MFP Copier Blog

I am exhausted!! Driving for more than 2 hours in a torrential downpour this AM to our branch office in PA, and then the drive back in the rain for another three hours has kicked my butt!

I had to arrive by 11AM for a teleconference with one of our PA reps.  Our rep had scheduled a teleconference for 11AM.  We  tried once and then twice and could not get a connection with the DM.  Thus, I went through some information about wide format products with our rep to help when that connection is made.

Lunch was scheduled for Noon, with our sales meeting starting at 1PM.  I can't give you details of the meeting, because that's top secret stuff.  But, what I can tell you is that I had about twenty minutes to present a recent blog "Ten Ways Copier Reps Can Make Their Proposals Stand Out to Win More Orders!" to our team.

I kept it upbeat, tried to keep it entertaining so no one fell asleep.  Since many of our reps are newbies I thought I would also speak about FAB.  If you're not familiar with FAB, it's the acronym for Features, Advantages and Benefits.   Early in my sales career, I was taught FAB from a Minolta sales training course.  In short,  whenever you state a feature (could be for any product), you then follow with the Advantage to the client and then the Benefit to that client. 

If you're interested in knowing more about FAB, shoot me and email and I'll respond as quickly as I can. It's getting late and I need my beauty sleep.

Our after sales meeting event was located a few miles away where we all gathered for some food and beverages. 

A group of us old guys then had an engaging discussion about how FAB and many other sales techniques are not taught anymore. Keep in mind that FAB can be used for hardware, third party software, Apps, and just about everything we sell.  We were all in agreement that it would be awesome if we could just gather all of the newbies once a month and give them old fashioned sales training. Forget about the hardware, and the software but teach them all of the sales techniques that we honed are skills with.  I can still remember thinking to myself during a sales training back thirty years ago, "I'm not going to say that corny stuff" and thinking it will never work. Well, it does work and works most of the time.

That's it, I'm out, back to the grind in the AM!  Oh, by the way the exact location for our President Club Trip was announced today and I am PUMPED!

-=Good Selling=-

Just one of those wonderful mornings in NJ!  Heavy rain, traffic, a planned stop in and then a major accident finally landed me in the office a little after 9AM.

Today's plan was the same as yesterday, prospect, schedule appointments and move some opps closer to closing.  All in all I think I had a decent day, I logged more than 35 calls, around 40 out bound emails,  and who knows how many received emails.  The net result was three additional appointments and the creation of one additional opportunity that has a chance of closing this month.  That opp was for an A3 color MFP.

Sometime in the mid morning one of our rookies paid me a visit and had some questions in reference to a Duplicator.  He knew the system would print but did not have a clue about the technology behind a duplicator and how a duplicator could be used in a 501C organization.

Thus, I took about thirty minutes or so to explain the technology, and when a duplicator should and should not be used to make prints.  This existing duplicator was at least six years and old and was on the ropes for a few days since it required some parts.  Those parts totaled up to be on the very low four figures, thus the general consensus is that an upgrade may be in order.

Neither of us knew much about the account, nor where there any notes in the CRM about what they print or the volume that they print on the duplicator.  For those of us that have been in the industry for a long time we know that the low cost per page of black MFP's has almost decimated the Duplicator market.  With black cost per page on MFP's at .006-.0085, it's hard to make the case for a Duplicator these days. 

I asked that our rep get the client on the phone and see if we can schedule an appointment so that we can learn more about what they do with the Duplicator. Twenty or so minutes later our rookie had scheduled the appointment for later this week (good job) and I was pretty exciting that I'll be tagging along to help. Not sure how this will pan out, but you just never know.

Mid-day found me helping another rep from one our PA offices for a larger wide format opportunity.  Since I am the resident expert of wide format, I was more than eager to spew my knowledge!  We needed to nail down the existing volume, along with whether that volume was being metered by the square foot or linear foot. In addition we needed to figure out how many rolls of paper would be required for each month.  Twenty minutes later and we had what we needed. I then offered up my assistance if they were able to schedule a meeting.

