MFP Copier Blog

Imagine one of your sales reps receiving an invitation to a prestigious gathering of local c-level decision makers. In this day-long conference, the executives would be sharing their best thinking on how to improve their businesses. Throughout the day there would be networking breaks where your rep could get to know these top-level decision makers. This would be a fantastic opportunity!

Now imagine that during one of the networking breaks your sales rep stands up on a chair, and shouts to the noisy room: “Excuse me, can I have your attention please!” The noise of the crowd dulls to an awkward silence as eyes turn toward your sales person standing high above the crowd on his chair. “I just want everyone to know that I work for ABC Dealership and we are at the end of our fiscal year. We have a lot of specials and this is a great time to buy a copier!”

How would that go over? No doubt, it would submarine the credibility of the sales person. It would also harm the reputation of his employer.

You would never let a sales rep do this at a live event. Yet this goes on every day on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn Pulse

Recently, LinkedIn launched the ability to write long-form posts—you’re reading one right now! This feature offers professionals the opportunity to go beyond a short update and share their ideas like they would on a blog. Every time you write a post the article not only shows up in your connections’ stream of updates, it also shows up as an alert at the top right of the screen.

Here's the problem. A few sales reps are starting to abuse long-form posts. Similar to the rep standing on their chair at the networking event, these reps are using a platform that was intended to share ideas to shout out their latest specials. This is a fast way to destroy your reputation on LinkedIn. 

Reputation-Destroying Examples

To prove my point, I offer two examples from my LinkedIn stream in the past 24 hours. These posts are 100% guaranteed to get followers to tune out. They also position the individual as a shark-in-a-suit rather than as a thought leader that a decision makers would want to follow.

Note: I’ve redacted the names to protect the guilty parties. These are just ones that I've seen in the last day. I could have picked dozens of these examples from the past month.

Exhibit A: The End of Year Special!

As a recovering copier sales rep, I know, I know, I know... It is almost irresistible to blast something like this out in as many places as possible. Please resist the urge. Here's the problem with this: it gets you tuned out. You severely damage your ability to use LinkedIn going forward to connect with decision makers.

Exhibit B: Summer Sizzler

How annoying. In the middle of my breakfast habit of reading helpful articles from thought leaders that I respect, I get this annoying promo for discount travel. Notice this "article" has 40 views, 0 likes and 0 comments. It also caused me to unfollow this annoying person.

What Not to Post on LinkedIn Pulse

Here are some things not to post on LinkedIn Pulse and a few ideas that sales people can use to accomplish their sales goals while also positioning themselves as experts.

1. Specials Don't be the person talking about specials. If you can't resist talking about your specials, try this instead: Write a helpful article about how companies can use multifunction systems to scan documents into their workflow. Then, at the end of the article, put a link to a page on your website about multifunction systems that includes information on current promotions. Or, ask a question to spur conversation in the comments section. You'll be sharing helpful information that positions you as an expert. Then you'll draw people into your website and/or a conversation.
2. Event Announcements LinkedIn is a great way to promote events. Put the event on your company page. Promote your event with regular "short" updates. But don't use LinkedIn Pulse to promote your event. If you want to use LinkedIn Pulse to promote an event here is a tasteful way to do this. Write an article about a topic you'll address in the event. Then at the end of the article, tell the reader they can learn more at the event. Here's an example: Growth Opportunities in the Green Market

What Should Reps Post On LinkedIn Pulse?

1. Helpful Ideas When you get a good idea about how the technology you sell could be helpful to a business, write a LinkedIn Pulse article. It doesn't have to be long. Just share the idea. It will position you as an expert.
2. Answers to Questions All day long you get asked questions about technology. Many times, you answer these in an email. With a little bit of editing, you can transition that email into a great LinkedIn Pulse post.
3. Your Philosophy of Business Write articles that explain your philosophy of business. Our LinkedIn Coach, Larry Levine does a great job of this. Follow him to get some examples.

Please Don't Salt the Earth

LinkedIn as a fantastic way to position yourself as a professional in the community of business leaders. Please do not salt the earth by being that sales person standing on a chair shouting out details of the latest promotion.

1. It hurts your reputation.
2. It hurts the reputation of the company you work for.
3. And, if enough people continue doing this, over time, decision makers will tune out LinkedIn. (That would be a real shame!)

