MFP Copier Blog

I'm all in when it comes to an educational event, especially when it's at The Grand Floridian located in Disney World. I'm also a big fan of getting out of cold and damp North East in late March.  Maybe think about booking a few extra days and make it a mini work vacation trip.  The BTA rate for the Hotel is pretty incredible.

Reason One:  BTA is offering two for one registration for BTA Members.  Thus two attendees can attend for the price on one.

Reason Two:  Where their is mystery there is.... a surprise guest speaker for the keynote address. We all love surprises right? 

Reason Three:  The Education events, these are those awesome 45 -55 minute blocks of time where we get to hear from the likes of Bob Goldberg, general counsel, for BTA (Industry Updates).  Jack Duncan, director of the REACH Leadership Academy, BEI Services (Reducing Parts COGS). Gil Cargill, owner, Cargill Consulting Group Inc. (Turkeys & Eagles Both Have Feathers). Larry Levine, social sales strategist & co-founder, Social Sales Academy (Building a Major Account Strategy). Mark Hart, director of business development, Access Control Devices Inc. (ACDI) (The Future of Mobile Printing). Lindsay Kelley, president & co-founder, Prospect Builder (Marketing & Sales – You Need Both to Compete Today). Ed McLaughlin, vice chairman, Innovolt, & CEO, Valderus (Adjacent Opportunities).  You can read more about their talk tracks here.

Reason Four: Disney World!  Especially the Grand Floridian Resort! There's special seating area at the Grand Floridian that overlooks the Marina with an excellent view of Cinderella Castle at the Magic Kingdom.  My wife and I just enjoy relaxing there at night and waiting on the fireworks display.  It's never a bad thing to relax especially on warm nights. My buddy just called me from Florida and stated the tem was 84 degrees. I'm jealous!

Reason Five: When you register for the BTA Spring Event, please shoot me an email apost@p4photel and we will comp you a six month Premium/VIP access for one year! Premium/VIP Membership will get you access to all of the forums, price quotes, leads and blogs! 

Let's not forget about all of the awesome vendors, the chance to collaborate with your peers, and develop new relationships with other BTA members and or vendors.

We'll see you at the Grand Floridian on March 24th and 25th, please shoot me an email and maybe we can get together by the Marina!  BTW, here's the link for BTA Spring Break Event.

-=Good Selling=-

What we see is only visualized after our mind translates the image. In business, our actions can easily be highjack by what we conditioned ourselves to see. Why is it that some can look through things and some only see things as painted with no interpretation? I remember years ago there was a poster the picture was a bunch of squiggly lines. As you stared at the picture squinting your eyes just right, the squiggly lines would come to life as a recognizable image of a person or thing. It seemed every office had these posters hanging in the breakroom.

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

 Organizations or industries become victims of obsolescence when they refuse to look through, over, and under what is presented as an absolute. Companies can be so stubborn to what was, it becomes their what is. I was listening to a webinar recently where industry leaders were discussing a threat from a disruptive competitor. First, I would say collaborating with peers in times of disruption is a must. However, when the collaboration becomes a cheerleading session for the past, those trying to get to the future will be sounded out by the noise.

“When you’re stuck in the past run from its cheerleaders, to those with an opposing view of the future.”

 When collaborations purpose becomes a sounding board for status quo reinforcement, the collaboration then becomes a reunion. Reunion's brought us up to date on what happen in the past, and Collaboration should be about what can be better or new. As I thought back on this webinar what I didn't hear became more important than what was said. The collaborators all recognized the disruptor as a competitor. A fatal mistake. Disruptors do not see themselves as competitors they instead see themselves as creators of a new way. Disruption changes the game and with its success the legacy players fight for survival, while the disruptor becomes the customer's choice. No industry or organization can force a client to stay in the old way, and when they believe they can obsolesce is their future. I call this the “Taxi industry syndrome” Yes some Taxi organizations will still pick up and deliver customers, however, the how, and the means will definitely be a new model. Industries are disrupted when the monetization of the old way is no longer relevant in sustaining the new way. When this happens, the old business model is destroyed and replaced by that of the disruptor. Disruptors change the business model forcing the implosion of the legacy model.