At 1PM tomorrow we have our Corporate monthly sales meeting at one of our PA branches.  Lunch is to be served at noon (we like lunches, especially those we do not have to pay for).  On my home tonight I had an email from one of the reps for that wide format opp.  The rep had scheduled a teleconference for 11AM, and was asking that I arrive in the PA to help on that conference call.  I would much rather get on site, because there is so much you can learn from viewing their operation, the existing workflow along with the existing wide format system.  But, that's not going to happen, thus, I'm sure I'll have a crap load of questions so I can develop a better understand of what their needs are.

I'll be leaving NJ at 9AM and probably not going to get back home until 8PM. It's going to be a long day!

Amount Sold Today = Squat, nada, nothing!

Total Revenue to Date = $110.5K

New Opportunities Created Today= $8

Total New Opportunities Created = $279

Revenue Required to hit 200K Goal = $89.5K

Lost Opportunity Today = None

-=Good Selling=-

"When the going gets tough, the tough get going"

It's an awesome quote right?  Time to dig in and get things done.

After stopping for a coffee and a bite to eat this AM, I arrived at the office by 6:45AM and I was working before the clock struck 7.

Over the years, I've found that Decembers have been some of my best and worst months of the year.  There's no rhyme or reason, you can work your tail off and still end up with a stinker, or everything you touch turns into an order. Me, I hoping on the Midas touch for the last twenty days.

I had a few follow up emails that I worked on early. Made sure I drafted a note that had my top ten calls that I need to follow up on.  In addition, I keep an opportunity sheet close to the phone and I'll place a check mark next to each one as I make a contact.  That contact can either be a phone call or an email. It's a nice visual to keep in front of me instead of toggling back and forth with my CRM.

I was able to schedule five appointments, however they were spread out over the next two weeks. In total,  I logged about thirty or so calls and almost forty emails (out bound), thus I was happy with the outcome of prospecting.

Remember that statement that I blogged about the other day?  "If you keep prospecting you'll never know what tomorrow will bring." 

I had a call from an existing account that he wanted pricing to replace an old A3 color device that I had sold him about six years ago. In addition he stated that he wanted the system a little faster than the A3 color device I sold him a year ago for another location.  The pricing was needed for his 2017 budget. Which led me to, "when does your new budget year start?"  I was delighted that it was January 1st.

just a few months ago, I would have stopped everything that I was doing in order to get him his numbers ASAP. But, the plan at least for the next twenty days is "to prospect by day and quote by night".  Thus after I'm finished with this blog I'll be developing his numbers. Which leads me to, how can I get this order to populate for December and not January?

My plan is to quote two prices, one for "lease now" and one for lease in January. Of course the January price will be much higher, than the "lease now". In addition, I'll work the numbers for a 60 day deferred payment.  This should eliminate the objection of not having the funds available in 2016.  That's the plan.

With another existing opportunity, I've had a hard time contacting the DM on a regular basis. We touched about a seven weeks ago and then three weeks.  The account is now is lease renewal and from the last talk the DM had to go before the board for approval for the new device. It's been about three weeks and I have not been able to catch up via email or phone.  My plan is to develop all of the order docs, order form, maintenance agreement and lease.  Couple those docs with a short cover letter outlining the savings to order now and send everything via fedex.  I'm sure this will get the DM's attention and the next email or phone call will drive a connection to figure out if this order is going to move forward or flounder. It may work or may not work, but at least it's a plan.

At 4PM, I signed an order for an A3 black device and a small A4 black device. The order was not so easy as there was a last minute player that undercut my cost my buy more than $400.  As Adrian states, they are pond scum.  Never the less the deal is done, time to move on.

Tomorrow is another planned day in the office, need to fill my days with appointments.  I almost forgot, I was able to schedule and appointment for next week with a net new account. That opp is worth about $25K, however don't see that sale happening in in 2016, more like first quarter of 2017.

Amount Sold Today = $4K

Total Revenue to Date = $110.5K

New Opportunities Created Today= $32K

Total New Opportunities Created = $271K

Revenue Required to hit 200K Goal = $89.5K

Lost Opportunity Today = None

-=Good Selling=-

I wrote this blog about three years ago. I thought it would be a god re-post for everyone. In addition, I've added some new content that is relevant for today.

Over the years I've seen a lot of really bad Copier and MPS proposals and some very good ones. The very bad ones far outweigh the very good ones.