Let's encourage our sales teams to use LinkedIn Pulse in the way it was intended: a place to share ideas, position ourselves as experts and start meaningful conversations with potential clients. 

Note from Art:  Reposted from LinkedIn with permission of Darrell Amy, check out Dealer Marketing, they have been an awesome supported of the Print4Pay Hotel.

-=Good Selling=-

Many years ago, you couldn't buy a copy machine with an automatic document feeder. It was, as I called it, "one on and one off", meaning you could only place one document at a time of the glass platen.  What a drag that was, right?

Back in the day, there were no automatic document feeders, just a platen (glass table) that you would place the original on, and then make the copy of the document.

It was not until a few weeks ago that I was prompted by a client to investigate a Contex HDiFLEX scanner.  The HDiFLEX is not your ordinary color scanner, in my opinion it's a throw back to old analog copier days but with really awesome scan technology. 

The Contex HDiFLEX, the system has a stationary platen that allows you to place a document as large as 18 x 24.  The 18 x 24 inch platen comes in handy for the color scanning of marked up check plots (12x18). In addition the HDiFLEX will also scan a 24 x36" maximum image with multiple scans.  Contex includes scanning software that can enable a "stitching" of the 24x36" inch document.  Basically, you're scanning one half of the document on the first scan and then the other half with the second scan.  The final scan is one 24x36" document.  Thus, you don't need to invest in a 36 inch wide scanner, as long as you don't have a bulk requirement for 24x36" scans.

I was also pretty fascinated that the HDiFLEX has the ability to scan informational carvings, fabric and structured surfaces.  Contex touts that they have a unique LED technology that will control how structured surfaces are illuminated and captured.  Just the other day, I had one of my accounts give me a call to schedule an appointment on the HDiFlex,  and the main feature wanted the need to know more about the high resolution scanning of shapes. 

I've never had the thought to scan a flower/plant, but why not?  Why can't graphic designers scan a seashell, a stone, a fossil or a pompamora pebble?  Thus, they would have the ability to incorporate these earth made items into creative graphics!

One additional item to note is the HDiFLEX ability to be a book scanner.  Since there is a non moving platen glass, you have the ability to set the book, and flip the pages.  There's also a handy counter that will count the pages for you as you scan.

Having a niche type products in your arsenal such as the Contex HDiFLEX can help increase your margins, and increase your sales.  What I've also so noticed is that those type companies that have a need for niche type products such as the HDiFLEX also value IT services.

There's quite a bit more to the Contex HDiFLEX, thus if you're like me and need to know more, please follow this link. If you need expert help please contact my friends at National Azon.

-=Good Selling-=

Fifteen stinking dollars!  That was all it took for me to get in on a $24K opportunity!

If you're a P4P'er (Print4Pay Hotel) member, you're aware that once a week (Sunday nights, except in the summer), I send an update of the past weeks threads on the Print4Pay Hotel.  For those that read carefully, you'll see that I use Constant Contact to deliver those emails in a neat format where I can add pictures, links and some content.

Over the years I can't tell you how many existing accounts I revisited and found out that they had purchased additional printers, and or scanners, and I wasn't included in that conversation of procurement.  In addition to witnessing the additional hardware placements, I was not able to keep up with all of the technology solutions that we offered with my existing accounts. It became more of "thank you for your order", and I was off to the next opportunity. But, I knew I was losing opportunities because I was not in front of all of my accounts on a regular basis.   

Thus, the question was how to keep my existing accounts informed and stay in front of them on a regular basis. Phone calls was not an option, since I have too many of them to make already, mailers is an option, however, I was already doing 20 of these a month to net new prospects. The thought of adding a few hundred per month was sheer torture!  Emailing, ok that would work somewhat, but I didn't have the skills to develop something from scratch in MS Outlook.

That's when it dawned on me to use my constant contact account that I use for the Print4Pay Hotel.  Brilliant! 

With Constant Contact I was able to create a separate address book for existing accounts. I started off with forty-five accounts, and made sure I called each account in advance to tell them I has developed an email newsletter that was focused on technology and business process improvement. I stated I would only send one per month and needed their approval (one of constant contacts covenants when sending emails). I was pleasantly surprised that all of the accounts agreed to receive the newsletter.