“Innovations come from what others didn’t pay attention to and destroys those who refuse to accept there could be an alternative way.”

 Recently we all read where Amazon Web services have become the world’s cloud leader. They went from the laughed at competitor to the disruptive leader. Cisco and others saw Amazon as a weak competitor they could easily win against. Amazon had no intention of competing their goal was changing the game. The legacy players needed to adapt if they did maybe they could have challenged Amazon instead of falling to them. Amazon ignores the legacy ways and reinvents the means; Amazon understands that replacing the past with the future is more rewarding than being a competitor fighting to be the best of the past. With today’s technology being the biggest last one standing in the ways of yesterday can be a shorter than ever tenure. Organizations must include adaptation in their vision. The future used to be a quest. Today the disruptor brings the future to the present while the competitors of the old way fight themselves for relevancy of the past. 

 When fighting disruption, the conversation must start with this question. What is the worst that can happen? Without the ability to understand how we could be defeated. We are at the mercy of those who plan and execute our defeat. Many industries will be challenged in this new century. Today’s corporate threat is not a competitor it’s the disrupter which is fueled by technology and driven to innovate. The disruptor changes the means to the result, and when the customer accepts the changes, the old way dies.

R.J. Stasieczko

I wrote this back in 2012 and thought this would be a good blog to re-post. I've also freshened it up in order to keep up with the changing conditions of our industry.  Please feel free to reply with comments.

1.  I had the unique experience of catching a dealer principal back in '98 with many un truths.  It didn't take long for me to have no respect for the dealer principal nor the company.  Within nine months I was outta there along with more than nine million dollars in revenue that I generated since that time.  Speak the truth, and don't BS salespeople.

2.  If you don't have a President's Club trip in place, I would highly recommend that you start one.  We reps love nothing more than being the top dog or one of the top dogs each year.  Time away, especially when the company is picking up the tab is a great incentive to keep those top producers. Also, plan it for 5 days, yup that's right and make sure it starts on a Monday!

3. Check and approve the commission form before the new system or service is installed, this way if there is a discrepancy it can be resolved before the pay period or the install.  This will also help the sales person too see exactly what they are getting paid and they can then "count" x amount of funds in order to pay their bills.  Side Note:  Over the years I've been amazed at the amount of people who think our commission money is extra money, mad money or our slush fund.  Get a grip people we use our commission money to pay or bills and support our family.

 4. Get your reps a monthly commission report at least 10-14 days before commissions are paid.

5. Go through your pricing guides and eliminate the mistakes, and update your pricing guides as soon as a new system or service is launched.  You're paying your people to sell, then why have them waste time with in-correct pricing or information that is WRONG.

6. Every once in a while "throw your top reps a bone", whether it's a dinner for two, a gift card or just plain old cash. Better yet, give them a call and TELL them that they are valued members of the company and you appreciate their loyalty.

7. Do your reps get vacations, if so offer your top producers that you will lower their quota when they take a vacation. Thus, it is a true vacation for them. Example: Rep takes a week vaca and the monthly quota is 40K, you then reduce their quota for that month to 30K.  Your top reps will still produce because they have pride and always want to be the "top dog". 

9. DO NOT micro manage your top reps, they did not become your top reps because they were micro managed. If they have to be micro managed they are not worth the time.

 9. Support them with a lead program, these top producers have the most accounts and do the most work with managing customer emails, phone calls and follow ups.  Compare this with new reps that really don't have many accounts to manage and all they have to concentrate on is getting new accounts.

It's plain and simple, you may not hear it from your top reps, but I'm telling you that if you're ignoring them and don't have any empathy for your reps then they will leave you!

-=Good Selling=-

One enormous challenge major account copier sales reps face centers around securing net new meetings with C-level executives. Gaining a first meeting with senior level executives is relatively straightforward, as you must have a strategic plan along with some personal chutzpah. 

Of significance is gaining return access to those same executives over and over again as this becomes the real sales art form. Executives don’t waste time with people who add or bring zero value. Even more challenging is building the type of trusted relationship where the executive will call you to discuss issues unrelated to anything you might be selling, but these issues are on their mind as they hope you will have the insight because they respect you as someone who has the pulse on what's going on. 

