I'm going to say something here from my experience of being a copier buyer BEFORE I started working in the copier industry. Yes, it's true, I was a client of the very dealership that I came to work for.
You're not going to like what I have to say because you're sales reps and you trained to think a certain way. Please, for once, listen with an open mind to someone with experience being on the other side of the proposal. Ponder it, don't spin it.
Most buyers don't care one bit what brand of machine they are buying.
Repeat: most companies, key ops, decision makers, whatever, DON'T CARE. All the brands do basically the same thing. You guys come in and make your proposals and you're really just splitting hairs. They aren't impressed with the industry awards, they've got other things on their minds than BERTL and BLI. In most cases, they've never heard of them. All that becomes just meaningless white noise because all of you are saying your versions of the same story.
What do buyers care about?
I cared about the reputation of the dealership.
I cared about whether you were going to service my machines promptly and efficiently.
I cared about whether I could count on you.
I cared about my relationship with my sales rep and whether I could trust him/her because I was going to put my own reputation on the line by recommending what you said to my company president.
I cared about honesty, I cared about reliability, I cared about whether your dealership was going to be a good fit with my company.
I cared about sales reps who saw us as working partners and brought me solutions to my problems. I cared about a rep who was observant enough to notice that he may have a better way to help me do my daily work.
So, dtarvin, my advice to you is stop worrying about the brand you could be selling and start thinking about the quality of the dealership you could be working for. Is working for this dealership going to be a good professional move for you? Can you feel proud to represent this dealership? Will they take care of their staff and their clients in an ethical manner? Will you be happy working there and and hopefully grow in your sales skills?
If the dealership is a quality company, I doubt they would be selling poor products.