Tagged With "Assume my lease"
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Re: Pre-Configured MFPs
I wouldn't know, either we don't have access them or they are just available for Direct. It's been my belief that it's just a marketing ploy and all of the systems in the signature series still have to be configured. I could be wrong. Can anyone else chime in? How about some of you from the Direct side!
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Re: A Couple of True & Not So True Humerous Copier Incidents
On a cold call I stopped in at a doctors office. The Office Manager was so glad to see me. She said that she was having fax issues and every time they received a fax it jammed. I told her I wasn't a tech but I would take a look. She escorted me to the fax and I looked down to see some questionably cheap paper. I simply asked if she had tried changing paper. She said "I don't have any control of the paper the hospital sends when they fax me." OooooK. She obviously didn't understand the...
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Re: 57 Days of Selling "Day 44"
Love it Art! I had a day of running around with a networking luncheon followed by a training for a new device that I sold earlier in the month and stole from Sharp. I was extremely late to the party with this deal but they already had a canon that was very old and decided they wanted another canon and on top of that wanted someone to deal with local over Sharp and Ricoh direct. Then I was walking into the grocery store on the way home and got a call from a person I quoted a machine to about...
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Re: New Canon Direct Program?
Jake, I have not heard anything of this but I will keep my ears and eyes open. Nothing surprises me anymore with the directs!
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Re: 57 Days of Selling "Day 55" The Last Two Days
Tom Thank you, however Luck is for Rabbits! Why not pass a few "hot" leads my way! I'm sure that would make a great Christmas gift!
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Re: OKC-based company IMAGENET wants to keep employees’ $1,200 stimulus payments….
Good god. what a piece of work (Putting it nicely). Talk about screwing over your employees. At what point did this seem like a good idea for a company of Pats size. I know everyone is hurting but the 100 mil dealer is not hurting like the 5-10 mil dealer right now in my opinion. Glad he bowed to the pressure but that should have never been considered.
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Re: The End Of The Day With Ray! It will be our unity which honors the Pandemic's Victims.
Thanks Martin Stay safe and well my friend.
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Re: What's it Like at Your Dealership?
I guess I will add some. Our dealership has not furloughed anyone at this point in time. Of course all sales and admin are working remote. We've had a few orders trickling in and my hat goes off to those that have been able to secure those orders.
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Re: Xerox Altalink C8070
yup, I had that also, even a little cheaper once accessories were adding. I'm putting up a price quote tonight since I sealed my deal
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Re: The End Of The Day With Ray! Don’t Screw Up Your Defining Moment
I've got shut down customers asking how we can help them because they can't operate. It sucks for us but it sucks way more for them. I have "suspended" an MA for one because they asked" no cost no expense". I was lucky enough to get my PPP loan in on day one, approved and closed. I live to fight another day but I don't think things will change all that much. Americans are not going to change everything because of Covid 19, I may be wrong (wouldn't be the first time) but this is a major...
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Re: COVID19 "Remote Working" Day Forty-Three of Sales
I just created my own YouTube channel doing product videos with future ones planned mostly focussed on MS365. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OotckdOtEg ... and I am working Linkedin a lot more in different ways. Most of the people I know say they have never gotten a lead from Linkedin. They think of this site as a static business card talking about who they are and not what they can do for the customer. They never post to Linkedin. Like most things, Linkedin requires almost daily work to...
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Re: COVID19 "Remote Working" Day Forty-Three of Sales
SSG that's an awesome video! You can send links to clients, and direct them to your channel. It's a virtual demo that keeps on giving. Kudos I have some of the same issues with getting appointments through Linkedin, however I know of several peeps that use Linkedin as their only source for prospecting and they are doing well. I will keep working it since I have a Navigator account now
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Re: The End Of The Day With Ray! My Vision of The Service Provider’s Future
Thanks for comment have a great weekend my friend.
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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: Marco Acquires New Jersey Copier/Printer Company
Welcome to my market Marco! You are know the third MEGA dealer competing in my market place.
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Re: Will outside Sales Rep's go away?