I encourage all major account copier reps to read Insight Selling by Mike Schultz and John E. Doerr. Through their research they share what sales winners do differently. Major account copier reps who are winning walk, talk and act like the people they are selling to.

According to their research with executives, the top three things winning sellers did most differently from second-place finishers were:

1. Educated them with new ideas and perspectives
2. Collaborated with them
3. Persuaded them as this would help to achieve results

"Most people fail in life because they major in minor things"

Tony Robbins

WANT TO GROW MAJOR ACCOUNT SALES?

Successful major account copier reps build a strategic plan to develop new accounts while building a fortress around their current accounts. With daily precision they are on guard, protecting their vital assets (no not their lease portfolio) their ability to teach, tailor and take control of their own destiny as they explode past their quotas.

Ditch the Pitch! Explore the challenges your prospect faces, the goals they need to achieve, how they plan to get there and when it needs to be achieved by.

WANT TO CRUSH YOUR SALES QUOTA AND STOMP ON YOUR COMPETITION?

SUCCESSFUL MAJOR ACCOUNT COPIER REPS CRUSH THEIR QUOTAS BY TRIPLE MAJORING IN THEIR BUSINESS

They make great use of...

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

Successful major account copier reps appreciate their CRM as this allows their sales data to be stored centrally and delivered to them in an easy-to-follow format allowing them to monitor current client and prospect information. They don't view this as another "sales tool" or just another way for management to police their work.

Sales reps saw productivity increase by 15% when they had mobile access to CRM applications.

Top major account copier reps organize their daily schedules through their CRM and prioritize tasks to make sure customers are not ignored. This insures their key prospects are contacted on time. This alone helps to boost sales performance. They understand their CRM is the hub of all customer and prospect information. This provides them clear visibility into their current clients, their prospects, contacts, leads, tasks, events, notes and documents.

Successful major account copier reps hold themselves accountable to the activity inside their CRM.

• What kind of activities have they engaged with on a daily, weekly and monthly basis? Was it phone calls, emails, social touches, networking events or other activities?
• How many of these activities opened up conversations?
• How many of these conversations led to selling opportunities?
• Of these opportunities, how many follow-up activities did it take to move the opportunity to the next stage?

They make great use of...

CONTENT

We can all thank Google and the internet as buyers have the ability to research and make buying decisions independent of communication with sales reps. The internet has changed everything from how buyers communicate to how buyers learn and more importantly how buyers are influenced.

Successful major account copier reps recognize this as they not only engage the new digital buyer but align their online and offline resources to the buyer journey.

Top reps realize there is a new era. The era of the empowered buyer has forced them to change within the laggard sales world they live in, the copier industry.

Successful reps realize the one critical part of addressing the new buyer’s journey is not merely creating digital tactics, but focusing on how they engage prospects and even clients once they engage digitally. They realize if they can't add value beyond the information buyers can find on their own then the buyer has no reason to engage with them at all.

SUCCESSFUL MAJOR ACCOUNT COPIER REPS CREATE ALIGNMENT WITH THE DIGITAL BUYER BY GOING DEEP SEA FISHING

"Top major account copier reps have learned to become digital deep sea fishermen and content is the bait on their hook"

My friend Jack Kosakowski says it best, "Content drives value, value drives conversation, revenue is a result of both of these combined once you go offline."  Content includes blogs, social posts, videos, webinars, white papers and more. All the content your company produces to engage customers is marketing collateral which can then be used inside the sales process. Posting content online (LinkedIn as an example); the most important thing to remember is you are opening up a conversation.

THE NEW MODERN SALES EQUATION FOR MAJOR ACCOUNT COPIER REPS

Deep Sea Fishing + Content / Learning x Conversations = Increased Sales Opportunities

SirusDecision site, the number one reason why sales reps were not meeting their numbers was, “Their inability to provide insight into a buyer, adding value and starting relevant conversations.”

They make great use of...

CURRENT CLIENTS

Top major account copier reps leverage their clients and ask for help! Wouldn't you agree a warm lead is better than cold lead? Referrals from happy clients are about as warm as it gets, correct? In fact, a Dale Carnegie study found that 91 percent of customers would be willing to give referrals if they were asked. Unfortunately, only 11 percent of sales reps actually do ask.

