Memoirs of a Copier Sales Person

My Top 5 Secrets About Using Linkedin for Prospecting

Art Post · 10/29/1411:04 PM

We'll go over what's worked for me with LinkedIn in the past 18 months. I've been using LinkedIn longer than that, but it's only during the last 12 months that I experimented with a few ideas that I had for LinkedIn.

As of right now I'm using the free version, however I expect to upgrade the lowest level of the pay version very soon.

1) Use LinkedIn every darn day, whether it's at night, at the beginning of the day or check the site from your mobile phone while on the road. This does not mean to check LinkedIn while you're driving!!!

Here you'll become familiar with "your wall", the profile page, the contacts page and the follow page.

2). Six degrees of separation is a theory that everyone and everything is six or fewer steps away! Believe it or not, originally set out by Frigyes Karinthy in 1929. I believe that with using LinkedIn you could only be 3 Degrees of Separation. Go through your contact list and take ten people that you are trying to connect with, search them on LinkedIn and I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that you know someone that is connected to them. You can then ask for an introduction from the person that is connected with them through LinkedIn or better yet, call your contact to see if she or he can help get and introduction.

3. Post your own Blog on LinkedIn. Start out with maybe one a month, and then increase to bi-monthly and then once a week. Write about something that is informative to your audience and don't come across like you are trying to sell something. You could do a short blog on "Why Do Checks That I Copy Come Out Black on the Copier", just and example but I hope you get the point. Write information that will help your customers and potential new customer garner knowledge about your solutions and or systems. Within a short period of time you can be the guru in your geo area, if not the world!!

4. Follow Companies on LinkedIn, take ten existing accounts that you are trying to get into. Search those ten accounts on LinkedIn to see if they have a LinkedIn page. I just searched on Print Audit, they do have a page. When you're on that page, you will see a "follow me" button. Click the button. Now whenever Print Audit posts anything on LinkedIn, you'll see it on your "wall" (home page). Now that you're seeing there threads, you will then "like" their threads and or drop a "comment" to their thread. A comment can be anything from congrats, or something that acknowledges that you are appreciative of the information.

In time, when you check your page for who is checking your profile, you will see that someone from that company checked to see who you are. You then have a warm contact, how you reach out to them after that is your choice.

5) Post links to newsworthy threads that you think your customers/connections can benefit from. They can be health related, business related. Try to post at least a few a week.

It's not about what you know, it's about who you know! Believe it or not your are connected to the people you are trying to connect with, you just don't know it.

Wait, wait one more, let's say you want to find all of the CEO's in Dover, Delaware. The in the advanced search bar of LinkedIn just type CEO, then the zip code and shorten the "within" to 10 miles and you'll see up to 10 pages of contacts with the free version of LinkedIn.

-=Good Selling=-

Memoirs of a Copier Sales Person

If I Were King of My Sales Department

Art Post · 8/27/1412:08 AM

Since I've spent so much time in the trenches, I've seen many salespeople and sales managers come and go. I understand that many sales managers are sometimes limited in what they can and cannot do. But, if I were king and had carte blanche, here's what I would do to increase sales and morale:

