Always keep in mind if you are doing something out of the ordinary with financing,  you'll need to clear it with the powers to be and the leasing company first. Double and triple check your numbers, and when you're finished leave no stone un- turned with your prospect. In fact have them sign and understand everything before securing the order.

24  Months of Payments w/Guaranteed Upgrade in 36 months w/4% Increase: 

This one is kind of funky and I use to be able to sell many of these before leasing companies went to max 125% funding.  The concept is to get someone off the fence and make them commit now. 

You need to position your system at list price plus 25%. Take a $20K unit and the 125% is $25,000. Offer them a 60 month lease and you’ll pay the first 12 months (you net $18,800 based on .0204; you’ll want to use the leasing company with the highest rate here).  You want to sell them on the fact that all they need to do is to make 24 payments (plus the 12 that you pay), this will bring them to the 36 month point of the lease.  You then give them a guaranteed upgrade of no more than 4% in their new lease. After 36 months there are 24 remaining payments at $510 for a total of $12,240. On your new sales price you will need to discount by 30% or more, thus the $20K MSRP will be discounted to $14,000, they owe $12,240 total of the new deal is $26,240.  This amount is now over the max 125%, however not much and I would ask for a $1,000 down on the new deal, thus you’re at $25,240.

Now you will use YOUR best 60 month lease rate. In this case I’ll use .0195. New payments to the customer would be $499.75 for 60 months. You will not offer them any payments on the new lease.  Take the $1,000 and spread it out over 60 months and the cost is $16.66 per month, add that to the $499.75 and you have a total of $516.41 which is less than a 2% increase.

You’re selling the customer on only making 24 payments for a total of $12,240 for a $20K system and having the benefit of low payments and only committing to that lease for 36 months.   I don’t normally do this, however this is more of an exercise on rates, payments and how you can structure a deal that may get that customer to move and then stay with you for many years. There are some other things to figure in like delivery of the new equipment and return of the old equipment.  I would only use this for deals above $20k.

-=Good Selling=-

Oh, was the weather brutal this AM, woke up to 6 degrees &  two dead batteries in two cars, got one started then went to an awesome appointment and then found out that the car wouldn't start when I was ready to leave!!!  The life of sales right?  

Socialize Yourself with Linkedin

All of these points below will establish yourself as a person who is knowledgeable with the industry that you work in.  Thus over time you will be considered by your customers and prospects as the resident expert or guru, this establishes trust that you have the knowledge and expertise to help them attain their business needs.

2.  Upload some of your corporate documents or documents that you developed to your Linkedin profile, then make sure your upload a picture of yourself.

For my Linkedin profile I've added a link where my documents can be found ( I elected to sell my document however you will want to list it as a free download).

Most important is that you'll want capture the email address of the person that is downloading the document.  The program that I use is SUMO.

Thus you are not giving away the document for free, well kinda, but you're capturing their email address and name.  That leads to a warm lead and a follow up call.

-=Good Selling=-

Gosh, I wrote this almost 6 years ago!  Where does the time go.... thought I would re-post here and update a few items along the way. ENJOY!

What does it take to be successful in the copier industry for a long period of time?

Some might say it's product knowledge; some may say closing skills; some may also tell you it’s about hard work.

All of these are true, but the most successful people in the copier industry have a huge pipeline of potential customers!

My rule of thumb is that I always need to have 30 or more potential sales every month with a GP potential of the very minimum of $200,000 to meet a 60K quota. It ain't easy!!  You can never ever stop prospecting!!!!

Keeping the pipeline brimming with prospects is quite a daunting task because as you close sales you still have to make sure you are adding potential clients each day, week and month. Even if you've only been in the business a short time you've already experienced the many reasons why sales are delayed, lost and sitting out there "lost in space".

Here are some ideas to consider that may help you keep the pipeline full. We all know we have to prospect each and every day right?

1 - Do an email blast once every month to existing clients about new products, new promotions or just send them a copy of a press release.

2 - Market a low end MFP, or color printer and price it accordingly. It seems like every time I walk into existing and potential accounts they are always buying low end MFPs; take advantage of this and get them to buy your low end MFPs. Last one in is the first one they'll buy from when they need a higher end system.

3 - Schedule "drop ins" for existing accounts and potential accounts, keep them aware that you are there for the long haul.

4 - Send out 40 mailers every month to net new accounts. Sooner or later they will end up calling you.

5 - Make the phone calls to potential accounts and existing accounts (400 or so should do the trick, if you're a newbie you'll need to do many more).

