Successful sales reps pay attention to their sales funnel as social integration can happen 365 days a year, 7 days a week, 24 hours per day.

Sales reps must start shifting their mindset when it comes to prospecting in a digital business world. I set the business table with How Social Turns Sales Reps Downtime Into Prospecting Time. We must recognize as sales professional's social media is not our primary prospecting mechanism but simply augments prospecting, it changes our approach as this is then integrated into our sales strategies.

A commitment to daily prospecting is a must or your sales funnel will dry up and your business will suffer. There are no excuses as there will always be a million distractions pulling you away from this essential part of your job. You need to consciously embrace, not just accept but actually embrace, the idea that prospecting is a must-do activity every single working day of your life as well as some of your days off.

DOES TECHNOLOGY HELP OR HINDER SALES REPS?

Is the average sales rep on the street afraid to open up and let technology serve them better as a way to enhance their prospecting efforts? Why is it such a challenge to get sales reps, sales managers and executive management to buy into the idea that technology can really be a benefit?

Is it ego? Is it fear of the unknown? Is it a time management issue or lack of patience? Sales people have been brought up to believe in the cold call as this is the single most important task to master. Prospecting or cold calling is a tough world to exist in as this world requires stamina and an enormous amount of self-belief.

I ask you all to think about how leveraging technology can enhance your sales prospecting efforts. The biggest challenge is to gain an understanding there may be a better approach to enhance a sales reps effectiveness when it comes to prospecting. Companies must gain an understanding of how to leverage digital technology inside the sales prospecting arena.

First and foremost, please understand digital sales prospecting is not a replacement; it’s a way to help enhance traditional prospecting to allow sales reps to become more efficient and effective.

The new reality in sales - how are you opening up conversations? I ask you all to remove your "digital diaper" and take into consideration how technology along with the "social phone" can tremendously enhance your prospecting efforts.

TIME TO START DIALING THE SOCIAL PHONE

More mad props to Kenny Madden and his witty humor as he has brought to life the social phone - "A smashing together with absolute discipline the very best of email, Inmail, Voicemail, offline/online, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram into one beautiful integrated approach - 'the social phone' ”.

Social Window + Social Phone + Social Selling = Enhanced Sales Funnel

The social phone allows you to listen and communicate with the voice of your clients and prospects. By engaging in online conversations and leveraging social networks, you create the opportunity to listen to the voice of your potential clients. The more intimate, authentic, genuine relationship you can establish, the more loudly you’ll hear their voice.

SALES REPS MUST DIAL UP SOCIAL LISTENING

Business times they are different. When you don’t pay attention to what your audience is saying, your current clients; you’re basically giving key information to your competitors. What are your client's pain points? What do they love about you, your service experience and your company? What are those in your industry talking about? What are potential clients taking about?

For simplicity sake, social listening allows sales reps to leverage social media tools to monitor, track and uncover information which allows them to open up and engage in conversation as another form of prospecting - social prospecting.

Social listening as another means of prospecting can provide sales reps with a great intelligence tool. Social listening can be used to:

• Help understand your marketplace or sales territory
• Help understand your competition
• Help understand your clients
• Help understand your prospects
• Help understand your buyer
• Help to provide great customer service

Social listening provides the tools to help you gain a better insight of what your targeted prospects and more importantly your clients are thinking. This allows you to be in a better position to open up conversations to deliver what they need, when they need it.

Social listening and social prospecting helps you to identify potential customers outside your established audience using social platforms as an effective means to augment traditional prospecting methodologies.

We all know if you aren't opening up new conversations then we know what happens to your sales funnel - it dries up! It is about learning new ways to enhance your sales funnel. We have all heard of Buyer 2.0, Sales 2.0, Sales 3.0 but what about Learning 2.0?

CONCLUSION - SOCIAL IS A CONVERSATION ADDITIVE INSIDE TRADITIONAL PROSPECTING

Inside the Demand Gen Report, B2B buyers reported their purchase cycle has increased since last year. Why? They are scrutinizing potential vendors and sales reps more closely than ever before. Buyers overwhelmingly reported spending more time conducting research (80%) and using more sources to investigate purchases (73%).

More than half (53%) of B2B buyers report turning to social media to make buying decisions. Therefore, please consider sprinkling in more modern methods to aide in your prospecting efforts.