I find this crazy....

You bust your ass for your clients then why on earth would you not ask them to help you grow your business?

Learn what nex gen major account copier reps are doing here at the Major Account Sales Workshop.

TOP MAJOR ACCOUNT COPIER REPS SET ASIDE THEIR FEAR AND EGO AND ASK FOR HELP

We all face rejection in sales. It is the fear of rejection which plays a role in a sales reps reluctance to ask for a referral. Asking a client for a referral opens up potential negative feedback or "no's," and as a result, sales reps avoid it in order to keep their relationship positive. You work your ass off to help keep your clients happy, therefore; top major account copier reps have earned the right and have no problem asking their current clients to help grow their business.

“Word-of-mouth referrals stem naturally from an unparalleled customer experience that fosters clients’ identification with your brand."

Shawn P. O’Connor, Stratus Prep [source]

What major account copier rep doesn't have a big fat healthy ego? We have been trained to believe we can sell in the face of adversity. This is true as we have to in order to be successful, as we believe our sales method is the best and we can sell without any help. The notion of sales reps as lone wolf hunters means we are reluctant to ask for a referral as a referral is asking for help which depicts a potential sign of weakness. Top major account copier reps are comfortable in their own skin and ask for help.

TOP MAJOR ACCOUNT COPIER REPS REMOVE ALL OBSTACLES

In today’s highly competitive and highly connected business world, major account copier reps have to realize they serve a completely different function than their predecessors. Legacy major account copier reps who only serve as sources of information will find themselves unable to compete with nex gen major account reps who serve as translators between the generic information available online and the unique needs of the buyer.

Major account copier reps stay thirsty! They teach, tailor and take control. Even the most interesting man in the world agrees.

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

Your comments, likes and shares are greatly appreciated.

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

Looking back, 2016 was one heck of a year with our industry.  Lexmark was purchased by Apex Technology Co., Ltd (People Republic of China).  Who would have guessed that? 

Sharp Corporation lived to fight another day when Foxconn (Taiwan aka Republic of China) acquired them earlier this year. Then just a few weeks ago Print Audit purchases NeoStream (document management software company). Of course we then have the purchase of Samsung Imaging Division by HP.  We can only wonder what's next for our industry and it continues to evolve and condense.

Last years Top Ten MFP Copier Industry Predictions for 2016, had some prognostications come to fruition with Niche Printing Devices, acquisitions of smaller office equipment dealers along with Seat Based Billing for Managed Print Services.  However, most of the predictions did not pan out, because many of them are intended to be entertaining or a "what might happen scenario".  I enjoy writing these and please keep in mind that these predictions are intended to be more entertaining than factual.  But, you never know what tomorrow will bring.

1.  With Print Audit leading the charge with the purchase of NeoStream, the market is ripe for the likes of Ricoh, KonicaMinolta, Canon  and Kyocera to acquire document management software companies.  Own the digital documents. 

2. Color Wide Format is here with a vengeance, and I'm not referring to the CAD ink wide format systems.  We're talking industrial color ink wide format systems from the likes of EFI, Mimaki, and Roland to name a few.  Dealers are still in need of additional revenue streams and Industrial Color Wide Format consumables are huge!

3. 2017 will be a big year from Color Label Presses.  Office paper clicks maybe on the decline, however Full Color Labels Presses from the likes of KonicaMinolta and Muratec will be a hot commodity and offer excellent profits for office equipment dealers.

4. Acquisitions of smaller office equipment dealers will continue to expand.  Look for some of the larger Mega office equipment dealers to make some strategic purchases.

5. Last year I called for Ricoh, KonicaMinolta or Kyocera to purchase KIP. It didn't happen.  But, it's still a good move for any these manufacturers to make the deal happen, since the AEC Market is still paper intensive.

6. Either HP, KIP, Ricoh or OCE will market the first wide format MFP with an automatic document feeder.  AEC users still need to scan legacy prints, and the added feature of a document feeder would generate many upgrades of existing devices.

7. MFP manufacturers will continue to add apps to their devices.  The apps will be designed to automate scanned paper document workflows.  These apps will compete directly with the likes of Nuance, AutoStore and Ecopy.

