MFP Copier Blog

If you take a peek at some of the threads below, you will see that many of the threads were related to wide format.  In another thread there were some references to the Seri Duplicator that used a separate device to cure the ink of the duplicator, this was necessary so that the ink would not wipe off of gloss stocks.  Just recently I came across the need for this device with a pharmaceutical firm.  Believe it or not, I called my contact in Europe and these devices and the ink are still available.  It's just the cost of getting the system here on a one off basis. 

Re: Customers Recapturing costs

Last week I reached out to our friends from DocuWare for part three of this five part series about business workflow. 

Optimize document-based company processes by defining clear rules with DocuWare Workflow Manager.

This DocuWare module employs a high-performance graphical user interface enabling you to easily create and edit workflows. There is no need to pay for programming: develop simple to highly complex processes by using easy to recognize symbols. You assign employees and tasks, and define substitution rules in case of employee absence. You also determine which event should set a workflow in motion. With escalation and reminder management, businesses keep moving forward.

• Track all processes in the workflow sequence.
• Depending on which kind of document is stored, this may trigger another workflow, for example the invoice workflow in the case of an incoming invoice.
• Clear guidelines tell the employee what to do in a specific task. Every employee has their own task list to work with and supervisors have transparency.
• Determine the conditions for forwarding documents or for actions that must be executed before or after a deadline passes.

DocuWare customers from large enterprise installations to medium sized offices and departments can now experience the benefits of a customized workflow-one that mimics their paper processes. Digital documents, email, and scanned paperwork, are now securely managed and day to day operations proceed at a faster pace—saving time, paper and money.

An Authorized DocuWare reseller is the best resource for the installation of this product and specialized programming skills are not a requirement for the customer.

-=Good Selling=-

As an Managed Print or Managed IT Services Dealer providing MPS you have noticed that the times are changing. There is an all-out war for the management of printers, pages and other network assets such as desktops and servers. Margins on traditional billing models are under pressure. What is a Managed Print or Managed IT Services provider to do? Change the game by billing by seat instead of by page or individual network element.

Here are the top 5 advantages to PSB over traditional Cost Per Page (CPP) billing:

#1: PROTECTION: Page volumes are declining

#2: SIMPLIFICATION: Your business bills by PSB for Managed IT Services

#3: ALIGNMENT: PSB aligns you better with your customers’ needs

#4: PROFITABILITY: Adding solution software revenue is extremely profitable

#5: STICKINESS: Customers are using software to streamline all kinds of workflows

Need help getting your head around how to build a profitable PSB practice? Print Audit has created a variety of tools to help implement PSB billing in your business. Of course you could come up with your own as well. Things you'll want to consider:

PSB Calculator: We have developed a calculator to help you ensure profitable PSB contracts.

PSB Assessment Tools: Conducting a thorough user and document based assessment will be critical as you build your PSB offering.

PSB Contract Modeling: We have sample contracts to ensure you understand how to protect yourself against the risk of increased color printing and additional users.

PSB Print Governance Tools: Print Audit has 15 years of user and document based print governance experience! Our toolsets are designed to ensure your PSB practice is fully within your control!___________________________________________________________

About the author: West McDonald is the VP of Business Development for Print Audit (www.printaudit.com) and the owner of FocusMPS (www.focusmps.com).

For virtually every healthcare provider or relevant business, the most important word in the IT lexicon has been "data" for several years now. Back in 1996, the attempts of the government to dramatically increase the accessibility and security of data became clear through the enactment of the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act, and this marked the beginning of what would become a persistent effort to improve population care.

In 2009, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act sought to comprehensively digitize patient data and force providers to achieve meaningful use of electronic health records in a relatively short period of time. Finally, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, passed in 2010 and upheld this year, put a new angle on the ways in which medical firms make use of their data through demands to minimize hospital re-admissions and improve preventative care.

All of this has put the onus on data management, while some of the trends that have surfaced in the IT sector more recently - specifically mobility, the Internet of Things and advanced analytics - have further pushed medical firms in a more digital direction. Data is being generated, stored, shared and analyzed through a wider variety of endpoints and a higher volume of users than ever before, and managing it properly is no easy task.

In health care, compliance and security must be the top priorities, but they cannot be the only ones. Rather, medical firms must ensure that they are building analytics strategies, maximizing the insights they pull from data and maintaining high levels of accessibility all at once. The use of secure cloud and other managed services can help to dramatically improve a healthcare provider's ability to at once protect and capitalize on its data to the fullest extent.