I leave you with this to ponder...

As sales reps, you operate inside a digital business world communicating using digital technology to a digital buyer but still operating with an analog mindset. Change your mindset to change your outcome.

I understand where you all are coming from. I have walked a day in a life of your shoes. I walk, talk and practice on a daily basis what I preach about.

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.

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, coach and inspire B2B Office Technology Sales Professionals to grow net new business by helping them tell their story and communicate on LinkedIn. My commitment is to help office technology dealers thrive in a changing marketplace. You can follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter, as well as at the Social Sales Academy

One item that stands out this week is the launch of the Ricoh fax 1180L.  Just a few weeks ago, one of my clients wanted a fax machine.  No print, no scan, just a fax.  Too my surprise, Ricoh is not offering a stand alone fax anymore.  I had to sell one of the smaller A4 devices and I was not happy about it, since the client was coming from a high end fax device. Instead of being able to write an order for a few thousand, it was more like $800. GRRRRR!

Enjoy the threads from ten years ago this week!

Why are MFP manufacturers not GREEN!

IT departments are constantly under siege by demands from “the business.” They usually run something like this:

“We want a mobile app!” (Translation: we’re connected to the business through a range of mobile devices and our productivity can’t suffer.)

“Why will it take so long?” (Translation: in a world of user-friendly apps and electronics where things just work, why does this kind of software take forever just to turn on?)

“Put our project first!” (Translation: we have scope, budget and executive approval -- and our project will make a big difference for the company.)

“That’s not it! … Change it!” (Translation: shifting scope is part of changing goals and executive direction, and we need to move quickly to adapt.)

“We found our own solution!” (Translation: we don’t need to go through a complicated procurement process – we found a cloud solution that just needs a credit card to start right now.)

These headaches are often caused by legacy software that simply fails to deliver on the needs of a modern business. Outdated content and document management systems are frequent villains: updates are difficult and expensive, integrations frequently break, and access is impossible through mobile devices. Why can’t it just be easier?

Cloud document management is a key enabler for a new set of IT requirements driven by “the business.” It solves five crucial pain points that are often the source of the “demands” listed above.

MOBILITY:  Cloud solutions are about total availability, anytime and anywhere – device, OS and physical location are irrelevant to staff getting work done. Key tasks like capturing, routing and approving documents should all be available.

PRODUCTIVITY: Rapid set-up, short learning curves and zero downtime enable workers, managers and executives to manage documents and participate in digital workflow with minimal disruption to the business.

AGILITY:  Turning on new services, adding new users, configuring new workflows and more are handled instantly with simple licensing terms.

SCALABILITY:  Cloud is key for businesses that value scalability. By leveraging robust datacenter stacks and infrastructure backbones like Microsoft Azure, near-infinite storage and compute power are available.

CONTROL:  Security is never not a priority. Cloud document management systems take advantage of active, comprehensive datacenter security as well as robust user profiles controlled from a single system.

Document management means considerably more than just archiving and managing documents electronically. It’s ultimately a system empowering geographically dispersed knowledge workers to participate in digital workflow that takes the friction out of their daily responsibilities.

Cloud-based document management cures the most common IT headaches while enabling both the technology experts and the business owners to succeed. Ready to see a document management solution in action? Schedule your personalized demo today.

General opinions from the show floor was that the first day was much better than last years event.  There was some issues with registrations in the AM, I heard that many attendees had waited almost an hour to get their badges.  I was not able to secure a badge until mid-day, however Jessica went above a beyond the call of duty to get me on to the show floor asap.  There was a small problem with my registration not being finished.  Hard to believe when someone with ITEX walked me through the registration process for the press a few days ago through the web.  All good, I was in and that's what counted the most.

HP

Had many questions for the HP people in reference to the new A3 PageWide devices.  I was most concerned  with the maintenance billing model, will they going with a device billing with unlimited clicks like the PageWide 8000XL series (you still need to buy the consumables) or keep with the traditional BTA model of the cost per page. I was told the BTA model was going to be the choice since these systems are designed for the dealer channel.  In addition these models will also be available through the HP web site, I then asked if device billing would be used by HP, and I pretty much received a "I dunno".  I guess we'll have to wait and see.  

