the selling month and quarter. 

-=Good Selling=-

BEI Services has been providing service process improvement metrics for decades. BEI’s experience and the vast amounts of data collected from thousands of service professionals and millions of print devices have positioned itself to offer all the information our partners need to run exceptional service organizations. The hundreds of our current customers have saved millions of dollars. Each day BEI continues providing the intellectual tools for service improvement. With today’s advances in technology, we are excited about the future of not only continuously improving our world-class platform but helping our valued partners improve in delivering to both their internal and external customer’s a better experience.

Today there must be even more understanding of service cost as new and different approaches to market become mainstream. Sales strategies like Device Billing or Seat Based Billing will only work profitability if you truly understand your cost. BEI Services is by-far the best in the industry for understanding service cost.

Over the next months, we will be adding more features and benefits to ensure that our partners can continue capitalizing on this most critical component of their deliverable. Everyone in the Imaging Channel understands the importance of the service annuity, the lifeblood which pumps through the heart of our industry. The BEI Services Team is dedicated to the commitment of continuous improvement. We understand that Analytics Equals knowledge which Equals Best in Class. It’s in this group of best in class that our partners find the best possible outcome for profits.

The protection of your businesses profit is more important than ever in a fast-changing deliverables future. Most already know, or should be aware, the future of document output is changing. The equipment, the supplies, the ways of service, the modes of delivery, and yes even the ways of selling print equipment is changing. Remember it doesn’t all have to end to disrupt one’s current circumstances it just must change enough to make the old way painful both for you and your customer. The future of all the components of the print equipment deliverables is threatened. Don’t get emotionally attached to the excited cries of paperless. I will scream again it’s not a paperless argument it’s a change in the components of the deliverable which should motivate all dealers to take seriously the need to explore improvement continuously.

“If we don’t seek out and understand how we can be defeated we are at the mercy of those who plan and execute our defeat.” 

Imaging Channel Resellers must capitalize on their current circumstances. It’s from the fuel, or (PROFIT) of the existing deliverable which will feed the engine of change. However, if you want too long, the fuel truck will be empty. Many industries are seeing shifts and fearing the unknown competitor who sits outside the window of their current circumstances, waiting for technology advances, advances which will eliminate or de-value their current end-users desired outcome. In other words, your end-users find a better way and then desire something different which might include you if you’re not ready. BEI Services has the tools and the expertise to help our partners uncover and capitalize on the benefits of performing as a Best in Class company.

Let’s explore where to find surpluses of cash just waiting to be used for your innovation. It’s safe to say most business owners convince themselves they are 100% focused on protecting their business, they understand the absolute necessity of that. At BEI, we live to help control the operating cost our partner's service and support centers.

Here are some examples of business processes BEI helps maintain within the Imaging Channel.

Territory management, BEI Services has the world’s best in class system for territory management. Our territory management software has reduced millions of callbacks, and this has increased the end-user customer satisfaction. A dealers Customer experience has quickly become much more important than more relationship based as in the past. Customers waiting for parts, or continuously having to call back are not an acceptable experience.    

Ensuring parts and toner inventory turns at least ten times a year. Some dealers had not reevaluated levels and still stock like 1980 when it took four weeks to get something the world has changed it got a lot faster. No dealer in the industry should have 9 or 10 months of stock sitting in their warehouse, no dealer in the industry should have parts or supplies which have not been used in 18 months. Dealers should not be writing off more than 1% of inventories. BEI’s software highlights behaviors which are inconstant to best practices causing profit loss. These alerts and details provide the dealership with information to act on saving our partners millions of dollars.

Many dealers have delegated their inventory and service controls to great, fantastic people; however, many are not trained in business acumen regarding PNL’s. Inventory and service management is just as critical as sales management. No good business leader would allow their sales manager to continue in their role if sales were not growing, had no plan or accountability metrics. However, some dealerships are bleeding much more in losses from inefficient inventory, and service management deficiencies. Fifty percent of the company’s revenue comes from your service department so your service business must be managed by business mentalities, not strictly technician mentalities. Today this is more important than ever.        

However still today, in some cases managers’ excuse away the reports, don’t read the reports or refuse to manage the disciplines the reports outline. BEI understands that Dealer owners must take the lead when core changes are needed we are responding with our Executive Dashboards and Acuity programs.

Today Dealers could easily be circumvented by other means of delivery and service, as manufacturers continue improving equipment thereby eliminating more and more onsite service as this and the lack of reliance on the equipment itself from end-users get closer and closer in-line the industry will experience many challenges. Today independent dealers must look to disrupt themselves into a sustainable future and do it before someone else takes control of their disruption.      

Most dealers would recapture a minimum of 20% of their Service and support operating cost if they managed by the numbers and not the emotional non-sense which attempts to penetrate one’s common sense.

