Tagged With "Cold Calling for Managed IT Services"
Comment
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...
Comment
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...
Reply
Re: COVID-19 Impact on Dealers and the Channel?
I was on the MPSA call today. Here's some points of interest I was going to post on another thread but will put it here for everyone. One major MPS company reported 29% decline in pages or revenue Another major MPS company reported a 71% decline Healthcare for one of those clients saw a 40% increase More inquires from clients in respect to file sharing and content Expecting continuing decline for another 30 days in revenue and prints First week of April they hit bottom and has stayed that...
Reply
Re: Will outside Sales Rep's go away?
Yes agree! I’m not sure when they went online with them but I remember seeing them and didn’t have any use in selling them after that and the person over that product set doesn’t call or visit anymore 🤷🏽♂️
Reply
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...
Reply
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.
Comment
Re: Ask Me Anything
@TML Yup anytime there;s a new family member it over rides anything that has to do with business. Hope to have you on the next call. Just remember to RSVP on the calendar and I will send you the link
Reply
Re: Things getting weird for Xerox Dealers
Very strange. I interact with the CRG on a regular basis and have had no indication of reduced staff, etc. I can’t comment on your issue with parts as we do not rely on xerox to send our parts, we stock and replenish out of our own warehouse. No substantial difference between xerox parts on b/o than Canon or HP. Not nearly as bad as Ricoh. We dropped the ricoh product years ago as we couldn’t handle the constant toner b/o issues. Parts I can somewhat understand, but toner? Hope that your...
Comment
Re: 10 Ways to Close Net New Business #4 of #10
Just a short update in reference to the account I was speaking about. The IG came back with many additional questions today, asking if the cost per page could be lowered, the annual cost of the maintenance agreement, and the price of the system. I stated NO on all accounts. We had started with a 25ppm color A3 device and then moved to an A4 color device. They were not even happy with that price. In addition when they received all of the no's they asked about pre-owned or used. I then stated,...
Reply
Re: Target GP Margins
Jason: Take a look at the RBS quote that posted yesterday! It states, their "best" price the first time. In essence they are teaching their people to be just "order takers". Even the Ricoh web site is no listing MSRP with lines drawn through the MSRP to indicate they are discounting. I have no problem with discounting, however there is no reason to put the MSRP on the site and then draw a line through it, the only reason that is done is to initiate a call to their in-line order taking ...
Reply
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...
Reply
Re: Ricoh & Epson = "perfect together" NOT!
Call that KIP sales Rep again and make a deal with him. If you can get the deal with 2 KIP 9900s (those will replace the 4 Oce's), then you get to be a KIP dealer. He will also spend half as much in toner as those Oce machines just eat toner.
Reply
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...
Reply
Re: Cold Calling today
Art- How did the Linkedin call go? Curious, as it seems like this is the (next) future for b2b cold calling (according to the consultants)!
Reply
Re: Cold Calling today
I have scheduled quite a few meetings via LinkedIn. Sometimes, it has been through InMail, but more times it has been the result of a client or prospect seeing something of interest that I posted and asking to schedule a time to discuss whatever that is.
Reply
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...
Comment
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...
Comment
Re: Five Reasons Why I'm Stoked About the New Ricoh SP8400DN Printer
No, we are not doing any of those agreements with our MFP's. With the printer the device billing would not include the drum, or fuser. Client would pay for those. Device billing is a practical maintenance agreement for the new A3 ink based MFP's. Epson will be launching their 100ppm color device shortly. The only consumables is the print head and the ink. It's rumored that the print head will be warranted for 3 years. In addition the print head is very costly. The idea would be to charge...
Comment
Re: Five Reasons Why I'm Stoked About the New Ricoh SP8400DN Printer
Thanks. Interesting. I wonder what the advantages and disadvantages of those ink jets are (compared to laser MFP).
Comment
Re: Five Reasons Why I'm Stoked About the New Ricoh SP8400DN Printer
Had a conference call with Epson Monday afternoon. They said the ended up with a 1 year warranty on the print heads but you can purchase an extended warranty for something like $250/yr.? I didn't write that down because the only thing that matters to me is what gets passed on to the customer and manufacturers warranties are seldom passed on. Epson Ink Process advantages: No heat so no heat related issues...no fuser, no cooling fan, no warm-up. Consumes 50% less power No drum or developer so...
Comment
Re: Five Reasons Why I'm Stoked About the New Ricoh SP8400DN Printer
Interesting, I thought jh told me the cost was 2,500 per year. I was like what? Can you find out exactly that that cost is. I'm curious as I guess we all are
Comment
Re: Five Reasons Why I'm Stoked About the New Ricoh SP8400DN Printer
I guess he was just referring to the Epson C869R (25 ppm). We kept asking questions about the 100 ppm unit and I lost track which unit this information applied to. Sorry for the confusion. We have a launch on the 11th and he promised more info on the 100 ppm at that time.