Monte I don't believe you are paranoid! The ecommerce is a real threat for sales peeps. In order to over come that we as sales peeps will need to wear additional hats to better serve out clients. Those as a trusted adviser, become more knowledgeable with cloud services, IT services, MSP, MSSP. It's my belief that we will evolve from just print to be able to consult on all aspects of business office. I would love to hear from others on this as well, this is a great subject for discussion.
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Re: It’s The End Of The Day With Ray! 2020 Who Will Educate Endusers
HI Ray and Happy New Year! The A4 Revolution will not happen until those A4 manufacturers provide A4 print devices with the A3 cost per page model along with advanced scanning and finishing. You're right that's there's only a small percentage of users that need 11x17. However 11x17 is only part of the picture with end users needs. Larger document feeders, and stapling is still a requirement in many offices. As you know we could debate this until 2021 or longer, but the end game is advanced...
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Re: It’s The End Of The Day With Ray! 2020 Who Will Educate Endusers
Art, Thanks for comments it's conversation which starts change. There is way more applications for A4 MFPs than those few applications you suggest. The large disruption will be from those who can isolate the realities of the customers needs and sell based on those realities. Declining Marketplaces are disrupted when the old way continues delivering to all the market's customers the same way they did before the decline. The old way needs to focus on the realities of over 80% of the market...
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Re: Will outside Sales Rep's go away?
It will be interesting to see what the manufacturers allow and don't allow. As of right now they are still very against e-Commerce and listing things on websites etc. I can only speak for my experience with Canon, Sharp and Brother, but they do not want things done via the web.
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Re: Will outside Sales Rep's go away?
@Jason H it's my understanding that Canon has a rep dedicated to Amazon for the ImagePASS mfp's already
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Re: Will outside Sales Rep's go away?
ImageClass?? If so that’s throw away junk just like the HP’s etc. I believe that stuff has been sold online for some time now. We don’t sell that series due to the extremely high cpc’s
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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?
@jason Good points. Do other people buy cars online? How about insurance? Did they do that 5 or 10 years ago? Guess who is very involved in the purchase of MFP's. IT! They live online. What's the first thing many people do when they are considering a purchase. Google it. In my opinion it's not a matter of if, but a matter of when.
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Re: Will outside Sales Rep's go away?
All excellent points. My son (35) asked me the other day about Carvana and my thoughts about them. The first thing that came to mind is warranty, and service. I guess the question becomes (at least for me), what will be the relationship with the dealer for service and warranty when you bought the car from Carvana? Why should the local dealer expedite service, parts or put you at the top of the list for support when you did not buy from them?
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Re: Will outside Sales Rep's go away?
@Old Glory I don't think they will walk away from servicing the car also. The service department will need the business. However the owner of the company can set the mark with giving "preferred service" to clients that buy from them. I don't know when it comes right down to it, I can spend hours researching cars, reviews and pricing before I buy on-line. How much could I really save? $1,000 or $2,000 could that really be worth it, if I spend 40 hours doing the research or would I pay a price...
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Re: Special Announcement from Art
CONGRATS ART! So excited for you and your family! Sucks to have been knocked with the flue so close to the birth of your grandchild, but take the great with the bad. I know we've spoke about it before, but my wife's still pregnant as yesterdays due date came and went. Kid doesn't realize he's impeding on poppa's schedule to sell! Congrats and get better soon!
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Re: Will outside Sales Rep's go away?
In 10 years there WILL be outside sales reps, and many of them will be the committed, true professionals of today. The E-Commence platform have changed our business and how we do it. For example gone are the days when you could duck into a 15 story office building and cold call. But electronic format can still be your attention getter and facilitate your efforts in creating interest. I can buy anything on line and cut out the sales person. Try doing your own investing and getting the right...
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Re: Will outside Sales Rep's go away?
I’m a little late to this party but had the thread open since it was posted. As a 35 year old i straddle the “millennial” and old school gap (in my opinion haha). There is value of ordering things online that can be commonly used or even basic electronics. But if it’s anything above basic, I still believe talking to someone even if on the phone, pays dividends. We recently bought a new vehicle for my wife and explored for weeks online our options, the new vehicles options, what the price...
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Re: Will outside Sales Rep's go away?
