Not much here this week.  However, I dug these dates up and stuff that happened ten years ago this week! Enjoy!

• Aug 14 Coordinated bombings in Yazidi communities in Iraq kill at least 500 people, the second-deadliest terror attack of all time
• Aug 15 An 8.0-magnitude earthquake off the Pacific coast devastates Ica and various regions of Peru killing 514 and injuring 1,090.
• Aug 21 Hurricane Dean makes its first landfall in Costa Maya, Mexico with winds at 165 mph. Dean is the first storm since Hurricane Andrew to make landfall as a Category 5.
• Aug 22 The Texas Rangers rout the Baltimore Orioles 30-3, the most runs scored by a team in modern MLB history.
• Aug 22 The Storm botnet, a botnet created by the Storm Worm, sends out a record 57 million e-mails in one day

'Best Image Quality' Award To Konica Minolta bizhub

Buying habits have changed. Social networks have forever disrupted the way people buy:

• IDC research in 2014 discovered that 84% of C-level and VP decision makers use social in the buying process.
• 50% of buyers avoid sales professionals with incomplete LinkedIn profiles.

The good news is forward-thinking B2B Technology Sales Teams know how to capitalize on trends. To take full advantage of a trend, you need to do things the right way.

Doing things the right way, this is what drives me as I am wholly committed to helping sales teams weave and integrate social selling within their business development efforts to grow net new business. I want you to get results. I am passionate about doing this the right way.

WHAT I HAVE LEARNED

First things first, it is buying into one word... TRANSFORMATION. Transformation according to BusinessDictionary.com is "a process of profound and radical change that orients an organization in a new direction and takes it to an entirely different level of effectiveness. Unlike 'turnaround' (which implies incremental progress on the same plane) transformation implies a basic change of character and little or no resemblance with the past configuration or structure."

The second thing I have learned, transformation occurs when the culture created inside the company is that of accepting the fact change is required in order to grow and flourish. You can’t take an old dog and teach it new tricks overnight. Neither can you take a sales force which has been doing things one way for years and have them change in 30 days. It is a cultural shift requiring time and leadership. It won’t happen overnight, but if you do it correctly, the results will be long-lasting.

The third thing I have learned, the transformation of a sales team requires management support. Any successful initiative requires management support. When management engages in the training and embraces social networking the initiative succeeds.

ALL ABOUT THE LEADERSHIP

True leaders like Gary Harouff of AIS in Las Vegas have embraced the continuous transformation mindset. Led by Dave Clark, V.P. of Sales; they are driving the next gen sales mindset within their company.

"We are keeping our foot on the gas pedal of change"

Gary Harouff, President of AIS

Gary and Dave realize trying to sell digital solutions with analog sales tactics just doesn't work inside the modern business world? They have embraced the fact Google and LinkedIn have forever changed the sales process as buyers do online research before, during, and after meeting with their sales team. They understand how their company and their sales team positions themselves online can make or break their success.

AIS blends the best of traditional sales skills with the tools of today to synchronize with today’s buyer.

Amping up their Social Sales Transformation began with the repositioning of AISonline. Their partnership with ProspectBuilder was step one as the team at AIS realized and accepted the fact buying habits have changed. Technology facilitated the change as their clients and prospects demanded answers quickly. They became fully aware value advice, education advice and insights must be provided online.

"For vendor companies, this transformation may be difficult and will take time; however, new competencies will amplify the value that buyers seek from social networks. This will create an echo effect, making social networks even more valuable to buyers.”

Study done by IDC

AIS ANSWERED THE 64 MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION

What are you doing to insure your sales reps have great websites and good online marketing?

Acknowledging their sales reps websites are their LinkedIn profiles, AIS management is now taking their sales team on the social sales transformation journey. Through the proactive marketing of their sales teams online and how they use relevant, educational content to draw in prospects and yes, their clients in wanting to know more. They are realizing the social proof, social visibility and yes the credibility of their sales team is mission critical online as they represent their company.

PHASE ONE - ENGAGE TO EDUCATE THE SALES TEAM

Transforming the sales culture takes more than rah-rah events or the use of outdated management tactics. It takes reinvigorating old tenured sales dogs, changing mindset, learning new skill sets with new levels of business acumen.

In a phased in approach which started with a live launch, the Social Sales Academy is coming alongside their sales team to coach them in how to integrate LinkedIn into the sales process. The AIS sales reps are encouraged to make a big deal about leveraging their profile to create their unique differentiation.

The concepts around social selling are rolled out over three key phases

Phase one is an important first step. AIS is making sure every one of their sales reps and managers have a professional LinkedIn profile which enhances the brand of both the sales rep and AIS.

The transformation then kicks into two more phases.

PHASE TWO - FILL THE RELATIONSHIP FUNNEL

As their LinkedIn profiles and online presence develops, the sales team will learn how to digitally and intelligently prospect incorporating the use of LinkedIn as a sales tactic. They will learn how to proactively prospect integrating the use of their current network (referrals). Through the art of the invite and social detective work, the sales team will learn strategies to get decision makers and influencers to connect with them as this is step one in building the relationship funnel.

PHASE THREE - INTEGRATE DAILY HABITS

With a professional profile and fundamental sales skills in place, the AIS sales team will learn to develop daily and weekly habits to maximize the integration of social inside the sales process. It is about learning how to effectively prospect inside a digital business world, to a digitally savvy buyer leveraging digital sales skills to drive more conversations. As conversations are the kick starter to the sales process thus enhancing the sales funnel.

ONGOING INITIATIVE

The use of social media will not go away. It is already deeply woven into the fabric of our society. Social will be a part of selling skills going forward. Social selling requires regular interaction on platforms such as LinkedIn. Any successful initiative requires management support. This is why as the AIS management team engages in the training riding alongside their sales team and embraces social networking as the initiative will succeed in helping them grow their sales revenue and net new business.

I understand, I get where you all are coming from. I have walked a day in a life of your shoes and still do on a daily basis.