If I were the sales manager, I would STOP selling. I would divide all of my accounts among my reps. You can't be both a great sales manager and a great salesperson. It's not going to happen.
I would then teach and train my reps on how to prospect (telephone, email, social media). When they get an appointment, I would accompany them so they can sit, listen, and learn from a master.
Once they have mastered prospecting, I would provide additional training on the art of selling. Gradually, I would give them control of the appointments while I support them with specifications and content.
I would introduce "FUN" time. These would be dedicated sessions for prospecting. Too many of us treat prospecting like getting a root canal—we know it's necessary, but we don't want to do it!
"FUN" times would be engaging. I would have inspirational music playing in the office—louder during breaks and softer during call blocks. Call blocks would last 45 minutes with a 20-minute break in between. I’d schedule five of these call blocks during the day. During our 20-minute breaks, we would discuss responses and results. I’d sit in with each rep during the call blocks to listen in. I’d probably use my Aficio card and hand out $100 in $25 gift cards: one for the best attitude, one for most dials, one for the most promising appointment, and one for the most hang-ups. We need to make it FUN!
Inspirational color banners might sound hokey, but didn’t the first sales close you learned seem hokey too? Inspire, Ignite, & Motivate.
The toughest part of the job is product knowledge. Here, I would have to determine who is best suited for what. Should this person focus on IT services, or are they better suited for hardware? I don’t want them doing both—you’ll do one or the other.
I would set aside time each month to review the compensation plan and ensure my reps know it inside and out. Not understanding the comp plan leads to failure.
I would ensure that lead distribution is fair. Everyone gets the same number of leads.
I don’t want to hire people who need a job; I want to hire people who want a job. I would be involved in the hiring process to identify those who want to excel versus those who are content with the status quo.
Sorry, I didn’t keep these in order. I would also add LinkedIn prospecting blocks. I would ensure every rep has a premium LinkedIn membership and train them on how to leverage it. Oh, and I’d also make sure they all have a premium P4P Hotel membership!

I could probably go on and on, but it’s getting late. I’d probably never take a sales manager’s job—then again, one was never offered to me. However, I kinda like where I am.

Yes, if you have any sales questions or need some advice, please post a reply here!

Memoirs of a Copier Sales Person

Rhythm of Selling with Copiers & Office Technology

Art Post · 8/17/1410:25 PM

Every time I post "This Week in the Copier/Office Equipment Industry 10 Years Ago," I'm always thinking about what I was doing ten years ago, both in business and in my personal life. It’s a gentle reminder of how fast time moves past us.

My wife always tells me, "Don’t sweat the small stuff," her way of calming down after a mentally draining day or when I’m nearing the end of the quarter.

Keep in mind that we (salespeople) are not in a horse race; rather, we need to play the part of the tortoise more often. Slow and steady wins the race, with emphasis on the steady part. Use the steady part of your business time to plan your prospecting for the week.

Generally, I’ll set Monday aside for a day in the office to clean up odds and ends, research, follow-ups, and finish up proposals. On Tuesday and Wednesday, I try to schedule my call blocks for reaching out to my database. Thursday and Friday are the days I like to schedule all of my appointments. Sometimes it doesn’t work out that way, but the plan helps me maintain a rhythm throughout the week.

I mentioned that I "try"—there are always things that come up, and you need to adjust your schedule. On Thursdays and Fridays, I’ll start my first appointment at or before 9 AM and try to have five scheduled appointments. Friday, well… that’s getaway day. Again, I’ll start at or before 9 AM, and I aim to finish up by 3 PM. All in all, I can schedule nine appointments over those two days.

I spoke about the rhythm of the week: having the same schedule each week allows me to control my week. I said this the other day when someone asked how I was doing: "I’m just trying to manage my life instead of letting life manage me." Kinda funny when you think about it—getting out of rhythm with prospecting, researching, quoting, learning, and appointments can wreak havoc on your mental state.

For those of us who manage our lives on commissions, we’re always under pressure to perform, sell, and make a living for our families. Pretty stressful, right? I believe that having some type of plan for each week will let you manage your sales career instead of your sales career running your life.

-=Good Selling=-

Memoirs of a Copier Sales Person

7 Technologies That I Used to Use While Selling Copiers

Art Post · 8/5/1411:19 PM

While on a long drive to one of my accounts on the fringe of my territory, I had time to think about some of the technologies that I've used to help me sell copiers.

The Phone in a Bag: Pretty cool right! For you newbies, you probably didn't even know that the first truly mobile phones came with a really nice bag! Nice big handset, big numbers and always such a short dam cord for the handset. Back in the day, my dealership was also Authorized for Cellular One, we always had the latest phones and I can remember including cell phones and annual service plans in copier deals! EVERYONE wanted a Phone in Bag!