6 - When you've completed the sale,  ask for references that you can call on. Don't wait three months and then ask.

7 - Put an Ad in the Want Ads of your local newspaper for used systems; you'll always get a few calls here and you just never know.

8 - Read the local papers and see what businesses are doing well and which are expanding; chances are they will be in the market more often.

9 - When you are in your customer’s office, look for information on who they do business with. Jot down a few notes and call them and then tell them about your success at "XWY" company. They will also be more receptive when they hear a familiar name.

10 - Don't ever stop prospecting! Don't ever count on getting leads from your company; go about your business like you'll never get any leads from management. When you do get these leads, they will be a bonus!

Bonus Tip (Updated 10/24/2017):  Educate via social media with Linkedin, Twitter, your own blog, and Quora (more and more Quora is the go to place on the web for asking in depth questions about products and services.

It Ain't Easy

It’s not easy to keep the pipeline flowing constantly; if it was, everyone would be doing it well. You have to have dedication, determination and the desire to succeed every day, every week and every month. When my pipeline goes down (as they all do at times), I tell myself that I have to work harder to get the end result of what I want.  I like to remember the old saying, "The harder I work, the luckier I get!"

-=Good Selling=-

All of these points on our list of  31 Ways to Garner Net New Business will establish yourself as a person who is knowledgeable with the industry that you work in.

Thus over time you will be considered by your customers and prospects as the resident expert or guru, this establishes trust with them that you have the knowledge and expertise to help them attain their business needs.

Number One

Prepare your online profile with Linkedin. Be specific about the “summary” portion of your profile, be sure to include statements that will tell prospects how you can help them with the products and services that you provide.  

When you’ve wrapped up an order or have gone above and beyond to secure someone’s business.  Ask them for the names (phone numbers, email address)  of three of their contacts that they think may have a need for your services.  I know it sounds kinda funky but it works.

Mention to those new suspects to you just completed work for XYZ company with helping them to (tell them what was accomplished).  Of course ask to met and if that's not possible ask them how often would be a great time to follow up.  Keep in mind that these are warm references and keep in mind that time is on your side.

It's not uncommon that many of these could take under years to develop, but we are in this for the long haul, correct?

-=Good Selling=-

Let's see I entered the industry in 1980 via a State Sponsored program to put people to work in the technology industry.

I went to copier training school for a good 12 weeks to learn how to become a copier technician and was paid $3.50 per hour!

In 12 weeks I graduated and was assisted with getting a job at a local copier dealer as a copier technician.

The copier tech thing didn't work out, however I was offered a job to sell copiers.....and I never stopped, never was a slacker and had this thought that I was never really good at anything however I could be great at selling copiers.  Many years later I had this silly notion that I wanted to make my name synonymous with the copier industry as xerox is to a copy.  What a pipe dream eh?

Thus now that I'm on the downward trend of my career there are still some things that I'd like to accomplish and maybe somethings that I'd like to see happen before I exit (not saying that's going to happen any time soon).  But here's my list:

• I'd like to have one day of door to door cold calling with out seeing a "no soliciting sign" or dealing with a rude gatekeeper.
• I'd like a prospect to tell me this, "we like you, we like your product but we think your price is to low, how about we increase the lease payments by a hundred dollars a month if we sign the deal today"!
• I'd like to get a lead a day for the next 30 days, with no prospecting involved.
• I'd like to go an entire year where I've reached my monthly quota by the second week of every month.
• I'd like to nail my yearly quota by the end of the second quarter every year.
• I'd like every prospect to call me back after the first message I left for them.
• It would be awesome to tell at least one cheap, tight ass prospect that I don't want to do business with you.
• For one week, I'd like to make an appointment with every cold call I made that day.  Heck, I could have a months worth of appointments in one day.
• I'd like to have one month were all my commission reports were correct in my favor.
• Last but not least, I'd like to be able to get an order for 100 systems in one order, heck I'd even take 50 but then I'd want a hundred.

Enough said. Actually one more item, when I was let go with the copier tech position the owner of the company asked me a parting question, "let me ask you one question", he reached into his pocket and pull out a c note and stated "which would you rather do, work two days for this $100 dollars or would you rather try to talk me out of it"?  Now I thought to my self that my mamma did not raise a fool and I answered with, "I'd like to try and talk you out of it", with that I was offered the job in sales....hmmmm, maybe this should happen more often on interviews???

-=Good Selling=-