Memoirs of a Copier Sales Person

Well......, nothing today. I wasn't able to connect with any one of the five opportunities today.  All I can say is thank goodness there are still two days left!

I'm sure some are probably trying to avoid me like the plague at this time, however that's not going to stop me from going my job tomorrow and day after tomorrow.

I was able to get some prep work for some of the accounts that may have a chance of moving forward in January.  There was no sense if making a ton of calls or emails since it's down to those last 5 accounts.  Although I did just get off the phone with a net new prospect that is looking for an A3 color MFP.

After the 24th it's sayonara for at least a week, or maybe longer. It's that time of the year that I take to relax and recharge!

On the home front it seems that congress will pass another PPP bill. I posted a couple of links on the this site today about the PPP. I also sent those links to one of my net new prospects that put a lease or purchase decision on hold until they read more about the bill. I also didn't hear back from that account also.

Our dear Governor extended the Health Emergency for another 30 days in New Jersey even with vaccines being administered.  One person I spoke with today is convinced that Murphy will not release his power until 70 plus percent of people are vaccinated in our state.

Just wanted to give everyone a short update.

COVID19 Remote Working Day One Hundred and Ninety-Two of Selling Copiers

Last night one hell of a night. I could barely sleep with the sheets of ice that were bouncing off our slider window in the bedroom last night.  What was suppose to be a snow event was more of an ice event with wind gusts hitting 55 miles per hour.  We didn't lose power thus a traditional work snow day was just another work day because of our remote technology.

I'm also grateful that I'm able to write this blog tonight.  After two and half hours of breaking and shoveling ice I was able to clear our driveway and sidewalk.  My fingers are somewhat tight but there was no heart attack from moving all that ice.  it was more about slow and steady to get the job done.

Slow and steady is what the last few days have been like. I was able to book an existing client for an order just short of $10K today (docs in hand), and there are commitments from two other clients for additional orders that will total $21K . In addition the net new opportunity that was on the far rail the other night is also going to give me an answer tomorrow.  That net new is worth $9K.

By tomorrow I should be somewhere around $54K in revenue. I need to be at $74K for the month to make my yearly quota.  I still have another $110K on the fence with 3 accounts and one is the net new content/hardware for $54K.  I already know that opportunity is going right to the wire.  If all goes well the docs will come to me on the 23rd (last day of the year). The other two opps are 50/50 at best.

I've been here before and it's nothing new from working behind.  Guess it's similar to a hitter who is always working behind in the count.  Odds are you will not get the hit that you need to win the game.

I want to hit my quota this year probably more than any other year that I've been doing this. Right now it's more about I can do this, I want to do this and I can make this happen even with a pandemic. Would be a nice feather in my hat as I get ready for the final years of my career.

If I don't make it, I'm okay with that also and that's because I believe my performance in April, May and June helped our team believe that's it's possible to rack up great numbers even with a pandemic.  It's more like wtf if that old guy can do it then why can't I? 

When we came back from Presidents Club in Aruba the first week of March the NYC area pretty much shut down two days later.  My March sales were in the ****ter and I took the attitude that if anyone needs to lead it should be me. I never told anyone that and that's kinda brass balls on my part.  But that was my driving force.  I did this one other time in my career when another dealership I worked for was in dire straits.

I wanted to do this and it was a challenge.  If I don't get this content/hardware order and fail on the other two I will miss by number by about $20k.  I've realize that may happen and don't want it too happen, however I can take comfort that our sales team had a great year especially when all was stacked against us.

-=Good Selling=-

It's just a little after 5PM and the snow is coming down pretty good now.  At the coast we're expected to receive 6-10 inches but being so close to the ocean there is always the chance for freezing rain or sleet to knock the totals down.  Our roads are passable and just wet from all of the salt and brine that's been laid down in the last 24 hours.

Guess I'll find out in the AM if I have a snow day, wait a minute since I'm now working remote are there still snow days?  Egads those snow days from school were just magical and unexpected day off, time to gather your friends for whatever outdoor activity you wanted.  So do I still get a snow day if I'm work remotely now?  Sorry to day but the answer is NO, unless you don't have an internet connection. Oh please it's the end of the year please don't let the power fail!

Appointment

I had that one appointment today at 9:30AM with an existing account to upgrade two of their current A3 Ricoh MFP's.  The trip from my house takes just about an hour and I was relieved that I made the appointment on time.

