MFP Copier Blog

The thread titled  Caught this in my email "Sales Process Questions" , the thread has two different talk tracks.  One with the sales person asking the VEEP of Sales for help and the other is the VEEP looking to the sales rep for extra effort.  It's a good one.

Konica Minolta Biz Hub vs. Ricoh 3035

Sales teams can't go one day without hearing, "You have now entered the world of buyer empowerment." Yes, thanks to Google buyers have the ability to research and make buying decisions independent of communication with sales reps. 

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

Successful sales reps who recognize this learn how to not only engage the new digital buyer but to align their online and offline resources to the buyer journey.

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

Exercise for Sales Reps...

Go face to face with one of your clients. Ask them this...

"When making a purchase with significant impact to your organization, how many people get involved? And at what point do you engage a sales rep for help?"

CEB executives Brent Adamson, Matthew Dixon and Nicholas Toman in an article published in Harvard Business Review entitled “The End of Solution Sales.” say it best, “The hardest thing about B2B selling today is that customers don’t need you the way they used to.”

Successful sales 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.

HOW DO SUCCESSFUL SALES REPS CREATE ALIGNMENT WITH THE DIGITAL BUYER?

I

"Sales reps must learn how to become digital fishermen and content is the bait on the hook"

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

Sales Reps Must Leverage Content As Bait

Writing content attracts prospects. 

I am here to inform you wisdom often comes from the mouth of salespeople.

Gather the top questions you hear from your clients and prospects during your sales meetings and answer them in a blog format. Potential prospects researching for those answers online could end up finding your blog posts.

Here are a few ideas for you (especially if you are inside the B2B Office Technology Channel)

• Top 5 reasons why implementing Document Management is critical to your business
• 3 reasons document scanning can enhance productivity within accounting department's
• 3 reasons why BYOD security is important within the digital workforce

Prospects and clients today not only search by keywords but by topics or through questions entered in a search engine. If your posts are hitting on the topics your prospects are searching for then you are attracting potential customers.

Content drives conversations

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 that translates directly into sales. Posting content online (LinkedIn as an example), one of the most important things to remember is that you are starting a conversation.

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

Benjamin Franklin once said,

“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing about.”

Content nurtures a relationship

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

Learning their business challenges, what problems or concerns they have, and what they are looking for allows sales reps to make better recommendations and most importantly educate. Getting to the sale starts with small conversation and listening; as content can be a great way to keep in touch.

Content personalizes the sales process

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

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

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

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

In conclusion...

Be Honest, Share your Knowledge and Reduce the Risk

Misleading your audience is sure way to damage your professional brand and discourage prospects from trusting you. Being completely honest, accurate and genuine will greatly boost your credibility both online and face to face. If you consider yourself an expert in your field, you already have a fantastic source of credibility. Make that resource known by offering your knowledge to the rest of your community. Whenever possible, put your potential prospects at ease by reducing the amount of risk associated in doing business with you. The fewer roadblocks and red flags the more they’ll be able to trust in you. 

If you would like some inspiration I welcome the conversation or send me a message to llevine@socialsalesacademy.net. Your comments are greatly appreciated.

If you would like to learn more please visit the Social Sales Academy and our special reports.

Look for more information within the Social Sales Academy blog site.

Be on the look-out for upcoming special announcements from the Social Sales Academy!

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

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 and coach 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 

Insuring the Future

National Crop Insurance Services is using DocuWare throughout their organization to manage email, accounting records, meeting minutes, time cards, and most importantly, information distributed to its members. Having easy immediate access to essential information is invaluable for this not-for-profit.

National Crop Insurance Services is an international not-for-profit organization representing the 18 crop insurance companies that sell Federal crop insurance, as well as others that write private crop-hail insurance only.  NCIS members write crop-hail insurance, the federally-supported risk management program and privately developed crop insurance products, totaling more than $11 billion in premiums, with an insured value of nearly $150 billion in 2014. On behalf of its members, NCIS collects and manages data and information, conducts research and analysis, serves as a licensed statistical agency for the crop-hail program and conducts extensive educational activities on claims adjustment, ethics, policies and procedures.