I am fully committed to helping your sales team integrate social aspects and modern strategies into your current sales process to grow net-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, Larry was recognized by ENX Magazine, “The Difference Maker” as someone who is making a difference inside the copier channel. Larry is passionate about helping sales reps succeed in creating their online brand image

You can find more blog posts 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 net-new business by helping them tell their story and communicate integrating the use of social. 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.

Tillamook Bay Community College rolled out DocuWare to the entire college in order to provide faculty and staff with easy access to information to facilitate advising and streamline the registration process for students. The higher ed institution was also able to utilize DocuWare to collaborate with instructors and develop standardized curriculum and teaching guidelines.

Tillamook Bay Community College (TBCC) is a small college serving students on Oregon’s rural coast for over 30 years. In 2015, the college was accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities and offers its students eight different degrees and programs.

TBCC is committed to continuous improvement through the Lean process, which works to minimize wasted time and resources, define what is valuable, and focuses on improving the processes that provide value. Each department has at least one trained person who can facilitate Lean methods which has resulted in a culture embracing positive change.

The college received a $2.5 million Title III grant from the US Department of Education to be used in-part to improve business processes and to increase efficiency and resource utilization. The grant also has an emphasis on strengthening the institution through technology and resource development. Overall, TBCC wanted to use this grant to enhance the student, faculty and administration experience, by providing easy access to information to facilitate advising and streamline the registration process for students. The college was equally focused on strengthening teaching and learning technologies and providing instructors with standardized curriculum and guidelines.

Requirements

As part of these big-picture improvements, they knew they needed to efficiently share information. They wanted to implement a document management system that was reasonably priced, had a manageable annual maintenance fee, could integrate with their ERP and Student Information System (Jenzabar), while also able to be customized to meet the needs of each department.

Solution

The college worked with their IT vendor and Authorized DocuWare Partner to evaluate, select, and install DocuWare. Before implementing the solution, the college did a Lean analysis to determine how much of an impact electronic document management could have on the college. The results showed a significant time and organizational savings were waiting to be realized. Additionally, DocuWare could also be customized to serve as a curriculum development software instead of buying a separate, much more expensive solution.

TBCC decided to move forward and implement the solution to most of their departments. They worked with their IT vendor to set up digital workflows, create customized electronic filing cabinets for each department, and develop an implementation schedule that would work for the college’s unique needs. They rolled out the solution to 4 departments over a 12 week period. Each department went through a two hour Skype training class and then started scanning, importing, and automatically indexing their documents. Every three weeks another department came on board. Most historical documents brought into the system were paper-based and needed to be scanned and indexed. New records are typically electronic and can be easily imported into DocuWare. One of the staff members in the Student Services department had prior experience using DocuWare at a previous employer and was onsite and available to help each department get up and running.

DocuWare was first piloted in the Human Resource department for personnel files and training records. The HR department’s experience was used to fine tune the DocuWare training and help get the next department off the ground.

The Business Services department digitized all payroll files which provide the basis for many reports, all annual budgets, annual auditor reports, and general ledger reports. The college’s foundation is now managing donation records, financial reports, and endowment agreements with DocuWare. DocuWare was rolled out to the Student Services department to handle student transcripts, transcript requests, all secure documents and documents that have retention guidelines, as well as all financial aid documents, and recently, all veteran’s documents.

“As each department came on board, we discovered we were building a DocuWare user’s group that was willing and able to assist as more departments came online,” said Ray Hoyt, Title III Project Director for Tillamook Bay Community College.

Benefits

“One of the big reasons our DocuWare roll out was such a success was because our IT vendor worked with us to develop a customized training and implementation ‘ramp-up’ approach that allowed us to continually roll out the solution to our departments. The process reinforced TBCC’s development of a learning community around documents and DocuWare. DocuWare has saved us weeks of time, in terms of finding needed information,” said Hoyt.

Once the college had developed their community of DocuWare users and felt very comfortable with the solution, they were ready to tackle their curriculum development needs with DocuWare. The Instructional department started digitizing all their curriculum documents including; syllabi, course outcomes, guidelines and other documents and standardized their curriculum in accordance with college accreditation standards and guidelines. DocuWare allowed the department to preserve the integrity of a document’s original native format, allowing for easy review and editing of materials. The department chose to archive both current and out-of-date curriculum in order to maintain the connection between past student records and past curriculum records. Additionally, using DocuWare for curriculum development allowed the college to avoid spending $40,000 or more on a stand-alone curriculum management system.

Conclusion

DocuWare gives Tillamook Bay Community College the ability to improve the student, faculty and administration experience. Meeting the new college-wide initiative of enhanced advising is now possible because the college has the ability to share appropriate student information between Student Services, Financial Aid, Registration and Faculty Advisors.

With curriculum securely stored in a central repository, the college reaps the benefits of having accredited, standardized and accessible curriculum documents. The administration and business side of the college continues to streamline and enjoy more efficient operations.

“We thought moving our documents into DocuWare would be a long process, but with the ability to customize our approach thanks to our vendor and DocuWare being flexible and patient, we’ve exceeded our 5 year Title III grant goal of number of documents digitized at year 3. This means we’ve made a 332% improvement in digitizing our documents. Which makes us all very happy,” said Hoyt.

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

Marketing is more than just advertising and selling products, solutions or services. Marketing addresses all aspects of growing a business's client base as well as attracting new clients to their business.

Highly effective marketing is a necessity, a make or break for some businesses. It's really impossible for businesses to be successful without good marketing and sales techniques. This is what brings dollars through the business door.

Marketing is more than simply letting people know about your products or services. First, you need to know who your customers are. Then you need to get so close to them that you can anticipate their needs and their desires. Businesses must be able to communicate to them the WHY and what your business can provide in order to help.

SALES & MARKETING HARMONY

How many times have we all heard, "Marketing and sales must work simultaneously in a cohesive and harmonious environment." After all, they have the same goal which is to contribute to the overall success of the company by growing pipeline and closing more deals.