Demo Cart: Or you could call it the undertaker guerny, one of the first carts I remember was at least 4 feet long, had carpeting on top, and was foldable so that it would load in the back of the station wagon. Try pushing one of those over rocks, snow, ice or mud. It was usually a disaster waiting to happen.

Typewriter: Back in the day, if you needed a quote there was usually someone at the office that had awesome typing skills. Hand written quotes were not an option, thus all of the proposals were typed. But, the proposals were much simpler then, none of the fancy graphics, logo's or pictures that you see today. Just FAB (feature, advantage, benefit) purchase price and lease price!

Word Processor: Word Processors meant the Death of the Typewriter, you could store a proposal, edit a proposal and then walk away and the word processor would type the letter for you, In particular, I remember selling many paper feed trays for word processors. Much like a document feeder on a copier, with the word processor you could load the letter head and then tell the system to type (print) multiple copies of the document.

Phone Booths & Phone Cards: Before, the Phone in Bag, well, there were those good old fashioned phone booths. If you were running late for an appointment (which happened quite often) there were no apps like waze, map quest or GPS, you had to find a phone booth. The phone cards were handy to keep in the wallet in case you didn't have enough change for the call. NO, phone booths did not accept dollar bills. We made those calls in sub freezing temps, and torrential rains. We even closed deals from phone booths!

Roledex: So, you knew you came of age in your sales career, when you were allowed to keep a Roledex of your accounts on your desk. If you needed to waste some time or were tired of making cold calls (some things never change, eh), you would add contact information to your Roledex.

Copier Prospect Cards: Before the computer, we all kept an box full of index cards. On these cards, we would hand write all of the pertinent information to keep in touch with existing customers, and future prospects. You learned to write neatly and organize your cards quickly. I can remember making calls to prospects and then trying to decipher my hand writing while on the phone with the DMs!

And one quick story for you. I had my first word processor on my desk. I was finally in charge of creating my own letters and proposals! Yea! Thus, I was rocking and rolling sending letters to everyone (yes, we sent real letters through the mail). I'm in the office and I get a call that a prospect is on the phone for me. I thought, this is awesome! I answered and the DM of the company that I sent the letter to went on to critique me about letter that I had sent him. He stated it was full of typo's and "did I not proof read" the letter. Ahhh, no..., I didn't. He then stated that this was a learning lesson for me, and that he would not buy from someone who did not proof read the letters. yup, this taught me a lesson. I never confessed that I was a good typist or a master of the English language, however, I do confess that I'm an awesome salesperson.

-=Good Selling=-

Memoirs of a Copier Sales Person

MFP & Copier Leads "The Bain of My Existence"

Art Post · 7/3/1412:39 AM

Do you remember... when leads were a weekly occurrence?

Many years ago, it was not uncommon to get a few leads a week. Back in the Eighties, they would come via fax from the manufacturer. Advertising was done through various media sources like radio, TV, direct mail, and print advertising.

In the last 12 months, I can count the leads on one hand that I've received from my territory from the manufacturer. That number is TWO! Well, maybe three, but no more. I've been driving myself up a wall trying to figure out why.

Is the territory so saturated with salespeople that everyone is covered? Hey, I'm in NJ, and pretty much you can't drive more than a quarter mile without finding a prospect.

Could it be that no one is interested in Ricoh MFPs? How about, maybe everyone is searching for copiers on the web and they are finding us before we find them? I tend to think if that were the case, then I'd have a few more leads than TWO! Maybe, just maybe, they are all connecting with the various websites that offer to get you proposals, and you never have to speak to a rep? Naw, I'm not buying that either.

I'm at a loss and have now resigned myself to the fact that I'll probably never get a lead from the manufacturer for my territory. For me, getting a real lead is gratifying and helps me through the rough and tumble times when we can put in an entire day of phone calls or in-person meetings and get nothing. Leads help me stay motivated!

Moving forward, I'll just have to get more creative and find avenues to generate my own leads. I've done it in the past with active blogging about copiers and MFPs. Donating to non-profits, bartering price for membership, and trading ads in association journals have helped in the past. However, desperate times call for desperate measures.