Ink cartridges will have a yield of 15K, pagewide print head is warranted for 3 years (no page limit).  The system also allows for tiered billing for color. That was kinda interesting since I've never seen that billing model take hold (at least not here in the East).  One of the other points was MSRP, I really did not understand the answer, since the PageWide models will print full color at different speeds.  Best quality will be much slower than draft (they don't call it draft anymore), what I got was the MSRP of their 60PPM device would be comparable to a 40PPM laser MFP.   Keep in mind that they are selling this as "acceptable color" and we've all heard that before. The quality will not rival toner based color devices that we are used to.  Going back tomorrow to see if I can get any MSRP pricing so I can post on the site.

Muratec

Yes, Muratec America is the story of the show this year.  Their booth was one of the largest, if not the largest and they commanded a flow of attendees for the entire day,  A few people I spoke with and especially one well respected veteran believes they will hot a home run with the new PLS series of color label presses. I'm in full agreement, the time is right, the technology is there and they are "all in".  In fact after yesterdays blog, I had a call from a dealer principal that asked me to put him in touch with the regional rep asap!  Kudos to Muratec America.

Vendors

I had a list of twenty vendors that I wanted to meet and greet, many of them are  Print4Pay Hotel sponsors. In the next week or so, I'll be writing a post blog featuring those sponsors and including a what's new and what makes them unique.  Please find the time to give it a read and also maybe shoot them and email if there is interest in their products.  Their continued support of what we do, allows for the Print4Pay Hotel to remain a FREE site (at least most of it). Who knows, more sponsors may lead me to open up the entire site.  They are awesome and please let then know that we appreciate their support.

In addition, as long as I can get the content, I'll also post up additional information on many of the other vendors that were at the show.

It's late, will hit the ITEX show early, then it's off the the ISA show which stars tomorrow.  The ISA in the International Sign Expo, and there will be plenty of wide formats devices to see!

-=Good Selling=-

All of theses years in the business and I've never attended an ITEX event, hard to believe right?  In the eighties and nineties I was able to attend a few of the NOMDA events and those were some killer events.  Just think, all of the manufacturers, suppliers and dealers at one event at the same time.  It was one giant party event.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to catch three pre-show events.  Muratec America kicked off the day with there four hour Muratec University. 

Walking in to the event for me was like a kid walking into a candy store.  There they were,  four color label presses, one digital packaging printer w/laminator and one digital finishing system (attached to the PLS-875i).   I did some research recently with a a couple of my accounts in New Jersey.  While at those accounts  I posed these two questions.  " I see that you use color labels, where do you get those labels from?" and "Can you tell me how much you spent on color labels labels last year?" One account came back with $100K and the other account came back with almost $50K.  Digging a little deeper into the $100K  account revealed that they were spending 52 cents per label!

I was hooked,  reel me in,  bring back the eighties and the opportunity to bring back product demonstrations, SIZZLE, along with the ability to pencil sell these opportunities is incredible.

The PLS-875i and pLS-475i print engine utilizes the memjet engine, while the PLS-175i print engine using the PageWide engine.  THe PLS 2112 print engine utilizes the OKI color laser engine. I'll be digging in to these products more today and will post some additional information as the show progresses today and tomorrow.

Later in the day, I was able to sit in with Print Audit for their Top 100 Summit meeting.  That meeting was more of a round table event that was hosted by West MacDonald.  "What changes are you seeing in the industry" was the main topic and our discussions centered around device based billing, enterprise accounts holding onto equipment longer, Toshiba Corporation and the recent Ricoh SMB move of accounts.

Lastly MPSA hosted a network event that started about 6PM.  I was there and kinda not there.  After waking up at 3AM to catch my flight out of Newark, I was beat.  

However, I still had another meeting i wanted to attend with Martin Hofman from VZ industries.  Martin developed the Copier Solution Shop just about 9 months ago for our industry,  That shop is a web based store where dealers can purchase security options for every brand of copier.  Paper tray locks, security covers, you name it, they have it, and if they don't have it they may be willing to develop something that could help you win a bid or large contract.  

It's 8AM here is Vegas and it's time to get ready for today.