Thus, with Constant Contact you can subscribe to the monthly service for $15 per month, which allows you to send to 500 email addresses.  They have easy to use templates, and the ability to add pictures, links, and much more.  Within a couple of hours I had first template set up for my first email campaign.  I've only done two of these so far, the second one took about an hour because I had to find some content that I thought would resonate with a broad base of accounts.

About three weeks after sending my first email campaign, I had a call from an existing client to schedule an appointment in reference to Contex scanners.  The account was actually interested in two high end Contex scanners that total the 24K in revenue.  During our meeting,  the DM stated, "I read somewhere that you have the Contex scanners", at the time I didn't give it a second thought,  After leaving the appointment, I was curious about how the DM knew that.  After checking,  the client was in my Constant Contact address book and yes of the articles I led with was about Contex scanners!

I may have gotten lucky, but we all know the saying, "the harder you work, the luckier you get".  Next week I'll be sending out number three and I'll bet that I keep on getting luckier an luckier.

If you have the time and the $15, Constant Contact is a great way to "do it yourself", instead of waiting for someone else to do it for you.

-=Good Selling=-

All I wanted was a headset for my laptop so why did I mind-screw it for 30 minutes. After pulling my head out of…… well you know where and 30 minutes later I bought a $35 headset.

Laughing internally this had me thinking….. Not only did I ask for feedback from my friends, I also spent the time reviewing headsets online; what vendor, the price ranges and yes even online reviews.

For goodness sakes, a headset, a $35 headset!

Industry gurus across the Office Automation (Copier) world are educating the masses on Buyer 2.0.

As a recovering copier sales rep this had me thinking….. What I just put myself through, I have Buyer 2.0 traits.

Buyer 2.0 is empowered with information, pressed for time, socially connected and afraid of making a bad decision. Buyer 2.0 self-educates themselves on Google to obtain answers to problems and challenges they may have. In some cases, they may never engage a sales professional.

Buyers are in control of when and how they access information during the sales process. According to Sales Benchmark index, “Today, buyers are 69% of the way through their journey before they contact a salesperson.”

Why is this and what does it mean to sales professionals today?

Lets take off our business professional hats and throw on our personal hats. How we personally start our buying process closely mirrors that of Buyer 2.0.

Here lies the disconnect, if the executive buyer is 69% of the way through their journey before they contact a salesperson, then as sales professionals we must place and position ourselves in the world they are now living in. As sales professionals, adapting to social selling platforms such as LinkedIn allow access and to gain the attention of the new buyer in a competitive market.

How you position yourself online and your ability to capture the attention of Buyer 2.0 is critical in building your digital first impression.

Here are 9 ways you can become a LinkedIn pro while speaking to Buyer 2.0

1. Build Your Profile
Build a strong online reputation that showcases your business and professional story. Become top of mind by sharing content tied to your professional identity

2. Develop Your Network
Build your network by developing relationships with people who can share information and provide referrals

3. Gather Insights
Actively listen to what your prospects are sharing on LinkedIn. This is an opportunity get firsthand thoughts, concerns and opinions from your audience.

4. Preparation
Gather intelligence by researching social information to prepare for sales conversations

5. Contribute Insights 
Offer insights by providing relevant information that earn the opportunity to engage with and influence contacts

6. Use Social Solutions
Gain a competitive advantage via leveraging social platforms to engage, nurture and turn contacts into warm prospects

7. Incorporate LinkedIn pulse for interesting articles to share
Allows you to share your personally developed content through blogging to immediately reach your targeted audience

8. Engage with updates of prospects and clients
Kick start conversations to generate top of mind awareness

9. Participate in interesting discussions within the groups you follow
Focus on bringing people together who can benefit from sharing mutual interests and insight. This is a great way to build influence and new connections.

To think... I went through all of this and all I wanted was a $35 headset.

If you enjoyed this post 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 Dealer Marketing blog site

Check out some of my other posts on LinkedIn Publisher and on SlideShare

I enjoy sharing my LinkedIn stories. 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,www.dealermarketing.net/what-we-do/linkedin andwww.dealermarketing.net

IT security has been - and should be - the central focus for corporate decision-makers in virtually every segment of the private and public sectors today, as the rate of these events and the size of subsequent damages have both skyrocketed. Several studies have indicated that boardroom leaders are indeed becoming a bit more serious when it comes to security, which is the first step in the right direction, but the tide must continue to move along this path for a while to make any difference at all.