8.  One of the Big Four Copier Manufacturers (Canon, KonicaMinolta, Xerox or Ricoh)  will cease to offer black/monochrome MFP's for the office.  Color is the name of the game!

9. HP and Samsung Copier Dealers will not be a marriage that was made in heaven. Look for many changes to that channel.

10.  Keywords for 2017; Seat Based Billing, Industrial Wide Format, Risk Mitigation, and Automate Processes

There it is, my predictions for 2017!  Remember to have fun with this, maybe even think up a few of your own and post them in the reply section.

-=Good Selling=-

Traffic, what traffic?  That was the first thought that came to me once I entered the on ramp for the Garden State Parkway.  There was no traffic, which told me that Friday was going to be a get away day for most.

After arriving at the office, I downed my first cup of coffee and got to work.  Since it was the last day of the quarter, the year and the month, I knew my chances were slim to none today.  My only course of action was the follow up for the $25K net new op and the existing client that called yesterday and needed three devices.

First up was the existing client, got a hold of my prospect (gatekeeper) and I was informed that the DM did not come in the office yesterday and had not arrived at the office at this time. I asked what time the DM was expected and my prospect told me that he wasn't sure.  "Ok, I'll give you a call before the end of the day", is where I left that one.

Now for the net new $25K deal, remember this is the deal where the DM stated that he will have an decision for me on the 21st about midday.  After three phone calls and two emails on Wednesday & Thursday there was no response.  But, I still had today, maybe he was busy, maybe he needed more info, maybe they delayed the decision, all of these were possible.  However, my gut told me that something was wrong because there was were no calls or emails.  On previous attempts before presenting our proposal, there were no issues with the client responding with either a call or an email.  Thus, the call was made, and like the other calls from the last two days, I was directed to email.  The client is screening his calls, saw my number and directed it right to voice mail. 

At this point, I'm pretty sure that my aggressive proposal was probably used to whittle down the incumbents numbers.  The client just doesn't have the decency to call me or email me. I'm a big boy, I can take it.

So, the quest to hit the $200K number fell short.  It happens, sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you. 

Is there anything I would have done different?  No, I prospected as best as I could, I really didn't lose much in my pipeline, just that a few of those opportunities did not pan out to be in the time frame that I needed them to.  The bases were full, I had the chance to get to the plate, but just couldn't get the run home. I could see if it was the last day of the quarter and year and I didn't have the opportunities. That would have meant that I did a piss poor job.  But, the ops were there. 

On the drive home, I felt really good about the year that I had. I had a crappy year last year and I set a goal for not having a another year like that one.  I don't have the final numbers but believe I increased last years revenue by more than 40%.   In addition, I believe this year was my highest revenue to date with my six years at Stratix.  Thus, I have much to be thankful for.

As of today, I'm on vacation for quite a few days over the Holidays.  The much needed break will give me time to recharge and plan for 2017. 

I'd like to thank everyone for following this blog, at times it was a bear to sit down and give a recap of the day.  I had fun sharing my content, my drive and my passion for the industry. I can only hope that I've been able to help or inspire some readers that selling office technology aka copiers can be an awesome career.

I have one goal for 2017, and that goal is to out perform 2016!   

-=Good Selling=-

Desire, Dedication and Determination is what drives sales people to succeed.  

Those  "3 D's of Selling"  is a feeling that comes from within, it's the special drive that propels us to succeed day in and day out.  You can't teach it, you can't sell it and you can't learn it. 

I developed that special feeling early in my life.  I was adopted at the age of four. Thus, I knew at an early age that someone had given up on me.  The question that kept rolling over and over was, "why, did someone give up on me?"  Hey, I was young and dumb, and did not realize that there are other reasons for giving up children. In most cases giving up a child can result in that child having a better chance to succeed in life. I was given that chance by a wonderful loving couple.

But, at thirteen years old, you're not thinking about the better life, you're concentrated on your life now. Thus, somewhere,  sometime,  I promised myself that I would succeed in something.  I had not clue as to what that would be, but I was determined to succeed at all costs.

Over the years, that special something was always there that urged me to be a winner. Try to come in first, if not, try harder the second time, and if it still wasn't working to figure it out on your own.  Sooner or later you're going to win!