NCIS members range in size from one-state companies to national writers, as well as international company members. The companies service all farmers participating in the federal program, including limited-resource and socially disadvantaged farmers.  In partnership with the government, these private companies deliver the safety net that equitably provides effective risk management tools to America’s farmers and ranchers.

Requirements

With a staff of 45, NCIS needed a secure single location where it could store and manage their corporate documents such as internal meeting minutes, information from the federal government and bulletins it distributes to its members. They were also in need of a better way to track the different versions of notes as they worked towards making a decision and they needed to be able to easily research when and why a decision was made. The organization also needed to update its document retention policy regarding email in order free up room on its servers. In general, they saw the benefit of making their processes as paperless as possible.

Solution

NCIS spoke with their trusted IT vendor about their needs. As an Authorized DocuWare Partner, their IT vendor recommended and installed DocuWare. The software was initially rolled out to the HR department and all employees were trained on how to use the software to manage time cards, time sheets and time off requests. This was done to help the entire organization feel comfortable with DocuWare before it was rolled out to other areas with more complex work processes.

Next, DocuWare was rolled out to manage meeting minutes with long term retention schedules. Today, meeting minutes are stored in DocuWare making them available from a laptop, phone or tablet, eliminating emailing out the notes. Version control is used to help the staff keep track of high priority decisions and to document the evolution of policy decisions. NCIS decided to back scan Board of Director minutes to 1997.

“Because agriculture policy is based on long term results it is very helpful to be able to use DocuWare’s full text search feature and research our own internal database,” said Jim Crist, Chief Financial and Operations Officer for National Crop Insurance Services.

In the past, five to six times a year NCIS would mail a CD to its members containing a federal report for every county and crop in the nation. Today, member agents can login to DocuWare through NCIS’ website and download or access the information that is pertinent to them for their clients. Agents use this information to determine the premium and coverage amount for crops, so knowing that they are always looking at the most current information is critical.

Benefits

The more NCIS used DocuWare the more uses they found for the software. Their DocuWare system has expanded from purely storing HR and meeting minutes to a seamless integration with Peachtree, their accounting system. NCIS can access their AP invoices and other accounting records that are stored in a DocuWare file cabinet directly from the accounting software.   When an invoice is processed in the accounting software, the index fields for the image of the actual invoice are updated automatically, keeping both software solutions working together.

“We love having all our documents in their native formats stored in one location. Peace of mind and ease of retrieval have been the biggest benefits we’ve received from DocuWare,” said Crist.

For NCIS, knowing that their members and staff have easy access to current and historical data and reports fulfills their primary objective of providing its members with the information to develop fair underwriting for crop insurance.

Using version control for meeting minutes lets NCIS manage their meeting minutes with transparency. Version 1 is the working draft, version 2 means the minutes have been approved by the Legal Department, version 3 minutes contain revisions. At the next meeting, the version 3 minutes are opened, formally approved and stored as version 4. By using version numbers, the staff can see what changes were made and where in the process they were made for complete transparency.

The organization was also able to update their document retention policy. Important email can be archived in DocuWare in its native format and easily searched. All other messages are stored for two years then deleted. By implementing this policy, the organization was able to free up needed room on its email server and guarantee that vital content was not lost.

Conclusion

Using DocuWare for records management has become essential for NCIS because their information is securely stored and searchable, giving the organization peace of mind similar to the way crop insurance brings peace of mind to agricultural producers. In 2014, 1.2 million policies were sold protecting more than 120 different crops covering 294 million acres, an area larger than Texas and California combined, with an insured value of $110 billion. The impact of NCIS’ work ripples out to affect us all. 

“Having immediate easy access to information, it is priceless,” concluded Crist.

---------------------------------------Bulleted Lists-----------------

Tasks

Create a single location for all information

Facilitate the distribution of information to members

Track meeting minutes versions

Benefits

Peace of Mind

Access to information

Ability to search for information

Long-term secure storage

National Crop Insurance Services

Industry: Not-for-profit

Location: Kansas, USA

Application: Company-wide records management

Document Types: time cards, email, accounting records, meeting minutes, bulletins

DocuWare Corporation | 4 Crotty Lane, Suite 200 | New Windsor, NY 12553   

(888) 565-5907 | www.docuware.com

When King Harold was mortally wounded (by an arrow in the right eye), the Anglo-Saxons fell back and the Norman knights could continue their victory march.