-=Good Selling=-

Rawlings Sporting Goods Scores Big with Cloud Document Management

Rawlings Sporting Goods implemented DocuWare Cloud to improve information sharing and communication with its vendors worldwide. Since implementing this cloud document management solution, the company sped up its production through business process automation, raised the quality of customer interactions, and improved customer service and vendor relations.

Rawlings Sporting Goods Company, Inc., established in 1887 and based in St. Louis, Missouri, is a leading manufacturer and marketer of sporting goods in the United States. They focus on developing and producing innovative, high-performance equipment and protective apparel for the professional, amateur and entry-level player. Known for their quality baseball equipment, the company also makes softballs, footballs and basketballs, as well as operating a robust custom uniform business. Rawlings sells direct to end-consumers through retail stores, schools, leagues and booster organizations.

Requirements

The Rawlings customer service team works with clients to create custom products such as apparel, uniforms, sporting equipment and other licensed items. With so much information to manage for each order, Rawlings found it challenging to tie custom specifications and artwork back to the original order and effectively communicate this information to their vendors. Finding a solution that allowed document and file sharing with vendors across the globe while maintaining version control became business critical.

One of Rawlings’ Vice Presidents watched a DocuWare demonstration and was impressed to find a powerful and flexible document management Cloud solution. He asked his IT team to evaluate the product to see if their ERP data could be integrated with DocuWare to help them manage important information in one system.

Solution

Rawlings’ IT department approved DocuWare for their solution. Now that DocuWare Cloud is in place, Rawlings can easily share artwork, approvals and ordering information with their vendors. They invited their vendors as external collaborators into DocuWare Cloud and simply provided each one with a login and password.

Rawlings focused on using DocuWare for the piece of the process between order entry and artwork approval. For Rawlings, custom artwork and specifications are treated as raw materials because they are essential to create the custom goods.

Order information is pushed from Rawlings’ ERP system into DocuWare and used as an index term. The staff then uses DocuWare to create a sequential project number which is also used to index the order. Digitized art files, art approval forms, photos, notes and ordering information is all indexed and stored in DocuWare. A workflow between the sales rep and customer service department is in place to alert the customer service team if order approval has not occurred. Once the art has been approved and the order is finalized, the customer service rep will add the supplier number to the order, allowing the supplier to access the order and start production.  Each supplier simply logs into DocuWare and has immediate access to everything they need to customize an order.

Benefits

DocuWare helps improve the quality and accuracy of each customer order by giving vendors self-serve access to only the final artwork and relevant customer notes, eliminating confusion and potential delays. Rawlings’ purchasing department works with vendors to make sure they have enough raw materials for each order.  Due to short lead times for playoff games and materials constraints, Rawlings often splits one order between two suppliers.  Items need to be identical and with DocuWare in place, the company is able to give each supplier access to the information to make that happen.

A photo of each team’s finished uniform is added to DocuWare before shipping to the customer. If a customer calls with a question or complaint about a uniform, the customer service rep can quickly access an image of the uniform and have a better, faster conversation with the customer instead of reading art placement descriptions. The adage “a picture is worth a thousand words” is true for Rawlings.

“The information in DocuWare raises the quality of our customer interaction and allows us to respond faster,” said Sally Vandegrift Yeast, Vice President of Customer Experience & Analytics for Rawlings.

Rawlings does a lot of repeat business, so when a team orders a few more uniforms for their new players they absolutely must match the existing uniforms. It is essential that the correct information be readily accessible. With DocuWare in place, the vendors have immediate access to the artwork used for each order.

“The relationship with our vendors has improved because we now have a consistent and reliable way to communicate order information. We’ve found that better vendor relationships supports better customer service,” said Yeast.

Having great success after their initial use of DocuWare, Rawlings began to expand their use of in the solution in creative ways. For example, when a new customer calls to order a uniform, the customer service team can quickly do a search in DocuWare and pull up several examples of other orders with a similar logo. Being able to share art mock ups of different versions really helps new customers see what they want or don’t want when ordering their own uniform.

“It was hard to imagine all the benefits we gained by moving to DocuWare, until we implemented the solution. I can’t tell you how much help it so to be able to search for information in more than one way,” exclaimed Yeast.

Conclusion

DocuWare’s fulltext search feature is helping Rawlings’ sales force embrace the new solution. The sales team has quickly learned how easy it is to find an order — even searching a unique player name can help them find the order they need. DocuWare is now expanding to the engineering division and the company is working to store technical documents and product specifications in DocuWare.