The Last Day

So, we're down the last day after I write this.  Today was filled with processing two of the orders that I received yesterday. Following up with a handful of ops and weeding them out for January business.

I'm still short by $25K or so, the one op I have hanging out for $25K has opted not to return any emails or voice mails in the last two days. I was told by the DM a decision was being Wednesday.  It only takes 10 seconds to make a call or send an email, thus I'm thinking the DM either doesn't want to tell me I lost, or they delayed the decision.  I did put in a drop dead date on the pricing and I'm sticking to it, if the op comes to fruition after Christmas.

I did get a call from an existing client that wants equipment before the end of this month. I stated, "how about tomorrow?", it's the last day of my year.  Not a big order, two small A4 color printers and a 30ppm A4 color MFP.  I'll be calling the AM to see if I can close the order over the phone.

So, there is a chance to add $28k tomorrow.  I will not be sitting around and waiting for either one of those calls to happen.  My plan for tomorrow is to roll through my CRMK one more time and look for customers who could and might BUY NOW.

Amount Sold Today = $0K

Total Revenue to Date = $171.5K

New Opportunities Created Today= $5K

Total New Opportunities Created = $391K

Revenue Required to hit 200K Goal = $27.5 K

Lost Opportunity Today = $0k

-=Good Selling=-

As we draw closer and closer to Christmas here in the States, each passing day has seen a downward trend in my received emails and calls.  Today, I heard of a few accounts that are going to be closed on Friday. 

One of those accounts is the account where I sold the pre-owned 80PPM Color MFP.  Thus tomorrow, I'll be taking a trek there to get the paper work signed.

You do know what this means right? 

If I sold the pre-owned 80PPM color mfp, then that means I got the deal for 80ppm devices!  I finally made the call about 4PM today, and was greeted with good news, as I received the verbal and the contracts were in legal and should be ready for tomorrow.

It's funny with these calls, quite a few times during the day, I thought about calling the three ops I have on tap.  Each time I thought, geesh if I don't call them yet, then deal still has a chance of going through! I tell ya, I can get to be a nut case with do I call, don't I call, when should I call, what's the best time to call. It could and sometime does go on an on.

Just about three PM, I followed up twice with my $25k op for a net new.  Both times, the prospects voice mail came on.  Both times, I did not leave a message, after the last call I did send an email.  As of a few minutes ago, there was no email from the prospect.  Thus, another day on this op. BTW, I'm not expecting to get this op, and it's because I've lost twice in a row to the incumbent. The expectations are set low, and just maybe I'll have a Christmas surprise.

A few minutes after call the 25K op, I received an email with order docs for the net new client for the small A4 copier with the DOSS, that I pitched the other day. Not a big deal, but it's net new and worth about $2,200 for revenue.

In additional to all of this, I had an appointment with an existing client that has an (2) 55ppm A3 color devices.  That lease is due to expire soon. 

I went through their needs for a new device along with their existing costs for the lease and maintenance.  We were going to save them oodles of dollars.  Every thing was smooth until my prospect gets up and hands me a set of brochures from a competitor.  The prospect then whispers, "I don't like this person".  I know the competition, I know the sales person, and I'm not saying anything else about this one, until it's closed.  BTW, I got a ton of dirt on this one!

Not a bad day, I got two of three, with three still hanging out there. Plus, I've got two days to see if I can find a home for the other pre-owned 80ppm color device. There is a chance!

Tomorrow?  I'll be running around picking up docs. No emailing since time is too short.

Amount Sold Today = $48K

Total Revenue to Date = $171.5K

New Opportunities Created Today= $0K

Total New Opportunities Created = $386K

Revenue Required to hit 200K Goal = $27.5 K

Lost Opportunity Today = $0k

-=Good Selling=-

Hard to believe that in three short days this endeavor of mine to share my sales journal with everyone will expire.

Don't have much time tonight to write, so this is going to be short and sweet. After I'm finished writing this blog, I have to ready a lease, order doc and maintenance agreement for a net new account and email it out tonight.  Matter of fact, I need to do two of these since the DM isn't sure which one he will go with.  The gatekeepers last day of the year is tomorrow and she wants the DM to order before she leaves.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed, not a big deal, one of those smaller A4's. 