One such report found that companies are reaching a greater level of maturity within their decision-making processes related to information governance and security.

"Increasing awareness of the impact of digital business risks, coupled with high levels of publicity regarding cybersecurity incidents, are making IT risk a board-level issue," Gartner Fellow and Vice President Tom Scholtz explained. "Seventy-one percent of respondents indicated that IT risk management data influences decisions at a board level. This also reflects an increasing focus on dealing with IT risk as a part of corporate governance."

Other studies have shown that companies are putting their money where their mouths are, planning on putting a bit more budget into fortifications moving forward than in the past. For example, International Data Corporation released a forecast toward the end of 2014 that predicted larger enterprises will spend more on security intelligence to ensure that their decision-making in these areas is on point.

In addition to the rising rate of cybercrime, other trends are forcing organizations to get their houses in order with respect to security and governance.

Here are four trends that are really testing the average company's security prowess, all of which are becoming requirements of doing business in the modern era:

1. Enterprise mobility
Smartphones, tablets and applications have been some of the more common focuses of security professionals for years now, and the trend of BYOD and general mobility reached a plateau of adoption more recently. Companies that do not have mobility strategies in place will be likely to struggle to keep pace with competition and client demands, while employees increasingly demand the ability to handle their responsibilities through these devices.

Rogue IT, lost or stolen devices containing sensitive information and malware are just a few of the more challenging security threats involved in mobility, all of which must be faced head-on and in stride to avoid a major breach.

2. The Internet of Things
A slightly younger but just as pervasive trend in corporate computing, the Internet of Things is making its way into several sectors, including health care and financial services, with increasing speed. In this particular movement, organizations that do not have a strong handle on their internal data management procedures, network controls and user authentication will almost certainly struggle to keep information and systems safe.

Put simply, the IoT is similar to enterprise mobility, but comes with a dramatically higher volume of endpoints, operating systems, apps and management demands.

3. Cloud computing
Cloud services can indeed be used to improve security performances in many situations, but this does not mean that the technology is free from its own advanced protection requirements. More information, including payment and patient data, is hosted in the cloud today than ever before, and reports indicate this trend will continue for years to come, meaning firms must be focused on secure migrations and management over time.

Working with a secure cloud service provider can help to improve protection against breach without straining IT departments, budget and other resources inside the organization.

4. Big data
Analytics technology is also being used to better inform security decision-making, but the privacy protection concerns attached to big data have been significant, to say the least. If organizations use these tools but do not follow the best practices of information governance and data security, they will be putting a much higher volume and greater diversity of files at risk of breach and exposure.

Especially in more sensitive industries such as health care, big data strategies must be accompanied by a strong line of security and privacy fortifications to avoid data loss, fines due to noncompliance and other costly issues.

The brass tacks
Put simply, the cybercrime arena has become far more complex and dangerous of late, and organizations that do not face each new trend with at least some foothold in privacy and security practices will be more likely to experience the massive damages that accompany breach. With the right solutions provider, especially one that can offer email encryption, secure cloud and generally robust product offerings, these trends can be more advantageous than risky, helping to give firms a competitive advantage.

Last night I took a peek at the proposals and thought, what's another benefit that I get from reading these?  At times, and more this year than any other year I've been struggling for revenue.  I'm behind in revenue for the year, however, I'm kicking butt with gross profit.  I attribute the kicking butt with gross profit, because the quotes I've been seeing show me that other sales people are maintaining some decent gross profits.  Thus, with all of my experience and knowledge, I decided that this is the year to slow it down a bit and concentrate on profitable deals for me!  Hey, enjoy the quotes and hope they add value to your selling knowledge!

• KonicaMinolta Bizhub C364e Proposal.pdf
• Ricoh MP C4503 proposal.pdf
• KonicaMinolta Bizhub C454e Proposal.pdf
• Kyocera  2551ci.pdf
• Ricoh MP C4503SP Proposal.pdf
• Kyocera M2035dn Proposal
• Xerox C75 Digital Press Proposal
• Kyocera TASKalfa 3050ci Color Copier Proposal
• Ricoh W3601 Proposal for September 2015.pdf
• Sharp  MX-2640N & Sharp MX-5141N proposal.pdf

Special thanks to all of our Premium Members that supplied these quotes and earned a Free Premium Membership.  That's right, for every quote/proposal you will earn a free month Premium Membership. Of course, if you don't want to supply quotes, you can always purchase a Premium Membership.