Last night I spent the time developing the two sets of documents because of the two different locations that are involved for this appointment.   I wanted to make sure all was ready for my DM to sign.  I was able to print one page to my printer and was then notified with an audible alarm from my printer.  When I checked the printer I was told that the printer was out of toner! WTF!

Yup I had ignored the previous warnings that the toner was low, however I really didn't print that many pages since the notification appeared. I pulled the cartridge out, shook it up and put it back in, and received the same message. Frak because it was too late to go out and get one because why would I have an extra cartridge in my house? Thus I moved those files to a USB Drive and figured when I get to my appointment I would ask to use the Ricoh copier and print them out.

There I am at the front door in the cold and the door is locked. It's 9:30AM why would the door be locked? I peered in the window to see that none of the lights were on and the office was empty.  I then made my way to the one of the other doors to give it a go, on the way I called the DM and the first thing I hear was "are you at the office Art?" I stated "yes I am". In the next 5 minutes my DM apologized for forgetting about the meeting, I then asked "let me email the order docs and just sign them and email them back to me today, will that work?".  Our DM agreed and that was that.

It was another hour ride back to the office, once at the office I had to set up the e-signature for the documents and off they went.  I had the docs with signatures back by 2PM today. Another one down and hoping many more to go.

The rest of my day was spent with a few emails, a 90 minute wide format meeting with a net new client and the rest of the day was dedicated to that net new content deal I'm trying to knock down.

With 5 days left in the year it's more about how can I get some of these opps to the order process. What else can I do to make things happen?  Six out of the ten opps sees me in a waiting mode, three out of those six gave me a date when I should expect to have the documents. The other 3 are still on the edge if I will be the one that wins their business.  The other four need some addition work.

I've never shied away from work and I guess the only thing I know is to keep moving things forward.  There is always a way to get it done, we just need to figure it out.  That's what the last 5 days of the year will be about.  Figuring it out.

-=Good Selling=-

As of right now I have five selling days left in the month, quarter and year.  Over the last three days I've been able to acquire zero orders.  Yes it's been somewhat disappointing however I still have one week or 25% of the month left to work some magic.

For a quick update,  my content deal for $53K is still there and still has a decent shot of closing for the month.  I have to re-do the proposal one more time and put it into an easier format.  In addition the client asked me to list the pros and cons for each of the four offerings.  At this time I'm thinking this will take the better part of tomorrow to review, re-format and change.

I received two emails today that I should have docs for two other opportunities by the end of this week.  One is for $8K and the other is for $16K. I have any appointment tomorrow morning at 9:30AM on-site that should result in documents for $15K. On the far rail is a net new  client that will give me a go or no for wide format color by Friday. This opportunity may post for $9K

My demo from last week was okay at best. I'll be the first to admit that you can be a little rusty after 9 months of not doing one demonstration.  However being rusty with the presentation was not the issue.  The issue is that a competitors device could a couple things that my device could not.  However at the end I was able to point out the pro's of my device and made the argument that our device will save countless hours when printing and scanning.  Not going to get in the weeds on this one because it's a working opportunity right now.  I did speak to the client today and we have a call scheduled for Monday.  This opportunity is $21K.

I had another client today that told me my price was too high!  Stated I was 25% higher than what he could find on the internet.  When I asked compared to what he wouldn't answer. I also asked to let me see the quotes so I can make sure we're apples to apples.  He wouldn't do that either.  I then asked about scheduling a call and he stated "send me your final price".  Yes I was kinda ticked because I put a lot of time into this but what do you expect from a pig but a grunt.

I wanted to write about videos in the last blog however my my fingers got tired of trying to keep up with my brain.  Since emailing and virtual presentations of proposals are more of the new normal why not try incorporating a couple of videos or video links for your clients.  Of course YouTube is the place to go and if you can't find a video that you're looking for then make your own.  I've done it several times for clients in the last few months and I believe it can give you an edge with the competition.  Think about the video thing for a moment, when you're in need of information and rep takes the time to send or make you a video who will you gravitate towards?

Big day tomorrow, I need to get one of these six opportunities under my belt and at least move two more towards a possible close by the end of the weeks.  The next few days will tell the take for the end of the year.

