Tagged With "Earning Mental Toughness"
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Re: Is This the Beginning of the End for the Padding of Lease Rates?
Hello Art and the rest of the P4P members - Our industry association (ELFA), along with several independent law firms that represent many of our industry members are reviewing this legislation to determine the actual effects it will have on the industry as a whole and to provide guidance so that our members will be in compliance with the legislation. What we know at this point is that is you are involved in offering financing to businesses in California, you will be subject to this...
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Re: Copier Scams Part Deux "Dude Where's my Copier"?
No doubt it's fraud, that's an open and shut case. But I may never get to the bottom of why the individual in the organisation signed the agreement. I'll leave that to the imagination. It's a tough one as well, it was signed by the sister of the owner of the business!!
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Re: Lease Maestro Checks into Print4Pay Hotel
Hello Garrett - The dreaded "Evergreen" clause. This clause has caused many problems customer and dealers over the years. Depending on your situation, it may be tough for you to get the customer out of the contract early without some significant work on yours and the customers part. Based on your comment of "win the business", I am assuming that you are not the original dealer that put the customer into the lease with the an "Evergreen" renewal clause. If this is the case, there is a good...
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Re: The Death of Linkedin?
Cant blame the guy for trying. We all started with hitting the street at 8:30 to pound on doors and chase most anything that moved. The nature of Linked is a way to connect, but its tough when a request comes out of the blue.
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Re: The Transition of the Copier Industry "Part III"
Art, So you’re saying you used eQuill with eWriter to process your sales paper work? To this day, are you still doing it that way? Did you have many customers buying in to eQuill in the healthcare, government agencies and law enforcement fields? It would seem that any entity that processed sales would be a good target for eQuill too—did you find that to be so? Yeah—it’s tough not to resort to ‘commodity speak’ when prospecting b/c that’s what it seems to come down to—cannibalizing from each...
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Re: The Transition of the Copier Industry "Part III"
Great article as usual Art. I agree, technology like this is a great option for any industry. I think that the reason it has been so slow to take off is that people like the "hard copy". Whether it's because they feel it's more secure, or just out of habit, having the signed document in hand is a tough thing to let go of. I see the same with becoming a cashless society, people love paper!
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Re: The Transition of the Copier Industry "Part III"
Hey Jeff No, we did not use the eQuill/eWriter. I thought we should have put this to good use for our sales team. The usage of the eQuill in the field would have enable many conversations about how we use it, how we set the system up, and what was our back end process. It was an opportunity to break out of that commodity role. Thanx for the reply and questions!
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Re: One BIG Take Away from the Top 100 Summit
This is a tough business and finding young blood who are willing to gut it out is HARD. I've been in this industry for 5 years now and every year the thought of quitting enters my mind. The reasoning to stick around has to be more than just about money. For me, lasting 10 years in copier sales is the equivalent to getting my "black belt" in "the art of selling." I already have the confidence to feel like I can do anything -- real estate, start my own business, etc... I've gone through the...
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Re: Canon Business Systems Pulling a Ricoh
Originally Posted by Art Post: Whoa there Art.... I've been with Canon (CSA) for 20 years. We have thousands of well satisfied customers. Not everyone everywhere is going to be happy but, to the chagrin of our competitors, most are. If they aren't, they will leave. You know it and I know it. We have ROE's that are rigidly enforced where I do business, we are not out to buy the business and the competition from Canon's own dealers often force prices to rock bottom margins. You've been at this...
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Re: Canon Business Systems Pulling a Ricoh
All sounds good. Bumped into Keith Allison last week. Is he in your area?? Anyhow sounds like you guys are well diversified . Re the tough prospect !! Perhaps an offer of a back up used copier could counter Ricoh 30% lower cost ? Try almost anything to get prospect on your side. Then next year inc price?? Maybe?? Lol
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Re: Canon Business Systems Pulling a Ricoh
Originally Posted by TML: CSA operates under a lawless abandon. Their number one goal is to move boxes even at a loss. While they didn't lose as much this past year, they still didn't turn a profit for CUSA (canon USA) and no one at the top seemed to care. Having met some of the top tier dealers in the northeast, the sore in every single independent dealers side is canon solutions america / canon business solutions. We all know competition is out there, but to have to explain why us as a...
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This Week in the Copier Industry 10 Years Ago, The First Week in January 2009
Ten years ago this week and what was on our minds? It was the Great Recession. I remember it all too well. Many of my accounts were in the AEC market, remember losing almost 30% of that business because of bankruptcies, companies closing and companies just buying their device once they came to the end of the lease. Hope I never have to go through that again! Enjoy the threads from ten year ago this week! Weekend Copier Notes from 1/4/09 Neal · 1/5/097:19 AM According to survey of printshops...