While your marketing department has likely invested much around researching the buyer, creating unique selling points and strategically positioning your product, solutions or services in the market; isn't it left to the sales team to successfully communicate this in real-world relatable terms?

I get it, a cooperative relationship between sales and marketing is crucial, however; let's face the facts and get real for a moment, most sales people don't have the luxury of a finely tuned marketing department. Therefore, of equal importance is how are sales people today marketing to their clients and prospects directly?

SALES PEOPLE ARE ENTREPRENUERS, CEOs OF THEIR BUSINESS

Whether you work for a fortune 500 company or inside a small business, as a sales professional you are running your own business. In essence, aren't you independent contractors who happen to receive a paycheck from a larger entity? The companies you all work for provide training, resource and support. Therefore, it's your responsibility to develop new business opportunities, manage existing client relationships and drive sales revenue. Remember, you are running your own business so you must approach each day with the mindset of a CEO.

Being a sales professional is the ultimate form of entrepreneurship. We all know entrepreneurs wear many hats for their business. Today’s entrepreneurial world of sales is multifaceted and fast-moving. Arguably sales’ most crucial role, in addition to closing deals, is maintaining a healthy and abundant sales pipeline. To do this, sales professionals must act as their own marketers, even as their marketing department creates leads. 

True sales professionals take action and promote themselves

THE MARKETING OF YOU

Marketing a company or a company’s products isn’t the only type of marketing sales professionals do. Equally important is how they build out, maintain and market their unique personal brand to build trust and credibility with their clients and prospects.

Your potential clients expect a certain set of quality traits from sales professionals. If you have a recognizable brand and reputation then the effectiveness of client retention, upselling or cross-selling greatly increases.

Conversely, word of a great sales professional spreads like wildfire throughout your client's networks and greatly improves your ability to develop relationships with new prospects, as well.

DEVELOP YOUR IDENTITY AND MARKET YOURSELF

As sales professionals, you work for companies that have a brand, mission, and values. While you represent their company, you have your own brand. Sales professionals must go beyond their company brand to develop their own identities and then proactively market themselves. Ask yourself the following questions:

• What value do YOU bring to your clients and prospects as a person?
• What relevant experience do you have that could benefit your clients and prospects?
• Who are you? What do you enjoy? What are you passionate about?
• What can clients and prospects expect from you?

Check out my podcast on creating your identity on Selling from the Heart podcast.

Set aside some alone time to self-reflect. Give thought to how you can communicate and market your meaningful difference to those who matter most. What is unique about you?

What is your positioning message and how do you want to communicate it to your target market? What is your value proposition and how will you use it to open up new conversations.

How do you plan on getting noticed in your marketplace when nobody knows you exist?

MARKET YOUR UNIQUE VALUE PROPOSITION

In order to successfully market you, every sales professional needs to focus on what makes them special and different. The best way to do this is to express your uniqueness in a single statement. If you can't clearly, concisely and with conviction describe the uniqueness around you then how can you successfully go out and grow your business?

What is unique about you versus your competition? What sets you apart from everybody else? How can you drive this message out into the marketplace?

Think of what social platforms you can use to communicate this message to your clients and prospects?

MARKET YOUR VALUE AND UNIQUENESS

This is a tough one for sales people. It is hard to market yourself and grow your business if you are not clear of the value and your uniqueness you bring to the marketplace. A tenured sales professional, I urge you to go back to your clients who know, like and trust you and ask them, "What is the value I bring to your business?"A true gut check time in testing just how well you know your client and they know you.

A young sales professional who may not have the client base formed yet, go back to your friends, family or centers of influence and ask them the same question. You can phrase it slightly different, "What is the value you think I bring out into the marketplace based on what you know of me?"

Broadcast out into the business community your value. Become the difference maker!

Communicate your promise this is your brand identity.

Sales professionals must clearly communicate and proactively market how they will help to implement a solution and ultimately solve business problems and challenges problem.

Salespeople must be empowered with the tools and resources to market themselves and their company’s offerings. This enables sales people to help create and maintain a sales pipeline that is flowing, growing and constantly evolving which leads to higher conversion rates and greater customer retention.

I will leave you with one of the all-time classic rock band's The Who... As you self-reflect think about Who Are You?

I understand, I get where you all are coming from. I have walked a day in a life of your shoes and still do on a daily basis.

I am fully committed to helping your sales team integrate social aspects and modern strategies into your current sales process to grow net-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, Larry was recognized by ENX Magazine, “The Difference Maker” as someone who is making a difference inside the copier channel. Larry is passionate about helping sales reps succeed in creating their online brand image

You can find more blog posts 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 net-new business by helping them tell their story and communicate integrating the use of social. 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.

Over the last few months, I have been talking with some Technology Channel leaders regarding my Vision of future Channel Distribution. A Vision I named “The Innovation Channel.” As these discussions take place, I am reminded of how determination lessens in value as some age. This thinking brought me to the creek which ran through the neighborhood I lived in years ago as a child. 

That creek we played in had a Big Rock; this Rock was obstructing the way the creek flowed down to the pond at the bottom of the hill, this Rock would cause the creek to dam. All of us kids knew that in-order for the creek to run free the Rock must be moved. We were all determined this Rock would be moved by summers end

The Rock, was huge, the size of a car and weighted surely as much. It took most of a summer for us kids to pry Big Bertha, free (of course we named the Rock). None of us who took turns digging around it ever considered for one minute our mission would fail. In our minds, we saw the creek flowing uninterrupted we saw Big Bertha rolling down the creek freeing the water. We didn’t think about how heavy the rock was, or how long it had been there buried in the mud of the past, or how many, or if any snakes would be freed to bite us, as the Rock came loose. We didn’t’ care that the older wiser kids would laugh as they watched our determined efforts fail over and over. Well, our determination and fortitude paid off. We had our victory after around seven weeks when the Rock broke loose and found its way down the creek where it sunk to the bottom of the pond, our mission was complete, and our summer was over.