-=Good Selling=-

COVID19 Remote Working Day One Hundred and Eighty-Seven of Selling Copiers

It took me ten months but I was finally able to complete my first in office demo.  It was one of those most interesting days in quite sometime.  I received notice last night that I needed to get to the office early in order to have our wide format ready for a demonstration.  COVID19 had reared it's ugly head an one of my team members is quarantined and I was able to pick up the slack.

Initially my plans were to arrive at the office by 8AM, however a severe accident stopped traffic and my arrival was more like 9AM.  My demo was scheduled for 12PM-12:30PM however there was much to do and much to prep for. By 11AM I was finished and ready for my clients.  As it worked out my clients had heavy traffic getting to my office and by the time they arrived it was after 1PM.

The demo went well and not so well.  When a client is coming from one brand to another there are always a few features that one tends to get use to. In my case it was two key features that my Ricoh device could not replicate, however there were three features that Ricoh offered over his existing brand that he did like.  When it came down to the end I presented the pros and cons and of course there were a few additional action items that I could not act on immediately.  Thus the client had to leave and an order was not signed.  I've already followed up on those action item and I will be calling tomorrow.  This opportunity is $24K.

I felt rusty during the demo, it had been sometime since I've demo'd an MFP and there were times when I felt like I was fishing for the right buttons to push when those questions came up.  Yet I did admit that it's been 10 months since I did a demo on this device and apologized for not remembering all of the steps.  All in all it seemed to go over well as anything does in the time of COVID.

One thing I did notice is that I couldn't see an expression on their faces since we all had masks on. I felt like that was an dis-advantage for me and an advantage for the client.  Never the less we got through it.

I'm now down the last 8 selling days of the year. I received the one signed PO yesterday for $8.4.  I still have five opportunities in the weeds that total another $70K.  In addition I believe another $30K that will happen in the next eight days.  The reason for counting these is because with one account I have a meeting for next week.

The other reason is because I performed a test with another client.  I emailed the order docs late Monday , and they have lease trigger date for this month.  With the meeting we had on Monday I went over the logistics of the install, received the verbal but was told that the docs have to be signed off by another person.  The test was to schedule an short appointment with the client to go on-site and gather the network report from the existing MFP. Once that was appointment was approved it told me there's a good shot that this opportunity will happen.  Had they told me no then that would have raised a red flag as to "why not"?

Yesterday also had me with a larger net new client that needs to make a content change rather ASAP.  Our first meeting took place yesterday and is scheduled for tomorrow.  I believe as long as we can develop the SOW and pricing by next week that this opportunity has a shot also. I have not clue as to the revenue yet but have an idea that it could be rather substantial.

All is all while some opps are still in the weeds, and with 37% of the month left. I'm still optimistic that I can make this happen.   There's no place to go but up!

-=Good Selling=-

COVID19 Remote Working Day One Hundred and Eighty-Four of Selling Copiers

The blog I wrote last week centered more about how I feel about the state of our industry.  There's no getting around the fact that business is not what it used to be for copiers.  But who the frak needs copiers when you can also offer up content solutions?

Today I received a referral for a content opportunity and it's going to be a decent sized one.  Thus in the last 30 day I have three content deals working.  Yes, one of those opportunities has some hardware in it, one is in the lowish 5 digits, another in middle 5 digits and todays meeting could be upper five digits for revenue.  Trust me I have no problem with change and if content is going to drive my business then I'm all in!

Of course that one content deal is from last month and that's the one that has the content and some hardware in the offering.  The DM had a tough week last week and emailed me stating that they required a couple of additional days to render their decision.  At the first of the month this is the opportunity that would make me or break me for the month of December.  That $53K can go a long way and I'm resigned to being somewhat patient right now.

Late Friday I received a purchase order for an A3 color for $8.5K, however it the PO was not signed.  I'm hoping to have that back tomorrow to kick off my week.  In addition I had a verbal come across from another existing account for $16k and documents were sent today with an urgency to get these back this week.

Just a few moments ago I sent another quote to an existing account for $17K and I have a feeling that this has some good legs for December also.

December is always a tough month and since I need 80K it's going to be that special type of grind.  Nothing gets over looked, extra hours and prepping for each day goes along way.