Now, you don't expect me to tell you what I'm going to do next, do you? It's no secret. I'm just going to work harder with the items I discussed above, along with working smarter with existing accounts to maximize the "other" services/products that we provide. Our existing accounts are a gold mine; we just need to understand how to mine them.

I'm kinda getting off the subject here. I'll tell you a funny story. I've spoken to my manufacturer's rep on several occasions about the lead thing. I even went so far as going to the manufacturer's site and putting in a false lead, just to see what happens. Well, what happened is the web page for "request a quote" does not work! Let me clarify, it has not worked for at least three months!! Every week or so, I go on and try to enter a lead, and every time nothing happens when you click the submit button! Son of a....., maybe this is why, right? Thus, I spoke with my rep about this for at least the fourth time, and you know what that person stated? "Yeah, you know what, we really don't see any leads from the website anymore." I'm like, WHAT, that's because the site is not working!!! That's the reason you're not seeing any leads. As my Father-in-law states, what do you expect from a pig but a grunt.

If my rep is reading this, I'm sorry, I think you do an awesome job in supporting me, however, you should fire your webmaster ASAP!

I would love to hear from others about how they generate leads or if you are getting leads from your manufacturer's website.

-=Good Selling=-

Memoirs of a Copier Sales Person

When Does Your IT Provider Start to Care About Your Cost Per Page?

Art Post · 6/8/1411:24 PM

In the last month, I've had to visit the same doctor's office about six times. It seems I developed cataracts in both eyes. I opted for the surgery, and everything went very well.

Not being a frequent visitor to doctors' offices, these trips to the same eye center piqued my interest about how much paper they use. This particular eye center had three separate print devices (all A4). One was an older HP that was just used for printing, another was an older Canon fax machine, and last but not least was an older A4 Panasonic copier. They also had a small Fujitsu scanner that they used for scanning insurance cards.

Scanning the insurance cards into their EMR software is a good thing. The eye center also has a new website where you can request and change appointments, view payments, bills, and medical notes. I also saw many PCs and was surprised when I saw a few nurses with notebooks. Awesome, I thought, they really have it going on!

Every new patient is bombarded with at least six or seven forms that are printed on the HP (I asked), and at the end of your visit, you are then presented with another two to three sheets of paper. When the time came for the surgeries, each patient’s file had at least another 20-30 sheets of paper (additional forms and reports).

I was there twice for surgery in two weeks, and each day they had 15 cataract surgeries planned. I asked one of the nurses at the eye center where they get all the forms and reports for the surgeries, and she explained that they were printed on another printer (I was not able to see that one). Thus, the wheels started to turn, and I would estimate that this eye center is probably printing at least half a million pages per month!

When you're as old as me, you can make a good guess as to what the cost per page is for each of these devices. I figured two decent MFPs could, on the low side, save them as much as a penny per page. At a penny per page, that's $5,000 per year.

But the question I really want to ask them is, "Why does your IT provider not care about your cost per page?" They’ve got all this awesome technology, but their imaging systems are straight out of Bedrock.

I think that while their IT provider may be awesome at navigating them through the maze of IT technology, they are probably a bunch of dopes when it comes to imaging. This leaves an opening for someone like me to ask the question, "When does your IT provider start to care about your cost per page?"

I’m thinking that will be enough to get me an appointment so we can at least have the discussion about imaging and then move the discussion to the fact that we are also an IT provider. Wouldn't they really want to do business with someone who can deliver both IT and imaging?

I estimate the imaging systems they have are at least five years old. That’s a cool $25,000 that the eye center could have re-invested or saved over the years.

I never told them what I did for a living, but I did ask for the name of the person in charge of their office technology. In a few days, I'll be calling for an appointment with a wealth of knowledge about their paper workflow. It may or may not pan out, but if I had had my head buried in my phone (as almost everyone did, except for the elderly), I would have never seen the forest for the trees.

