Tagged With "New School Prospecting"
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Re: Perspectives on Riso
I know this isn't, most likely, the perspective on the actual usage of the riso's but we had looked at becoming a dealer when someone in our market went out of business. They were the only riso dealer in our market. I find it easy to sell against the riso unless someone truly needs 150 ppm and doesn't care about anything else. It seems I only see them in church's now where they are very old school and they say "that's just the way we do it and don't want to change." We decoded agaonst being...
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Re: COVID19 "Remote Working" Day Twenty-One of Sales
An excellent webinar on how to virtually prospect. https://vimeo.com/407322860/7ef91c5b72 What to say, what to do from America's #1 Sales Outsourcing Provider of the Year. https://www.koppconsultingusa.com/
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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: 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,...
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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.
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Re: Up=Coming China Tariffs on Copiers parts & accessories
same here, I guess they will start their nonsense once USA stocks have been depleted. I just heard of a Toshiba dealer that won school business based on .0018 for black and .02 for color. hahaha!
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Re: Up=Coming China Tariffs on Copiers parts & accessories
I'll never for the life of me understand why someone would take that business.
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Re: New Ricoh MP C501SP "A4 or A3 or a New Hybrid MFP?"
Is that the same engine as the kyocera 356? Kyocera Copiers
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Re: New Ricoh MP C501SP "A4 or A3 or a New Hybrid MFP?"
Is that copier the same as the Kyocera cs 356 ?
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Re: New Ricoh MP C501SP "A4 or A3 or a New Hybrid MFP?"
Here's the 355ci Here's the Ricoh MP C501SP
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Re: New Ricoh MP C501SP "A4 or A3 or a New Hybrid MFP?"
Hopefully there are more A3 style components that will allow it to become an option for A4 customers printing on heavier stocks and media.
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Re: New Ricoh MP C501SP "A4 or A3 or a New Hybrid MFP?"
Another major advantage is the availability of all PaperLocks (and other hardware accessories) that were already developed for Ricoh's A3 line. Please check https://www.solutionconfigurator.com/#b/37/m/946 & https://www.copiersolutionshop.com/
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Re: Around the Word with Konica Minolta
Konica Minolta Again Joins the Fight against Childhood Cancer Ramsey, NJ, Aug. 15, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc . (Konica Minolta) today announced they will again support Tackle Kids Cancer, a philanthropic initiative on behalf of the Children’s Cancer Institute at the Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital at Hackensack Meridian Health Hackensack University Medical Center. As with last year, Konica Minolta is partnering with THE NORTHERN TRUST...
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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
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: Weekend Industrty Notes from 09/20/09
Well, I've heard of some good pricing, but I think $34 a year for 3.2 million copiers takes the cake!
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Re: Need Help for Print Solution!
So this effort is eliminate "carbon copied" work orders for service techs? What is wrong with the print "workflow" when the software application that generates a service form cannot be configured to print two of the same item? This is not an easy "printer-centric" fix. The application needs to either carry this information to the printer as part of the job or you must have some print-based software (Planet Press/Dataworks) telling the printer what to do. At this point, what other problems...
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Re: A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Copier Demo/Appointment
We had a school that called in service for a defective copier glass. It was broke and they definitely didn't have anything to do with that. It must be defective. when the technician got there, The machine was jammed with pictures of someone's rear end. Someone broke the glass while sitting on it and didn't remove the copies from the machine! Thanks! Amanda Byrne
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Re: A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Copier Demo/Appointment
Here's one from a private school customer of mine a few years ago: We had just upgraded their fleet of Gestetner 3355's to a brand new fleet of Gestetner DSm660's. A teacher wanted to make copies of a book onto transparencies, and walked up to one of the new machines and ran them thru the bypass. The machine jammed up and completely stopped. So, thinking there must be something wrong w/ the set up of the new machine, she walked to another one of the BRAND NEW MACHINES and tried to run...
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Re: UPDATE 3-Canon buys Dutch Oce for $1.1 bln, fights Ricoh
SCENARIOS-Will Canon succeed in its bid for Oce? * Canon offering 730 million euros to buy Oce * Shareholder Orbis with 10 percent stake opposes offer * Oce shares remain above Canon's 8.60 euro offer By Harro ten Wolde AMSTERDAM, Nov 20 (Reuters) -Japan's Canon (7751.T) plans to buy Dutch copier and printer maker Oce (OCEN.AS) for 730 million euros ($1.09 billion), but large Oce shareholder Orbis said the offer undervalued the company. In response, Oce shares passed Canon's 70 percent...
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Re: Sales Management
I think it is obvious what you do with people who don't want to work. It is just as obvious what to do with people who DO want to work! Incentives can be a great way to move a product or idea, but dis-incentives are more personal and can be very disruptive for that individual (ie: income tax, sales activity micromanagement). I am a firm believer that good salespeople like to behave as if they run their own business. When governing bodies try to enforce restrictions, penalties, and/or lessen...