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This Week in the Copier Industry 10 Years Ago, The Last Week in January 2009
It's been a hectic week for me. Had to spend a couple days in PA for meetings, coupled with the end of the month. January was nothing but a bummer. That's what happens when you cram everything in for the end of the year. One item I was happy with was my commission check. Back to rebuilding the pipeline. Enjoy these threads from ten years ago this week. Weekend Copier Notes from 1/25/09 Neal · 1/26/096:56 AM server, which is a relabeled Konica Minolta PRO C 6501. This certification is based...
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This Week in the Copier Industry 5 Years Ago, The First Week in December 2013
Okay, we're back to doing three of these a wee. Where we look back on the threads from, 5, 10 & 15 years ago Enjoy these threads from 5 years ago this week! Canon U.S.A. Unveils Océ VarioPrint 6000+ Series of High-Speed, High-Volume Digital Production Printers Art Post · 12/5/139:45 PM deliver critical savings to print providers. This black-and-white printer is ideal for burgeoning industries -- such as on-demand, digital book printing -- due to its registration accuracy, outstanding...
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This Week in the Copier Industry 5 Years Ago, The First Week in September 2013
Konica Minolta and Komori Debut World's First 23"x29" Digital Inkjet Press at PRINT 13 Art Post · 9/5/137:08 AM today's highly competitive printing marketplace. Delivering a high level in print quality coupled with impressively fast make-ready and open systems architecture, Komori presses help printers achieve the higher productivity and efficiency levels essential for increased margins and business growth. Komori America Corporation headquarters are in Rolling Meadows, IL with sales and...
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How Authenticity Can Maximize Your Prospecting Results
Authenticity is one of the biggest challenges for salespeople in a profession riddled with scrupulous, fake and disingenuous sales reps; that quite frankly many buyers despise them. However, authenticity separates sales reps from sales professionals and this is what buyers want! It may sound a bit touchy-feely but set aside some alone time, take a look inside yourself as sales is all about building credible, genuine and real relationships. In order to build relationships and change the way...
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3 Confidence Building Tips To Become The Best Sales Version Of You!
Sales is hard . It’s not for the weak at heart. It requires the right mindset to really be successful. One massively overlooked factor to becoming a great sales professional is the confidence you have in yourself. If you fail to build sales confidence, you’ll consistently struggle to effectively sell. By 'confidence' per say, I'm not referring to fake it until you make it. I'm talking a deep, down inside of you confidence to become the best version of YOU. CONFIDENCE IS CRITICAL Did you know...
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Attention Sales Leaders... These 3 Blind Spots Could Be Holding Back Your Sales Team!
Blind spots, we all have them and they have the potential to be damaging. Unfortunately, everyone but ourselves can see these as clear as day. For sales leaders, these blind spots create unwelcome consequences. They interfere with decision-making, reduce our scope of awareness, and sabotage sales results. A blind spot could be an unrecognized weakness. Within this context, it has the potential to undermine sales growth. The most dangerous blind spots affect those sales leaders who are...
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3 Strategies Sales Professionals Use To Decline Being Invited To The Pity Party Of Discouragement
Sales professionals constantly face the temptation to give into discouragement. Bad news and rejection are inevitable in sales. What's important is how you handle it. Let's be honest, we all get discouraged. It’s just one of those potholes we face as we navigate down the road called sales. When we get discouraged our attitude, belief and emotions turn negative. When this happens our productivity plummets, we tend to retreat, withdraw and bitch about everything. The risk of giving up on...
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This Week in the Copier Industry 10 Years Ago, The Last Week in August 2008
Well it was ten years ago this week that the news broke about Ricoh purchasing Ikon. Ten years later the Ikon purchase was a bust with Ricoh writing off millions in future profit & revenue. That's what happens when you purchase a company that can't spin a profit. Enjoy the threads from ten years ago this week! Weekend Copier Notes from 08/24/08 Neal · 8/28/087:52 AM in the United States: o The current Digital Print Center (DPC) sales & marketing division will be disbanded § This...
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This Week in the Copier Industry 5 Years Ago, The Last Week in August 2013
I thought it would be time for something new. Each week we post threads from the last 10 year and 15 years on the Print4Pay Hotel. So we're going to give you another one. This Week in the Copier Industry 5 Years Ago. Enjoy these most excellent threads from just 5 years ago! Who Makes the Best Multifunctional Copy Machine? Art Post · 8/28/1310:23 PM manufacturers for multifunctional copiers. Here they are in the tiers. Tier I: Canon (includes Oce), Ricoh (includes Savin and Lanier), Xerox and...