Reply
Re: Sharp Direct Service Pricing
I don't know if the bubble is bursting but I think more consolidation is around the corner. I mean in this case, if you do one service call you are in the hole for the entire term of the lease. Their branch in our market will do anything and everything to take business. Sometimes I think they would pay they customer to take the machine.
Comment
Re: Copier Parts & Accessories China Tariff Starts in 9 Working Days
You can call it whatever you want tariff/ tax but if your cost of goods increases by up to 10% this fall solely due to actions by the Trump Administration we will see if you feel the same by Jan 2019. You seem a bit naive in thinking that a tariff is not a tax. I am sure Ricoh will not share you opinion on selling less new equipment in favor of used gear.
Comment
Re: Copier Parts & Accessories China Tariff Starts in 9 Working Days
Trump is doing the right thing. As far as Ricoh is concerned, I couldn't care less of their opinion. It's all about putting food on the table for our families.
Comment
Re: Is This the Beginning of the End for the Padding of Lease Rates?
from today's Leasing News. Ralph Petta Reaction to Tom McCurnin's "Is the Disclosure Too Complicated? of SB 1235" [ http://leasingnews.org/hires/petta_ralph2018.jpg ] From: Ralph Petta President and CEO Equipment Leasing and Finance Association 1625 Eye Street, NW * Suite 850 Washington, DC 20006 "Allow me to take exception and set the record straight with respect to Mr. McCurnin's statement in his September 21 article(1) about passage of disclosure legislation in California, SB 1235 that...
Reply
Re: MPS and Linux HELP!
So some clarification first. PaperCut absolutely does support Mac. In fact, it is the only cost recovery/print control solution that I know of that actually installs in an all Mac environment. (Server and Client) It also is the only solution I know of that installs in a Linux environment. So both of your issues are solved with PaperCut. I included the install guides for Mac and Linux to get you started.
Comment
Re: Copier Parts & Accessories China Tariff Starts in 9 Working Days
The Trump Administration announced today what they call a second tranche of tariffs against goods manufactured in China subject to 25% effective Aug 23. I think the copier/ printer industry once again escaped a direct hit. "8443.99.40 Parts of photocopying apparatus of subheading 8443.39.20 specified in additional U.S. note 4 to this chapter"
Reply
Re: Another Ricoh Dealer Takes on Konica Minolta
Who will be next? ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ A & A Office Systems Now Offering Esteemed Konica Minolta Product Line 9/9/2009 New England-based Company to Offer Award-Winning Lines of Konica Minolta MFPs, Production Print Systems, Printers, and Software Solutions Middletown, CT and Ramsey, NJ – September 9, 2009 – John Sullivan, President & CEO of A&A Office Systems (A&A) and Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. (Konica Minolta), a leading provider...
Reply
Re: High Volume Updates
RICOH PRO 907/1107/1357 PRODUCTION PRINTER FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Q. Where do the new Pro Series Production Printers fit in the Ricoh high volume monochrome printer product line? A. The new Pro Series Production Printers are successors to the highly successful Digital Document Publisher models, the DDP70e and the DDP92. Those models were initially brought into the Ricoh product family through the acquisition of Hitachi. Technically, the 70-ppm Digital Document Publisher 70e is being...
Reply
Re: Daily Sales Philosophy
Confucius say, "Don't eat too many fried Hot Dogs before Dealer's Open House." Yoshida say, "If you are unable to execute and implement business strategy, schedule yet another Meeting, then follow up with another Conference Call."
Reply
Re: A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Copier Demo/Appointment
This happened to us a couple of years ago. We received a service call from a client who reported seeing little black lines on their copies. The culprit? A pair of false eyelashes. We still don't know how they got inside the machine!
Reply
Re: A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Copier Demo/Appointment
We had a tech go to a call once and there was a black line down the right side on the page. He made another copy and the line was down the left side of the copy. Another one and it was diagonal. He told the customer "this just isn't possible". He opened the machine to examine the lamp and a mouse jumped out!
Reply
Re: UPDATE 3-Canon buys Dutch Oce for $1.1 bln, fights Ricoh
Found this on the web today:: By Pavel Alpeyev Nov. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Orbis Funds, the asset manager that opposed takeover offers by Warren Buffett and Citigroup Inc., rejected Canon Inc.’s 730 million euro ($1.1 billion) bid to buy unprofitable Dutch printer maker Oce NV as too low. Canon’s 8.60 euros-a-share offer “significantly undervalues” Oce’s assets, and Orbis doesn’t want to sell its stake of about 10 percent at that price, the Bermuda-based manager of $20 billion in assets said in a...