As much as we always try to get in front of the decision maker(s) there are many times when we just can't get the access to the DM and we have to submit a proposal to the gate keeper that will then forward the proposal for a decision.

What can make your proposal stand out from all of the others?

1. Make sure the proposal is perfect, no misspelled words, no wrong model numbers and no abbreviations.  I'd like to point out that abbreviations can make you seem lazy because you didn't take the time to type out the entire words,  and this can be seen as taking shortcuts, the last thing I want is the DM thinking is that I'm lazy or not putting the full effort in on something as simple as a proposal.

2.  Call to action items which can include value points, list of features and benefits to the prospect.

3. A lockout solution/feature, if you did you an awesome assessment you'll probably have one or two solutions or features that will make you stand out. Make sure that you list what your solution or feature is going to do for them such as:  "On our assessment we noticed that there are many prints being left on the copiers and printers that are never picked up, in addition these documents have personal information on them.  Our device agnostic Print Secure software will eliminate those pages being left on the printers and copiers, and in additional all of the pages that are printed will have a banner on the document stating who printed that document."

4. If you have multiple systems to quote add a floor plan showing the existing systems and what systems will be moved, replaced or retired.

 5.Out line the prospects existing costs and then present the expected replacements costs along with any savings. Only show annual costs rather than month.  Saving $1,000 per year is better than showing savings of $84 per month!

6. If the customer is leasing, provide them with all of the leasing information, 24, 36, 48 and 60 month lease terms (unless the customer has specified that they only want you to quote a certain term)
.
7. Include a SOW (scope of work), what they can expect from you and what you expect of them (this is especially crucial when upgrading or buying out leases that are not in your portfolio).

8. Pictures can help tell a story, add a picture of the system or even pictures of the options. Many manufacturers are now offering configurators of their copiers.  Use that configurator page in your proposal.

9. Cover letters are always a great way to show them that you and your company is professional in everything that you do.

10.  With every proposal that I present, there is also an order doc, a maintenance agreement, and a lease.  Each document is highlighted for signatures. In addition I will place sticky notes for "sign here".  Each proposal is also bound.  You can do this via GBC or use your bookletmaker that's attached to your MFP.

Remember that you are presenting you, your company and your manufacturer on a piece of media, make it easy to read (larger fonts), highlight key points of the proposal, make sure the prints are perfect (no shading, spots, or banding), present in a folder, binder whatever you feel comfortable with. 

Bonus:  Point out to your prospect that a proposal is just that, nothing more than numbers and pictures on a page.  No t's & c's, no contracts.  Ask your prospect, how can you make a decision about a product without reading the T's & C's? 

-=Good Selling=-

Thanksgiving Dinner

The table is dressed with the linen table cloth handed down from grandma’s grandma. The centerpiece came from grandma’s attic. The millennials’ dinner contributions come in deli containers. The baby boomers deliver theirs in Tupperware. The skittle casserole that a Gen Z cousin insisted was a secret recipe they found on the internet.

Yes, some believe the internet is full of secrets and truth. I guess you could say earlier generations believed that about books: if it was printed, it must be true, and if proof was not available, faith would take over one’s ability to rationalize. As the family meets and discusses the world around them, some will be right, and of course, some will be considered crazy.

This Thanksgiving, like all those before, will be our chance to reminisce on what was, share our plans on what will be, see family members we hide from all year, and eat like polar bears getting ready for winter. We will hear about the cousin things which shock grandma, the breakup of one sibling and the getting back together of another, and yes, the drunk uncle who recently married the drunk lady he lives next door to, oh, and bringing her to dinner would be his surprise.

The baby boomers are watching a football game, and most are hard of hearing, which causes an increase in volume competing with the aunt who moved to New Jersey years earlier now bringing back home her loud voice. The millennials are playing Xbox with the Gen Z, hoping that they never transition in looks or act like their relatives in the kitchen complaining about how hard their lives are and how lazy the younger generation is.

Soon everyone recognizes the voices of the family’s favorite guests -- the neighbors who have lived next door for thirty years. They either have no family or decided it was much more entertaining eating next door. Every year they come and sit in no judgment. They just take it all in, and more than likely they come to witness the complexity of family drama they are thankful is missing from their quiet lives.

