Tagged With "sales development"
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Re: Bad salespeople still exist, don't they?
Spot on Art. I love Gary Vaynerchuk's famous quote, "Legacy is greater than currency." You never know where you will be in 5 years. Walking away from every deal with your reputation and integrity intact is more important.
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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: The Death Of The B2B Salesperson [Infographic]
Vince: Well stated! I'm having a hard time with this also. We've seen Ricoh on-line now, they are pushing the envelope with direct vs dealer. I agree with you, what happens once the box arrives, what they thought they were getting because product marketing for all manufacturers have a tendency to over state what they systems can and can't do. I'm hoping we are right and Forrester is just pushing BS
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Re: What Makes December One of My Best Sales Months for Revenue
It's so simple, i don't understand why people don't do it. I guess sometimes things are so simple it's not thought of or it is so simple people make it hard.
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Re: Has anyone worked with ZooBook?
I went out and contacted ZooBook directly. below is the email I received from ZooBook: Hi Art, Does the scanner send the documents to a shared drive? They can just upload straight from that. To scan directly into a record I would have to check with our developers. Thanks, Earl On 2018-07-17 5:54 pm, Art Post wrote: Hi earl We are not looking to file any forms. All we are looking to do is attach a scanned document to a clients record. Some emr programs allow you to import that document via a...
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Re: top challenges faced by sales reps on a day to day basis
I just added a poll to this question, please take the time to vote!
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Re: top challenges faced by sales reps on a day to day basis
In a lot of organizations, I'm sure it is a challenge to overcome the old-school "copier dealer" mentality of slinging boxes. Week 1-3: Sell services & solutions. Week 4: How many units are you going to sell?
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Re: top challenges faced by sales reps on a day to day basis
Management is now to the point that they are asking me weekly to update my forecast, it's getting to be a real drag going over every account on the opportunity list and what happened with them on a weekly basis. Isn't that the reason why I keep my CRM updated on a daily basis?
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Re: top challenges faced by sales reps on a day to day basis
Keeping the forecast updated is part of our job; they need to know what that looks like on a regular basis. If you're a proven producer (which you are), they shouldn't feel the need to ask for updates on every account. That's nitpicking.
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Re: top challenges faced by sales reps on a day to day basis
Agreed forecasting is a part of the job, nitpicking is not.
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Re: top challenges faced by sales reps on a day to day basis
The biggest obstacle and it isn't on your list is time! If we are honest with ourselves the amount of time we are actually selling versus so called non selling activities creates my biggest limiting factor to increasing my success.
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Re: top challenges faced by sales reps on a day to day basis
Bend: Nice one, I guess you are referring to slacking off and not doing the work right?
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Re: top challenges faced by sales reps on a day to day basis
I do block out some time for my fantasy football team but I don't count that
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Re: top challenges faced by sales reps on a day to day basis
I have my moments also... although I do like to make the dough!
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Re: top challenges faced by sales reps on a day to day basis
The biggest challenge I see is that you have to sell so much more to make the same money you have in years past. It used to be that if someone needed duplexing, or stapling, or speed, etc. they had to pay for higher scale equipment. Now they can get for $3,000 what they used to have to pay $10,000 for. It used to be that everyone was a profitable prospect. Now only the upper 20-30% represent a potential revenue capable of earning over $1,000. Even solution sales are hard to build profit in...
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Re: top challenges faced by sales reps on a day to day basis
Old Glory I agree!! Solutions take longer, I've been working on a secure print solution for almost 4 months. I'm lucky if the deal will top 40K and even luckier if I get the deal. I've tried to focus on higher end hardware and multiple units. The multiple units is tough because everyone is involved and margins are so so at best. MY only saving grace has been the wide format stuff.
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Re: top challenges faced by sales reps on a day to day basis
The Obama Economy is the biggest obstacle any of us face........He fixed it all right.
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Re: top challenges faced by sales reps on a day to day basis
One of the biggest obstacles up until recently, was having to answer to a Sales Manager, who was totally incompetent, and the micro management he adopted in trying to gain kudos with management for his failure to produce a winning team formula was ridiculous. Fortunately, they have since given him the boot, and life is starting to get back to normal.