King Harold, still sitting on his horse, suffered horribly when the Norman knights surrounded him and killed him with their swords. Only a few Anglo-Saxons reached the woods and survived.

Duke Willem of Normandy set up his tent on top of the battlefield and slept between the death bodies of his enemy’s.

Are we King Herold or Duke Willem?

Are we Defenders or Conquerors?

Are we Losing or Winning ?

What strategy are you following in your day to day copier business?

Competition or Collaboration?, Quality or Price?, Volume or Value?

What do you offer your customers and prospects?

More of the same? Same as everybody?

What if King Herold and Duke Willem, instead of fighting the ‘Battle of Hastings’ in the year 1066, would have founded the ‘Treaty of Hastings’?

Now 950 years went by! Will we ever learn?

Recently I attended a technology conference; the technology industry has never been short on having conferences. This particular conference was hosted by a manufacturer and it had roughly 800 attendees. The article I am writing today is not about the vendor or the conference host; I wanted to explore the meeting of the minds. It’s interesting to discover the way many define what they see, or what they miss, all very differently.  

All of us have attended conferences. The conferences within the technology community are more than likely the same as most industries as it relates to the attendees. The conference is the place to bring organizations and people together in a quest for collaboration, sharing best practices, sharing war stories, looking for the next secret weapon for their sales arsenal, and finally and most importantly, participating in good fun with their peers. I personally love conferences.

The attitudes of the attendees is what I personally find the most interesting, starting with the guy who hates the world. Everything he heard at last year’s conference didn’t work, so he’s determined this conference would probably be a waste of time too. Ok - obviously no one would come out and say those things, but all reading this have translated a conversation similarly.  Then there’s the guy or gal who is so excited about what they do, they can overwhelm people. I admit, this could be me sometimes.  All the attendees are there to be inspired, to learn something new, to uncover a more profitable opportunity, and to find new connections to help solve old problems.  

Everyone wants the secret weapon; they would pay a lot if someone was selling it. They would travel across the country or across the world to find it. What most miss is - they are the secret weapon, they just need to ignite the fuse. Nothing learned, no matter the cost of tuition, no consultant regardless of their knowledge, or their reputation, and no sales advantage or gimmick will become a secret weapon. The facts are - your secret weapon can only be you, and you will uncover it when you commit to your passion causing action. It’s commitment which harness ones passions into accomplishments.

 The value of the face to face time and the collaboration that conferences provide the venue for is priceless. When I attend conferences, I ask other attendees a couple questions. What did you learn last year? And how did you benefit? Most answer like this: well, I can’t really say one particular thing or another stood out, and they go on and explain how much they enjoyed all the peer to peer sharing, and will try a couple things.

This answer was a lot of times my answer, and what a stupid answer it is. What we are saying is, we love collaborating, learning new things, listening to the dreams and goals of others. This is so important to us, that as soon as the conference ends, we lock all this knowledge up in our own procrastination vault, where it stays - in the catacombs of our minds, right next to the last un-acted on knowledge from the conference the year before.

 The talking part of collaboration is useless if you don’t apply action. Here is my strategy for conference attending: talk to as many people as possible. However, determine the value of the conversation by the length of conversation; the last day, decide what two things elevated your passion on something you would actually consider committing to. Once you define those two things, that last day, put together an action plan on what it will take to move forward. Revisit the individuals who inspired you, and make sure you both have executed an agreement on action for next steps. Make it your goal from the conference - don’t let your passion for doing something different be swallowed up by the status quo monster when you return back to the office.

I believe if someone or something can wake up and fuel your passion, and then your response is procrastination - you are committing what I have defined as –

“Aspiration Malpractice, when you procrastinate from doing what your goals demand you do.”