The smokers gather on the porch, and it seems the tobacco smell brings back memories to the baby boomers, as a cousin from Denver lights his pipe, which does not represent the looks of the pipe all their dead grandpas used. It seems like in school all the cool people were the smokers, or is it just they all have one thing in common? Killing themselves is more satisfying, as they listen and participate in the arguments of relatives reliving why they don’t trust or even like those they call family. Of course, like any family gathering, the passions of individualism sooner or later merge with the calmness of compassion inherent in most families, or it could be the calming brought on by a gut full of turkey, causing most to forget each other’s shortcomings as they plan next year’s dinner. It’s the family drama that attempts to describe the family. It’s the attitude of the individual which allows them to define their family. 

As the family ages, the holiday gathering will change venues. Some will become isolated by their circumstances; some will begin their own family’s tradition. They become the grandparents; they use the linen table cloth from their parents stored now in their attic. The Millennials become the older generation, and the Gen Z are still defining what their generation will be known for. More than likely, many won’t eat turkey, as stuffed spinach and other new recipes will replace the Plymouth Rock recipe book. Time transitions all things, even traditions. We all have the power to create something new which may then become a tradition, or simply just something new and different for now. The look of the family will continue changing. The attitudes of the generations will always challenge each other’s relevance. The melting pot of generations is a family’s greatest asset in which each of us is invested, and our divided is paid when we gather invest wisely. Happy Thanksgiving.

R.J. Stasieczko

Today is Sunday the 27th of November. 

Tis the end of the re-heated Turkey dinner, the last of the Turkey and stuffing sandwiches, and yesterday was finale with Turkey Soup (pretty much all of the leftovers go in the pot).  Adios Thanksgiving, it was a wonderful four day reprieve from work.  But not such much for gathering the 32 boxes of Christmas decorations and working with the wife to decorate the homestead.  Next weekend it's more of the same with my chore of getting the outside decorations done.

Ah Wednesday, just as I thought, Wednesday which was the last day of my month proved to be non-eventful. I was able to schedule a few appointments for next week from the thirty or so phone calls that I made. Seems like Monday and Tuesday will also be spent prospecting, since I need at least another $100K in opps.  Giving up now, on banking opportunities would mean that I would pay the price in January and February.  It's a price I don't want to pay.

I did have the chance to speak with one opp on Wednesday, we reviewed two quotes. One for an A3 black device for a his 501C and then an A4 black device for his own company.  My prospected stated he just needed to clear the order in the afternoon and we could touch base later Wednesday.

Later in the day, I did try to contact my prospect, however he was either busy or was not finished with that meeting.  Thus, that was it for me, I took an early start home since I was in charge of dinner.

On Friday, I did have a call my from opp. I was not able to catch the call since I turn my phone off on days that I'm not working. I was able to listen to that message on Saturday and was informed that I'll be receiving both of those orders on Monday.  Not what I wanted, but Monday will work.

At this point, with twenty-one days left, I need to book at least 5K per day.  Like I stated in a previous blog, December sets up well since the 23rd is on a Friday.

I have one closing appointment (I'm closing) for about $38K, and another for about $7K. I have more than $100K in the pipeline for December, however I realize that's not even close to what I need.

Starting this week, I'll be arriving at the office by 7AM each morning, that will give me an extra twenty hours for the month.

The other day, I had an email from a P4P'er stating how he and his team is enjoying the daily blogs on my question to him my number.  One of his team members replied with "why does he work so hard when he's been doing this so long?" 

I could look at that two ways. 

1) One if you think it's going to get easier, you're crazy, it's not. Nothing comes easy.  If you want it, you need to work for it.

2) Thankfully at my age, I still have the desire, the dedication and determination to win. I like to win, I need to win, and I hate to lose. I want to be that "guy" that you need to chase.  Just keep in mind that if you catch me or beat me, I'll find a way to get back on top. It's just what I do.

Moving into the last month, I realize it's not going to be a cake walk. One thing I do realize is that if you never stop prospecting you'll be amazed what tomorrow will bring.

Amount Sold Today = $0K

Total Revenue to Date = $106.5K

New Opportunities Created Today= $0K

Total New Opportunities Created = $239K

Revenue Required to hit 200K Goal = $93.5K

Lost Opportunity Today = None

-=Good Selling=-

Geesh, the days just seem to be flying by now.  Twenty two days left and much to get accomplished.