Analytics struggles
Now, with respect to intelligence solutions, these technologies combined with sound data management can help to improve compliance and security in healthcare, along with other improvements to operational performance. However, while the solutions are indeed gaining in popularity, many firms are struggling to truly realize the maximum value of big data.

Advisory firm KPMG recently released the results of its latest survey on the international community's use of analytics, and found that monetization of and confidence in the insights garnered are lagging. The report found that 97 percent of organizations are using big data for one purpose or more, and more than two-thirds believe that they have achieved significant reductions in risk levels by leveraging the technology.

Another positive note was that 80 percent or more of the survey group have experienced more speedy and accurate decision-making capabilities as a result of the deployments. However, KPMG found that the vast majority are not "very satisfied" with the technology thus far, 58 percent are not properly analyzing the results of analytics projects and 86 percent are lacking the talent necessary to get the job done.

"As maturity increases, we have seen a corresponding increase in the complexity of the analytics being undertaken," Anthony Coops of the firm's Australia operation affirmed. "Recurring themes are emerging, such as the increasing use of multiple data sources, breaking down silos within the organization, the growing use of more sophisticated techniques in innovative areas of the business, and an improvement in the quality and repeatability of the solutions being implemented."

With respect to the most common purposes of analytics strategies, KPMG found that 97 percent are using the solutions for risk management, 80 percent target research and development and 77 percent leverage the tools to handle financial audits. More intelligent decision-making can directly translate to stronger financial and operational performances, along with reduced risk and tighter compliance with federal statutes.

The rising tide
Health care providers are going to be more poorly positioned to oblige regulations, maintain optimal security and continuously improve performances without the help of analytics as time goes on. This is likely why so few medical firms are balking at the technology today, as a report from Markets and Markets estimated the total global spend on health care analytics toreach $5.8 billion this year.

That is just the tip of the iceberg. The analysts forecast the market for these solutions to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 26.5 percent through the next five year, hitting annual global revenues of $18.7 billion at that time. Considering how quickly every factor of health care IT management is evolving, including compliance, cybersecurity, patient care, innovation and more, it should be clear why intelligence solutions are increasingly necessary to excel.
Secure cloud, email encryption and other managed services can go a long way toward bolstering the overall performance of medical firms, especially when they are provided by a trusted vendor that has the experience necessary to get the job done.

Much of the content that I use for my blogs comes from the daily grind of selling hardware & software. There will be days when I hear something unique, have a conversation with a client or a spark if imagination that will cause me to write.

Actually, yesterday was one of those days.  Our VP of Major Accounts came over to my humble abode of 24 square feet and asked me about an he email he had received from a potential new client.  The email kinda went like this.

"Sorry, been out for a couple of days, however I wanted to reach out to you. What would be the timeline that we could get installation of the systems once we sign the documents?"

Trying to read between the lines, our VP explained that it seemed the client was ready to move forward (or maybe they were not) with that email and he was now in a quandary whether to offer some additional funds from the manufacturer and that he was able to encumber.   Meaning, should he not give the funds and save them for a rainy day, or still give the funds to move to closure.

I offered up that if it were me and I had been able to garner anything additional for a client that I would pass it along with a covenant to move the order to closure. Not only would I be able to deliver the answer to question that was asked, but I would be able to put the icing on the cake with the additional funds.

Back in the day, we had two basic methods of communication, the phone conversation and the in person conversation. Tones of voice, the occasional mannerism helped both parties in communicating their stance and or point of view.

More now than ever, I find my self trying to read between the lines of voice mail messages, and emails.   With voice mails I can get hear the tone of the message which will offer some help, but with email, there's basically nothing but a bunch of words that are begging you to decipher what the content really means.

I can't help myself and I find my self thinking about those received emails, ok this sentence means this but the next sentence contradicts the first and the last sentence leads me back to my first thought.  It would not be as bad if clients and or prospects would communicate the old fashioned way with in person appointments or by phone. 

One of my fears in the not too distant future is that many of those phone conversations and in person conversations will go away. I have this bad feeling that more and more people only want to communicate via email, text and social media. Why is that? Do they really want to hide?  Is that just a Generation Y thing because they were weaned on computers, Xboxes and cell phones? Is that the way they want to communicate with others?  Could it be I'm a Baby Boomer in a Gen Y world and I just don't get it?

I kinda went off on a tangent, but my point is that I think we all tend to try and read through the lines too much.  There's nothing better that a good ole phone conversation and or an in person conversation.  Thus, when it doubt, make that phone call, but maybe think twice about leaving a voice mail or sending another email.