I'll chime in. Like TML I'm in my early 30's and have been selling copy hardware for nearly 10 years. I think good sales people as a whole are quickly becoming scarce. Millennials don't seem to like to interact with others if they don't have to and as most "print" decisions move to IT, online buying is already what they know. Overall it is a convenience factor, they don't have to submit a form to a website and wait a couple days for salesperson to try and up-sell them to an A3 MFP. They...
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Re: Ask Me Anything
Sounds like I missed a good knowledge drop last week Art! Had a pretty good excuse, but love the topics discussed! I'm always learning and part of this ongoing learning is something from your blogs/emails that I throw in my knowledge bucket. Keep it up and I appreciate what you do!
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Re: Ricoh Pro C5300
Not that I know of however I will check on my end. It's about time for an upgrade also. IN addition I'm changing the title of this thread to Ricoh Pro C5300 so it can be found a little easier if someone is searching on the site
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Re: Ricoh Pro C5300
I tried to get more details from my Ricoh production rep, he tells me more info will be available towards the end of the month and that was it, hoping for some big changes, especially in the LCT area.
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Re: Your Copiers Are Storing Confidential Information: What You Can Do About It
We are still a dealer but we have not sold a LEXMARK in quite a while. They eliminated the MPS Elite program we were own, or at the least removed us from that program. I never had anyone ask about the security due to the Chinese ownership but it’s a great point. Honestly, I have found their support, to us at least, to be very subpar. Our support from brother has been phenomenal the last 2 years. Most of my printer clients are replacing the lexmarks with the brothers as fast as they can.
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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: Scan to email gibberish
That problem was caused by Microsoft Office 365. They seemed to have resolved it now. My phone was blowing up for a day on that one.
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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?
In my opinion, Net New is any revenue stream you did not previously have. Take over service of a competitor's equipment = Net New. Replace that machine purchased from a competitor with one of your own = Net New. Take over management of their print fleet or IT infrastructure = Net New. Replace those printers or computers, Net New. Time comes to renew those contracts at a lower or identical service payment= Upgrade. But, if their monthly payment increases, the difference between the old...
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Re: Target GP Margins
Czech, I got nothing for you, well, may have something. Every opportunity is different, all depends on the time of the month, we're I'm at with revenue for the quarter or the month, if I can hold MSRP with a certain account. I taken the position (Commercial), that all my A4 devices will be priced at MSRP. A3 devices 21-40ppm would be 1,500 to 2,500, and 3,500 or more on everything else. Just a guide line that I try and follow. I'm not in the Major account business, maybe some other P4P'ers...
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Re: Target GP Margins
Across the board, I probably average 12-15% margin above whatever markup management puts in before my "Sales Cost" is published. For printers & desktop A4 devices, I just want to get a bunch of them in the field running pages & making money, so I sell most of them at my Sales Cost. That recurring revenue stream & volume in numbers is more valuable than making a few extra dollars on the hardware. On larger A4 MFPs, I'll typically have a 20-25% margin, because I typically propose...
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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: Target GP Margins
I know everyone is just ball-parking it here but these questions are really hard to get dependable answers for. Most sales reps do not know what the dealership markup is prior to establishing sales cost so a 20% markup might actually be 40% from cost. The other is the compensation package. If there is compensation based on clicks or a click incentive, GP becomes less important. My payplan changed this year from being GP based to being revenue based. Consequently, I just sold a 22 unit deal...
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Re: Target GP Margins
tx I agree. Our owner, who happens to be my father, is still trying to do things like its the 80's. We hold our own in a major market but we do not have the growth I want. It is tough to get him on board with anything new age as this is an industry he has made truck loads of money on doing it the same old way year after year.
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Re: When did you first learn about the industry
Thank you. They are a handful. 13 weeks old. My 3 year old does like to go into our showroom and play with the machines so she is getting a little exposure haha
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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: How I turned $15 into a 24K Opportunity
Hey Art! I started using Aweber email software about 5 months ago. I send out a monthly newsletter with a customized template. People read it! Best part is that you always stay top of mind with your prospects. I actually exported my contact list from my CRM software and imported that into Aweber. Currently have about 100 prospects and customers in my email list. It's great! Much cheaper than a mailer.
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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.