I believe that everywhere you go, there are opportunities; you just need to pay attention.

-=Good Selling=-

Memoirs of a Copier Sales Person

Just Another Day of Prospecting for Demo's.....on the Weekend

Art Post · 4/29/148:42 PM

I've pretty much reached a wall when prospecting for new accounts.

Sometimes, I wonder if companies conduct an internal contest to see who is the rudest person in the company. The winner is then placed in charge of taking calls from salespeople. Personally, when I come across someone like that, I make a personal note to myself to tell as many people as possible about how "rude" that company is!! Bad news always travels quicker than good news, right?

But, yesterday, I had a heck of a day making calls. It all started with a prospect that I followed up with. He was super busy and the only day he had open for a demonstration was this Saturday. I looked down at my appointment book which had ZERO appointments for the week and then stated "hell yes, Saturday would be a great day for a demonstration". A few calls later I connected with another account that was also kinda interested, so WTF, I threw out the offer to come in on Saturday since I'll be there already to take a look at the new 80ppm color system that we have. Sure enough, he also agreed! That makes two demos for Saturday!

The rest of the day didn't go that well; however, I still have three more days to see if I can get a third demo for Saturday.

Saturdays are the ultimate demo day; you get to come in late, wear jeans, comfy footwear, and your favorite weekend shirt!! But more importantly Saturday for the prospect is equally pleasurable. No distractions, no time limits, nothing to take away from meeting with you and taking a look at what you have to offer.

Over the years, especially when I had my own dealership, these types of Saturdays produced orders. So, instead of the "honey-do" list this Saturday, I'll be out getting coffee, buying my favorite bagels (at Sheepshead in Holmdel), and then making my way to the office to share some coffee, bagels, and knowledge with a few of my prospects.

-=Good Selling=-

Memoirs of a Copier Sales Person

One Huge Copier Sales Tip from and Old Pro

Art Post · 3/18/1410:13 PM

It's been a few days since I've had the desire to write. I'd bet the ranch that if I were paid to write, well... let's say it would be like an actor having stage fright. Ah ha! That's it, I've had writer's block.

Today

The last few days, I've had no ideas, no thoughts, until today. Today, I found myself trying to reel in a deal that I thought was in the bag, only to find out that the fight was on from a competitor.

What happens when you can't or don't want to budge on price? We're taught to fall back on our value points. Reemphasize those value points, why we're better, right? Thus, what happens when that doesn't work?

Today, I found myself doing an old-fashioned side-by-side comparison for XYZ copier (leaving it as XYZ because my competition may be reading this and I don't want to let them know what I'm up to). I've written about the side-by-side comparisons before, and a great place to get these is from GAP TCO. Thus, there I was reading the GAP TCO spec report on the XYZ system, checking out the brochure of the XYZ system, checking my brochure, and then back to GAP again for additional specs on my own system.

Side By Side

I took a few minutes to recall the past few meetings with the prospect and was trying to remember what was important to them. Besides the feeds and speeds, besides price, what was one of their top concerns when looking at a new vendor? I recalled some of the conversation about maintenance, downtime, and how important that was to them. This particular customer can't afford to have their system down a few times a month due to their tenacious appetite for paper! The prospect understands breakdowns; however, they will not tolerate a service engineer that comes out, diagnoses the fault, then states that they don't have the part and need to make a return call. We know the drill, right?

All of the above brought back memories from my old analog side-by-side comparisons. Years ago, it was more about FAB (feature-advantage-benefit). If no luck with FAB, you would then look to the consumables, in particular, how long those consumables would last before a service engineer had to be on site.

Scenario

In the scenario I was working on today, it dawned on me that the drums in the XYZ system had to be replaced more often than mine. In fact, those drums had to be replaced every 300K compared to every 900K in my system. Digging deeper, I found that the same was true with the waste toner container; theirs was 30K, mine every 125K. Replacement of toners also had me ahead, for every two of theirs, we only needed one.