I took a few minutes to look at the month of December to see what day Christmas falls on, and it seems that I have a little bit of luck on my side (at least for now).  Christmas will fall on a Sunday this year, Saturday is Christmas Eve, which means mostly everyone will be working a full day on the 23rd.  Whew!  I hate to lose selling days especially down the stretch.

I had made a goal of setting five appointments today, I fell short as I was only able to schedule three. I logged somewhere in between 35-40 calls, spoke with 6 DM's which gave me the three appointments.

I'll be working tomorrow, calls in the AM should be ok, however after 1PM it's probably going to be next to impossible to get a hold of the DM.  I have forty some calls scheduled, I'm hoping to have them cleared up by noon.

I did not schedule any appointments for today, as I stated in the previous blog, my time was dedicated for tryin to fill the first week of the month with appointments.  I was also able to follow up with some of the opportunities that I have open for November.  Tomorrow is the last day of my month and I moved almost all of the open ops to December and even had to move three to January (that hurts), but they were small revenue ops. Thus the pain was not as bad as moving a 20K or 40K op to the new year.

The other day, I had a net new account get hot for a refurbished (that's what the client was looking for) copier.  I don't have refurbished copiers, let me back track, I can get those, however I'd rather sell new, especially to a net new account. I learned a long time ago to give the client what they want.  I scoured our list of pre-owned and spotlight copiers and I came up with two choices. I really wasn't happy with either of those choices because those copiers were sold old. In addition, someone could sell a new system for less than what I would charge of one of the pre-owned aka spotlight systems.

So, what's a copier sales person to do? I knew I could get priced out with those two devices, the client was looking for refurbished, and I was not happy with my devices.  I got creative, and I have done this in the past.

Keep in mind, that at this point in the sales year for me it's about revenue, hitting my revenue levels will pay me what I want. 

I sent a price list over for three devices, two of the pre-owned/spotlight copiers and a price for a new system.  With that new system, I stated we only had one, and that system was on a special price because of a lost order (never mentioned the system was new, I labeled it as lost order copier).  Ok, I know, there was no lost order, however I needed to create urgency in the sales process, and wanted to close this order up ASAP.

Later in the day, I had an email that they were interested in the "lost" order A3 black copier. But, asked if I could lower the price.  Ok, I'm not going to email a response, but I will make the call.  Once on the phone with the DM, I stated if they ordered today, I could save them $50.  I was then told that, "we were hoping for something more substantial". With that statement, I dropped back to my value points and make it clear that they were buying a brand new system, because the copier was never delivered. A minute later we had a deal, 30 minutes later I had a signed order doc and a copy of the check.  Not a big deal, but it was one of the orders that I wanted to process today.

I've got one more order that may close tomorrow for two devices. Not a biggie, but it would be nice to get the order on the last day of the month.

Amount Sold Today = $3K

Total Revenue to Date = $106.5K

New Opportunities Created Today= $0K

Total New Opportunities Created = $239K

Revenue Required to hit 200K Goal = $93.5K

Lost Opportunity Today = None

-=Good Selling=-

I just finished working a few minutes ago. 

After dinner I received an email from one of my opps telling me the model number of the Canon device I'm competing against. Thus, I needed to address this tonight, because I want to spend as much time as possible prospecting tomorrow. I'm thinking most people that I contact tomorrow will be in good spirits since Thanksgiving is right around the corner. I'm going to make sure that I convey this for my opening statement to the gate keeper, "Are you already for a few days off?"  I'm sure most will answer with resounding "yes"!

Back to that Canon thing. This opportunity got hot late Friday, and this morning I had to crunch some numbers to stay competitive.  I had to email those numbers over in the AM.  Later in the day, I made my follow up call and found out that the DM did not have the chance to review the proposal nor tell me the model number of the Canon I was competing against.

At one point in the conversation when I asked for the model number, I was told that the system would copy and print letter and legal.  I caught this and asked what about ledger size, the DM was not sure if the Canon supported ledger and then was not sure that they wanted ledger size paper or not.  Just like that all of the preparation and homework could be out the window.  I then stated, "ok, understood, let me get you some pricing for a device that does not have 11x17.

