Tagged With "A week in the life of copier sales"
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Re: What's the weirdest place you've sold a copier to?
Jason, I changed the word system to copier, hope that's ok. I gotta give that one some thought, sure I'll have something for you
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Re: What's the weirdest place you've sold a copier to?
Lol, those were two good ones! I can't remember if I've ever had weird sale.
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Re: All Ricoh A4 devices = no stapler
If it helps, Canon A4 staplers are usually around $900 whole sale.
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Re: All Ricoh A4 devices = no stapler
$650 on a B&W A4, $615 on a color A4. Ricoh is missing the boat one this one...
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Re: What's the weirdest place you've sold a copier to?
Can't take credit for it, but one of our reps sold a colour copier to a strip club. Let's just say that they were printing a LOT of 11x17 posters....
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Re: What's the weirdest place you've sold a copier to?
About to hit 17 years in the industry now so seen a few.. Sold a scanner to a strip club, I was new to the industry and just a teenager at the time - made the mistake of asking what they wanted to scan Had a "serviced" copier in a massage parlour (inherited the install base so I cant take credit for this) Sold/installed copiers/MFD's to both of the last two Prime Ministers offices/houses Installed a fax machine INSIDE a jail, there was a very dusty gap and some cables on the desk so I asked...
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Re: What's the weirdest place you've sold a copier to?
Wow, those are some great install! Not a copier, but I did sell a cash register to strip club once.
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Re: COVID19 "Remote Working" Day Eighteen of Sales
People always like getting free stuff. Two promo ideas 1). Offer 1-5 free color banner prints to your clients and prospects.. Many copiers can now print banners up to 12"W by 48" L . This feature is often not promoted. It costs you almost nothing but the customer might perceive as having value. It could be "Open for Business", "Happy Birthday," "Grand Re-Opening", whatever. The customer can dictate the content. You can add a little logo in the corner of the banner "supplied by ABC Copier...
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Re: COVID19 "Remote Working" Day Eighteen of Sales
I like the second offer, yes people always like free
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Re: Post-Virus We Must Defeat The Zombie Companies!
Although I am 60% on board with your move to A4 strategy, most of the rest of the stuff you are posting is "knocking it out of the park"! I would like to see a poll. As a business owner, during COVID-19 would you prefer? 1). No lease payments for 90 days 2). 1/2 price lease payments for one year The auto industry is pushing no payments for 90 days but I think business owners are more concerned about cash flow for the next year. I think the correct strategy is to offer as part of your...
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Re: Post-Virus We Must Defeat The Zombie Companies!
We generally do not build in prepaid copy/ print blocks into our leases. We do give away free copy prints up front but only intended as a short term bonus. We do normally charge a $25.00 minimum monthly maintenance fee but have waived that until the economy rebuilds momentum. I am in Canada, lease vendors are currently offering 90 day payment deferrals added back on at the end of term for those customers who request them. Leases expire every month and customers are happy with the equipment...
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Re: Will outside Sales Rep's go away?
@Monte I hope/think that even though buyers will research online that they will still want some interaction with a salesperson. If in fact the manufacturers allow the sale of high end MFP's online then the dealers will have to change a lot of how they do business. My hope though is that it does not come down to this. I buy a lot online and my wife grocery shops online and has them delivered to the house, BUT I don't look at most things like groceries. I want to go talk to my insurance agent.
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Re: Will outside Sales Rep's go away?
In a way its already gone to the internet and away from the outside sales rep........at least for stand alone printers and A4 devices. If all someone needs is a printer or an A4 to be used for basic printing,scanning and copying.....face it, they really don't need us already. If you've been at this a long time you probably remember the days when you sold a lot of A4 machines to small offices. 20 years ago if you needed an A4 you called a copier dealer. Those days are gone for the most part.
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Re: Ricoh Copy Output Tray for MP 9002
Yup agreed. I'm working with Copier Solution Shop in the Netherlands for a third party replacement. In addition for right Ricoh Europe is still offering these. I have a contact and can get more. Thinking sooner or later they will run out also
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Re: Print Copy Tool versus Plotworks
John, The PrintCopy Tool compares pretty favorably to Plotworks. I attached two documents to this post. The Product Support Guide lists differences between the two products. The PowerPoint has screen shots of all the settings in PrintCopy Tool. I hope this helps.