Think about this. Currently 60% of all service calls are created by your technicians or lack of good inventory control. 30% of these calls should never happen. More than likely 70% of your profit comes from services and 30% comes from supplies, Hardware is a wash at best or drains 5-7% of your overall profit. Service departs must be vigilant to continuous improvement

With regards to revenue. Fifty percent of your revenue comes from service, and supplies the other fifty percent comes from hardware sales. A ten-million-dollar dealer with a five-million-dollar service platform running at fifty percent gross margin would have a cost of service of 2.5 Million saving 20% would reduce cost by Five hundred thousand dollars a year, or $46,666 per month. That my friends is a big number and should get your attention. Regardless of your dealerships size maximizing profits, and controlling inventories is mandatory for survival and to the cost of innovation. 

So, here’s the question what could your dealership invest in with an extra half a million dollars a year. And I guess I would say this, “If you think that you’re doing your best, that’s not the same as knowing you’re doing your best.” It is time to re-evaluate your service strategy and begin preparing yourself for the real possibilities that the annuity service platform which feeds the Imaging Channel will cease to bring enough nutrition for continuing our current circumstance.

Most dealers have qualified managers in their ranks. However, they normally don’t have a surplus of change leaders. Focused structural changes must be led, the dealer owner and their senior executives’ must take the lead. Those managing a current process who believe is performing just fine will become emotional and most definitely challenge any new order of things. In all reality, it’s 2017, and the fact is this- if your managers aren’t ripping up the past on their own you need to and BEI is here to help.  

“Business disruptions are the result of innovation improving the customer experience so drastically that the old way becomes a customer nightmare.”

Let BEI Services help you navigate to a more profitable future by providing the metrics, solutions, and knowledge from the world’s largest data base of Print service analytics.

R.J. Stasieczko  

National hospitality staffing company, LGC Hospitality, implemented DocuWare Cloud to digitize and streamline their onboarding workflow, making the process simpler for both the applicant and staff.

Established in 2003, LGC Hospitality is a leading hospitality staffing company with over 26 offices across the USA. They help hotels, corporate dining companies, country clubs, hospital food services, special events centers, stadiums, caterers, schools and others to fill hospitality, hotel and restaurant positions. LGC provides temporary, temporary-to-hire, and career options at a variety of venues.

Their mission is to ensure a positive experience for both candidates and clients by going above and beyond the expectations they have of staffing firms. LGC strives to make quality placements as a result of long-standing client and candidate relationships built on trust and honesty.

LGC processes paperwork for over 50,000 applicants a year and issues W2 forms for over 24,000 employees. Employees range from those looking for fulltime work, a few weeks of work, weekends or just one event. Regardless of how many hours they end up working, each employee must fill out a 54-page application plus additional paperwork to set up payroll. When using their paper-based process, getting the applications complete and properly filled out was one of LGC’s biggest challenges. The application was long and asked for the same information in several locations which candidates found frustrating. To add to the labor intensive process, LGC staff had to spend a lot of time reviewing applications just to make sure every field was filled in and that every page had been signed. It was also very difficult managing, storing, and sharing this information internally, in addition to pulling information for audits.

Requirements

When a new Vice President of Operations came on board, she began looking for a digital solution that would ease the company’s pain. She decided on DocuWare because the solution met all her needs: streamline the application process, eliminate time spent manually storing documents, provide the company with a searchable database of employees, and give recruiters the ability to use the system when they were at event locations. Additionally, implementing a cloud-based system would make rolling it out to 26 branch offices an easy process.

Solution

Today, the application and on-boarding process is all done through DocuWare via one online web form that contains fields from all their forms such as: Form W4 – Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate, Form I9 – Employment Eligibility Verification, Direct Deposit, Emergency Contact Information, and others. The web form avoids redundant data entry by only asking for each piece of information one time and ensuring completeness by making some fields required. Once the information is entered and the web form has been signed, the data is used to create separate documents that are automatically stored in DocuWare. To simplify searches, branch offices and the corporate office each have their own filing cabinet, however, area and corporate managers have access to multiple cabinets. The solution was methodically rolled out to each office and after one week of training, staff jumped in and embraced their new paperless processes.

Benefits

Before DocuWare, the application process could take up to an hour and a half; now it only takes about 30 minutes. Making the process even easier and faster, LGC can email the applicant a link to the form so they can complete it at home and then finalize it in the office.

“DocuWare has so much flexibility that if we have a candidate who is struggling to use the computer, we can print out the form and let them use the paper version, then scan the document back into our system,” said Rachel Martin, VP of Operations. “All we need is a laptop, signature pad and Wi-Fi. We can even do our hiring for an event from a venue location,” Martin continued.