 Everyone has an understanding of what changes are needed for success in every field, but not everyone has the passion to change or accept the new or better ways. This fact provides the value prop for those who execute the changes needed. So at your next conference, seek out the conversations which scare or challenge your status quo. Learn something different, and if it stirs your emotions, act on it. These results of action will provide you conference dialogue next year.

So if someone were to ask, what did you learn last year? And, how did you benefit when executed? You will have not only brought value to yourself, you will be sharing value with others. This, after all, is why we all go. See you at the next conference.

R.J. Stasieczko

C-Level Executive, seeking to help the right organization navigate

IS200e+Savin CLP27dn = Duplex Copy?

For sales professionals, LinkedIn has become the single best platform to build personal brand awareness and drive thought leadership to help facilitate building personal business relationships. Of course, this all starts with how you position yourself on LinkedIn. Positioning yourself is not bragging about how great you are. It is positioning yourself in the eyes of your clients. What is it you can do and provide to help them?

Well this got me thinking........ How can V.P. of Sales and Sales Managers help themselves to attract high quality sales professionals? 

My last blog, Attention Sales Reps... Your LinkedIn Profile Is Your Storefront - Are The Windows Broken? got me thinking... V.P. of Sales and Sales Managers, are the windows to your LinkedIn profile broken? Is this preventing you from attracting high quality sales talent? Think about repairing the cracks and removing the roadblocks.

Social should matter when recruiting and hiring sales reps as well. When a socially savvy sales manager goes to hire a salesperson, they’ll check the sales candidate's social media channels to monitor activity. They may look at the quality of the content posted and the frequency of how often that person engages, as this may have some influence inside the hiring process.

What do you think that sales candidate is doing as well? Don't you think he/she is looking at your website, your social channels and more importantly your LinkedIn profile? What opinions are they forming about what you have to offer to help them?

CLICK HERE... SALES MANAGERS LEARN NEW WAYS TO USE LINKEDIN TO RECRUIT AND PROSPECT

Let's open up the LinkedIn Window and Remove the Roadblocks!

 Reposition Your LinkedIn Profile and Dangle the Virtual Carrot

Eliminate The Roadblocks With a Few Minor Tweaks To Your LinkedIn Profile

1.  Professional Headline - This is your moment to grab the attention of the ideal candidate. Most people are not aware your professional headline follows you wherever you go on LinkedIn. This means every post, every comment, group discussion and published article. Would a professional headline of "Sales Manager at XYZ Company" entice someone to want to know more versus "Providing Sales Professionals Growth Opportunities by Fostering a Culture of Leadership, Coaching and Collaboration"
2. Summary Section - This is the one powerful part of your LinkedIn profile. I love this section! In 2,000 characters, share with potential sales candidates who you are, what motivates you, why you do what you do and how you can help them get to the next level in their careers. I am a huge fan of storytelling. Why not tell your story of how you can help? Appeal to their emotional side and position yourself as a relationship builder.

"Design Your Summary to What Great Salespeople are Attracted to..."

• Leaders with a clear vision and great team
• Access to resources
• Clear expectations
• Company culture fostering growth opportunities
• Company growth potential

Think about utilizing the summary section from the perspective of the sales candidate and what would entice them to come work for your company.

Inside your Summary Answer Questions such as:

• What do I (Insert your name) want to be professionally known for?
• What do I love most about what I do?
• What do our clients consistently use to describe the work of my sales team and their support?
• What kind of environment I (Insert your name) provide to my sales team?

With a few minor tweaks clearly communicate why the best candidates should join your company and what you offer to help them succeed.

Create the value, be proactive and promote yourself. Get out there on LinkedIn and become visible to other sales professionals!

Look for more information within the Social Sales Academy blog site.

Be on the look-out for upcoming special announcements from the Social Sales Academy!

Please enjoy my other posts on LinkedIn Publisher and on SlideShare

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

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

What does the future hold for the likes of Ricoh, Canon, and KonicaMinolta? 

Managed IT Services, 3D Printing, Medical Devices, Managed Services, Production Print Devices?

Let's take a trip back to 1986 in the office equipment industry. 