-=Good Selling=-

Boy, did the second thread of this update bring back some horrid memories.  For those of us that have been selling Ricoh for more than ten years, we have the horror stories of waiting 3,4 and even six weeks for equipment because Ricoh made a switch to Oracle.

Enjoy the threads from ten years ago!

Ricoh & Oracle

          8/12/05 9:15 AM

 

          Topic by Guest

          , equipment that will not go out the door because a sticker is missing for the hardware, orders that just can not be palced due to the new software. One DSM stated that this may continue for a few months! Does Ricoh understand that the bulk of our money is made

 

Canon U.S.A. announced Canon Inc.’s first half

          8/12/05 4:10 PM

 

Topic by Guest

Canon U.S.A. announced Canon Inc.s first half 2005 consolidated net sales were $15.8 billion, which represents an increase of 6.5% over the first half of fiscal year 2004. Canon reported first half net income of $1.5 billion, an increase of 9% over the

 

NEW CANON COLOR MULTIFUNCTION IMAGING SYSTEMS

          8/12/05 4:11 PM

 

          Topic by Guest

          28 ipm at 600 dpi (respectively). The devices feature single-drum engine technology to ensure Canon's superior image quality, supporting up to 2400 x 600 dpi equivalent resolution for outputiii. Canon's imageRUNNER C3170U and C3170i both offer standard color

 

Toshiba Estudio 520

          8/15/05 6:01 PM

 

          Topic by Guest

          I'm in a very tough battle with Toshiba. I'm quoting a 2051 sp against an Estudio 520. Any advice? It's a state agency, and their state contract price is at least $800.00 below my COST - before I even add any markup. I believe I can sell this customer

 

Ricoh 3260C and 5560

          8/17/05 12:24 PM

 

          Topic by Mike N

          Can somebody shed some light on the standard and optional print configurations for the Ricoh 3260C and 5560. We had this product launched a week ago and were told that the 3260C came standard with printing and scanning. Our pricing noted otherwise so

 

e-STUDIO™250CP Color Printer

          8/12/05 4:10 PM

 

          Topic by Guest

Toshiba America Business Solutions Inc. Introduces e-STUDIO250CP Color Printer Into Workgroup Color Line Color Laser Printer Combines High Performance, Quality Images and Affordability IRVINE, Calif., (Aug. 10, 2005)  Toshiba America Business Solutions

 

RE: Toshiba Estudio 520

          8/15/05 7:35 PM

 

          Reply by Guest

          advantage for them to have that? Doo they need SMTP Authentication when scanning2eamil? Ricoh uses a 800MHZ Duron processor, what does Toshiba use? I could go on & on and on, however to make it quick and simple. No one surpasses Ricoh in the ease of use and the

 

RE: Ricoh & Oracle

          8/12/05 10:18 AM

 

          Reply by Ted

          I've got a question:  Are Savin and Gestetner still getting equipment, or are they not being shipped also.  Everything comes from the same warehouses...right?  We have been told from some at Ricoh that the equipment is on backorder (lame excuse

 

RE: Ricoh & Oracle

          8/12/05 4:21 PM

 

          Reply by Guest

          I would like to rally everyone to write a certified letter to: Sam Ichioka Chairman & CEO Ricoh Corporation 5 Dedrick Place West Calswell, NJ 07006 I will write mine over the weekend and then post it here.

 

RE: Ricoh & Oracle

          8/16/05 7:59 AM

 

          Reply by Guest

          This is a rough draft: Can anyone else add or correct August 15th, 2005 Sam Ichioka Chairman & CEO Ricoh Corporation 5 Dedrick Place West Calswell, NJ 07006 Re: Oracle Implementation Dear Mr. Ichioka: As a sales representative for a medium size

 

RE: Postscript 3 Version

          8/17/05 8:28 AM

 

          Reply by JasonR

          This is probably a better question for Ricoh Tech support. The PS3 version isn't the issue I think, simply the OSX driver. Has the customer tried it and not gotten it to work? On a mac, the "driver" doesn't generate the Postscript code, the operating

 

Plotbase PDF Scanning makes huge file

          8/11/05 9:05 AM

 