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Re: Things to Think About!
So, I'm browsing through the new Readers Digest (okay, old fashioned yes, what can I say?!) this weekend, and lo and behold that very advice about the GPS and remote and the texting and the pin was in it. The story is called "How to Find Anything." This brings up a bigger rant, and if you'll bear with me a second.... I'm getting very tired of Internet foolishness getting passed along as actual truth by legitimate media who no longer bother to take the time to validate their stories. Whatever...
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Re: Remember this Guy?
BELLEVILLE -- The day after the courts ordered an Okawville man to pay $1.2 million to Governor French Academy for fraud, the school placed liens on his properties to make sure it gets its money. Philip Paeltz, the school's head administrator, said he believes the liens are for properties in St. Clair and Madison counties on which Kevin Welch pays property taxes, according to county records. Paeltz said he is not certain of the value of these properties because it has yet to be determined...
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Re: Ikon Cost Per Page for Ricoh 1357 Pro
I sold (3) 1356 Pro back in July 2008 to a Public school system's print shop that the cpc was $0.0029 including staples and fixed for the entire 5 yr term
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Re: Top 9 Blunders that B2B Sales Reps Make
Blunder #3: They ignore the competition. What they do: They never bother to discover who else is trying to sell to that prospect. Why they do it: They’re so excited at the opportunity that they don’t want to look too hard at something that might scuttle the deal. What happens: The competitor gets the inside track because they know what you’re pitching and they position their product to make sure that it’s more attractive to the prospect. Your Action Plan: To avoid this blunder, always ask...
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Re: Top 9 Blunders that B2B Sales Reps Make
Here's the thing about this plan: if the customer says "we don't share that information" that's OK, you are on equal footing with everyone else. If they tell you who is in the deal (as most customers will) then you are on equal footing with everyone who asked and have an advantage over everyone who didn't.
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Re: Top 9 Blunders that B2B Sales Reps Make
Blunder #5: They give a generic sales pitch. What they do: They natter on and on about their company, its offerings, and its strategy. Why they do it: Usually they’ve been handed a “standard” presentation created by marketing people who have no idea how to sell. What happens: They never really find what the prospect wants and needs, so the pitch is just a “spray and pray”. Your Action Plan: To avoid this blunder, get “centered” before your next sales call. During your conversation with the...
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Re: Top 9 Blunders that B2B Sales Reps Make
Blunder #7: They avoid closing the deal. What they do: They spend so much effort into building the opportunity that they never quite get to the business of closing it. Why they do it: They’ve invested in the opportunity that they’re afraid that the answer will be “NO”, which will mean that all that effort was a waste of time and that the prospect doesn’t really “like” the sales rep. What happens: The opportunity dies on the vine or goes to the competition. Your Action Plan: To avoid this...
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Re: Top 9 Blunders that B2B Sales Reps Make
What they do: They give in to last minute demands from the prospect, usually for extra discounts, “or else the deal is off.” Why they do it: They’re deathly afraid of losing the deal at the end of the sale cycle, so they crumple when the prospect pushes. What happens: The customer rightfully concludes that 1) the rep didn’t offer the best deal from the start and 2) the rep lacks a backbone. The customer thus no longer trusts the rep and will constantly push for more and more and more and...
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Re: Emailed request for quote????
This is a very good question Fisher. You are right this is becoming more common as prospects do not want a sales pitch they just want facts & numbers. Then you give them for what they ask. They really don't care about a solution they want the bottom line. Many of those places will give you ONE shot only so you better come in with some good numbers since you will not have a 2nd chance. Otherwise it comes down to a price war then you really lose because the last person they talk with in...
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Re: Should you ever sell something for nothing?
I am just about....37 yrs young. Started with in 1993, SR year of high school part time servicing printers. After 2yrs of serving printers, married for 1 yr to my high school sweetheart I was envious of all the "copier reps" driving nice BMW's etc...I asked if I could start selling. When I first started selling in 1995 we carried Canon/Mita. I had an uncle who sold copiers and typewriters back in the early 70's and managed a large dealership in CA until his retirement in 1990. When I went to...
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Re: Copier Compensation Plans
This was emailed to me from a P4P'er who wishes to remain anonymous. Art, This past April I had the opportunity to leave the industry but I have kept an eye on it since then. This topic definitely perked my interest because I feel like I was both the beneficiary and victim of a Gross Profit Comp Plan at my last gig. I have been on both sides of this topic, Revenue & GP plans, and I never made more than $51K in a given year and yet I was always 100% of plan. My final year under this GP...