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Re: 7 Deadly Topics from 7 Deadly Sinners at Top 100 Summit (Part One)
Is it just me, or does West McDonald look like Wolverine? I watched the Seat-Based Billing video that was posted from the Top 100 Summit. Definitely some interesting points going back and forth. Print Audit has done a great job of persistently marketing seat-based pilling to the copier industry.
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Re: 7 Deadly Topics from 7 Deadly Sinners at Top 100 Summit (Part One)
I disagree that you have to own the network in order to offer seat-based billing. Before I go into why, can we (imaging industry) please stop referring to Managed Services as MNS? No one in the IT world uses this term; it's industry jargon that makes you stand out as a copier dealer 1st and an IT Services provider 2nd. Managed IT Services, Managed Services...fine. MNS needs to die. Now, here is why I disagree that you have to own the network as a client's Managed Services provider in order...
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Re: 7 Deadly Topics from 7 Deadly Sinners at Top 100 Summit (Part One)
Tx, awesome post! The conclusion for managed IT was at our own round table and not the general audience. One of the dealers in my group is heavily involved with managed IT, and thought it would be great offer. Yes, it was stated that MNS is only used by copier dealers and should be referenced to what you described. TY for the awesome reply!!
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Re: 7 Deadly Topics from 7 Deadly Sinners at Top 100 Summit (Part One)
Is it just me, it seems that the general rule of thumb for the copier industry to end users is "the take or leave approach". Meaning, come hell or high water we're not going to change the way we bill, the way we support, or the financial solutions that we offer. While I was at the Top 100 conference, a rep from Wells Fargo spoke about the billing options that they now have in their leases. One of the options was for seat billing for managed IT services. My thought is that if it's available...
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Re: 7 Deadly Topics from 7 Deadly Sinners at Top 100 Summit (Part One)
No, Art. You're spot on. I haven't had many jobs outside the industry, but the majority of the old guard is so proud of the way they've always done it & receives so much validation from other dealers with the same mentality (via BTA, CDA, SDG, et al) that they often refuse to admit the need to change until it's practically too late. There are ideas & concepts that I brought up 3-5 years ago that were considered to be "interesting but not really necessary" that we're suddenly latching...
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Re: 7 Deadly Topics from 7 Deadly Sinners at Top 100 Summit (Part One)
Originally Posted by txeagle24: I disagree that you have to own the network in order to offer seat-based billing. Before I go into why, can we (imaging industry) please stop referring to Managed Services as MNS? No one in the IT world uses this term; it's industry jargon that makes you stand out as a copier dealer 1st and an IT Services provider 2nd. Managed IT Services, Managed Services...fine. MNS needs to die. Now, here is why I disagree that you have to own the network as a client's...
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Re: When is Net New Business not Net New Business?
Interesting perspective. We constantly have the talks about competitive machines we took on service, especially brands we don't carry. I tend to consider is taking a Konica on service and then a year or two later upgrading it to our equipment net new business from the sales side. Obviously we had net new business on the service side but not net new for "x" with the equipment sale. I'd be interested to hear how others see this. I hear a lot of people say it doesn't matter but if I bring a...
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Re: When is Net New Business not Net New Business?
I was wondering if the subject of those customers who were acquired through service was going to come up, & Jason's comment is certainly "food for thought"... In his example, he brought on the service customer (with the obvious intention of upgrading them at the first opportunity) & the dealer gets a contract & machine sale that they otherwise wouldn't have. Sounds like net new to me. In my experience, though, most of these service to machine sale conversions are from customers...
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Re: When is Net New Business not Net New Business?
Jay, We typically go after about any machine other than a Xerox. If someone wants us to service their machine and its not a complete piece of junk we will take it on and will get parts and supplies from dealers etc. until we can upgrade to one of our lines; Savin, Canon, or Samsung. We expect our reps to go out and take service agreements and we pay them the first months billing. Most don't like to mess with 30.00 agreements but they add up and eventually you find a big one. We had a rep who...
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Re: When is Net New Business not Net New Business?
We do almost the exact same thing... anything but Canon, Toshiba, & Xerox. If I could get Reps to bring in 4 figure maintenance agreements, life would be spectacular!