Whether it’s a Rock or a mindset, the flow of water, or the flow of ideas, neither will flow when block. In the physical world it’s easy to remove obstacles, we see them clearly in front of us, and with determination, we move them. However, in the world of one’s mind these dam's, we create of past thoughts and current thinking, block the flow of visionary thinking. We can’t participate in the future when our minds are stuck in the mud of the past, or can’t break free from the prison of the present.

Leaders, we all need to be determined to clear the past from our minds like the Kids in the Creek cleared the Rock. Just because we don’t see what’s ahead doesn’t mean we should not proceed. The highway of business does not have any stop signs in the fast lane to the future. There our yield, and caution signs but never stop signs. Like those physical obstacles we see and move, we must also remove the mental barriers of the past and present.

“When we stop looking for absolutes is when we discover the excitement of the unknown.”

The flow of ideas builds its energy from the collaborating efforts of open minds, minds which have the capability to imagine. It’s from this collaboration that new ideas give birth to something amazing. Nothing is ever created from individualism. Without collaboration, nothing happens. So if your focus is collaborating with like minds, you will build more of the same you may improve something but will never create something entirely new. Relevancy knows when something new is a better solution than improving something which is obsolete or heading there.

Today many with-in the Technology Industries will see seismic shifts in not only technology itself but in the way it’s Used, Purchased, Serviced, and Delivered. End-users of technology will have more ways to absorb the benefits of technology than ever before. Technology is the one sure thing that continuously changes. Today’s biggest challenge for legacy technology reseller is keeping up with what new innovative technology companies reinvent, and how those reinventions will effect technology resellers and their deliverables.

 “Jeff Bezos, did not beat Barns & Nobel because he was richer or bigger he wasn’t, he beat them because he bet they would never focus on the future while they lived in the past, he obviously won. Many organizations could learn from this, of course Jeff, is betting they didn’t.”

More and more we are witnessing the fall of many once great companies and industries. Today most of these failures were a cause of a failed Technology Program. The outdated systems of the past will destroy those who refuse to innovate. Many companies will continue with outdated ERP System, outdated sales tactics, outdated CRM’s and outdated management strategies. These outdated companies will see new competitors. Competitors who find and acquire their customer by utilizing tools and technologies unimaginable to those companies stuck in the past and think their present is the future, companies who refuse to invite imagination to their decision tables. Legacy organizations will continue looking in the same places for new answers while their new unknown and unimagined competitor looks in new places, places where they find these legacy organizations stubbornly stuck in the past and denying the challenges of the present. These new disruptors have the advantage of creativeness an advantage which is compounded by technology like never before. Ironically there are a lot of technology resellers who still believe that technology is about selling things. If these resellers understood that end-users don’t care about the things, they care about the results they need from things, and both things and desired results change at quicker speeds than ever in history. Today’s business landscape is the disrupters’ Playground, and can easily become the legacy players’ Graveyard.

So like the kids in the Creek, get determined and just move the Big Rock, so the water of ideas will run smoothly to the pond of collaboration.

In Closing: as I say repeatedly

 “A company becomes obsolete when they focus on bringing the Past to the Future Instead of bringing The Future to the Present.”

If you like this article send me a LinkedIn Invite or send me, an e-mail raystasieczko@gmail.com Collaboration starts with conversation.

R.J.Stasieczko     

SAN FRANCISCO -- Before the baseball winds up on eBay, before we make up our minds what the new record means (if we can) and before Pedro Gomez is assigned to follow around Alex Rodriguez, let's pause for a few words from the former home run king.

"I would like to offer my congratulations to Barry Bonds on becoming baseball's career home run leader," Hank Aaron said in a video message played on the AT&T Park scoreboard after Bonds hit his 756th home run. "It is a great accomplishment which requires skill, longevity and determination. Throughout the past century, the home run has held a special place in baseball and I have been privileged to hold this record for ........the rest is here

Re: Weekend Notes from the copier industry!

Color labels....., now you seem and now you don't.  Over the years I'll admit that I never paid much attention to color labels, yet they are everywhere you look.

Regulations and safety compliance in the work place has helped the color label market to explode in recent years. 

Most small to mid size manufacturing companies are outsourcing their color labels, which means a very long wait time when placing orders and most are ordering way more than they need to bring the cost per label price down.

Kind reminds me of the early days of color copiers and printers.  Most companies outsourced all of their color documents from flyers, forms, drop offs, hand outs and brochures.  Once they did the math, most companies agreed that they should have color device on hand and move to print as needed aka print on demand. 

The same is now true with the color label industry for those small to mid-size businesses or even larger work groups. 

1.  Does your company buy more than five hundred color labels per month?  If so, you may want to re-think that outsourcing and have a device that can color print labels on demand.

2.  Wasted labels can be a huge pain in the butt, especially when there is a regulation of compliance change.  Those five thousand "Right-to-Know" labels that you just purchased are now obsolete when there is a change with a regulation or compliance change.  How much did they cost?

3.  Misplaced label orders or delayed label orders can bring the manufacturing process to a dead stop.  Orders are then backed up and clients are thinking twice about ordering products from your company.  It's an avoidable scenario.

4. You've waited three weeks for your new 5,000 custom color labels.  Upon opening the box, you find there is a misprint/typo with those labels. Can you afford to wait another three weeks for a replacement order? 

5. Inventory of pre-printed color labels requires additional floor space along with a higher financial burden carrying for that inventory. 

Companies are realizing that having a centralized, on-demand color labeling device is the right device choice for companies to respond quickly to client changes/needs and compliance/regulatory issues.

-=Good Selling=-

Most in business would say “Of Course We Are a Customer Centric Business.” However with today’s rapid rate of disruption caused by organizations and Industries who continuously out innovate legacy organizations. I would say they are lying to themselves and here are my reasons for saying this.