          Topic by JasonR

          Ok, 30x42" document, scanned as TIFF, results in a ~400kb file. Same document scanned as a PDF, results in a ~2.2MB file. Took same document and scanned it on an Oc TDS400, TIFF ~400kb, PDF ~401kb. Contacted Ricoh and Ratio, apparently it is a known

 

RE: Accounting Optons

          8/12/05 5:14 PM

 

          Reply by bandit41076

          RW240 Service Doc.pdf file has been moved to www.documentmall.com accountname: art_post username: p4pusers passcode: goodpals select the p4p user cabinet, then the wideformat folder, then Ricoh folder, then wideformat folder, then plotbase folder

 

RE: Plotbase PDF Scanning makes huge file

          8/13/05 12:42 PM

 

          Reply by bandit41076

          Yes & No. Correct that it is a known situation, due to the bit depth level (better grey scale PDF)on the Ricoh scan to PDF. There is the POSSIBILITY that a future PB version may offer both grey scale and line quality PDF creation (smaller PDF file size

 

RE: 240w Competitive Comparison

          8/16/05 4:54 PM

 

          Reply by bandit41076

          passcode: goodpals select the p4p user cabinet, then the wideformat folder, then Ricoh, then wideformat, then the 240W folder

 

RE: Toshiba Estudio 520

          8/17/05 4:52 PM

 

          Reply by Old Glory

          Contact your Major Accounts Sales Manager with Ricoh. I see from your profile that you are from Mississippi so your guy may be the same as mine who is Michael Morrison and can be reached at (714)258-6008.

 

-=Good Selling=-

After viewing the first Print Audit Insight Webinar a few months ago, I thought I would pick five existing accounts that I would approach and offer them a print analysis of their fleet.  Over the last month, I identified those five accounts, and scheduled two meetings.

Our first meeting was with an existing account that has a fleet of about 30 printers (we have the copier business but not the printers), believe it or not there is a printer on every desk!  Most are aged, less than half are on the network and the others are connected locally. 

All of us, have these types of accounts.  Where we own the copier business, however, have never been able to crack the printers (someone else may or may not own that MPS business).  These type of accounts are the "know it alls", they believe they know everything about their printing habits and their costs. In fact, I believe most of them over time have just talked themselves into believing that they are taking the best course of action with their printing.

Thus, a recent conversation with a CFO of the account I mentioned above went like this. 

"I'm curious about your page volumes from your laser printers, do you have time for a few questions", I asked. "Sure, fire away", stated the CFO.  I opened up with "Are you aware of how many color pages your printers are producing per year"? "Sure do (the know it all), we print about 90,000 color pages per year, why do you ask" said our CFO. "Okay, of that 90,000 color pages could you tell me who many or what percentage of those pages came from printing emails"?

Thus that last question piqued his curiosity and our CFO answered "Well, no I don't, why do you ask".  "See the reason I asked, is that I know you're under an MPS plan, and typically you are probably be charged anywhere from seven to ten cents per color page that is printed.  In most cases, when you print an email, you are also printing a color logo, which uses a very small amount of color toner. Thus, you are being charged at the color rate. You see, we have Rules Based print software, and with that software we can set a rule that states, all emails would be printed in black and not color, thus you maybe able to save thousands of dollars per year".  I was stopped there and my CFO stated, "well that's great, but how do you we find out how many pages are being printed from email"?  With that question, I stated that we would install our Print Audit software for thirty days at no charge, at the end of thirty days, we would sit down and review the analysis.  They bit, and I'm about three weeks into the engagement now.  Really can't wait until we can sit down and go over all of the specifics of their printing habits.

I really didn't want to make the blog this long, but I wanted to state that there is GOLD in them hills.  The GOLD is with our existing accounts, with Print Audit Insight Dashboard we can get real time information in a format that is easy for me and my client to understand their printing habits.  No longer do I have spend hours analyzing data, Print Audit Insight does it for me, which is a huge time saver!

Just take a look at the pictures I've inserted into this blog, how powerful can this be for you?  After 35 years of being in this business, I can tell you that the power, and the knowledge is in the Print Audit Insight Dashboard!  Once you show them this, the account will be yours forever! If you have the time, check out Print Audit Insight Dashboard Webinar here!!