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Slumps Happen... 3 Tips To Beat the Sales Funk
Just keep swinging... It’s happened to all of us: One month, we're hitting home runs out of the sales ball park; the next, we're swinging and missing on every sales opportunity. We've all been aboard the sales train wreck before. You fail to secure an important sale. You have a series of bad days. Worse, you struggle to sell to your own clients. You can't seem to disentangle yourself from its deadly grip. You're in a sales slump. Even heavy sales hitters have bad days, bad months and even...
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This Week in the Copier Industry 5 Years Ago, The Second Week in September 2013
Here they are. Our top threads from five years ago in the Print4Pay Hotel RICOH UNVEILS NEW AWARD-WINNING SOLUTIONS AT PRINT 13, PROVIDING SUPERIOR CONTROL FOR PERSONALIZED DOCUMENTS Art Post · 9/9/138:07 PM shops today and allows operators to easily implement logic-based ticketing, and choose media and finishing options that apply to statements of variable lengths - achieving identical output across Ricoh , Xerox and Kodak devices, saving time and increasing asset utilization in the...
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Seven Great Reason Why I Love Working @ Stratix Systems
It's a late night for me just like many other nights. While I was walking our dog, a little light snow began to fall here in Highlands, NJ. At this time of year, along with not much traffic I can hear the rumble of the waves that are peppering the beach. Sometimes it's times it's nights like these that I get to remember about how good things are and how fortunate I've been through out the years. A little more than ten years ago the copier company that I worked for was bought by Stratix...
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Sales Professionals Chase Excellence, Not Shiny Objects
Look into my eyes, you're getting sleepy, you're getting real sleepy, your eyelids are getting droopy, are you hypnotized yet by all the social noise? I encourage all of you, please take off the dark sun glasses and stop chasing shiny "social" objects! In Hey Sales Leaders... 3 Reasons Why Your Sales Teams "Social" ROI Sucks! I shared my opinion that social has always been a part of sales. It is about building relationships and changing the way people think as now we have more tools to build...
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This Week in the Copier Industry 15 Years Ago (Third Week of March 2004)
Can't wait for another four years! In 2023 I'll be able post twenty years of activity on this site. Can only wonder what the next four years will be like in this industry! Enjoy these awesome threads from 15 years ago this week! UPDATE - Konica Minolta 3/22/049:13 PM equipment maker said it aimed for a group operating profit of 160 billion yen ($1.5 billion) in the year ending in March 2007. Konica Minolta , created last August through the merger of precision equipment companies Konica Corp...
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This Week in the Copier Industry 10 Years Ago (Second Week of April 2009)
Super thread below titled Where do you see this industry in 5 years???? A must read to see what everyone thought back in 2009 about 2014. Enjoy these threads from ten years ago this week! WEekend Copier Notes from 04/12/09 Neal · 4/13/097:17 AM print color systems, the PRO C 550EX and PRO C 700EX: - Base MSRPs of $54,290 & $62,690 - C 550EX offers 55ppm full color and 60ppm b/w - C 700EX offers 70ppm full color and 75ppm b/w - Uses engines from the MP C 6000 and C 7500 mid-range color...
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This Week in the Copier Industry 10 Years Ago, The Third Week in October 2008
I like to start these updates with some interesting things that happen to me in the last week or so. I received two leads and closed both of them from Linkedin. It was net new clients reaching out to me via Linkedin and requesting to set a meeting. Yes, this was the first I ever had two in one week. So I keep moving forward and keep growing my connections because you just never know when one of those calls might be for 20, 100 or 1,000 MFP's #nevergiveup Enjoy the threads from ten years ago...
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This Week in the Copier Industry 15 Years Ago, The Third Week in October 2003
Crap there's a ton of threads below! From 1998-2003 many of us in the copier industry ew nothing about network printing and scanning. In addition neither did our managers and techs. The Print4Pay Hotel allowed us have a community where we could share experiences technical stuff and help meet our client expectations. Fifteen years later and all dealerships have on staff IT people and knowledgeable technicians that can handle most everything. Enjoy the threads from 15 years ago this week!