Thus, I spent the next hour cursing and saying WTF's because none of my A4 devices can embed a stapler.  Of course, there was a Canon model that could.  Thus, I found a creative way to offer up one of my devices with a stapler (you can find out how I did that here, because I'm not sure if my comp is reading this).

Which leads me to tonight, after receiving the model numbers I checked out the specs and sure enough the devices were A3 black. Whew!  The last 45 minutes was spent making my own side by side analysis, when I was finished I sent that off the client at 10:15PM.

Today was riddled with emails from clients and admin.  I was able to schedule one appointment for next week, and scheduled my time in the demo room for those print samples that I need. In total, I didn't make many calls for prospecting, but I was able to whittle down a list of who I want to call over the next couple of days.

I have two days left in the month, tomorrow is dedicated to gathering appointments for next week. My goal is five. Wednesday a few more calls in the AM. I'm still hoping I can close another $10K or so for the month.

It's late, I'm out, got work in the AM.

Amount Sold Today = $0K

Total Revenue to Date = $103.5K

New Opportunities Created Today= $5K

Total New Opportunities Created = $239K

Revenue Required to hit 200K Goal = $96.5K

Lost Opportunity Today = None

-=Good Selling=-

It's Friday!!  Even better, it's the Friday before Thanksgiving!

Since I closed a decent order yesterday, my goal for today was to "wait for the ball to come to me".  That's a term that I use to sit back and see what develops with the existing opportunities that I have working. It does not mean that I would stop prospecting.

First order of the day was to process the order I received yesterday that had each device going to different locations.  The next order was to update all of my opportunities and have a plan for the next step with them.  I'm thinking Monday, and Tuesday of this week will be dedicated to filling the appointment book for the first and second week of December. I also penciled in some time in the demo room to print some samples for one of my opportunities.  Wednesday is reserved for some on-site visits with three opportunities and a few visits to some of my accounts.

After finishing those tasks, I moved to the CRM and starting moving non closed opportunities to December, January & February.  I also took at look at leases that were coming due in the next six months.   I was able to pick off a few accounts that I think I might have a chance with an upgrade and one account other account that is ripe for IT services.

I had a couple of calls to follow up on, and my plan for the rest of the day was CCMWH.  Don't know what CCMWH is?  Cold Call My Way Home.

I picked out a few accounts that I want to cold call that are on my way home.  By 4:30 I'm performing my last stop which is maybe a few miles from home.

Nothing much happened with any of those calls, but I did receive a call from one of my opps that stated one of the other DM's got a price for a Canon device and it seems their price is much less than mine.  WTF, of course it is, you're an existing account and my paltry commissions on existing accounts means I need to keep my GP high!  Go figure, we all have a plan for net new business take downs, however NO plan to keep existing business.  You go steal my clients and I'll go steal yours and we're all happy, right?

Thus, with that call, I stalled a bit and stated I was on the road and I would get back to them Monday morning.  Oh well, back to pricing spreadsheet and see how much money I don't want to make.

One item that was on my mind today. I had a large account email me about a whopping $43 increase for a maintenance supply agreement.  The device is very old and warrants the increase or does it?

I can remember with my dealership that when copiers got to the age of seven years old, we would not increase the cost of the agreement, rather we would only offer a labor only agreement and no parts.  This helped our relationship because we were not increasing the cost, made the client think twice about upgrading the system and put the risk on the customer. 

Just curious, is anyone doing this anymore?  If not, what comes around goes around and maybe it's time to bring this back. Please tell me in the comment section.

Amount Sold Today = $0K

Total Revenue to Date = $103.5K

New Opportunities Created Today= $0K

Total New Opportunities Created = $234K

Revenue Required to hit 200K Goal = $96.5K

Lost Opportunity Today = None

-=Good Selling=-

These two quotes by Benjamin Franklin, one of the most influential founding fathers of the United States, have played such a pivotal role inside the sales world today. “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail” and "By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail."

I encourage you to set aside some time and think about these two quotes as a major account copier rep. If you would like some help check out What Is You Purpose, Plan And Goal For 2017

• What is your plan to grow your business by xx% in 2017?
• What are you going to do to enhance your attitude, skills and knowledge?
• What are you going to do to enhance your mindset and skillset?