My road to earning the sale will be to educate the prospect that even with zero breakdowns, my competitor's system will be down at the very minimum three times as much as my Ricoh.

I'll let you all know how this works out, and remember to do those side-by-sides, and you can get all of the neat information that I used from GAP TCO.

PS

That appointment did take place. I started off with this question: "With our last discovery meeting, you told me that reliability and uptime are key factors when deciding on choosing a vendor, is that still true?" My prospect stated, "Yes, if we're not printing, we're not making money." "You're still considering that XYZ device, correct?" I stated. "Yup, pretty much it's between your copier and theirs."

"Got it, take a look at this. I printed this from our spec guide on the XYZ copier. Please take a look at what I highlighted. Do you see the life of the drum at 300k?" Our DM looked at the doc and stated, "Why are you showing me this?" I then added our DM to the spec guide for my copier and also had the yield highlighted on the drum. I told him that our drum will last three times longer than the XYZ drum. What that means is that the copier from XYZ will be down three times to our one, since the Drum kit will take almost an hour to install. You're looking at two hours extra downtime with the XYZ copier.

After showing those docs and specs, the rest was easy, and the order was brought home

-=Good Selling=-

Memoirs of a Copier Sales Person

10 Ways to Make your MFP & MPS Proposals Standout!

Art Post · 3/6/147:05 PM

Over the years, I've encountered a plethora of both subpar Copier and MPS proposals and exemplary ones.

The significantly inferior proposals far outnumber the exceptional ones. You've likely come across them—what we commonly refer to as "hack proposals": exceedingly vague, providing only a price per month with no mention of delivery, installation, return procedures, training, support, or network installation.

As much as we strive to directly reach decision-makers, there are occasions when access to them eludes us, and we must submit proposals to gatekeepers.

What distinguishes your proposal from the rest?

Ensure impeccable grammar and spelling, with no misspelled words, incorrect model numbers, or abbreviations. Abbreviations can convey laziness, implying a lack of effort in composing a comprehensive proposal, which could lead the decision-maker to perceive you as lazy or not fully invested in the task at hand.
Incorporate action items, including value propositions, a comprehensive list of features, and benefits tailored to the prospect.
Highlight a lockout solution or feature. A thorough assessment may yield solutions or features that set you apart. Clearly articulate how your solution or feature benefits the prospect—for instance, by addressing security concerns associated with unclaimed prints and safeguarding personal information.
If quoting multiple systems, consider including a floor plan illustrating existing systems alongside those to be relocated, replaced, or retired.
Detail the prospect's current expenses and juxtapose them with projected replacement costs, highlighting potential savings.
For leasing customers, furnish comprehensive leasing information, encompassing various term options. Offer flexibility by providing quotes for multiple models, allowing the customer to select the most suitable option.
Include a detailed Scope of Work (SOW), outlining both what the customer can expect from you and your expectations of them. This is particularly critical when upgrading or assuming leases not within your portfolio.
Visual aids such as pictures can enhance the narrative. Consider including images of the systems or available options.
Cover letters serve as a professional touch, reinforcing your company's commitment to professionalism.
Emphasize that proposals are non-binding. Alongside the proposal, include a completed order form, maintenance agreement, and lease documents. To demonstrate your dedication, consider including "sign here" sticky notes, conveying your expectation of the order.

Remember, your proposal represents not just a product or service but also your company and yourself. Make it easily digestible with larger fonts and highlight key points. Ensure printed materials are of impeccable quality, and present the proposal in a format that suits your comfort level, be it a folder or binder.

Good luck with your sales endeavors.

-=Good Selling=-

Memoirs of a Copier Sales Person

The Sales Appointment that Goes All to Well!

Art Post · 2/15/1412:14 AM

We've all had them, right?

At lunch today, we spoke about the meeting that was too good to be true. The person you met with (who was to relay the information to the DM) was engaging, energetic, giving buying signs—basically all of the right stuff that says this is a slam dunk.