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Re: Target GP Margins
Thanks for the replies. Sounds like I'm about right with where my GP should be. txeagle: I know the feeling of those slim margins where everyone is dropping their pants!! I can make more GP on a single refurbished copier in a commercial account than 8 machines at a major account.
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Re: When did you first learn about the industry
Jason: They are awesome!! Especially the one of the left, givin the "eagle eye"!! Congrats.. I learned about the industry from state sponsored copier tech training course.
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Re: When did you first learn about the industry
Honestly, it was when I walked in the door for my first interview. I remember the individual interviewing me mentioning that they sold Ricoh equipment, & the only frame of reference I had is that Ricoh sponsored the "Call to the Bullpen" on MLB games at the time. Before I got into the industry, I could not make a straight copy on the first try if you paid me, because I never thought to use the document feeder & could never get the original lined up on the glass. I knew about all of...
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Re: Toshiba now has tier based CPC's?
In Canada, no such plan exits nor am I even aware the capability exists within Toshiba copiers. In my market, multi-tier pricing for color does not comes up in competitive pricing. For a 25 cpm, pricing seems to be holding steady at $0.010 Black and $0.070 color for single units. I have seen less and sometimes we move the cpc around a bit. For example, when we set up a copier we build the initial toner costs into our equipment costs. That gives us 32,000 colour pages to play with.
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Re: Nsi Autostore
Maven , What I tell my customers and when I'm out with sales reps is it's all about getting things done in less steps. I'm in the legal vertical so time is money and everyone has an hourly billable. Right now here's the average user scan: 1.) User walks up to MFP and logs in 2.) Finds their name via LDAP or enters manually and then enters client and matter 3.) Selects Scan to email 4.) Sends PDF to their email 5.) Walks back to their desk 6.) Finds Canon Scan 00034789* (or doesn't because...
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Re: Charge for IT support
We had never charged for it after the sale until about 6 months ago due to people calling all the time for driver installs, scanning issues related to their internet etc. We used to offer an optional network/it yearly agreement and people would decline and then start calling for help. We decided to send out, initially an opt-out to ever customer who had current devices, and after every sale send one out. We did it as an opt out due to the fact that customers would decline the option and...
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Re: up against the Xerox Phaser 7800 with a SP C831dn
Thanks and congrats on your sale and the others. Also thank you for the link and your advice. The company is a small design firm and I don't think they go all out with the Pantone matching and that calibration tool. I will let you know if I sell it.
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Re: The Death Of The B2B Salesperson [Infographic]
Art, I call Bull ****! At least for our industry, the copier industry! This may be true of a commodity (like envelopes, or coffee, or even a PC) but copiers, really MFDs require a lot of attention, both before and after a customer buys it. This article seems to be written by an old brick & mortar company that successfully transitioned to internet sales. This will work for any company that drop ships their products. And I agree that the MFD manufacturers would LOVE for this to be, or...
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Re: Leasing, Insurance, Padded Rates, Buy Out Price
txeagle seems you may have the best answer, just quote them MSRP and we should be safe. We just went through one of these where the copier was damaged by fire and was covered under the BOP policy. The insurance company paid the stream of payments plus the residual. I'm always somewhat concerned when I have to quote a price to the customer and then that customer uses that for the value of the equipment to the leasing company. If you sell at MSRP and the equipment is leased, then you need to...
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Re: W6700sp help!
Got it, what we use is an exit tray that is sold by "Copier Solution Shop". The new exit tray will allow "e" size documents to exit to the front of the W6700 and they don't have to use the rear exit. I believe it will stack 50 or so. All of my clients love and their has never been a complaint. Here's the link https://www.copiersolutionshop...put-tray-rot-1.html, I will check for a video. I thought I posted one in the "pic's" section of this site.
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Re: W6700sp help!
You are welcome. Does anyone have a video of the MP6700SP with the paper exit tray from Copier Solution Shop?
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Re: W6700sp help!
Like Art, it is rare that a 6700 leaves here without the aftermarket try. Just a heads up on that tray.......if the customer bumps into the tray there is a very good chance that the metal tray will fall on your customer's feet. I had it happen to me. To see what I mean mount the tray on your 6700 and push the tray forward in the center......the two hooks will disengage and the tray will come crashing down. I came up with a very simple modification to this tray that will eliminate the...