Here's where it becomes serious...

• If you have had no M.I.F (Machines in Field) to flip how would you get to your budget number?
• If you lost any one of your top 5 accounts, how would you get to your budget number?

In my last post, 3 Things I Learned As A Major Account Copier Rep On The Streets Of Los Angeles, I shared my story and why having a plan as a major account copier reps is crucial to your success.

A well written, well thought out and well managed business plan is your roadmap to success. If you want to get from point A to point B, we don't think twice as we enter our starting address and ending address into our smartphones.

GPS guides us to our final destination. Think of GPS as you develop your business plan. Your business plan provides the roadmap to help you get to your end-point, meeting or exceeding quota.

The time is now for major account copier reps to rise up, set an example and become true leaders inside your sales department. You all carry the highest quota numbers, you earn fantastic money and take care of your dealerships "cream of the crop" clients. We must walk, talk and act like business owners.

MAJOR ACCOUNT COPIER REPS MUST WRITE A BUSINESS PLAN

A major account business plan is a well thought out written description to your personal business's future success. This is a strategic document that tells what you plan to do and how you plan to do it. It is walking the walk and talking the talk.

The plan does not have to be over complicated. It's basically a strategic and tactical plan for acquiring new business, growing existing business while making and/or exceeding sales quota. It is a healthy mix of new business, current client renewals and selling more offerings into existing clients (going wide and deep).

Let's keep this simple. Inside your plan think about...

• New business acquisition strategies
• New business acquisition tactics
• Existing current client growth strategies
• Existing current client growth tactics

This is a roadmap of how you are going to grow your business. This strategic plan is a process and thus has inputs, activities, outputs and outcomes. This is a process, like all processes; it may have constraints. These may be formal or informal and typically involves feedback from management.

As a major account copier rep, a great place to start building your roadmap is here...

I encourage all major account copier reps to again give thought to...

"If you lost any one of your top 5 accounts, how would you get to your budget number?"

HOW ARE YOU GOING TO PROACTIVELY DEVELOP YOUR BUSINESS?

It is simply not OK to sit back, rest on your laurels and manage a lease expiration list. What example are you setting for all other sales reps on your team? At one point in time you were a young rep and you had to work your ass off.

Lead by setting a professional business example. Lead by walking the walk and talking the talk. Show the younger sales reps on your team how it is done and what they can inspire to become.

When proactively developing your major account business take into consideration:

• How you will exceed quota?
• How you will increase the awareness in your marketplace for your dealerships products, service and solutions?
• How you will increase your participation and become more active within your community?
• How you will obtain referrals from your clients?

Jim Leyland, the retired Pittsburgh Pirates manager nails it...

"You don't lead by lip service, you lead by example"

THE TIME IS NOW

The final part of your business plan must detail the timeline for implementing each aspect inside your plan. Once you've created, please don't file it away! Keep it handy and revisit it, revise it and share it with management on a regular basis. Not only hold yourself accountable to it have management hold you accountable to it. Stay on track with your plan, and you'll stay on quota.

In case you missed my webinar, How To Build A Nex Gen Major Account Department you can download it now by clicking here

Let's hold ourselves accountable. Set the example and let's all rise-up!

I get where you are coming from. I walked a day in the life of a major account copier rep.

Please share your comments or share this post. I am here to help and open up a great conversation with you.

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

Yes, I had a late start today.  Been battling a head cold, sinus thing the last few days and it's been a little bit of a struggle to get going.

I had scheduled my own little technology refresher today with one of our reps from Ricoh.  I find more and more clients/prospects that are interested in printing from their smart phones.  Thus, I wanted to do a refresher with connecting the smart phone and running through some of the features.

When I arrived, my rep was waiting for me (my apologies John), and off to the demo room I went.  However, the plan was about to change!  John brought in one of the new Ricoh D2200 Interactive White Board! 

Woohoo, I love new technology!  The Ricoh D2200 is a portable 21 inch flat panel display, that has so many awesome features!  I saw immediate value for my wide format clients, they could place this white board next to a wide format device.  Then scan the document on the wide format MFP to a folder, then move to the Ricoh D2200, access that folder and import the scanned document. 