That was the year I started my own copier business here in NJ.  Copy machines had one single function, and that was to make a copy of an original.  Those older devices were very mechanical, very heavy and service techs had to have excellent mechanical skills to make repairs.

Most companies were still using dot matrix printers for report printing, while typewriters were used for filling forms, and creating proposals.  Fax machines were available but very expensive, thus getting documents from one office to another office overnight was dominated by FedEx.  Heck, I can remember dropping lease documents in the fedex paks to make sure they were delivered the next day so we could get paid on our signed leases.

Today, stand alone fax machines are all but a memory (I think I've sold one fax machine in the last 18 months), no longer do I see a typewriter in every office, in fact when I see them, I'll always ask, "what do you use the typewriter for?" 

Many of the dot matrix printers were sent to junk piles many years ago, in fact I just saw a couple of Printronix printers that were being mothballed in leiu of a Planet Press solution for printing reports. 

Ah yes, copiers, the basic copy machine is no longer. That basic analog copy machine has transformed into a digital device that will scan, fax, print and copy in color. 

Change

Everything changes, change does not take a holiday nor does it stand still for very long.  All of those devices I mentioned from thirty years ago are history, and soon many of the devices that we use today will also be history.

A few days ago, I read an article titled "Ricoh face fraud allegations and “watershed” year."  I was intrigued by the fraud allegations and clicked the link, the fraud allegation was something I was already familiar with (was with Ricoh India), however what I was not familiar with was the downturn in profits from Ricoh.  Hey, it's not only Ricoh, it's all of the copier manufacturers that are facing much lower profits. In fact this article stated that Ricoh will have a 12% drop in profits for 2016, compared to a 4% drop for 2014-2015.  The article then went on to state that 3D printing may be the savior for the Golden Age of 3D printing.

OK, I get it, 3D printing, consumables, devices that need to be repaired, planned obsolescence are good things for manufacturers. 

2046

But, instead of looking back at 1986, and 2016, let's fast forward to 2046.  Technology is moving at light speed.

“There has been more technological improvement in the last 50 years than in the previous 5,000,” asserts Patrick Cox, co-editor of Technology Profits Confidential, our brand new research service.

Thus, could the next 30 years see technology multiply by 100 times?

If you're a fan of Moore's Law, then the answer is yes, and what happens when technology could increases a 1,000 times!

It's my bet that the likes of Canon, Ricoh and KonicaMinolta will still be around  in a BIG way.  For me, the most logically transformation of these giants will be robotics. It won't be copy machines!

For those of us that are science fictions buffs, we know that many of the ideas put forth from the minds of the authors will eventually come to fruition.  

Robotics can provide manufacturers with a planned obsolescence business model.  Similar to copy machines there will be a need for on-site repairs, replacement of worn parts, broken parts and software upgrades. 

So, could you look at today's digital copier and come to the conclusion that this device is indeed the first step in robotics?  I think so, because when looking at the definition of a robot their are two definitions from Webster:

: a real or imaginary machine that is controlled by a computer and is often made to look like a human or animal

:a machine that can do the work of a person and that works automatically or is controlled by a computer

Our first definition won't work, right? Now, the second definition does work, and here's the reason why.  Our digital copier is capable of routing documents, performing software enhancements to the documents with the aid of the computer that is in the copier.

Yes, it's a stretch, but isn't it a stretch with that silly robot (Rumba) that vacuums your floors?

It's pretty much a given that paper will disappear as a form of communication at some point in the future. When?  I don't have that answer, but when was the last time you watched a Sci-fi flick and saw a sheet of paper?  You don't.

I probably won't be around in 2046, however, this blog will be somewhere on the web (there will be a web right) and I wonder if my prognostication will come true.

The ideas and visions that we write about today will be the reality at some time in our future.

-=Good Selling=

Comments are always welcome!!!

Are we deciding or automatically reacting? I was at a stop sign the other day in the hot summer weather here in Nashville, and a thought emerged when I turned left; was that just a reaction to the commonality in my routine drive home, or did I actually decide to turn left? Every day we are presented with opportunities to make decisions. In reality, I think most of us are automatically reacting without really much thought - we just simply do what we make common.