You were so enthused about the appointment that you projected the deal to close in a matter of weeks. Then... the bottom dropped out. All of a sudden, your contact was dodging your calls, offering lame excuses about late lunches, not being at their desk, no returned emails, and the occasional excuse that so-and-so is out on leave.

I hate meetings like these, and before you say, "Well, you should have met with the DM," I can tell you that many of my appointments never get me face-to-face with the DM the first time. They will pawn that job off to a trusted person in the company who does not have the authority to sign an order.

So, what can you do to "avoid the appointment that goes all too well"? Well... nothing. You will have meetings that go like this, and you need to add some closure before you leave the meeting.

Who is the ultimate decision-maker?
Is there a reason they are not here?
Are you looking at other proposals?
What is your buying criteria, is it price, support/service, speeds 'n' feeds, features?
What is your budget?
When do you need to make a move on this?

Above all, if you have not presented the proposal yet, then BEFORE you leave, schedule a follow-up appointment with the person you just met with along with the DM. If you don't, someone like me will! One other item, assume that the order is yours and move forward until you are stopped!

You can lose orders for the following reasons:

Sorry, my boss's next-door neighbor also sells the same equipment and he or she ordered from them.
Sorry, my boss has an uncle, aunt, or cousin in the business and we ordered from them.
Sorry, another salesperson scheduled an appointment with my boss and we bought from them.

I could probably list another 25 or so. My point, even though the meeting was great and all the energy indicated that you were going to get the order, does not mean that you can lay back and WAIT for the order! You have to make something happen, and that's to schedule the follow-up meeting to sign the paperwork with the DM. Right, assume the order. If they balk, then that's an objection that you need to know.

Losers wait for things to happen, and winners make things happen!

-=Good Selling=-

Memoirs of a Copier Sales Person

Selling Office Technology & a "Head Full of Hope"

Art Post · 2/4/149:12 PM

"So, what the heck is a 'head full of hope'? I heard the phrase for the first time while watching the miniseries 'Klondike.' Yes, I am a GOLD Rush freak!

I enjoy watching these guys prospect because prospecting is something I do on a daily basis. But finding GOLD, now that's a whole heck of a lot better than making 50 calls and getting a solid lead.

As a kid, I would often venture out on my own in the woods of Iselin, NJ, to see what I could find. I can remember a place called Fossil Rock, which was located next to the Parkway. Rumors had it that if you could find this rock, you'd be able to break pieces of the rock away to find fossils.

I never found the fossils because I never found the rock. But, I found many smaller rocks that were the hiding places of many critters, most of them being snakes. At first, I used to turn the rocks over by hand; I changed to using a big stick because one day I turned over a rock by hand, and a large snake scared the crap out of me! Heck, at 10 or 11 years old, I was on a mission to find what I could find.

In those days, I guess I could agree that I had a 'head full of hope' because I would leave in the morning with the belief that I would find old coins, treasure, snakes, or critters. Most days I returned with some fine-looking rocks that I thought might be valuable. Yup, I had a 'head full of hope.'

To this day, I still have that 'head full of hope' when it comes to prospecting because, as I think back, prospecting is always something I enjoyed doing. If I turned over enough rocks, I would eventually find something that I perceived as valuable, cool, or even scary (I've had a few prospects who were even scarier than that snake).

Thus, the same is true with prospecting for new customers; as long as you make the calls (phone or in person), send enough emails, do a few mailers, and before you know it, you've got prospects! Of course, some of those prospects won't pan out; others will fall off the face of the earth (we know that, right?), but there's always a few that will buy from you!

While in the office today, I mentioned the title of this blog to Ricky and gave him the outline. He commented, 'When you come to think of it, I was always prospecting before I got into sales.' I asked, 'How is that?' Ricky then stated that in his younger days (before he tied the knot), he would frequent some clubs to meet new women! Well, in my book, that's prospecting, right? When you come right down to it, all of us have some sales traits, and we didn't even know it!

I also have a 'head full of hope' for the Imaging Business. I believe that paper will never just go away, but I'm in agreement that prints from printers and copiers are in decline. There, I finally said it!