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This Week in the Copier Industry 15 Years Ago (First Week of March 2004)
Seems we're coming to the end of the first quarter already. After dumping everything into the end of 2018. I've had a rough go of it for the past 7 weeks. Last week proved to be better with two orders and one of them was $45K. We're also going see have then end of the fiscal years for most if not all of the copier manufacturers. This time of years scares me because nothing is safe, you need to ask the tough questions up front and try your best to wrap up business either the day you met with...
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Four Sales Tips to Help you Close More Copier Opportunities
Recently, closed quite a few orders in the last couple of weeks. Almost all of those opportunities had some stiff competition from other vendors. Thus, I'd like to share some of my secrets that I've used to help win the deal. But first I'd like to share some thoughts about buyers. There's two types of buyers in my book. One is the value buyer and the other is the price buyer. If you've been on Linkedin long enough you'll read sales guru's spinning the yarns of selling to value. The truth is...
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Attention Sales Leaders... Take A Look At Your Sales Team, And Then Make A Change!
The late great Michael Jackson, "If you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make that change" Your clients and prospects are using digital content to make their purchasing decisions, and what are you doing about it? The ironic thing, you and your sales team use digital content to make purchasing decisions. An overwhelming majority (89%) of B2B researchers use the internet in their research process. Selling in today’s ultra-connected, fast paced business...
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It's So Easy To Connect But How Many Are Truly Connecting?
Are we living in an anti-depth world? Throughout the last couple of decades, our ability to connect with people around the world has exploded. It's never been as easy as it is right now to connect with people. What's become more prevalent is how difficult it is to truly connect with meaning, substance and sincerity. Technology has threatened and supplanted face-to-face intimacy. With devices in hand or fingers on a keyboard, we can avoid human exchange and any potential awkwardness, fear or...
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COVID19 "Remote Working" Day Thirteen of Sales
I was hoping that day thirteen would be a lucky number for me. It wasn't and I'm still hanging in their with zero orders since I started working remotely. I had a tough time going to sleep last night, the mind was still running, thoughts of what to if this that or the other thing happens. Even with two sleeping pills it was not a good night. Think I finally dozed off somewhere in the 1AM area. Thursday has started just like every other day. By 8am I was at the PC and going through my CRM to...
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Attention Sales Leaders... Authenticity Matters In A Crisis Fueled Sales World
We've all used the term the "B.S. Meter". I'm here to give you a new meter to judge your sales team by, the "Authenticity Meter". Authenticity is one of the biggest challenges within the sales world. It's a profession riddled with unscrupulous, fake and disingenuous sales reps and managers; that quite frankly many buyers despise them as well as some on their team. Authenticity separates sales reps from sales professionals. Authenticity separates sales managers from sales leaders. What is...
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COVID19 "Remote Working" Day Seventeen of Sales
Before I get started on my day I'd like to share a Youtube video from BTA and Brent Hoskins. BTA has some excellent resources for dealers to navigate through these tough times. COVID19 Today in New Jersey we had our highest one day death toll to date. I believe it was somewhere around 246 souls that passed in the last 24 hours. Today our Governor notified us that all non-essential construction will be shut down as of Friday at 5PM. There goes the next to last bit of the economy that was...
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COVID19 "Remote Working" Day Twenty-Three of Sales
There was some good news today in that the Feds released their plans for States to get back to work in a three phase operation. Seems each State will have different time lines depending if they meet the conditions that were set forth today. New Jersey is on lock down until the 15th of May. Could we see some of the restrictions lifted soon? I'm thinking no since we're one of those nanny states. This may be one of my shorter blogs and the reason for that is because I spent 5 of my eight hours...
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COVID19 "Remote Working" Day Twenty-Five of Sales
The end of the day was pretty cool for me. After 5pm I had the chance to speak with a dealer principal out on the West Coast. Yes, things are just as bad out there as here in New Jersey. But we really didn't speak about COVID19 that much, instead our talk was about how the industry has changed in ten years and where are industry is going in the next ten years. It's always great to hear from dealer principals that still have the desire to go after it in this business! Yes, there are still...
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This Week in the Copier Industry 5 Years Ago for the Last Week in April of 2015
Below are some of the threads that were popular 5 years ago this week. One thread that's great for newbies is State of the "Art" Sales Technology. Enjoy these awesome threads from 5 years ago today! Multiple Copier Pricing Spreadsheet Art Post · 4/30/1511:12 PM Topic Fuji Xerox and Ricoh for the the Provision of Print and Imaging as-a-Service PlaaS Art Post · 4/30/1510:13 PM an option of two (2) one year extensions. The combined purchasing power of the Queensland Government has enabled the...