“The ultimate impact of implementing DocuWare is that it has sped up our business and production processes and raised customer satisfaction. Uniforms, season and special games are time sensitive. You don’t get a second chance to deliver goods on time,” said Yeast.

 “The relationship with our vendors has improved because we now have a consistent and reliable way to communicate order information.  We’ve found that better vendor relationships support better customer service.”

Sally Vandegrift Yeast

Vice President, Customer Experience & Analytics

Rawlings Sporting Goods Company, Inc.

"Listening is the new prospecting"

John Jantsch

Face to face interactions are typically viewed as the single most valuable activity by any sales professional. However, opening the door and gaining a seat at the business table is tough.

"How does a sales rep in a highly connected, digital business world capture the attention of an executive buyer?"

The primary differentiator of today's successful sales reps is their ability to prospect. Successful sales reps open up new relationships with potential clients on a daily basis. Are you regularly connecting with new people who might be potential clients?

If you want a healthy sales funnel, you need to effectively prospect. This means you are connecting with new people and opening up new relationships not just babysitting current clients and constantly refreshing your base.

Today's business world is fast paced with highly connected networks. Digital technology is everywhere. Digital has transformed not only our personal lives but our business lives.

"If we operate in a digital society then why are we still as sales reps prospecting with an analog mindset?"

Buying habits have changed so our sales strategies need to change.

SHIFT IN PROSPECTING MINDSET

The shift has happened. Sales professionals, you all operate inside a world where the buyer has a leg-up on you. Why? B2B customers are mobile, socially connected, fully engaged in social media and well educated:

• 94% of B2B buyers conduct online research before deciding on a purchase
• 97% of professional buyers believe that user-generated content, such as peer reviews and group discussion, is more credible than content provided by the company itself.
• An IDC study found that 3 out of 4 B2B buyers rely on social media to engage with peers about buying decisions

This shift has created many disruptions for sales reps but perhaps none more than B2B prospecting. How do you as a sales rep shift your prospecting efforts when now the buyer(s):

• Are acquiring so much information on their own - online
• Are now self-qualifying themselves with research and then pre-qualifying prospective vendors or sales reps they choose to meet

WHAT DOES A SALES REP DO NOW?

Traditional prospecting strategies can be enhanced with social. How does a sales rep fit this into a daily and actionable format to set themselves up for success?

Proactive vs Reactive Prospecting - Marketing vs Sales - What do we do as sales reps?

Always pay attention to your sales funnel!

Your sales funnel is the single most important sales tool you have in your sales toolbox. Every waking sales hour you must become cognizant of what sits inside your sales funnel. This may even include off time and downtime.

This is a tough one as sales reps all over are saying, "Larry, you are full of it! I don't have any extra time, not much downtime and surely I am not going to think about it during off time."

Daily prospecting is a must or your sales funnel will dry up and your business will suffer. Set aside the excuses as there will always be a million distractions pulling you away from this essential part of your job. You need to consciously embrace, not just accept but actually embrace, the idea that prospecting is a must-do activity every single working day of your life as well as some of your days off.

Successful sales reps pay attention to their sales funnel as social integration can happen 365 days a year, 7 days a week, 24 hours per day.

SOCIALLY REPURPOSE DOWNTIME OR OFF TIME

We all know after 5:00 PM most business doors are locked. The internet is open 24 hours a day. Think about how you can integrate digital aspects into your prospecting efforts. The social window is always open for business even on Saturday and Sunday.

I introduce to you the Social Phone, courtesy of my friend Kenny Madden.

Kenny with such brilliance illustrates the #socialphone, a blending of cold calling with social selling to infuse modernization into traditional prospecting. He refers to this as smashing with absolute discipline the very best of Email, In mail, Voicemail, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram into one beautiful integrated approach. "the social phone"

Social Window + Social Phone + Social Selling = Enhanced Sales Funnel

The social phone allows you to listen and communicate with the voice of your clients and prospects. By engaging in online conversations and leveraging social networks, you create the opportunity to listen to the voice of your potential clients. The more intimate, authentic, genuine relationship you can establish, the more loudly you’ll hear their voice.