A company is built to sell a product which solves a problem. What happens when the problem the product solves is not an issue anymore? Or what happens when someone else circumvents your products delivery mechanism? How a company or industry answer those questions will determine if they run a Customer Centric or Product Centric business. If it were a Customer Centric Business, they would respond by abandoning any or all of their deliverables components which caused their irrelevance. They would say it’s time to create another business and solve a different problem, or they would say maybe it’s time to create a new delivery system. Customer Centric Businesses always are in sync to what their customers’ want, how they want it and can change fast as their customers change what they want, and how they want it.

Sadly today we see industries and organizations dying at record speeds. The reason is they were Product Centric. Product Centric Companies, hold on to the belief that customers want their product regardless whether it still solves a problem or not. Product Centric Companies focus more on selling the relevancy to their dying product then selling relevant new products. Their customers’ left when the creative or innovative new way highlighted the old ways irrelevance, causing the old way to be the new problem. A problem the innovator is eager to solve.

The Taxi Industry, an excellent example of being Product focused over Customer focused. Uber, built for the same customer. The difference Uber made the means of the Taxi industry’s deliverable obsolete. UBER focused on bringing a better experience to the Customer and completely blindsided a once lucrative industry.

“The Customers experience is not about products it’s about the intersection where products and their customers meet.”

This intersection is under construction constantly, and most of the time the construction workers are completely unknown to those who originally built the intersection. Those who created this intersection simply thought they only had to maintain maybe re-tar or repainted the lines. Those new unknown road workers came in and ripped up the pavement widened the road and put in sensors for driverless cars, completely reinvented this metaphorical intersection where your customers and your products meet.

Industry and organizations must stop in the belief that their current products are their business forever. Yes, currently they are. However, all products are susceptible to being disrupted and made irrelevant. The struggle in this evolutional processes is the admittance of one's irrelevancy is painful. Yes, businesses get too emotionally attached to their current circumstances. Once the decline begins some will start buying up those who decided on an exit plan rather than a growth plan, many will be forced to lower their products price as demand for their product decreases; many will remain in place do nothing and perish without even being missed.

The easiest way to recognize a Product Centric Company over a Customer Centric Company is simple. Look how they react during the disruption of their industry. Let’s look at the Taxi industry when it became apparent that Uber’s customer experience was the preferred means to their desired outcome. Here are some of the ways the Taxi industry responded. They rallied their unions, they began arguing in court rooms, and they perpetrated as much bad press as possible. Here’s what they didn’t do. They ignored the power of the Smart Phone, they ignored an opportunity to innovate, and they ignored the demands of their customers and focused on their own needs to continue delivering the product of their current circumstances. They still are focused on the way it was, and the outdated product they have. The legacy Taxi industry is most definitely a product centric business model. So the difference between product focused and customer focused is clear within the Taxi industry. What about your Industry, or Organization. Don’t be the company that is so focused on solving yesterday’s pain points that you stop looking to see what is causing pain today, or what could cause pain tomorrow.

I heard a sales pitch recently where the sales representative explains with excitement their differentiator. He bragged his company answers the phone in two rings. I wondered if one day this company would be disrupted by an unknown competitor. A competitor who doesn't even accept phone calls. I thought will this company focus too much on its current product and how it's delivered. Missing the signs of someone else's innovation, an innovation which threatens both their product and their products delivery.

Today many industries will find themselves at the crossroads of irrelevancy. Those organizations who are customer focused, Innovative, and understand the importance of creating a new way before someone else does. And if by chance someone else’s innovation beats them, they respond by reinventing to the new acceptable way. Or creating an even better way. One thing Customer Centric Companies never do is remain loyal to an irrelevant product, service, or delivery system thereby causing their irrelevance.

“How and where your products intersect with your customers determines your customers’ experience and your products relevance.”

Today’s technology is allowing Innovators to recreate the experience of getting products. It’s not just about product obsolescence; it’s also about the means to a product's delivery which is being threatened and changed by innovation. So next time you hear someone say it’s not about Customer experience tell them to talk with Jeff Bezos, the guy who proves daily, delivering a better customer experience can quickly win over, not just customers, it can completely change Industries. Amazon confirmed business obsolescence is not just about products it’s also about a better experience to the means in getting them. Years ago Leonard Riggio, and his brother Steven, of Barnes and Nobel believed that too much focus on perfecting their online book store would cause a distraction from their core brink and mortar business. Back then the Riggio's were too focused on their Products, not their Customer’s, and this proved to be disastrous. Amazon still to this day surprises the unimaginative in their ability to disrupt all industries which are Product Centric over Customer Centric. The difference today, from Amazon's earlier days, they have the resources to drastically speed up the disruption.  

 “You can be the vendor with the greatest relationships and loose to the new unknown competitor who delivers a better experience.” 

In Closing: Customers don’t care about products. Their emotional attachment is to the benefits of products, and today customers have just as much emotion attached in how they benefit acquiring a product as the product itself. So your product might still benefit some or many, but if your delivery method doesn’t benefit your customers, they will leave to the disrupter who delivers a beneficial change.

So, is your organization Product Centric, or Customer Centric?

“Remember Customer Centric Companies look through their current deliverable at what will replace it, and they never stop looking.”

R.J. Stasieczko

Many of you know that I'm a huge fan of color label presses. It's my belief that Dealers & sales reps that add Color Label Presses to their arsenal can achieve additional heights of revenue and profit. 

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!

Thus, I thought it would be a good time to schedule another blog series. I thought the first item of the course would ne focused on those terms that are most often used in the industry.  As you know, you can't be effective selling to any market if you are not speaking their language.

We're probably going to try and run this twice a week since there is so much to be covered.  Enjoy and please feel free to ask questions or comment.

FYI, it's funny how things go around in my late teens, I worked for a glue manufacturer.  There we manufacturer Pressure Sensitive Glue, it was the worst glue I ever worked with, could not wash if off with soap and water.  At the end of the week my work clothes could stand up on their own from all of the glue and starch that we used.