With the above opportunity, I focused on the Disk OverWrite for the Hard Drive.  With all of the hacking, and ransomeware scares,  I thought I would focus on including this option with the two A4 devices.  I stated the advantages, the benefits and then told a story about an article I read about hard drive security in copiers.  At the end of the presentation, I asked if my competitor had included and or mentioned the benefits of having a Disk OverWrite system,  they had not. I then asked, "is this a feature you need?".  There was another yes and thus I felt like I was on the way to securing the order.

I presented three different A4's, we got it down to two, and now I need to do the paperwork and get it to them tonight, since I have a full day tomorrow.

AM Appointment

Existing account that had purchased a A3 55ppm color laser printer from me earlier this year or might have been late last year.  I was there for a walkthrough to see all of their print devices. The IT person was fed up with managing 20 plus printers, one A3 black MFP and two A4 black devices.  With my camera app enabled on my smart phone, I documented every device.

Funny story for everyone, which goes back ten years or more. My Ricoh DM contacted me and asked If I could take some Japanese Engineers to some of my duplicator accounts in NJ.  They were there to ask questions about the existing product and to ask the account what they would like to see in new products.  While at one of the print shops the Engineers asked if they could take pictures,  the owner of the shop obliged.  Three Engineers then whipped out their digital cameras and started taking pictures of everything in his shop. I looked at the owner and he looked at me, and he stated "well, they wouldn't be Japanese, if they weren't taking pictures".  I just had to laugh.

Back to the appointment.  At first I thought this might have been an op that I could close this month.  But, with all of the devices, three different floors, and four or five different workgroups made me back off.

I suggested we install Print Audit Insight and let it run for a few weeks so that we could see their print habits, and volumes.  The IT person approved and we're scheduled for next week.

Two BIG Ops

Today, was follow up day for both of the.  One for $40K and the other for $25K.  I was able to contact both IT persons and both told me that decisions are coming down tomorrow.  Combine that with the small A4 device and tomorrow could be a very good day or a very bad day!  I want all three!  There's nothing else I can do, we are the incumbent on one account (feel good about that) and the other two are net new.  Well, what's one more day.

Amount Sold Today = $0K

Total Revenue to Date = $123.5K

New Opportunities Created Today= $12K

Total New Opportunities Created = $386K

Revenue Required to hit 200K Goal = $75.5 K

Lost Opportunity Today = $0k

-=Good Selling=- 

This is it, the week before Christmas!  As of this morning I still had twenty-five percent of the month left. 

After letting the "ball come to me" on Friday. Today was similar to most the other fifty three days, with one exception.  We'll get to that exception later.

Linkedin

Over the weekend I had a LinkedIn chat exchange with Bobbie Foedisch, the crux of the thread centered on LinkedIn removing some of the basic features that were free with LinkedIn.  I'm a ten year veteran of LinkedIn sharing, collaborating, commenting and posting information.  I have more than two thousand connections and have jumped on and off with the basic and the premium membership over the years.

In order to get those features back, you now have to pay. Now, I don't mind paying when there is value. However, over the years I can count the appointments on two hands that I've developed from LinkedIn with some of those basic features.  LinkedIn now wants $1,000 to get back the takeaways, plus a few additional features (with monthly billing).  I mentioned that Linkedin could convert tens of thousands of free members to premium if they made the price more palatable, like $20 bucks a month.

In the chat I was told "what you put into LinkedIn, you will get out."  That's BS!  (this will be the topic of a future blog about social selling)

The AM

I had to prepare a quote for a smaller A4 device for tomorrow. The net new prospect stated there was money still in the budget, thus I'm thinking that if I deliver the quote tomorrow, I may be able to win the deal and get a PO completed this week.

One of my existing accounts contacted via LinkedIn (lol) and gave me a lead for yet another small A4 device.  Geesh, can we stop with the small A4 systems?  Just kidding, I'll take what ever comes my way.  We spoke for about 30 minutes on the phone.  The net new wanted me to email the quote, I stated, "no can do we need to meet".  His response was I'll get back to you tomorrow.  This was actually a pretty cool chat, because I told him about a recent sale (last week), and it turns out that he knows the owner and went to High School with him. Following up on this tomorrow.