But, I've got a 'head full of hope' that new technologies will keep us relevant in the Office Technology business. Thus, in essence, we are still prospecting for hardware, software, and technology that will help our clients and prospects do more with less, save them time, increase efficiency, and help to lower their costs.

-=Good Selling=-"

Leases Memoirs of a Copier Sales Person MFP Proposals

Demise of the 60 Month Copier Lease

Art Post · 1/18/144:08 PM

Below is a blog I wrote about a year ago on the old blog site. I'll be moving these over from time to time.

As we still struggle to keep margins on equipment, maybe we need to become better advocates for presenting shorter terms for leasing equipment. I've been tracking all of my sales for purchases and leases; 92% of them involve leasing the equipment with a third-party leasing provider.

Of that 92%, 89% of the leases I've written were for 60 months. I would tend to think that, give or take a few percent, this might be applicable to most of us.

60 months/5 years is a long time, right?

Dang, I'm tired of my cell phone after two years and my car in about three. Technology changes so quickly nowadays that I want the latest and greatest new car features, whether it's better gas mileage, more comfort, or new technology. The same is true of my cell phone; after only two years, I would like to step up to new technology that may enhance my lifestyle or make me more productive. Wouldn't our customers want the latest technology with their copiers and MFP's also?

Why are we not quoting and selling more 24 or 36-month leases?

Look at it this way: if you put a customer into a 60-month lease, you'll have to wait at least four years until you or the customer has an upgrade path, and 54 months would be the prime time to upgrade. Even at 4 years, the upgrade path may not be as rosy of a picture for your customer.

Putting your customer into a 36-month lease means that the upgrade path is now reduced to two years, and 30 months would be the prime time to upgrade.

A lot can happen when you have to wait 48-54 months to upgrade the system. Items like a major breakdown, a poor service call, your contact being replaced by someone else, and the added pressure from other companies prospecting the same account can put your upgrade in jeopardy. A shorter-term lease will reduce these risks for you.

Take a $20,000 lease that is booked for 60 months, and the customer will pay $24,000 over the term of the lease. Compared to a 36-month lease, the customer will pay about $20,500 (factor of .0284). That's a $3,500 savings to the customer!

So How Can We Get Better at Selling 36-Month Leases?

There's a lot we can do. The first that comes to mind is the savings on interest; that should wake someone up. The second would be to explain the additional costs in maintenance/supply agreements that the customer would incur. Most of us sell maintenance agreements that have an auto-escalator clause that allows the maintenance/supply agreement or the cost per page agreement to increase every year. These annual increases can be anywhere from 5%-10% per year. Do the math!

We'll make it simple. That $20,000 copier/MFP that's pumping out 200,000 pages per year will mean the first-year contract cost is $2,000. With a 7% escalator clause, the 2nd-year cost is $2,140, the third-year cost is $2,289.80, the fourth-year is $2,450, and the last year is $2,621. Add them up, and over years four and five, the customer would pay an additional $1,071 for maintenance and supplies over a 60-month lease.

Invoicing: our customer will have to process at least another 24 invoices. With a small to medium-sized business, the cost to process that invoice and pay it is $15-$35 per invoice. Let's use $20 per invoice, and we've added another $480 over the 60-month lease cost.

In total, that $20K lease will cost your customer an additional $5,000! You've got to have this financial talk with your customer. In addition, if you upgrade the 36-month lease, you will lower the customer's cost of maintenance and supplies cost/cost per page with the new system, and there will probably be a few new features that will increase the customer's productivity!

Show the Savings to Your Account

That $5,000 savings over 60 months would be $83.33 per month. It's a no-brainer. Would the customer like to spend 25% more on a $20K lease? I doubt it. Keep in mind that the 36-month lease rate is the most competitive lease rate from all of the leasing companies; they score additional profit for 24, 48, and 60-month leases. I'd rather have a chance to go back to my customer in 24-30 months rather than 48 to 54.

-=Good Selling=-

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