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Re: top challenges faced by sales reps on a day to day basis
Wow. No poll answer regarding the rep’s activity…interesting. Over the years I have learned that if you work hard and SMART, you’ll hit your numbers. I also think that there is a condition that affects a lot of sales reps in virtually all industries. It is a type of an iron deficiency disorder. It is when iron in your blood is transformed into lead that forms in your rear end. If someone bounces from dealership to dealership and never finds success it is most likely them. If they’ve had...
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Re: top challenges faced by sales reps on a day to day basis
I did not put an option for reps activity, because I believe most of the members here are true professionals and we understand how important it is to complete those activity goals for the week, month or quarter. You are correct, there are no short cuts, you need to work!! Originally Posted by dimaxusa: Wow. No poll answer regarding the rep’s activity…interesting. Over the years I have learned that if you work hard and SMART, you’ll hit your numbers. I also think that there is a condition...
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Re: "Green Jobs"
Correct. We'll find a way to drill on the moon to sate our appetite for oil. I don't see the question as "will we run out of oil?" so much as "do we want to give billions of dollars a year to Hugo Chavez, Russia and the Middle East to finance THEIR agendas or should wee develop an American-produced replacement that we can export?"
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Re: Ricoh Pro C720
Ricoh Americas Corporation announced today the official launch of the Ricoh Pro C720/C720s, a production class multi-functional color system and the latest addition to Ricoh’s Pro series of products, designed specifically for the production environment. This flexible system targets corporate and commercial professional print environments with demanding application needs. The Pro C720/C720s has a robust duty cycle of 320,000 images per month, and runs at 72 pages-per-minute (PPM) regardless...
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Re: Top 9 Blunders that B2B Sales Reps Make
Blunder #9: They don’t follow through. What they do: After the deal has gone through, they don’t bother to make certain that the customer is delighted. Why they do it: They feel that they are “too busy” working on new accounts and developing new business. What happens: The reps find that the key to success in sales — repeat business — never really develops because the customers fell that the rep doesn’t really care. As a result, the rep is constantly forced to develop new contacts and new...
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Re: New Samsung 11 x 17" Colour MFPs due Oct 01 USA
Yes, I agree, we only picked up the Sammies for monochrome no color, we've stuck with Ricoh for that. I just hoping Ricoh doesn't screw it up with higher cpp than the A3 color machines.....something is telling me that the A4 color will be higher, however I hope I'm wrong. If A4 color price is higher than A3 color, that leaves the door open for someone to develop a color A4 with A3 cpp pricing.
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Re: Stuxnet Lives!
A COMPUTER virus created to sabotage Iran's nuclear programme and stop Tehran developing an atomic bomb was designed by American and Israeli experts, it was claimed yesterday. The Stuxnet computer worm, the most sophisticated cyber weapon ever made, crippled uranium enrichment facilities across Iran last year and set the country back five years in the nuclear arms race. US military and intelligence sources have told The New York Times that a simulation of Iran's uranium enrichment facility...
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Re: Would You Loan this company Money?
Hi Art, I agree. Ricoh needs an entry level 4 D/min system. I have always thought Ricoh should take thier gel sprinter technology and develop a plotter around it, instead they rely on Epson to fill this void. They seem ready to concede the 4 d market to Oce, Kip and the plotter cometitors. I wonder if it is the aftermarket that drives the decision. With a 4 D-Size per minute you are generating less clicks and less aftermarket revenue. Perhaps they want use limited dollars to develope higher...
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Re: Are you a Data Miner?
If Email marketing is successful for 0.0067% of the emails that I send I will be happy. Yes, I expect many emails will be shot down as spam. Just the very process of data mining has already identified 50 companies that I did not know about and never touched. Data mining helps to identify the players in an organization and the corporate structure. To be able to cold call an account and ask to see a specific individual is helpful. Yes, it does take a significant of time to develop a list and...
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Re: Samsung Brings Copiers With IPhone’s Power to Beat Japan: Tech
Measuring copier performance is not as simple as who has the fastest gigahertz processor. A lot of buyers do, however, try to evaluate a copier like a PC and think that bigger, faster or more must be better. Some copier vendors like Toshiba develop specialized Systems on a Chip (SOC) which replace multiple electronic components onto a single chip that is specialized for the tasks required of a MFP. SOCs can produce better system performance than an off the shelf PC processor of faster...