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

(Sponsored by Muratec a Konica Minolta Company)

• Abhesive:  A material that resists adhesion. Abhesive coatings are applied to surfaces to prevent sticking, heat sealing, etc.
• Abrasion Resistance:  The inherent ability of a surface to inhibit deterioration by friction.  Also called 'rub or scuff resistance', it relates to the toughness of an ink or coating.
• Abrasiveness:  The tendency of paper, coating or ink to abrade or wear aware die edges, slitting blades, printing type, etc., by friction
• Absorbency:  That property of porous material which causes it to take up liquids or vapors.
• Absorption:  The penetration of one substance into the mass of another.
• Accelerate:  To hasten the natural process of an event or a series of events. This can be accomplished by using heat, fast drying solvents or by increasing the volume of air.
• Accelerated Aging:  Procedures for subjecting pressure sensitive label stock to special environmental conditions in order to predict the course of natural aging.
• Accelerator:  A material added to the a liquid compound to convert the whole mass into a solid or speed up its cure.  Accelerators differ from catalysts in that they participate in the reaction and lose their chemical identity as a result.
• Acetate:  A plastic synthesized from cellulose dissolved in acetic acid which exhibits rigidity, dimensional stability and ink receptivity. Transparent or matte films, sometimes used for label stocks.
• Acetate Film:  A clear film made from cellulose acetate.
• Acrylate Resins:  A type of copolymer used in UV inks, adhesives and coating formulations.
• Acrylic:  A general chemical term of a particular family of thermoplastic resins based on acrylic acid and its derivatives.
• Acrylic Adhesive:  Pressure sensitive adhesive based on high strength, acrylic polymers.  Can be coated as a solvent or emulsion system.
• Acrylic Emulsion:  A water=based latex made with acrylic polymers, used in coatings and adhesives.
• Acrylic Ink:  Ink containing acrylic polymers used for printing on some plastics and other substrates, especially where outdoor exposure may be involved.
• Adhere:  The sticking together of two surfaces by adhesion.
• Adherence:  See adhesion
• Adherend:  The substance or surfaces to which the adhesive is applied; the surfaces which are bonded together.

• Adhesion:  The state in which two surfaces are held together by interfacial forces. Measure of the strength with which one materialsticks to another.

  

• Adhesion Build-Up:  An increase in the peel adhesion value of a self adhesive material after it has been allowed to dwell on the applied surface.

• Adhesion Mechanical:  Adhesion cause by the physical interlocking of the adhesive with base surface irregularities of the adherend.

• Adhesion Promoter:  See primer.

• Adhesion, Peel:  The measure of the force required to remove a material from another surface at a specified angle and speed, after the material has been applied under specific conditions.

• Adhesion, Shear:   A measure of the time required to slide a specific sized area of pressure sensitive label material from a standard flat surface in a direction parallel to the surface. Weight and heat are sometimes used to speed up the test.

• Adhesion Test:  Any of a varietv of test methods used to determine the adeauacv of ink, coatina or adhesive adhesion to a substrate.

• Adhesion, Ultimate:  The mature or final bond achieved, under controlled conditions, between ink, coating or adhesive to any flexible or rigid substrate.

• Adhesive:  A substance capable of holding materials together by surface attachment.

• Adhesive Bleed:  Adhesive ooze or flow from pressure sensitive label stock or labels as a result of cold flow; edge ooze, halo.

• Adhesive Build-UD:  The transfer of adhesive from label material to machinery parts during conversion or application.

• Adhesive Cold Temperature:  An adhesive that will induce a bond to cold surfaces in a cold environment.

• Adhesive Deposit:  See adhesive residue.

• Adhesive Film:  Thin layer of dried adhesive (1 to 3 mils) provided in dry film form, with or without reinforcing material, which is cured by means of heat and pressure.

• Adhesive High Temperature:  An adhesive that will enable a oressure sensitive label to withstand sustained elevated temoeratures.

• Adhesive, Permanent: An adhesive characterized by relatively high ultimate adhesion. Sometimes it can be removed when the degree of force used overcomes its bonding ability but generally it is not removable.

  "End of Part One"

  -=Good Selling=-

Managed Services is not a short lived fad nor a way for IT companies to fatten their corporate wallets. Managed Services is a way for any business to eliminate problems before they occur, manage their IT budgets better while creating a solid long-term partnership with a managed services firm that's protecting your most important assets… your business data.

BENEFITS OF MANAGED SERVICES

The benefits are many: In 2014, only 30 percent of organizations used managed services, but within a year, the figure had nearly doubled. Managed services can cut IT costs by as much as 40 percent while doubling businesses operational efficiency.

One of the biggest benefits of Managed Services is discovering and fixing problems before they can negatively affect your business.

As a Managed Services Provider, in order for your business to gain new clients and generate new sales, you have to find prospective clients as well as deepening existing client relations. Understanding everyone you may encounter is either a potential client or potential referral source is the first step in your sales team building a sales engine that produces results.

The most important thing to grasp about Managed Services sales prospecting is everyone is a potential client. It all starts with education. It is not educating them on your offering because quite frankly they don't care about your offering yet. Why? You haven’t learned about the IT challenges their company faces, so you can’t possibly know if what you offer fits their needs, correct?

I ask you to think about this... in order to be successful in adding new clients and gaining referrals from your current clients you must set aside the "selling-game" and shift your mindset to the "evangelizing-game." Broadcast and impart out to the business world education and how you can help them do their jobs better while helping them protect their data.

ESCALATE NEW CLIENTS THROUGH EFFECTIVE PROSPECTING

Ask any sales rep in any industry and they will stress the importance of integrating effective prospecting techniques as part of their new business strategy.

The good ole days are behind us though some feverishly think the past still exists. Times have changed and so has prospecting. Cold calling is not dead it is just different now. Why is this happening? Simply stated the buyer's journey has changed the way they interact with salespeople.