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Re: Your Copier
Welcome back😀 https://www.p4photel.com/blog/...-the-copier-industry 6 Reasons Why Flat Rate aka One Rate Will Change the Copier Industry Art Post 36 minutes ago I remember when plain paper copiers used rolls of paper and not sheets. I remember when the glass on the copiers had to move back and forth. I remember when copiers used liquid ink (toner) to produce an image. I remember when you used a dial to set how many copies you wanted to make. Yup, it's been a pretty incredible journey to see...
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Re: Toshiba e-Studio Erasable Toner 4508LP Questions
There is an all inclusive cpc charge for the Erasable Blue toner. The cost per copy analysis suggests that if on a 60 month lease you do not expect the the customer to erase more than 210,000 pages (3,500 pages per month) you can forget the parts cost and charge the same cpc as for Black at around $0.010 per page with a decent profit. There is no charge other than the users effort to recycle pages printed with erasable blue. If a sheet of paper costs $0.010 and Erasable Blue costs $0.010 you...
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Re: Sharp Direct Service Pricing
Isn't this how the 2008 economy crashed? A bunch of banks selling worthless mortgage bonds that had no sustainable value, but they didn't care because they were getting rich off the commission fees? The copier bubble is bursting!
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Re: Toshiba Introduces World's First Copier Delivering Erasable and Black & White Prints
Imagine a CMYK copier, except remove the CMY toner and developer and insert a new Erasable Blue (EB) toner and developer. Modify the copier so that when the Erasable blue toner passes back through the heat of the fuser, it de-colorizes the blue to white. A new rules based print driver can automatically makes software apps like emails auto print in blue plus provide a new counter to show how much paper, CO2 and money you saved. The previous generation product appealed to too small a section...
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Re: Toshiba Introduces World's First Copier Delivering Erasable and Black & White Prints
A good YouTube video showing the erasable copier in action. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwRBOqI9sq0
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Re: Copier Parts & Accessories China Tariff Starts in 9 Working Days
More than a few copier/ printers are manufactured in Thailand and the Philippines due to low labor costs. I do not know but I think these products tend to be more low end A4 and printer products. I think most A3 product is made in China. I can only speak for Toshiba but I know the majority of North American toner is made in North Dakota. As I am from Canada, I am hoping with fingers crossed that this very likely US tariff war with China will not effect us.
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Re: Copier Parts & Accessories China Tariff Starts in 9 Working Days
Do you agree that a new 25% tariff on copier/ printer products imported from China is a consumption tax on US businesses and consumers?
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Re: Copier Parts & Accessories China Tariff Starts in 9 Working Days
In a hint at what is to soon happen with tariffs on copiers/ printers from China headed to the USA, Harley Davidson Motorcycles announced today that it would shift some production headed for Europe to other global manufacturing facilities to avoid paying tariffs estimated at up to $2,200.00 per bike. It could take nine to 18 months to make this change. It also said that it would not increase prices to European dealers and would take a hit to profitability for the remainder of this year at...
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Re: Copier Parts & Accessories China Tariff Starts in 9 Working Days
I suspect that you are retired from the copier industry and do not have to earn commissions each month to support your family. As an active sales rep, I do not have the luxury of hoping that things will run their course when I have budgets and quotas to meet each month. The people who are going to be adversely effected will be US copier sales reps with a higher cost of goods.
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Re: Copier Parts & Accessories China Tariff Starts in 9 Working Days
Nope...not retired and I do have to live from the commissions I earn from personal sales. I just don't believe that everything has to revolve around what is best for me. That being said, I am under the assumption that all copier manufacturers will be effected pretty much equally so I don't personally expect to be adversely effected.
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Re: Copier Parts & Accessories China Tariff Starts in 9 Working Days
I am glad to hear that you are working in the copier industry so that I know that you have "skin in the game". There are very many players in the copier/ printer industry each with their own strengths/ weaknesses when faced with a trade war. Each player will have a different tolerance for how much money they want to loose to maintain market share. I definitely would not expect a uniform response. Multi line dealers will have more options to select from than single line dealers and brand...
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Re: Copier Parts & Accessories China Tariff Starts in 9 Working Days
as of July 6th, there is no tariff on copy machines. Just copier parts and accessories.