The real magic happens when you import the drawing, one imported you can annotate and perform markups with the scan and then save that file.   I'm actually going use this add value my current wide format devices and use it as a knock out feature against my competitors.  I included a link above and there's another here. MSRP is $3,110, lease would be about $60 bucks a month, mere peanuts for the amount of time that can be saved!

Later in the day I had top prepare documents for my 2PM appointment, that was the appointment I spoke about yesterday, where I wanted to follow up with the delivery of the a new A3 color MFP.  I had two goals, one was to complete the advanced training as I had promised and the other was to secure the order for two addition A3 45ppm color MFP's.  The training took about 90 minutes with five staffers, it could have ended sooner, however everyone still had to answer the phones and wait on clients that came in the door.

I spent about five minutes with the DM, went over both systems, and asked about delivery times (assume the order). I then stated, "it's my recommendation that we order these devices today in order to guarantee delivery before Christmas, is that something we can do today?"  The DM replied with a big fat, "yes".  I then handed the DM the bound order docs, each page was highlighted where signatures were needed.  Twenty minutes later I had the documents in hand.  I then spent an additional thirty minutes or so with the marketing person, where we reviewed the advanced color options that are available with the PCL 6 driver.

Two color devices in the books, revenue for both for $21K. That's a great afternoon! 

I'm thinking I have a shot to add another $4-6K tomorrow, we'll see how that pans out.  Thus, the plan for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of next week to prospect, prospect, and more prospected.

Amount Sold Today = $21.5K

Total Revenue to Date = $103.5K

New Opportunities Created Today= $0K

Total New Opportunities Created = $234K

Revenue Required to hit 200K Goal = $96.5K

Lost Opportunity = $8K (lost to .039 color & .0066 black, no increase for 36 months)

-=Good Selling=-

One early appointment in the AM today, or some might call it a scheduled stop in.  The account had just purchased an A3 color device from me about a month ago. At that time they had expressed that they needed two more for additional offices. 

Over the last two weeks I  had placed a call and then a follow up email, but did not have a call back.  Since the new A3 device was ready for delivery I thought I would pay them a visit to make sure I'm there to help with training. 

The DM was not there, however I left word that I was there and wanted to schedule the training and I would call the DM later in the day.

Other than that appointment it was time to get to the office and work the phones and email to get a few more orders before the close of the month. As of today, I have 25% of the month left.  Twenty Five percent means that I need to  line up closing appointments within the next 72 hours, after that the odds of closing orders the last two days will be slim pickings. 

I have two decent opps that I have a chance of closing before the end of the year. Both are for wide format systems, and of those opps I've been chasing to set an appointment for the last seven weeks!  Every email and phone call in that time frame produced no appointments, however I was told to keep trying since they were interested.  The problem of not being able to schedule the appointment is that there are two DM's and they both need to be there. 

I made the call today, and connected with the Administrative Assistant and finally received an answer for scheduling the appointment.  I was advised that they've been so busy and with the upcoming Holiday's that they wanted to put off the appointment until after the New Year.  I exclaimed that the reason to meet now was that there are special promo's for the end of the year. With that the Administrative Assistant stated I understand the "pitch". Then thinking to myself what "pitch", your payments are high, you're close to the end of the lease and you hate the current vendor!  I then stated thank you very much and stated Thank you!

I was fuming, not because the appointment was put off, but that I spend the better part of seven weeks following up to schedule the appointment.  It happens right?  Right after Thanksgiving, I'm going to spend $50 and send them something for the Holiday's.  Come January 1st, my price is going up because it seems that they don't need to save that much moola.

Later in the day I was able to connect with the account that I met with in the AM. I scheduled the training and also stated I'll be delivering the documents for the two new A3 color devices so we can get them ordered.  No push back from them.  Thus, I'm assuming the order, preparing the docs in the AM and hope to close that order tomorrow.

On the way home, I had an order doc emailed to me for some small IT stuff. 

With all of the calls, all of the emails, and all of the open opps, as of right now, I'm sure where the December business is coming from.  That's not a bad thing, and that can be corrected by stepping up the prospecting efforts.

Amount Sold Today = $2K

Total Revenue to Date = $82K

New Opportunities Created Today= $0K

Total New Opportunities Created = $234K

Revenue Required $136K

-=Good Selling=-