What's nice about the modern business world is there are a multitude of ways to open new conversations and new relationships with people. Real-life networking (cold calling) still has its place, but social media has opened up a world of possibilities for meeting potential new clients.

All day, every day think of social and how you use it as your online trade show. LinkedIn can be your online stage, your brand, your samples can be content as this provides you with an air of validity. It’s a perfect way for your prospects and clients to check you out and to discover more about you.

"Is your social window open for business, closed for business or is it in need of tenant improvements?"

There needs to be a mindset and skill set paradigm shift from how most sales reps are attempting to use social media albeit unsuccessfully at best. When we recognize social media is not our primary prospecting mechanism but simply augments prospecting, it changes our approach as this is then integrated into our sales strategies.

SOCIALLY ADJUST YOUR MINDSET

Getting in front of a potential client for a first meeting now requires socially adjusting your mindset. This means adjusting your prospecting strategies as:

• Prospects require a higher level of introduction before granting a sales call
• Networking in person and online is essential to sales growth
• Prospecting development and nurturing relationships must be practiced with patience and reeled in with conversation
• Being relevant and memorable is the new differentiator
• Becoming visible, vocal and valuable is a must

Our business world is constantly changing. Social selling is a critical part of digital selling, particularly in the modern digital business world; social selling techniques alone won't get you the success you deserve. 

Digital sales strategies and how we use them are evolving all the time. Ultimately, it's the process of engaging with businesses, your prospects and clients via social networks online, as well as utilizing all the digital sales tools you have at your disposal to drive more sales opportunities. 

"What mindset are you prospecting with?"

I understand where you all are coming from. I have walked a day in a life of your shoes.

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.

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, coach and inspire B2B Office Technology Sales Professionals to grow net new business by helping them tell their story and communicate on LinkedIn. My commitment is to help office technology dealers thrive in a changing marketplace. You can follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter, as well as at the Social Sales Academy

Last week I was uploading some older CD's to ITunes, when I came across one of my favorite CD aka Albums by one of my favorite bands. 

The Rolling Stones with "Sucking in the Seventies" was a compilation album that was released in 1981. All of the songs on the album were performed or written in the Seventies.

I had my epiphany that there really isn't that much on the web about what it was like to sell copiers in the seventies.  Actually, I don't think I've ever read anything about selling copiers in the seventies. 

I started in 1980 as a technician, moved to sales in 1981 and I heard the stories about those that came before me.  One of those stories, was that there was so much money to be made, that most successful sales people all had very expensive silk suites.  Sounds kinda funny now, but that story was the lure that kept my nose to the grindstone to make the bucks.

Wouldn't it be a great idea to have an interview with those that sold copiers during that decade? In addition, it would be awesome to get that content on the web so that it is archived forever. 

Over the last two weeks, I've been able to put together a short list of seven people in the industry and all have agreed to take part in the interviews over the next few weeks.  Selling Copiers in the Seventies will be a compilation of blogs similar to compilation of songs from the Rolling Stones.  My plan is to post one of these blogs each week for the next ten weeks.

A few of the questions that we'll be asking:

• What was your compensation plan like?  Was it straight commissions, a salary, commissions and salary?
• What did you like most about selling copiers in the seventies?
• What was your favorite brand and model that you sold?

We're going to have eleven questions in total and I'm sure that there will be some awesome stories from these veterans that we have lined up.

I'm still looking for four additional veterans, if you or you know of anyone who might be interested, please feel free to email me their contact information or send me an email apost@p4photel.

-=Good Selling=-

The fist thread that caught my eye here was the purchase of Global by Xerox.  Run that with the recent course of events from Ricoh last week and it's strange how these mega events fall into to place on the timeline.

Enjoy the threads from ten years ago this week!

Konica Minolta Offers the Highest Level of

Last October, I had the chance to meet Dave Perotta, Vice President of Operations at Electronic Systems Protection at the GraphExpo Show in Orlando. Just about this time last year, ESP/Surgx was acquired by Ametek. 

Art:  It’s been a year since ESP was acquired by AMETEK, what has transpired? 

Dave:  It’s been a great transition for us, and it was a perfect opportunity from our standpoint for AMETEK to acquire us. AMETEK is a global leader in electronic instruments and electromechanical devices. The Power Systems and Instruments division of AMETEK that we’re now a part of has been very complementary to the core products and solutions we sell. That’s given us access to a wealth of additional resources and we’re able to add other AMETEK products into our portfolio, thus giving us a larger package of solutions to offer our customers.