DocuWare has expanded beyond just the first phase of the application process to now include a workflow to ensure all documentation is complete as someone transitions from applicant to employee. LGC’s hiring managers use DocuWare to electronically stamp tax forms, I9 forms, and direct deposit forms as approved which routes the documents to the payroll department for a few final processes and allows the employee to begin work.

“We stayed very close to the same payroll processes we were using before DocuWare, with one exception; our processes have been completely streamlined. Once a payroll form has been submitted and approved by a manager it launches a workflow that activates or allows deposits to be made to a pre-paid debit card, eliminating a two-week lag time. It’s been a win-win for everyone, our staff and our hospitality employees,” said Martin.

LGC has every applicant fill out IRS Form 8850, so it can apply for Work Opportunity Tax Credits, a Federal tax credit available to employers who hire and retain veterans and individuals from other target groups with significant barriers to employment. In the past, branch offices would mail physical forms to the corporate office weekly, who would then consolidate the shipments from the branch offices and mail a bigger box of forms to the IRS. LGC only had one month from the date-of-hire to submit the form and deadlines were often missed. Today, as soon as the form has been reviewed and stamped approved, it is automatically emailed from the branch office directly to the IRS processing facility, ensuring the company takes 100% advantage of eligible credits without the added physical work of copying and packing documents or the weekly shipping costs. Employees have to work a certain number of hours before LGC can qualify for a tax credit, but since all forms are automatically sent, the number of credits LGC is potentially eligible for has risen.

When it comes to placement, since the applicant files are digital, the staff can now search their newly created database to quickly find a candidate with the right qualifications for an event

“Sometimes, I need to find someone with a specific qualification, such as someone who has a certain certificate or has had a certain health screening. I can do a search in DocuWare and find several candidates. We love being able to search our own database, because this is something we could never do with paper records,” said Martin.

Conclusion

The biggest benefit DocuWare has brought LGC is its impact on the audit process. LGC’s large corporate accounts conduct periodic audits that require the corporate office to produce requested documents such as signoff-sheets, background checks and verifications within a small window of time. In the past, the corporate office was dependent on the branch offices to forward paper documents. Today, the requested documents are completely and accurately filled out and easily accessible in DocuWare, allowing LGC’s corporate office to pass the audit with ease.

Martin summed up their DocuWare solution saying, “DocuWare has significantly impacted our business and streamlined our processes. Our on-boarding procedure is considerably easier and quicker for both applicants and staff and the use of online web forms results in complete, accurate information. On a corporate level, we have access to all the documents from each of our 26 locations, smoothing our audit process and improving our efficiency. DocuWare has helped us moved our business into a modern age and allowed us to better serve our clients.”

DocuWare Corporation | 4 Crotty Lane, Suite 200 | New Windsor, NY 12553   (888) 565-5907 | www.docuware.com

The Desire

Let me tell you a short story.

At the age of 23, I had just completed my first six months as a copier technician. Prior to getting hired as a technician, I was hired for a 16 week boot camp to learn how to repair copiers in 1980.

At the end of the 16 weeks of training, we were sent out on interviews with local copier dealerships in New Jersey & New York. All 22 trainees were hired within a few weeks.

At six months, I had my review with the Dealer Principal. He stated, “Art you’re doing a great job at taking the copiers apart, however not so good at putting then back together”. I knew what that meant, I was getting **** canned.

After a few seconds, I was told that I was be laid off. What a bummer right? On my way out the door, the Dealer Principal pulled a Columbo on me. He stated, “Art, before you go, I have a question for you”. Ok, maybe there’s still a chance I thought.

The Dealer Principal reached into his pocket and pulled out three or four hundred dollar bills. He then asked, “which would you rather do? Work for a week to earn the three or four hundred dollars or try and talk me out of it?”

Now, my Momma did not raise a fool. Work a week or try to talk him out of it? I opted for the last option and tried for at least 20 minutes or so to make him pry loose with the cash. Because I was going to need it with no job and I'm a fan of cash. After more than 20 minutes, I conceded because he was not going to give the loot.

However, he did offer me a job for selling copiers. I took the job and never looked back.

I have had at least 7 or 8 dogs over my lifetime. For me there are two types of dogs, those that a motivated by food (easiest to train) and those that are wishy washy about food (harder to train).

There are many different types of people, and one type of person are those that have the desire to make money. Growing up, all I wanted was to make money. I had the lemon aide stand, the paper route, the snow shoveling and even left school early because I wanted to make money.

It’s my belief that once you have your potential employment candidates down to the last the three or four. You can find who has the desire to make money by asking them the same question that I was asked in my exit interview.

Those that say they will work a week for the dough can go. Those that want to talk you out of it are the candidates that have the DESIRE to succeed.

Of course you never let them talk you out of the cash, but you do offer them the job!

Art