I've got a few other opportunities out there but I didn't have the chance to move those forward today.  Tomorrow will be a mix of follow ups along with some mild prospecting.  The only thing that counts now is to get some of these opps under my belt so I can focus on some of those that are in the weeds.

COVID19 is sill an issue in NJ, however it seems many of the smaller SMB accounts are navigating it quite well.  Smaller SMB's for me is 30 employees or less and still putting focus on the AEC market.

More to come, apologies for the short blog tonight, however I have a ton or work that still needs to be done.

-=Good Selling=-

COVID19 Remote Working Day One Hundred and Eighty-Two of Selling Copiers

Just in the last week I posted some additional pictures of older copiers on this site.  For some reason it always seems that those vintage picture of the copiers that we used to sell brings back awesome memories.  With a recent thread on Linkedin where I pictured an old analog Mita copy machine, that thread has more than 7,000 views.  In addition I find it odd that it's only this time of year when I tend to find and post those old pictures. Thinking it has to do something with the time of year and the holidays.

With another recent blog post on this I wrote this for the first paragraph.

"Some may ask how will our industry grow after COVID19? There's some naysayers proclaiming that our industry is doomed and it will never be like it was. Personally I think the pandemic has allowed us to reset and rethink our industry. I believe the next 5 years will be the best we've had in 10 years."

9 Months

The last nine months has allowed me more than my share of time to sit back and take in our industry in a greater picture.  While many see peril and turmoil, I've been able to see the bigger picture of our industry. I stated this to a colleague the other day when I was asked about what COVID19 has done to our industry.  I stated it's the best thing that's every happened to our industry and I can't wait to see what the next five years will bring.

I believe that the last five years allowed us to be complacent about our surroundings and our clients needs. There was no reason for our industry to change even though we were heading towards the end of the track.  You know what I'm taking about it's what others called "the race to zero".

COVID19

The emergence of COVID19 has changed everything.  The emergence of COVID19 has also awakened the creative juices in every entrepreneur in our industry.  I can see that our business is changing and it's just not about the clicks anymore.  It's about dealers owners and entrepreneurs once again taking the risk to change their offerings to their clients and listening to our clients.

The 60's, 70's and 80's was an exceptional time in our industry.  Copier dealerships started in homes, garages and in most cases funded with very little cash and maybe some credit cards.  Those entrepreneurs put everything aside because they had no fear of risk and had to vision to see the best of times.

In recent chats with many in the industry there is no feeling that we've been defeated, there is no fear that are industry is no heading towards the end of the track.  Yet there is a new feeling is of optimism that is gaining steam with everyone.  It's been nine months and yes we've seen the worst of times, but I  believe that next five years can be the best of times.

I thought the below song would fit right in with this blog. Thus while many may think that times are bleak there are others like me who believe that COVID19 gave us that wake up call that will change us forever. Change is good!

I urge you to not hang your head low, but to keep pushing forward, keep turning over those rocks (prospecting) and keep listening to what our clients want.

-=Good Selling=-

COVID19 Remote Working Day One Hundred and Eighty of Selling Copiers

Last time I blogged on this series was last Tuesday.  Of course Wednesday was the day before Thanksgiving and I was off on Friday.  Thinking back the Thanksgiving break is always the same, it's always four days off.  Having off that many days in a row, especially moving into the last month of the year is great to reset for the final countdown.  It's also a tradition of sorts that I take a weeks vacation after Christmas to recharge one more time.  When you get to may age you need as much recharging time as you can squirrel away.

Nothing much has changed opportunity wise in the last week.  My content/hardware appointment went fairly well last Wednesday.  After the meeting I was told it would go to the board for approval and expect a call back on Monday or Tuesday of this week.

Rather than calling or emailing first thing this AM I figured I would let the ball travel a bit.  By 4 PM I was done with letting that ball travel and sent my DM an email.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this will happen tomorrow and that's about all I can do at this point.

Never ever assume you have the order until you have the signed documents in hand right?  However I was taught when working with a client is that you always assume you will get the order.  I guess both go hand in hand these days.

Today was a day when I knew I had to address my demons.  For those that don't know it my demon is cold calling on the phone.  I know it has to be done and I can't move forward if I don't get them done.  For some it's easy,  for me it's a demon that I still struggle with.  However I put the big boy pants on this AM and made a whopping 12 calls, sent 10 emails, sent 1 Linkedin inmail.  Thus for the day I acquired 2 appointments and adding one opportunity.