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Re: A Day That Will Never Be Forgotten
I was home in NJ getting ready to go out cold calling, had just came downstairs and I got a call from my mother-in law stating to turn on channel 7 because a plabe just hit the world trade building. I thought WTF??? How could that happen, and there it was, one of the towers on fire. I watched the news broadcast and then saw the other plane swoop in and hit the second tower! I was speachless, I tried to call the wife on her cell and could get a call out. I then went my backyard which...
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Re: Oxford Hills School District replacing copiers
Old Budget is $101,500. New "total cost" for "lease-purchase of copiers and service" is $92,000. Cost per page is $0.04. Volume is 7 million per year. 7 million x $0.04 = $280,000 per year just for the clicks. I'm going to guess this is simply a case of bad reporting and not a case of the school board being unable to add.
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Re: SP5200 Series. What's your plan???
Better just give the prospect a $100 bill and walk away than to quote low and get killed on a service contract. But then again we don't increase service contracts annually like most in our industry do. We sell against that practice very successfully.
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Re: Canon shaking up the great white north
Toshiba Business Systems, Toshiba Toronto Direct, last Fall was awarded the Thames Valley District School Board for 1,200 copiers. This is believed to be the largest deal awarded in Canada last year. It was a steal from Ricoh and believed to increase Toshiba's Canadian copier market share to approx 15%.
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Re: Canon shaking up the great white north
Art all the manufacturers are in Toronto Kyocera Mita Konica Minolta Toshiba Sharp Ricoh Xerox Canon Pitney Bowes (Sharp the sequel) I Don't know if there is A Muratec or Copy Star direct The funny part is Pitney and Ricoh HQ's share a parking lot. This was a Huge sting to Ricoh, they were the incumbent and for a very long time now.
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Re: Minolta - eat my shorts
What software would be used to set a job like this up? How does this click the counter? Where do you get the paper? I'd be interested in trying it for some of our school customers.
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Re: 0% Copier Financing
I will go back to school on this one and buy myself a new calculator. Thanks,
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Re: Big Hole in Ricoh MFP line up
The only way that makes sense is if your company has negotiated a better cost across the board and they obviously are not passing that lower cost down to the reps. Any prospect that belongs to the Chamber of Commerce automatically qualifies for SAS2 cost (plus Dealership markup of course) under the TABS program (in the USA). The savings don't even have to be passed on to the customer, the dealer just gets a lower cost of goods just by proving the customer is a Chamber member. Why would a...
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Re: Canon, Oce launch jointly developed printers
This is old news. There is nothing on the market that competes with this direct press or copypress technology. The engineering behind these is phenomenal. This is the ONLY product in the history of BLI to receive a perfect 5 star rating for image quality. These have been out in the US since March-April. They are selling like hotcakes with a guarantee on the VP110 of 10yrs or 100 million impressions up to VP135 10yrs or 1 billion impressions. I just installed one about a week ago and it has...
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Re: 150 Calls a week
The calls and to connect depend largely on the types of businesses you are calling. I am not a believer in the more calls you make the more liklihood you will connect. These days with voice jail and screener's it is almost impossible to connect via phone. If you do I bet you have just interrupted them from something. One must think outside the box now to get appointments. Suggestions such as direct email campaigns with specific messages geared towards how to help their business, use of...
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Re: Padded Lease Rates
Yoda you bring up a good point here, after being with the same dealership for 13 years much of my time is spent with helping customers with questions, emails, and onsite follow ups for product questions, advanced training, billing questions, lease billing questions, moves, and many more. So, I don't agree that if I had a bad month I would volunteer to give back part of my meager salary. New reps on the other hand have all the time in the world to prospect and traditionaly I would say that 1...
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Re: Erie businessman gets fed prison for copier fraud
There is a special place in hell for people who rip off churches. Have a church in my home town that was ripped off for about $20K by a copier company that had already gone out of business. The vendor wrote the church a 63 month lease with the service packed into the lease payment 3 months after the sherif had put a lock and chain on their doors. To make matters worse when the pastor of the church signed the lease he accidently signed in the wrong spot. When we got our hands on the actual...
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Re: How do you feel about the industry?
When you have created the prospect I notice now customers seem to still go to market and price check. Even presuming you keep the deal (typically I have) its been extremely margin limiting! I'm presuming this is a symptom of the GFC but also this "commoditization" I hear bounced around so much. Anyway it seems you have to work harder and harder every year, I'm not opposed to working hard but will be interesting to see when the industry bottoms out. It would seem only the leading edge of the...
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Re: KonicaMinolta's New App Display for MFPs!
Interesting...Couldn't we actually do something like this using our inbedded browser option? We can set a web page as the home page right? "Mr. Customer, how would you like to lower your copy bill next month by $100? All you have to do is allow ABC Bank's website to be displayed on your copier for the next 4 weeks. Just follow these three easy steps and then take a picture of the display on your copier and email it to us." What about industry specific advertising. A mortgage company...