Here are a few stats to get you excited as you prospect for new Managed Services opportunities...

• In 2017, 15 new ransomware families are predicted to be discovered each month (source).
• Cybercrime damages will cost the world $6 trillion annually by 2021 (source).
• 81 percent of organizations claim that negligent or careless employees are the top risk to endpoint security (source).
• 60 percent of businesses will go out of business within six months of a data disaster (source).

There is a great study out by Richardson, inside the 2016 Selling Challenges Study; they surveyed more than 400 sales professionals and revealed the top three prospecting problems salespeople are grappling with today:

1. Identifying triggers/sales signals that indicate issues you can resolve
2. Identifying target accounts
3. Qualifying prospects

This is 2017 and as a Managed Services Provider, technology is driving change and so should your approach to business development.

HERE ARE 3 SIMPLE WAYS TO PROSPECT AS A MANAGED SERVICES SALES REP

Guess What? It Is Not As Hard As You Think!

LEVERAGE THE POWER OF YOUR NETWORK

Your network is your net worth and is bigger than you think but how do you tap into its power? I suggest starting with your current clients. Look for 5-6 people inside each account to connect with on LinkedIn. Your current clients hold the key to rapid introductions into the people they know. People love to help others because it feels good. You may be surprised as to whom within your network has connections that can help you. Look for relationships inside their social networks and ask for introductions.

People are more willing to spend time with someone that comes “verified” by someone they trust.

SHARE EDUCATIONAL CONTENT ONLINE

As a Managed Services Sales Rep today, you must be able to build relationships digitally. Face to face relationship building is critical, however just as important is building these relationships online. Sharing educational, relevant content online helps position yourself as a trusted adviser as the content curated may help your current clients or potential clients solve possible pain points. This also may enable your prospects to humanize the relationship as they may see you as someone who knows them and actually cares about them as individuals.

"Continually educate your clients or someone else will!"

Prospecting is tough, let's just face it. Staying top of mind with your clients and prospects is difficult. Sharing educational content through a "drip" market campaign within LinkedIn is a terrific way to keep your name in front of your clients and prospects.

Engage with content online and...

FOLLOW YOUR CURRENT CLIENTS AND PROSPECTS

You must listen to understand what is going with your current clients and prospects. Ask your current clients what social media channels they use and follow them. Throw your social detective hat on and do the same with your prospects. 

Why? The use of social media isn't going away! Corporate identities and how businesses communicate these days is accomplished by leveraging social platforms. Two simple ways to learn more about your current clients and prospects is by following what they post or comment on within LinkedIn or Twitter.

What a great way to learn more and insert yourself into their online conversations, posts or comments. In doing so you may even find opportunities to help solve issues you may not have known about if you were not following their social media channels.

As a Managed Services Sales Rep, reaching and influencing the B2B tech buyer is tough. Let's acknowledge the fact the demographics of the buyer are changing. The time is now! You must realize adjustments are needed to your prospecting game plan in order to keep the sales funnel flowing with sales possibilities.

I urge reps inside the Managed Services channel:

Adjust, Adapt, Adopt and Augment prospecting efforts!

Implementing these 3 steps you will:

• Generate an increase in sales revenue
• Create stickiness inside your current client base
• Increase profits through becoming a value added sales professional
• You will enhance the client experience thus creating raving fans

It isn't just about growing your business; it's about achieving meaningful, sustainable and achievable growth. All too often, companies simply chase progressively larger revenue patterns, without really considering whether their business will be able to remain stable. Coaching and guiding Managed Services Sales Reps to become efficient business developers helps you build a stronger foundation for the future.

Managed Services Providers allow businesses to effectively maintain a secure and efficient network to conduct their work without the need to manage and look for the current technology on their own!

I understand, I get where you all are coming from. I have walked a day in a life of your shoes and still do on a daily basis.

I am fully committed to helping your sales team integrate social aspects and modern strategies into your current sales process to grow net-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, Larry was recognized by ENX Magazine, “The Difference Maker” as someone who is making a difference inside the copier channel. Larry is passionate about helping sales reps succeed in creating their online brand image

You can find more blog posts 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 net-new business by helping them tell their story and communicate integrating the use of social. 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.

Please pardon any typo's or other stuff.  I'm at Newark International Airport getting ready for my departure to Ireland and chillaxing on the first day of my vaca.

As always I'm checking my email, because you just never know when something big may come along.  Well,  one pretty big thing just happpened with the acquisition of Muratec by the Konica Minolta.

At first many readers will probably ho-hum the purchase and think that it was inevitable that Muratec would survive on it's own.  

My first thought was dang it I just lost an advertiser,  my second was, we'll hold on there maybe we know have an opening with Konica Minolta. My third was that, holy crap,  this opens up the entire Muratec label solutions up to all Konica Minolta Dealers here in the US.  

Having done quite a bit of research with color labels, I've found the color label market is ripe for dealers to get involved with.

With the acquisition I probably have more questions than answers about the Muratec Label Solutions.  I'd also bet dollars to doughnuts that this is a huge win for the peeps at Muratec America and some great opportunities for Konica Minolta Dealers.

questions, comments, would love to hear em

-=good selling-=

I think the first time I met Mike Stramaglio (CEO/President MWA Intelligence) was at some National Ricoh event when he was President of Hitachi Koki Imaging Systems.  At the time,  I was with Jack Carroll (former principal of Century Office Products), I did not have to chance to speak with Mike at that event but listened carefully as Mike and Jack traded off a few stories about the Minolta days.  After Mike had left, I asked Jack, "who was that?".  Jack then proceeded to give me the low down on Mike's career with Minolta and then Hitachi Koki. It was apparent that the two of them had a great relationship.

Over the next 15 years Mike and I have had the chance trade some emails and chat some at industry events.  A few months ago, I reached out to Mike to see if he would like to be one of our "Selling in the Seventies" guru's. 