Art:  What types of products are those? 

Dave:  We can now complement the whole power platform, so instead of being just a plug level protection device, we can offer some level of circuit breaker level protection to complement our plug level portfolio. We’re now able to offer products like battery backup systems, large transformers and power supplies to provide a complete package to our customers. This helps them walk into any environment and provide an adequate power solution.

One of things we’ve done internally that’s new is to combine our sales teams. In the past we had separate sales teams for our ESP and SurgeX brands. We’ve now combined the sales teams under one group to better meet our customers’ needs, and to give them access to the entire suite of solutions that we offer to help expand their business.

Art:  How is the image equipment dealer business for AMETEK?

Dave: Very good, it’s been a very stable steady business for us. We continue to bring new dealers on who see the value of our offerings, and that continues to be an important part of our revenue growth.

How has the acquisition helped ESP better serve its customers?

Basically, it’s the new product portfolio that’s allowed us to help our customers differentiate themselves by getting into other verticals, and giving them new revenue streams. With the level of expertise that we bring to the power environment and the products that we have in our portfolio, it gives our customers the opportunity to sell more equipment outside of imaging.

We have put together portfolios for the production print space, which is a totally different environment from the traditional office environment. The large industrial print equipment being installed can have some complex power requirements.  We can help with the setup. We can be the power partner that comes in and recommends what a client of our customer would need to power and protect the equipment and improve efficiency/uptime.

Art:  So, AMETEK ESP would put people on site for the install?

Dave:  Yes, we would be the partner they bring on-site when the equipment is delivered and the client is asking, “What do I need to do to provide power and how do I protect my equipment?”

Art:  What’s new and different?

Dave:  The new portfolios and packages that we offer can help our customers differentiate themselves because they can provide new revenue opportunities in segments they already play in.  

Art:   I’m kind of a novice with power, are there really that many problems with power?

Dave:  That’s a great question. The answer is yes. The key factor when we talk about power protection is we’re not talking about lightning strikes. We’re talking about the power environment within buildings, where 80% of issues occur.

You do have some external factors from outside the building with anomalies happening on the grid that affect the internal building environment. The clear majority of problems are happening internally from lighting/HVAC systems and other equipment turning on and off that can attribute to problems in the power environment. In addition, changes are being made all the time, such as adding additional offices and equipment. These low-level types of power problems usually go unnoticed and only manifest themselves when you start installing sensitive equipment on the power grid.  Users could see data issues, error codes, and pre-mature failure of electronic boards.

Art:  Can Sags in Power Damage Equipment?

Dave:  It can cause damage and disruption when you have equipment trying to draw power during a printing a job. Our products not only protect equipment during those events, they also allow technicians to properly diagnose the electrical problem so it can be corrected.

Art:  Where do you see the industry heading, and how will dealers be able to succeed?

Dave:  In one aspect, it’s about continuing to reduce service calls, and the parts and labor costs that are associated with those calls so that dealers can stay profitable.

We’ve made our devices more intelligent using cloud capabilities and remote access to detect power issues before a call is even made or a truck is rolled.

In addition, by using the analytics collected by our devices, dealers and OEMS can interpret the power problem and recommend a solution avoiding costly calls for the same issue.

The industry must be able to move to other verticals beyond imaging equipment, and our portfolio can help our customers offer new solutions and services to accomplish that task.  I see many of our customers getting into IT and the AV space, and consequently we can help them with that.

Art:  Dave, this has been awesome, thanks so much for your time, do you have any questions for me? 

Dave: None here, thanks for the time today!

Just a plug for ESP, you can access their web site here, better yet give them a call and learn more about additional revenue streams for your dealership.

-=Good Selling=-

I wasn't planning on blogging tonight, however the recent course of events today has left me with an urgency to post my thoughts/

Earlier on LinkedIn I posted this, "Big changes at Ricoh USA Today, what's old becomes new, what goes around comes around. It's 1986 again" . 