-=Good Selling=-

I've been writing original content for the past 6 years or so, maybe even longer.  One of my courses in High School was creative writing,  though I never did well in English, I've always enjoyed the chance to put thoughts on paper and now on my blog.

On most occasions writing comes easy for me, don't know why, it just does. 

Over the years, I've been able to build the Print4PHotel web site to more than 600K page views a month with zero dollars spent on advertising or SEO (Search Engine Optimization).  However, that was not the plan, the plan was to just write interesting stories and share ideas with those of us that are in the Imaging business.

I'm no marketing or web guru, I will admit that I think I'm a little bit smarter than the average bear and at times come up with some killer ideas.

Thus, I want to share one of those killer ideas with our Premium Members. 

My idea on how to grow your website generically with original content.  Let's say that your dealership has 10 sales people, and each sales person turns in an average of  four orders per month.  That's forty orders per month to work with.

Of those forty, pick four or eight interesting orders, you may want to stick with four at first.  Create a form with 5 questions for the sales person and five questions for the client that purchased/leased the system.  You or your marketing person can interview the sales person who sold the client and then interview the client that you sold to.

Some Questions to ask Sales Person:

1. What does your client do?

2. Did they have pain with their current system or supplier?

3. Where are they located (county, city)?

4. What did they like about us (services, guarantees, hardware, features)?

6. Was there a certain lock out feature that solved a business pain?

Some Questions for the Client:

1. Who made the decision to buy from us?

2. Was there competition for your business?

3. What was the main reason for selecting us as your vendor of choice?

4. Did we solve any business pain or problems?

5. How did you find us (if net new)?

(feel free to subtract or add your own questions.

Once you have all of this data, you then wrap a less than 500 word blog about the order/sale, using the data that you obtained from those questions.  I would leave the company name out of the blog, unless you have asked for permission to use it and they have granted it.

Let's say that the one company we made the sale to was an Mechanical Engineer, and they leased a wide format system from you. I would then title the blog something like this, "Mechanical Engineer Leases Ricoh Wide Format System in Red Bank, NJ to Improve Wide Format Scanning Functionality".  You could play around with the title somewhat but keep in mind that you want to mention the vertical market, address the pain issue, the hardware (or software) and the geographic area.  I do tend to think that more users are defining their searches more locally.  Thus, your content might not show up if you just titled the blog without the local geo area of Red Bank, especially if they user used Red Bank, NJ in the search.

Above all, have fun with the blog, put an interested factoid in every blog. 

If you're not the creative type, then guess what?  I'm available to write those blogs for you. If interested, please send me an email arthurkpost@gmail.com

-=Good Selling=-

Today, I had to do some research on the new HP PageWide XL 8000 system.  For those of you that are not familiar with the HP PageWide XL 8000, plain and simply put,  it's a beast!  Able to print 30 "D" size full color pages in a minute!!

Information on the web is pretty much limited to an HP spec sheet, and the HP Press release.  Neither one of those documents were going to cut it for me, I needed to learn more, because the word on the street is that the XL series of PageWide could possibly put KIP out of business along with making a huge dent in Oce wide format sales.  Did you notice I did not mention Ricoh?  Well, let's leave Ricoh alone for once and focus on the two leaders in wide format systems.

Back to the need to know more, after a few minutes of searching I was able to find the HP XL installation guide.  This was a huge find!  After reading through the manual I was able to glean a few useful specs that will help me in the future.  While I was researching the XL 8000,  I had a call from my friends over at ESP Surgx.  While I had them on the phone I had some questions about some of the electrical specs that HP mentioned and what devices are required for the install.  ESP Surgx was able to help me comprehend those specs and put them into content that I could comprehend.

So, it's really not about what I found in the manual. It's more about doing the detective work, reading the manual and then using the information in the manual to sell against your competition.  Over the years, I've downloaded many operation manuals, one that I remember dearly was the Xerox ColorQube.  By them time I was finished reading the manual I had enough data to consult with potential clients why the ColorQube was not the right system for them.

Dang, after reading the operation manual I probably knew more than the Xerox rep!  But, that's the key, you arm yourself with knowledge, you are then considered not only the expert on your system but also the competitions!

Thus, when you're stuck for reasons why the customer should not go forward with the competitions system, go find the operation manual, give it the twice over and you'll have all the content you need to create a convincing argument!

-=Good Selling=-