So as I had these thoughts, I decided that for the next couple days I would strive to not react, but rather, decide. When I approached the stop sign again, I decided to go straight instead of right, and after two years of living in my neighborhood, I discovered a better route home. It was a little bit farther, but it had no stop signs and turned out to be quicker. This was an interesting concept to me; it made me stop and consider what else I have just automatically reacted to.

In business, everything revolves around improvement. When we expect no change, we will never invoke it. What if there were new discoveries in the way we conduct business, which were more beneficial – much like in the way I went straight instead of turning right when heading home.

“Too many times we stick to our guns as they say; we become unconsciously static in our decisions.”

After all, for most of us, saying we always do it this way seems safe. We believe that there are more important things to decide than thinking about how to change things up; things we are comfortable with. A few months back, I attended a trade show.  One of the topics was, of course, the importance of change - my how the old is forever new. I noticed at this three day event that every time the group met in the main venue, everyone kept sitting in the same seat – the same seat they sat in at the last meeting there. The other thing I noticed was everyone agreed wholeheartedly that change is the constant we all must embrace; except of course changing our seats.

We all know it’s not that we’re afraid we will meet someone new; it’s that we are unconsciously geared to remain at the status quo. This seems like such an easy thing to do. Next time you’re at a trade convention, do yourself a favor - sit somewhere different every day; who you meet and what you learn could be life changing. Think of this: if you have a struggle with something as simple as changing your seat, how could ever expect to change the hard stuff?

“You can’t walk a new path forward if you allow the old path to continue to get under your feet.”

What we believe is safe can be the most dangerous thing in front of us. Caution has its place when there are real reasons for caution, however it should not become the the title of our business plan, and when it’s more than just a small component of our plan.  We will be subconsciously telling ourselves ‘safe is better than sorry’; and that’s one of the biggest lies in life!

So the next time you are presented with an opportunity to decide something, take a second and really decide - don’t react.  You may not only save time driving home, you might discover something that was just outside your world. Improvement comes from change - it always has and always will, and change must be decided on. After all –“Status quo is the killer of all that will be invented.”

R.J. Stasieczko

The time is now to add more contacts to my database.  I use a box marketing approach to reach out to those accounts that I would like to do business with.

Thus, today I picked up a magazine that listed the Top Ten Engineering Firms in NJ.  My method of madness is to reach out to them in a variety of ways.  One of those ways is with LinkedIn. (email me if you want my box marketing approach art@p4photel.com)

Today, I use the free version of LinkedIn, if you asked why?  It's because I believe the pay version is too expensive for the value it provides, especially when you're educated on a few simple hacks.

HACKS

1) If you're a 3rd level contact of the contact, Linked in will provide a button for "send inmail",  clicking that button takes you to their purchase page for the premium service.  However, here's the hack, next to the "send inmail" is a down arrow button.  Clicking this down arrow button will then allow you to contact that person with a linkedin mail. You want to click the "connect" text link.

2)  Here's the options to contact them;

• Colleague
• Classmate
• We've done business together
• Friend
• Other
• I don't know Matthew

The selection that I pick is other. When you select other, you're then required to put in Matthews email address. Arrgghhh, what happens when you don't have that?  Here's the web/google hack for you. In the google address bar, type in the person's name and then the word email and surround in quote key. Thus your search will look like this "art post email".  Select the search button and you may be able to bring up that person's email address.

3) Find the clients web page, in many cases the email address will be on the contact page.  Works about half the time.

4) I've written about this hack many times.  If the email address is not on the contact page. Here's the hack, right click on the contact web page, select "view source".  You can then see the html of the page.  You then want to select ctrl f from your keyboard, you will then see a find box.  Type in the @ and then select the next button.  Winner, winner chicken dinner!  This hack works maybe every four out of five time.

5) Follow that person or their company, and then make sure you "like, share and comment" on some of their social media threads. Before too long they will check you out.

Bonus

Bonus) Ok, maybe not a hack, but give them a call, state to the receptionist that you need to send an email to that contact person.  In my case, when asked, "where are call from", I replied that I want to send that contact person a congratulations email.  This works.