-=Good Selling=-

Masterpiece Graphix (St. Louis, MO), a leading manufacturer of digital printing media, has announced that more of its products have been tested and confirmed for use on Ricoh and Konica Minolta digital printing presses. Masterpiece Graphix .010 Synthetic Paper and .010 Matte White PVC substrates are now tested and confirmed for use on Konica Minolta Bizhub Press high-speed digital colour production printers. Both are now included in the Konica Minolta Substrate Throughput Assurance Guide. In addition, Masterpiece Graphix .015 Matte/Matte White PVC, LuXe 12 pt. Soft Touch White, and .012 Synthetic Paper substrates are now certified for use on the RicohH Pro C7100 Series and Rocoh’s C9100 Series Cutsheet Production Printers. These substrates will be included in the next update of the Ricoh Paper Library. Masterpiece added that the products provide printers with an economical and durable alternative to paper and polyester. more here

Hey, here's a good question for you.  Do any of us carry around demo originals anymore?  I can't remember that last time I even looked for one.  Back in the day, if you didn't carry demo originals with you were probably not selling much.  When it came to copying documents from the glass, I used to ask the customer for their originals instead of using mine.  Great for the demo, because they got to see real time quality of their copies. 

NEW XEROX DIGITAL COPIER-PRINTER BRIDGES

“Help others and give something back. I guarantee you will discover that while public service improves the lives and the world around you, its greatest reward is the enrichment and new meaning it will bring your own life.” (Arnold Schwarzenegger)

Acronyms are used across every industry and throughout all walks of life. Texting and instant messaging has given rise to a whole new series of acronyms. 

Acronyms and buzzwords are riddled throughout the sales community. As a recovering copier sales rep, I have had countless dreams and or nightmares:

1. ABC - Always be Closing
2. CTA - Call to Action
3. ABP - Always be Prospecting
4. AFTO - Ask for the Order
5. BANT - Budget, Authority, Need, Timing

One acronym which will stand the test of time... A.B.H. Always be Helping.

Often times, I refer to Michael Jackson, as he provided so much inspiration to people all around the world. His music will stand the generations of time but his devotion to helping others will live on.

Salespeople today need to be following an entire new mantra. I encourage you to "Always be Helping" as it is easy as...

A B C

It’s easy as, 1 2 3

As simple as, do re me

A B C, 1 2 3

Baby, you and me girl

As sales professional's we must always be looking for opportunities to close business and drive revenue, however; without building relationships based on helping to solve problems and challenges then closing becomes very difficult.

Reflecting back on my sales journey, I realize my past and present successes have been built based on the relationships I have fostered. Relationships both personal and business have led to the term, "relationship economy". Relationships are the new social currency.

Sales professionals, I challenge you to peel back your sales funnels. With an honest and open mind ask yourself, "How well do I know at least 4-6 people inside these accounts?" "Am I helping them solve their business problems or challenges?"

It is the relationships you build with your peers, successful sales professionals, your prospects and more importantly your clients that will propel your success inside this new economic sales world.

For me it all starts with an ALWAYS BE HELPING mindset.

A few simple steps:

Focus on Authenticity and your Genuine Self

Relationships are built based on trust. People can spot B.S. and insincerity from miles away. Without authenticity in your relationships, your clients and potential clients aren't going to trust you.

Start Building your Brand on Social Media

As a sales professional start leveraging the power of LinkedIn and Twitter to connect and build relationships with your prospects and clients. Your online presence may be the first impression you make thus make it a good one. Perception is reality. How people perceive you online is their reality.

Stop Selling

I know this will be a hard pill to swallow. Your clients and prospects do not want to be sold. They are starving for someone to help them solve their business problems and challenges. If you can effectively create alignment, solving their issues, not only will they buy from you but they will also spread the word within their network of friends.

Always be Helping within the Community

Get involved in the community you live in or within the sales community you sell in. I can't think of a more rewarding experience than lending a helping hand. Get involved and get active. By giving back I have gained so much in return. My motto, "Offer to help without expecting anything in return." My personal commitment to helping has led me to become active with my local Elks Lodge, Kiwanis Group and Senior Concerns; where I deliver food to home-bound seniors. My commitment to service led me to being awarded "Kiwanian of the Year, 2015" within my local community.

These community service experiences have led to many great personal and business friendships. Attention to all sales professionals, a great way to connect with business executives is through your commitment to Philanthropy.

The great Martin Luther King, Jr:

"Everybody can be great because everybody can serve"

May the relationships you build become the bridges to your success!

Good luck and Good Selling!