Later in the Day

I had an email from an existing client that I sold a 55PPM A3 color printer to about a year ago. Their ten year old Canon imageclass just broke again, and they are tired of fixing the system. In addition, he stated he is also tired of supporting 12-15 laser printers.  His own words, "they are killing us with consumables".  The pain was intense, and I was able to schedule an appointment for tomorrow for a walk through.  Only four days left, but you never know what tomorrow brings!  Definitely and opp, just not sure how much, gonna put this in for $10k to be conservative.

All right, the other two biggies I got hanging out. I reached out to the DM for the $25k net new opp, but could not make a connection.  The $48K opp (existing account), I let sit for another day.  Both of these will be on my agenda for tomorrow.

The rest of the week

I've got two appointments for tomorrow, two for Wednesday and one for Thursday.  One of those appointments is 2017 business, but four of them can still happen this month. It's a stretch, but I'm not counting these opps out yet. 

Those four accounts come in around $45K.  It's getting exciting!

Amount Sold Today = $0K

Total Revenue to Date = $123.5K

New Opportunities Created Today= $12K

Total New Opportunities Created = $386K

Revenue Required to hit 200K Goal = $75.5 K

Lost Opportunity Today = $0k

PS:  I had my commission report from November, all I can say is HOLY CRAP. I'm thinking that was one of my best months ever in the industry.  Pretty much made $700 per day.  I need to duplicate that every month!  Thank you Stratix for an awesome place to work!

This month we have a few wide format quotes/proposals in the mix for KonicaMinolta and Ricoh. The KonicaMinolta wide format systems are KIP and one of them is for the KIP Color 860.

I have yet to see one of the KIP Color 860s in the field. I'm sure there're out there, and one of these days I'm sure I'll run in to one.

These quotes will have the purchase or lease price for each device, along with quoted maintenance and service. In some cases they will be itemized and in other cases those costs may be bundled.

These quotes and proposals provide a valuable resource to see where and when you an compete.  Gives you a reference point for pricing when competing against these devices.  Also gives you the ability to show management prices of competitive devices in the field.

Ricoh MP 501SPF_Ricoh MP C2503SP.pdf

Ricoh MP 501SPF.pdf

Ricoh MP 4054SP Quote.pdf

Konica Minolta C454 Proposal.pdf

Konica Minolta C545e Proposal.pdf

KIP 7170 Wide Format Proposal.pdf

KIP 860 Color Wide Format Proposal.pdf

Ricoh MP CW2201SP Quote

Ricoh MP C4504SP Health Care Quote

Ricoh MP 3601SP Quote.pdf

In order to view these you will need to access the Premium/VIP license for the site.  However, for every two competitive quotes that you email us, we will comp you a one month Premium/VIP license. Please send to apost@p4photel.com. 

-=Good Selling=-

It's Sunday night, and again I find my self trying to remember all of the activity I accomplished for Friday.

I had one webinar/telechat scheduled with an existing account that kicked off about 1PM.  This account is interested in buying Print Audit Rules software to track and bill prints from within their company. 

They do not have a server, even though they have 25 employees. Funny, their entire company is run on Google Docs and Quick Books.  Thus our telechat was too learn more about their environment and what features of Print Audit they wanted to use along with Print Rules. 

We ended out chat after forty five minutes and pretty much put an opp on the board for pricing out a server for them.  We've already scheduled the next telechat for after the Holiday where we will present our recommendations.

The rest of Friday for me was to "let the ball travel".  I did not follow up with any of the open opportunities except for one. I did send an update offering to replace the 75ppm device, I quoted with a 90ppm device.  I figured I got nothing to lose and might as well sweeten the pot and see what happens. 

I gave all of my opportunities the day off and went to work on getting ready for next week.  Yes, the last week of the month, the quarter and the year.

Short and sweet, looking forward to next week, so stay tuned!

Amount Sold Today = $0K

Total Revenue to Date = $123.5K

New Opportunities Created Today= $10

Total New Opportunities Created = $372K

Revenue Required to hit 200K Goal = $75.5 K

Lost Opportunity Today = $0k

-=Good Selling=-