One other item, customize your message to the contact, in this case all I stated was, congrats on your award for Top Ten Engineering Firms in NJ and I then added that I'm a vendor (for someone they know) and I'd like to connect with you.

I've just finished up my first ten and now moving to another ten.  Just think, there's only half the year left and those who prospect hard now will reap the rewards for October, November and December!!!

=-Good Selling=-

Twelve weeks of prospecting, traveling, and thinking out of the box has finally paid off. 

Woohoo! 

It's finally here, it's a half past five in the evening, everyone else has left the building, and I'm about to finish up processing the last order of the month, the quarter and year end!

Measured by our last month, our last quarter and our last year can get best of many sales people.  For me, the measuring is something I've gotten use to over the years.  Our quest for sales is not the race  of the hare, but more like the tortoise that has planned a steady and predictable outcome.  Yes, there are times when the tortoise is thrown a few up hill routes, however there's more than a few times that the tortoise picked up some speed with traveling down the hills.

After almost thirty sevens years of selling to SMB accounts in New Jersey, I've found that taking a day or maybe even two days (hope Tim is not reading this) of treating my self to something I enjoy doing is an awesome way to REWARD & re-charge for the next the quarter. 

Believe it or not one of those days can consist of going to work!!  Imagine that, going to work and using a day to re-charge.  What an awesome concept!  Just today, I used my time to re-organize, clean up some action items (we all have those non prospecting chores) and time to comprehend my funnel for the new month and quarter. 

One Hundred & Forty Four Quarters

Since I've been selling copiers for at least 144 quarters, there's been many days that have included fishing, gardening, binge watching TV, working on my web site, going to the track and my fav which is to do nothing.  Whether I hit my numbers or not, it's only four days a year, but those four personal days help me to mentally recharge and reward my self for busting my butt. 

Rewards and goals, you gotta have them, my goal is to hit my monthly and quarterly numbers, the reward can be the extra dough or more enticing can be the additional time off.  Now, there's another great concept, if you hit your numbers at the end of the quarter, not only do you get your bonuses, but you can get a day off and the day is not charged against your comp days!!!  I LIKE IT!

For most of us (P4P members), we understand that our job is not a nine to five job, if you want a 9-5 job, then go sling burgers.  We put in the extra hours to make the extra dough, and making the extra dough is what's kept me selling copiers for all of these years, along with doing my thing on The Day After The Last Selling Day of the Quarter.

-=Good Selling=-

When we think about innovation we don’t start this thinking process in understanding how something can be better we focus on why something should be better. The why it’s needed - is our driving force. So if this is true why is it that so many organization get stuck in the how? I believe it’s because the easiest way to procrastinate moving forward is by bogging down your drive with the madness of needing absolutes.

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

Things in our world move along with us, or without us. The challenge is being able to visualize what’s ahead or around the corner, or believing that somethings are perfect the way they are. Those who can take the power of their imagination, and funnel it towards being creative, will find themselves on the road to what I call “creation implementation”. Our imaginations only become valuable when what they describe is created.

In my life time there have been many technology advances. Some of these were short lived, and some have redefined how we live our lives. Many in the world continuously look at the failures over the years as their reasons to procrastinate bringing their imagination to the creativity stage. Those with curiosity look at what has failed as merely the first try towards something better. They see the failure as a tool, they see a beginning to what their imagination can recreate.

Innovation and time will continue changing the landscape and some of these changes will affect the how we do things. However the why we do things will always be the birth place of something new. The current and future consumers of our goods determine why they use them. Those pioneering a new way bet on the importance and acceptance of what they deliver. They have a clear understanding of why what they do or provide will benefit its participants. Once they begin their quest they perfect the process and the deliverable to match the why it’s needed. Why is an emotional based quest, and how is a perception of facts which may highjack the moving forward phase of developing the new way. Nothing can be perfect until it’s perfected. Perfection is a result of continuous observation and reaction to what’s observed. The why something needs improvement will provide the pioneer directions. The how it will be done should follow those directions not the other way around.

“Creativity is the language of your imagination”   

   R.J. Stasieczko