V.P. of Sales and Sales Managers, I am here to be of help. My commitment is to help your team win. If you would like my Sales Managers Guide to LinkedIn, please send me an email to llevine@dealermarketing.net" rel="nofollow">llevine@dealermarketing.net

If you enjoyed this post please share your comments. Lets connect and start a conversation. You can send me a personalized invitation through my LinkedIn profile

If you enjoyed reading please check out more at the Social Sales Academy blog site as well as at Dealer Marketing

Please enjoy my other posts on LinkedIn Publisher and on SlideShare

I enjoy sharing my LinkedIn stories. Integrating the use of LinkedIn was my “game-changer” in the highly competitive copier world. 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, at the Social Sales Academy or at Dealer Marketing 

First, let me state that I'm not whining or crying that someone built a better mouse trap when it comes to selling copiers on the web. They have honed the skills of SEO and web development so well, that when you're on the site you are greeted with an instant message with "How can I help".

However, what is the sense of being ordained an Authorized Dealer for any of the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturers) when they do nothing to protect your business and your territory?

Just today, one of our newbies lost a deal for a new copier to a web site that sells copiers.  The cost was so low, that he could not compete. In recent months, I've lost two opportunities for two new copiers with other web sites that sell copiers on-line.  We all know and understand the pitfalls from ordering copiers on line, right?

Pitfalls of Buying Copier on-line

• Who will service the system
• Who will honor the warranty
• Who will unbox, install and the set the system(s) up
• Who will they call when they have a question
• Who will support the Fiery
• What happens if the equipment is damaged
• Was the system updated with the latest firmware updates

The list an goes on and on..........

I understand that I can't sell everyone and not everyone wants to buy from me.  There are clients that are willing to pay for peace of mind, excellent support, along with fast and courteous service.  Then there are those that just want the lowest price and I'm OK with that.

What I'm not OK with, is that these web sites are stating the purchase price of these copiers. In most cases the prices are less than my cost or a few hundred more.  It comes down to perception, Buyer 2.0 checks prices, heck I check pricing and then weigh my options to decide who I will buy from. However, when someone shops a price on-line and they want to do business with you, they will expect to pay more, because of the service and support that you, we offer.

How much more would the client pay?

Would the client pay you $3,000 more for the same system? How about $1,500 more?  Point of the matter is that once they potential client views the price on-line, the client already has perceived that price as a base line for what they might pay for the system.   The potential client does not understand that this company has no staff, no payroll, and no technical department.  Don't get me wrong, I can win my fair share of business from anyone, but I can't make a living with selling systems for a few hundred bucks over my cost.

Authorized or Not Authorized

One particular company called "XYZ Company" has a business address of 310 Park Lakewood, NJ.  That address on shows on Google maps as a townhouse in a residential area, and I would be dollars to doughnuts there are no copiers being shipped or housed at that location.  In addition, since I resell Ricoh, I know that they are not a Ricoh dealer, yet they are selling Ricoh to anyone anywhere in the US.  In addition "XYZ Company" is also are reselling Toshiba, KonicaMinolta, Canon & Sharp copiers.  In a recent chat on the web with the owner, when pressured the owner would not state that they were an Authorized Dealer for any OEM.  Does this not alarm you?

Years ago, manufacturers protected dealers with Authorized Territories (meaning you could not sell outside of you Authorized Geographical area).  If you were a constant breaker of the rules you could end up losing your Authorization.  In addition, the OEM's frowned heavily on "skating" copiers.  Which meant you could not sell they systems you bought to a non-authorized dealer.  I knew of dealers that would grind down the serial number on the copier, thus reducing their risk of getting caught.

How Can OEMS Help Dealers?

There are many ways that OEMS can exercise pressure. OEM's have deep pockets and if the dealer channel is something they covet, then they could implore some of these strategies:

• An OEM needs to buy a copier from one of the sites, check the serial number of the system and see what dealer is skating the unit and come down hard on them.  Cut the head off of the snake!
• Most of the pictures that I see on those web sites come from the OEMs, thus they are copyrighted.  Send a letter, or even threaten a law suit to have them removed
• Most of the verbiage on these sites are copied from the OEM site, thus another copyright infringement

Who's to Blame?

I hate to admit it, but it's some low life dealers that put greed ahead of ethics. I would even state that there are probably a few Dealer Reps of the OEM's that know what's happening, however they won't squeal because it hurts their wallet.

What Can We Do?

You need to speak up!  Speak to your Sales Manager, VP of Sales, Dealer Principals, your OEM District Sales Manager. If we don't speak up and create a stir nothing will happen, and in six months instead of finding a handful of these companies on the web there will be twenty of them.  Is this the competition that we want,  we're in direct competition with some unethical Dealer Principals skating machines to make a few dollars on the box so he or she can go on their dealer trip!