For some, today was Black Friday @Ricoh USA.  After speaking with one colleague, it was stated, "it's all about what number you have to dial into".   With so many people working remotely, the best way to communicate is through that call-in number.  I'm giving thanks already that I've never had to do that in my career.  I'm guessing many were told of their re-assignments, many may have been told that their job did not exist anymore, and others were happy that they still had their same job.

Simpler Times

You see, back in the eighties selling copiers was a lot easier than it is today.  In 1986, I opened my first dealership, with two other partners.  One was my brother and one was my best friend.  The copier company that we worked for had just gone belly up and two companies formed from the ashes.  Twelve years later, we were all married, got our wives into the business and the rest was a **** show. I got out in 1998 and have been selling Ricoh products for almost twenty years now.

It was a simple time back then, in the NY metro market we had Xerox direct, Minolta direct and the fledgling Ricoh direct channel and more dealers than you could shake a stick at.  In those days we were focused on GP, there was no revenue crap.  You sold a box, you made a decent profit and you moved on.

Ricoh Leaks

For a few weeks the rumor mill was swirling with stories that something BIG was going to happen with Ricoh US.  Don't we just love rumors?  In fact most of them come true, maybe we should be addressing these as leaks.

Bold Changes

Today and alert popped from the Cannata Report that there were BOLD changes underway at Ricoh US.  What interested me the most was how Ricoh was re-aligning their SMB Channel.  My interpretation of that paragraph is that all SMB Ricoh Direct accounts will now be handled by Ricoh dealers and what Ricoh calls their U.S. based Sales Channel.  Not sure what the U.S. based sales channel will sell, but I sure hope it's not going to be a Ricoh web store for moving A3 & A4 devices.  Maybe someone from Ricoh can post a reply and tell us what that means.

On Friday of last week I spoke with a Ricoh Dealer Principal that told me all of the NJ based SMB accounts were being offered to one dealer. I don't want to report who just in case that story is not true.  In addition,  another birdie confirmed that there was an acquisition of SMB accounts.

Don't Give a Damn

I don't really give a damn about who gets what. What I care about is the chance to make a decent profit again without the annoyance of the Direct Channel pricing equipment below my floor cost. 

For years, I've seen the damage that was done with the Direct Channel. Ricoh was able to achieve awesome results in the Enterprise Channel, but pretty much ruined the SMB channel for those of us that sell in that space.  In many blogs I've often touted that the Ricoh Dealer Channel subsidized the Direct Channel and those profits allowed the Direct to sell on price.  Hey, I'm allowed to vent my two cents, right?

Thus, Ricoh US seems to be following the lead of Xerox.  Moving those SMB accounts to Global Dealers and Xerox Agents. After speaking with friend today he stated that Global Channel now produces more revenue for Xerox than the Xerox Direct Channel. We can only hope and pray that the same holds true for Ricoh Dealers. 

Why?

Lower profits, and declining sales revenue was most likely the reason for the change.  Increased dealer revenue will result in higher profits, and Ricoh US will benefit from lower labor costs that were associated with their Direct Channel is my guess.

So, What's Next?

I'd like to think that tomorrow I'm going to feel like a kid in the candy store again.  I want it to be 1986 again, I want to be able to pitch an account without the fear of my manufacturer direct channel cutting price to get a deal. 

There's going to be some smart ass, who thinks or will reply with, "stop, you didn't get the deal because you didn't sell value".  And I'll say, BS, you try competing in one of the largest market in the US with pressure from every direct branch and two to three of the largest mega dealers in the country.  Try doing it for thirty seven years, once you've done that you can then tell me about value. 

Plain and simple, there are those that value our services and those that do not. We pick and chose what we want to win and what we need to win. If you're in bumpfuk wherever and there is limited competition, you can walk from those that prospects that don't value our services. Here in the Northeast we don't have that luxury.

Sorry, a bit of a ran there.  For me, it could be 1986 again, yes I'll still have the pressure from the other Direct Channels and pressure from the Mega's, but at least I can feel a little bit more at ease about submitted a fair price for excellent service and support. 

To Ricoh US

Indeed it was a bold move today and somewhat gratifying for many of us Ricoh dealer salespeople that have hung on to the dream that one day, yes one day that the Direct Channel would just go away.  While we did not see the Direct Channel go away completely I believe after today we all feel better about where Ricoh US is going and their commitment to the Dealer Channel.

-=Good Selling=-