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Sales Professionals Do Not Suffer From Conversational Narcissism, Are You?
Think about this statement for a moment... Sales reps who take over conversations poison their own well. When you steal your customers voice, you lower their belief in you. Narcissistic sales reps enjoy hearing themselves talk. Without fail, they find a way to circle back to their story. their product, their industry tenure and their support. They don’t intend to be rude, but they sure do get blinded by their sales light, their own dramas and sales crapola. A SOCIAL EPIDEMIC We live in a...
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Sales Professionals Can Clearly Define Themselves, Can You?
Getting to know yourself allows you to tap into the road of happiness as this is critical to your success. How would you define yourself? What makes you tick? How are you continually evaluating yourself to improve your results and become better at what you do? You live in highly competitive sales world. You're living through some chaotic and crisis filled moments. You must be able to clearly differentiate yourself from all the other empty suits. This may sound a bit harsh, no one cares about...
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COVID19 "Remote Working" Day Forty of Sales
By the end of the week it will be two solid months since I was optioned to the home office. Could this really last for an entire quarter? I'm somewhat worried that many businesses will cease to exist if the our Governor does not open up the state for business. In today's address he was non-committal for releasing a time line of when we can re-open. He hinted at maybe something coming this week. All we can hope is that he comes to his senses and will realize that shutting down the state also...
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My Corona Tales from Today
Yes, I went to the office today. Yes, traffic was light when it's normally jammed. Cell phone disruptions were common today with many "failed calls" in or out. Thinking that's due to the higher band width usage with many peeps using phones for hot spots or just on social media. Emails from clients after sending on-line meeting requests is low, emails from a few clients stating they are not taking ANY visitors. I had four appointments on tap for this week, two cancelled altogether, two...
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Leasing in the Imaging Channel - Pre and Post-Virus
My friends, soon we will discuss the Imaging Channel's deliverables as Pre-Virus and Post-Virus. Over the next few weeks, we will all witness many unpleasantries. However, we must prepare, and as I have done for many years, I will continue sharing my thoughts and what I envision coming. Hopefully, helping everyone prepare. In this article, I will discuss Leasing Pre-Virus and Post-Virus. Will this Pandemic cause the same problems as the 2008-09 Financial Crisis regarding Leasing in the...
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COVID19 "Remote Working" Day Thirty-One of Sales
Every now and then we have one of those days. When I'm waiting for a deal to develop I'll calling it "waiting for the ball to travel". Let the ball get deeper before you hit that homer. Today was one of those days that I waited for the ball to travel. What I mean by that is that I took a much needed mental day from prospecting. Today was a perfect day for that since I had four meetings on tap. One was our weekly sales TEAMS meeting and the other three were with prospects. In addition I had...
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COVID19 "Remote Working" Day Thirty-Two of Sales
Yay! Our Governor is opening State and County Parks on May 2nd....with conditions with social distancing. Getting to hate that "social" crap. Many people are furious in New Jersey about the handling of the shut down along with not having the ability to get outside. After pressure the Gov caved to the pressure. However, here's what I think, we'll have such an influx to the parks and beaches from knuckle heads (govs favorite word) and out of state peeps that he will close the parks on Monday.
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COVID19 "Remote Working" Day Thirty-Five of Sales
During the month of April we posted 66 blog and videos. Special thanx to Ray and Larry for their contributions. In my twenty years of hosting this site I've never seen this much inaction from the copier manufacturers. Just today I heard from an unnamed source (frak I always wanted to write that), that XBS former Global has axed up to 50% of their Market Place Presidents. A few days ago there was a another thread about lay-offs from Kyocera. Really? Does it really need to be this way? When...
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This Week in the Copier Industry 15 Years Ago for the First Week of May 2005
Back in 2005 I was just 2 years into having a real web site for the copier industry. I started back in 2000 with an message forum with MSN communities. It was really cool because there was no on-line forum where sales people and principals could chat, share ideas, share war stories, share information, share competitive info and the list goes on and on. Twenty years later there is still no site like the Print4Pay Hotel. Did I do something right? We're still the only site that allows members...
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Color Label Press University "Glossary of Terms" Part Sixteen, Course One
Over the last few years I've blogged about the importance for dealers to diversify to other avenues of print. Especially if they want to stay in the "break and fix" model for servicing and selling devices that print. One of those opportunities is color label printing. The list of the types of color labels is enormous. Bumper stickers, political stickers, custom groceries, branding, safety, food labels, CBD, beer & wine, cannabis, the list goes on and on. Post COVID19 recovery will...