I was also able to squeeze in three appointments and one of those was another content meeting.   I can see the writing on the wall and I need increase my opportunities for content.  It also turns out that this content opportunity could bring in $25K in revenue.  So that's some killer revenue for a down the street rep.

Desire to hit my annual number, dedication to increasing my knowledge and determination to finish will drive me for the rest of the month.  Even though I'm an old fart I still have the three D's of selling burning inside. 

Wait, one more item,  when sending prospecting emails make sure you put 2021 in the subject line. I picked this up an Linkedin the other day and I agree we are all done with 2020 and anything with 2021 I'm going to open.

-=Good Selling=-

COVID19 Remote Working Day One Hundred and Seventy-Seven of Selling Copiers

Off to the races! I'm now in the last month of the selling year.  Just like any other year I find myself behind the eight ball again.  After some research today I need to secure about $80K in orders for December in order to meet my annual quota. 

I have that content/hardware appointment tomorrow at 11AM.  I believe this is the 7th meeting we've had in the last 30 days.   I'm hoping tomorrows meeting will be the last and we can bring this home.  Bringing this home means $53K in revenue which can make my month of December a little bit easier.  I can't count on it yet because you just never know, but I do have faith in my team to make this happen.

I took a good part of the day to lay out what opportunities could close this month besides the content/hardware opportunity. I had to do this because of the "what ifs" meaning what happens if this order does not go down.

There's another $64K out there as of today.  That $64K is not enough if I rule out the content/hardware opportunity.  In addition all of them would have to close.  There is an opportunity that if the content/hardware opportunity does not go down that I still maybe able to get that same client for a $60K hardware order.

Thus what all of this means is that I have to do more prospecting, turn over the rocks (calls and emails) to see if I can add some opportunities for December.  It won't be easy, but who wants easy? Well every now and then I would like easy .

After 1PM was able able to dig into some calls and emails.  At the end of the day I was able to log 30 calls and about 15 emails.  I was able to land one appointment for next week but that with one of the opportunities I already have on my list. 

For tomorrow there are two appointments, one for the content/hardware and other with a net new that I've been tracking.  Due to COVID19 they are now thinking January for the placement of two devices. Thus there's a chance that maybe the order can be signed in December and delivered in January.  It's a long shot but if you don't ask you don't get.

I've got around 40 calls on tap for tomorrow and I'll be pushing it right until 5PM.

I'd like to thank everyone for continuing to follow this series of blogs. In addition I wish all of you a great Thanksgiving here in the US and abroad.  There will be no blog tomorrow night and I'll be back it on Monday.

-=Good Selling-=

Today is 176 business days since I was optioned to working remote.  Those 176 business days now totals eight full months that I've been in some sort of lockdown. 

Our Governor keeps toying with the idea that he may start additional lockdowns in the near future because NJ is now averaging 4K positive tests each day. I know he's blowing smoke out of his ass for two reason.  One the State of New Jersey is flat ass broke, reducing the tax revenue stream will force a bankruptcy. The second would be the fact that he's running for re-election and another lockdown would hurt him politically. At this point I really don't care and I'll continue to change when change is needed.

Last week I was able to book twelve meetings and with those types of numbers one would expect some BIG revenue numbers.  Well not always, I received an order from an existing client today for two A3 color MFPs.  That revenue was $24K and for the month I'll finishing at $41K.  Not bad, but not where I wanted to be for the end of November.  After today we're into December sales numbers.

I had my hopes up for a net content/hardware order however some last minute additions from today will push this order till Wednesday of this week or even Friday.  This is the deal that keeps growing and growing and now I'm hoping we'll book it for $53K.  After this opportunity is booked I'll blog some about the opportunity and all that I've learned this year.  Yes, we can teach an old dog new tricks. I'm proof of that!  Docs for this are going to the client tomorrow.

Today was was one of those days where prospecting was not planned and the order of the day was to see what orders I could close today.  One order is better than no orders in my book.

Moving into December the funnel is there to finish the year at quota. In fact if the content/hardware opportunity works out it should be a hop, skip and a jump to quota.  It's not something I'm going to assume, I'm going into December with the thought process that the content/hardware opp can still fall apart.  So come tomorrow I'll be playing the game of "what ifs" or more like what happens if this or that opportunity does not come to fruition.  That's the only way play this in the final month. For those of you that are chess players you know what I mean by the "what if" scenarios. BTW are any of you chess players?  If so I'd love to play a few games with someone, it's been years since I played.