Here's a few links for everyone, please I urge you to pass this blog on to your DSM, your Sales Manager, your Dealer Principal.

Direct Source, Copyfaxes, Zap Copiers

-=Good Selling=-

Ten years ago, duplicators were still relevant.  Today, not so much, I think I sold two of them this year.  Enjoy these threads from ten years ago on the p4photel forums!

Re: Riso MZ790 info

It's my pleasure to introduce our first quest blogger for "What is Workflow?"  Doug Gruver has been doing this Document Management/Workflow longer than I've been doing copiers.  For me, Doug is my "go to" guru.  Enjoy!

Wikipedia has several definitions of “workflow” – look it up.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workflow

Workflow Management is the sub-definition that best describes what we in the it/content management business call workflow. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...ow_management_system

Workflow Management - an infrastructure for the set-up, performance and monitoring of a defined sequence of tasks, arranged as a workflow.

I have personally implement well over 100 document imaging/content management systems over the last twenty years.   I can count on one hand how many of these implementations had any form of workflow, based on my definition: electronic forms, electronic signatures, integration with LOB (Line of Business) applications, systematic routing (typically using email) of electronic documents with attachments, thru a structured process based on the response given at each step of the process.

My first workflow experience was attempted in 1995 with a product created by Keyfile Corporation called Keyflow. The workflow as designed to take incoming orders (fax or email) and route them to the appropriate individual(s) for processing based on the 1) product ordered and 2) features included with the product. It had many steps and numerous decisions at each step. We were attempting to replace the human decision process with code/logic. We were developing the workflow to help our client improve process, decrease ordering time, eliminate human error, document the process (know where an order was at all time – not lost on a paper pile on someone’s desk) and to reduce costs (staff).   Great idea, but it bombed.   To meet the needs and make it work, the workflow application required massive coding (visual basic) between and at every step. The system was slow and cumbersome and we never got it finished.   We pulled the plug before going live.   What an experience – awful.

Since that time and bad experience I have treaded cautiously with workflow.   Since my preferred content management product since 2001 has been SharePoint, I have tried to stick with what Microsoft has included within their releases (2001, 2001, 2007, 2010, 2013). While Microsoft included rudimentary workflow within SharePoint there are third party companies who have more expansive offering to work with SharePoint (Nintex and K2).   While the capabilities have come a long way in the last 20 years, most companies that I deal with (small business) have been slow to catch on.

Future – I hope so. It makes a lot of sense.   So does scanning all documents (which we have had the capability of doing for over 20 years). How many companies are scanning and storing documents electronically vs. filing paper in file cabinets? Backup/Disaster Recovery needs to include data and paper files. If a companies records are destroys, how many can restart their business without their data AND paper files?   Companies backup their computer systems daily and do nothing with the paper files that are equally important to survival. While workflow is nice and provides a ton of business benefits, scanning and storing or important information in an easy accessible database i.e. SharePoint needs to be done first.

Doug Gruver, Consultant – Wyomissing, PA

Links:

What is Business Workflow? Part One

Workflow has been on my mind a lot in recent months.  In order to remain current and successful in this industry I need to step it up a bit and be looking for additional workflow opportunities.

What is workflow?  It's my guess that we'll see many different definitions of workflow from the different guest bloggers I have lined up.  For me, workflow means that I can shorten a manual business process, which would then save the client hours of labor. In addition, the client may benefit from improved customer service to their customers.

For one of my clients it was the ability to scan documents, and extract data in a certain area of the form and then move that data so that it would populate in SharePoint list.   Previously the client was scanning the documents in order to save them to a folder and then manually extracting the data from that form and then keying that data into an excel spreadsheet.   The time savings by creating this new workflow was tremendous. 

During the next 30 days, I'll be reaching out to some of my contacts and ask to them to provide us with a guest blog about workflow. As of right know there will be a five part series for Workflow.

Stay tuned, I'm thinking we'll enjoy these immensely.  Blogs will posted for 24 hours for FREE and will then convert to Premium/VIP Blogs, please let me know if you are interested in obtaining a Premium/VIP Membership. arthurkpost@gmail.com

-=Good Selling=-

"A workflow consists of an orchestrated and repeatable pattern of business activity enabled by the systematic organization of resources into processes that transform materials, provide services, or process information. It can be depicted as a sequence of operations, declared as work of a person or group, an organization of staff, or one or more simple or complex mechanisms."

en.wikipedia.org