It was not until I heard Mike's answers that I realized what can be accomplished by sales people in our industry.  The copier sales guy that makes it to the top and keeps on going.  That's fracking awesome, and should be fodder for younger reps that they too can reach for the pinnacles of success in our industry.

Selling in the Seventies

What year did you start in the industry and what was your first position?

Mike:  Wow, Art I haven’t thought about that in a long time and I am proud to say my career in the copier business began year mid-year 1974! 

A young guy of 24 years of age who barely knew what a copier was?!   A friend of mine I used to play a lot of baseball with told me “Mike I am working for Xerox selling copiers and making really good money and you should do it too!”   So out I went and interviewed with Xerox,  A.B Dick,  3M and a few others now gone and I took the first job offered to me which was with 3M as a up and down the street sales rep! 

It was a fantastic opportunity for me and I will never forget they sent me to Minneapolis for some of the best training I ever had in my life.   Amazing experience!

What company aka manufacturer or dealer did you work for during the seventies? If you worked for a dealer please tell us what brands you sold?

Mike:  I worked downtown Chicago for a year or so and all of my training paid off and was making good money working with a great team and manager!  I was young …had some money and working downtown Chicago what could be better! 

One day my manager resigned and  that was a real disappointment because I had a great deal of respect for him and we had a lot of fun as well.    He went to work for a brand new Toshiba copier dealership and since the 3M copiers were mostly Toshiba built and branded 3M,  it a easy transition for my old boss and a few months later he recruited me to join him at the dealership.  I had a great commission program and could sell anywhere and to anyone!  I was on my way!

What was the percentage of copier sales people that made it past two years? 

Mike:  My experience with turnover was actually pretty good in that 70% of the sales people made it 2 years or longer.   We were well trained, energetic, well paid and ambitious in a growth industry.   It was a wonderful learning environment for anyone who wished to work and make money! 

What did you like the most about your job in the seventies?  

Mike:  I liked everything about building my career in the 70’s !    It was a professional and exciting environment for all of us who served the industry and the few things your question made me thing of ….. I  had freedom to be as good as we wished to be,  I had terrific people around me who really cared about my success and invested their time in me with outstanding mentoring,  I remember how proud I was in the 70’s to be cutting my own path with a product that was breakthrough and truly made a difference.   Freedom to win and freedom to lose and I didn’t like losing much!

What did you dislike the most about your job in the seventies? 

Mike:  Good question ….I did not like having to load machines (heavy very heavy)  on a Feral Washington cart,  lug the demo equipment up three flights of stairs and or elevators!  I had to have my own station wagon  and moving that equipment around ruined my suits,  probably broke my back and always spilled toner!   Of course the flip side is that I always sold the demo equipment because I did NOT want to bring the machine back down!  

What was the compensation plan like, was there a salary, what is just commissions or was there a mix of salary and commissions?  

Mike:  Haha ….a salary!?   Yes there was a small salary and the rest was draw against commission and boy did I like the commission!  At the dealership my first comp program was $15K salary,  $20K draw and a commission program I could earn up to $130-150K if I KILLED it !

How did you go about finding new business, and what was your favorite of those methods and why?   

Mike:  New business was easy …..only three methods!  Phone canvassing,  cold calling and referrals!  I loved cold calling because back in the day it was so much easier to just walk into an office without security or signs keeping you out and frankly people were ok with it.  If you could cold call you could make a lot of money and meet some great people.  

What was your favorite brand and model to sell? 

Mike:  Way back  …..my favorite was the 3M VQC 209!    It was such a cool machine to demo and I had a ball with it in front of people!  Of course when we moved to plain paper my all time favorite machine was the Minolta 450Z !

What type of car did you use for your demonstrations and how many demonstrations would you perform in a week?  

Mike:  I bought a “beater” Chevy station wagon and I would never be happy if I wasn’t doing two demonstrations per day!  It was a numbers game and it had to happen that way! 

Can you tell us one funny story about selling copiers in the seventies? 

So many funny stories ….literally every day was funny!  One that I can remember it was a hot summer day in Chicago and I was lugging a Toshiba machine over to Northwestern University.   Back then you had to park far away from the procurement area and if you can imagine rolling a copier across campus figure how where I was going and so I finally figured it all out and I pulled the copier into the lobby and I was hot and sweaty and had to use the bathroom ! 

So, a guy in a suit was walking by me and he stopped to ask me what I was doing and what I was pushing.  He was a nice guy and I told him why I was there etc.  I asked him if he would watch my machine for a few minutes while I used the men’s room and he was kind enough to help me out.   I came out and he said come on I will take you where you need to go.   

He helped me with the machine up to the office and when we got there he introduced himself as the man I was there to see!  I was so embarrassed that I asked the guy to watch my machine while I was in the bathroom …OMG!

Funny enough he bought the machine and throughout the next few years I ended up selling more than 110 machines!  I never will forget that experience  and I hope relationships are as important today as they were back in the day!  Actually I KNOW they are!

What is the biggest problem you seeing facing the industry today? 

Art….I see many problems but the opportunities far outweigh the problems!

Obviously “print” is slowly eroding and our industry is adjusting to this singular issue.   But to me the biggest challenge is “change management” in that the channel needs to welcome a new infrastructure (ERP) capable of IoT,  Artificial Intelligence,  true accounting capability for real tie data and analytics.   We need to be bold in making the right investments for Managed IT services or what I refer to as Managed Business Services (MBS).  

MBS is the umbrella for the new and exciting multi billion dollar growth industries coming our way with robotics,  services and a level of software for Intelligence we have never imagined before.   Our industry leaders must promote the new tools,  new strategies and frankly new distribution.   Dealers who fail to be aggressive will indeed fail and or be sold! 

Thanx,  Mike this was awesome, I find it fascinating to learn more about what the business was like in the seventies. I appreciate the time and the look back in the past.

I enjoyed my time with Mike and I hope that others enjoy these blasts from the past from those excellent sales people that sold in the Seventies.

-=Good Selling=-