On Friday of last week Kathy and I were able to attend our Son and Daughter-in-Laws reveal gathering.  Seems we have another granddaughter on the way!  She will be our number two and I can't wait to start sharing my knowledge as they grow up.  Yup they will be taking a piece of me into the future.

Tomorrow will see me prepping that content/hardware opportunity docs and the rest of my day will be focused on laying out the plan to get to where I want to be.  I'll have another blog for tomorrow and will shut down for the rest of week.

-=Good Selling=-

In yesterdays blog I made mention of the demons that continue to plague me even after forty years of selling. One of the those demons is calling net new clients on the phone.  It's something I wrestle with all of the time.  What's funny is that it wasn't always like that.

At one point in time I was a flat out a cold calling machine with scheduling appointments.  I believe I'm still pretty good but I know I'm rusty.  I'm so rusty that when the DM does pick up the call I find myself  struggling with my script.

A baseball player will take 50-100 swings from a batting tee in order to build muscle memory.  So just like a batter needs to do their tee work we need to make those calls on a consistent basis to help with being fluid with our scripts, build confidence and easily remember how to handle the objections. I will be the first to admit that my skills have eroded over time.

After writing last nights blog I had planned for an entire afternoon of phone calls to find new opportunities and land some net new appointments.  Right after lunch I made my first call with no luck.  As I was preparing to make my second call I received and email from that content deal I'm working on.  Our prospect expressed some objections that is holding getting the documents back.  Of course I can't get into detail since it's a working deal.  What I can tell you is that it's awesome to get objections. In this case there were two objections. Thus I started with asking some questions and then summarized what was driving the objection. The objection was a real issue and after talking it out I found out what the client needed in order to move forward.  Thus tomorrow there will be another team meeting and hoping that we'll have the okay to move forward.

Right back to the phone calls now.  That call and the subsequent calls to my team along with the emails back and forth pretty much ate up the rest of my day. I was able to send a few follow emails and make a couple of calls but no where near where I wanted to be.

My month ends on Monday which leaves four selling days to get to where I need to be.  Most of my other opportunities are stalled or in the weeds. When I make reference to "in the weeds"  it's my way of saying I'm being ghosted.  Rest assured these clients and prospects can't stay in the weeds forever.  Sometimes it's more about playing the waiting game with many of them.  Well it's really not a game but more that all of our clients and prospects have the same struggles as we do.  In most cases the thought of replacing the copier is not high on the list of things to do. 

In any event I need to continue with the calls and emails to what I can move forward just in case this content deal lingers.

-=Good Selling=-

COVID19 Remote Working Day One Hundred and Seventy-One of Selling Copiers

It's been three days since I wrote my last blog that was on day 166.  I had zero orders in for last week, however I was able to make some headway with an existing client.  That existing client should be ordering one A4 and one A3 mid part of this week.

In addition we had what I think is the last meeting with a net new client for a pretty decent content opportunity with some hardware in it.  I asked "Will you be able to get me back the signed documents this week?"  The answer to the question?  It was a big fat YES.  Thus hoping by the end of the week that will be the case and the revenue is just shy of $38K.

That opportunity along with what I've booked already will get me to where I need to be for November, but there is still one month to go.  I told Tim today that I did plant the seed for December 10th for that net new client to move on another $67K order. 

COVID in NJ

Our Governor rolled back a few things but stopped at going back to a state wide lockdown like we had in March, April, May and June. In door gatherings are now reduced to 10 people and out door is down to 150 from 500.  So far so good we'll see what next week brings us.

Change

Change and operating outside of your comfort zone is something we hear and read about with our sales world.  When your world is turned upside down how can you manage change or better yet how can you get better at operating outside of your comfort zone?  Practice helps but there are times when you just need to do it. 

Throw all of those fears away and just get it done.  After 40 years of doing this I still have my demons that continue to taunt me on a daily basis.  After 40 years I understand there are still things that I need to get better at.  But you can't exorcise those demons if you don't try.  Thus for all of us that deal with these demons everyday I put together this inspirational jibjab video.