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Re: Managed Network Services discussion
Of course they are different. So is Ford Motor and Ford Motor Credit but the same principle applies. Are you suggesting that our accounts receivable can't handle managed network invoices? That Accounts payable can't pay vendors who supply network services hardware? That the warehouse is ill-equipped to inventory equipment and parts if they are to cover our network services responsibilities? Those are the people in common. Like I said, what makes us successful are the resources we bring in to...
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Re: What is the future for DigiDoc Flow, eCopy and NSI?
Toshiba seems to be taking the position of developing customized processors that are optimized for MFPs. The benefit is much smaller size, faster processing (measured by quicker FCOT) and lower power consumption. Many manufacturers use "off the shelf" PC processors due to lower cost and less complicated to develop. Xerox commonly convinces buyers to include the spec, "must have a minimum of a 1.2 Ghz processor" for their Black only copiers as a "knock-out" feature. The MFP industry will...
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Re: Does it matter what a presidential candidate promises?
You mean tank like it did under a Republican President and House in 2007-8? The entire world is going thru an austerity period. In nature you have to prune in order to develop new growth. Major businesses in the US are flush with cash and will start to spend when there is DEMAND - when the middle class has the money to spend not when the wealthy keep their tax breaks. Defense contractors don't need to build two more Aircraft Carrier Battlegroups as Romney wants - there's only ONE other...
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Re: Samsung Says Offer for Sharp’s Photocopier Unit Rejected
Yoda: Here is that release, still tough times for Sharp. After failing to advance far enough toward a manufacturing process goal, Sharp says that it will miss a March 29 deadline to receive the second half of a $120 million investment from chipmaker Qualcomm. In December, the ailing Japanese electronics maker said it reached a partnership with U.S.-based Qualcomm, which agreed to invest $120 million in a project to jointly develop display panels. However, as reported by Reuters, Qualcomm's...
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Re: 100 calls a day, 240 minutes talk time a day, 4 opps per day
I believe this was the case, just from our few phone conversations. I thing I can tell you is that the salesperson is a hardworker. from Yoda "Just to clarify I think 100 calls per day every day is harsh but what throws me is the only 4 business opportunities? Heck you should get 50 that qualify as an opportunity if not more, just depends on when". Personally I made over 50 calls today,15 emails to prospects, returned 4 calls, set 3 appointments, however zero opportunities. I believe an...
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Re: 100 calls a day, 240 minutes talk time a day, 4 opps per day
Are there really markets where there are so many unknown potential clients (after all these years of CRM's that is;DM, Lease end date , local decisions, make, model, volume, notes) that making random calls from a list would really achieve results? If I were to start another copier company (which I won't) I would spend a large percentage of my initial investment in information. I've said it before I'll say it again : ALL Businesses (with local decision making) are prospects its just a matter...
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Re: Can You Close A Sale in 5 Questions?
QUESTION #5: Great! When could we begin? or Great! When is your next long copy run? The object of the fifth question is to pin the prospect down to a begining date or time or quantity to start doing business. In many cases you can sell a trial demo. Where big ticket products are involved (copiers) a puppy dog approach will work best (leave your product for the customer to use for a couple of days), or take the prospect to visit a satisfied customer and see your product in action and get a...
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Re: CompTIA CDIA+(Certified Document Imaging Architech)
Here are the certification objectives taken off the Comptia website
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Re: Big, Big News from Xerox!!
May 1, 2003 - Xerox Partners with Industry Specialists to Develop Solutions for New Digital Office Products NEW YORK, April 30, 2003 – More than a dozen ready-to-go business solutions that will help customers increase productivity and transform their workflows were unveiled today by Xerox Corporation (NYSE: XRX) and its Premier Business Partners. The new or improved solutions couple the industry expertise of partner companies with the productivity benefits of Xerox office multifunction...
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Re: MFP Wars "Death of the Independent Dealer"
It may be time to develop a CO OP with a central buying group like some of the business you sell to, you get enough dealers (Buying Power) then the OEM may have to listen. Right know and for a few years they still need you. Just a thought.