Reply
Re: UPDATE 3-Canon buys Dutch Oce for $1.1 bln, fights Ricoh
Canon and Océ: More Details Canon and Océ: More Details By Cary Sherburne on November 19th, 2009 Océ management conducted a well-attended press teleconference today to provide further details of its acquisition by Canon. Jan Hol, who was interviewed earlier by WhatTheyThink, was on the line from Europe, and North America was represented by Mal Baboyian, president, production printing systems, Océ North America, and Joe Skrzypczak President and CEO of Océ North America. Océ reiterated that...
Reply
Re: A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Copier Demo/Appointment
I received a telephone help call from one of our clients who had a malfunction code on their new copier. To clear these malfunction codes it’s usually a case of opening the front door for a few seconds and then closing it again. I asked the client to do this and then come back to the telephone. He returned a few moments later and asked “now what” I asked what happened when he opened and shut the front door, did it clear the code. “no’ was the reply, “it just got colder in here” He’d opened...
Reply
Re: A4s and Single Function Laser in MPS
My first thought is that your post has a lot of jargon in it I don't understand. (I'm directly responsible for MPS, so it's not that I'm unfamiliar with the terms). When Art can't understand your question about and industry he's been in for 20+ years, it's time to back up and re-write . Secondly, regarding your questions about placing supplemental A4 MFPs around, it all depends upon the customer. I have some customers that have central MFPs and NO additional MFP capability. I have others...
Reply
Re: Soda, Pop, Coke or Other
I grew up in northern Illinois, where we said "pop". I took a job in southeast Missouri, where my staff laughed at my "strange" way of talking, because to them it was "soda". They stopped laughing when I gave them a "pop" quiz (with the prize a can of....whatever you call it). Still love that memory!
Reply
Re: Soda, Pop, Coke or Other
I'm from Texas, and most people down here call all soft drinks "Coke", but when I get into this debate, my simple answer is none of the above, because I just call it whatever brand it is. I.E.--Dr. Pepper, Diet Coke, Sprite, etc.
Reply
Re: Soda, Pop, Coke or Other
I've never called it a buggie...it's a cart. But, I have heard people call them "baskets", and that drives me nuts, because the "basket" is the little thing you hold in your hand.
Reply
Re: Soda, Pop, Coke or Other
So much fun! My son had a great laugh when I called a bathing suit, swimmimg trunks! Here in NJ, we will call a pizzia a "pie"!
Reply
Re: Soda, Pop, Coke or Other
As long as you don't call your bathing suit "Speedo." Now, do you call your sandwich a GRINDER, HOAGIE, SUB, or WEDGE ?
Reply
Re: Soda, Pop, Coke or Other
Growing up in Maryland, we referred to them as "sodas", but after spending 11 years in the copier industry, I now simply call them "mixers".
Reply
Re: Soda, Pop, Coke or Other
Do you also "warsh" your clothes down by the "crick"? It always cracks me up the way my family members from Frostburg, Lonaconing & Garret County talk.
Reply
Re: Things to Think About!
First of all... did a "friend" tell you this or did a "friend" forward you an email that said a "friend" had told them this? I doubt it'd be possible to remove every piece of info from your car with your name and address on it unless you live in a state that doesn't require registration and proof of insurance... doesn't everyone leave those in the car? Regarding the PIN number story... typical alarmist urban legend. Ever try to "withdraw all your money" from an ATM? Unless you have less than...
Reply
Re: MP 6001 print driver issues
That sounds like several cases that I have worked. You should call the Software and Solutions team. We have some ways of looking at the print drivers and print steam that can determine what the actual problem is. From what you are describing, the ERP system is not fully PCL compatible. The functions that are not showing up are driven in the Windows section of the print process. That is what usually is the case and sometimes the driver needs to be looked at, sometimes the application. I would...
Reply
Re: Matt Espe named CEO of Ricoh Americas Corp
Mentioned in the Dealer Conference Call: Committed to Dealer Channel (6 times) Committed to "Rules of Engagement" (3 times) interesting comment: "ways to support your leasing needs" by Hickling or Hicklin "this multiphase process will take time"
Reply
Re: KM Promo
This is just another marketing sales tool. What there are not showing is the buyout at the lease end. It is always a FMV. KM is using there own leasing arm. If you use a lease factor of .0278 this will show you a 0% interest. We have in state government accounts, what is call a deferred payment lease. This is the state price divided by 36 months. 0 interest, 0 down, 0 buyout at the lease end. But the sell price is fixed.
Reply
Re: At the end of term, who pays to ship the copier back to the leasing company?
When we decline to return a copier at our cost due to a competitor not doing this at their expense, we do suggest to our former customer two moving companies they can call to pick up the equipment. Of course, we will keep in polite contact over the next few years, as we known when the lease will expire next time.