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Re: Sales Tips
USE YOUR PERSONAL CONTACTS There is so much information that you can email, but the messages should be targeted to the right audience. Consequently, you will need to develop numerous email lists. You will certainly have a "personal" email list with a mixture of family, friends, former co-workers, networking pals and social acquaintances. You can send these people newsy emails about your business. For instance, if your local paper or a trade publication publishes a story about your company,...
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Re: Sales Tips
13 Ways to Respond to the "Call Me After the Holidays" Objection Written by Aja Frost | @ ajavuu Calling prospects in the last few weeks of Q4 means you’ll hear a season-specific objection: “Can you call me back in the new year?” There are three potential reasons you’ll hear this line. First, your prospect might be interested in learning more but has a legitimate reason to postpone your conversation. Maybe he’s already used up his budget, his team or department is still finalizing next...
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Re: Around The World with Ricoh II
Ricoh Charity Bowls Day 2004 Ricoh’s 5th Charity Event In Support Of The Sunnyfield Association. With the continued support of sponsors and donators, Ricoh Australia will be holding its inaugural Ricoh Charity Bowls Day on 1 April 2004 at the Paddington Bowling Club The Sunnyfield Association Over the past 50 years, The Sunnyfield Association has provided a range of services for people with intellectual disabilities including accommodation, training and employment, transport, programs for...
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Re: Around The World with Ricoh II
Ricoh Charity Bowls Day 2004 Story Link A crackerjack day for Ricoh On Thursday, 1 April, Ricoh’s inaugural Charity Bowls Day at the Paddington Bowling Club raised an impressive $95,000 for the Sunnyfield Association – an organisation committed to helping those with intellectual disabilities. Celebrity guests and sporting greats joined Sydney business identities for a fun-filled afternoon on the sun-drenched Paddington green. Ten-times Australian decathlon champion, Peter Hatfield delighted...
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Re: SAP Systems
Attached you will find the SAP Printer Vendor Program document. You will see that Oce', KonicaMinolta, Sharp, and Kyocera are on it and Ricoh is not. Ricoh's response is "There is no reason to believe that any Ricoh will not work with SAP but at the present time, there are no plans to spend the money necessary to become SAP certified." We have a Fortune 500 company that is completely SAP and the only problems we have is occassional kick-back from IT because we are not on the list. However, I...
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Re: Sharp A4 Color Units
WOW, what a slap in the face! I can see it now these units will be sold for 7% over cost. Bad move by Sharp just when they were starting to develop some good dealers again. Art
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Re: Ricoh Introduction of RightFax
RICOH SIMPLIFIES DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT PROCESSES WITH RIGHTFAX CONNECTOR New Solution Provides Ricoh Multifunction Products with Seamless Integration with Open Text Fax Server (RightFax) or Open Text Fax Appliance (FaxPress) West Caldwell, NJ, February 17, 2009 — Ricoh Americas Corporation, a leading provider of digital office equipment, today announced the release of the RightFax Connector for embedded software architecture (ESA) enabled multifunction products (MFPs). Ricoh’s RightFax...
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Re: Where Do You see the Copier Industry in 5 years????
It's easy to be a naysayer... so here I go. The Paperless office was first predicted in 1976 and was said to be inevitable within the next 10 years. Even if Art is right and we do develop a Kindle-like replacement for paper, I don't see it taking on any great marketshare in the next 20 years. I do think our industry is in a decline, I do think the copier will eventually disappear (or at least drop to minimal levels). I just haven't seen our replacement yet.
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Re: Pay Plan
I have to chime in here with a bipartisan stance on this issue. There would be no service department without sales and there would be no sales without a good service department. At my dealership, I think the service techs are overworked and underpaid. I believe they need additional training in network connectivity and support which is involed now with every sale. Currently, I do 90% of network support for my sales and others, as well as the initial install,training and post sales support. I...
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Re: @ Remote is Here!!
Large Accounts, where the fleet is 25 or more systems. I think that's about it, Ricoh has stated that they will be adding more features, just a question of what features. Maybe we can develop a list of feaures here and then propose them Art