Tagged With "Softworks Presents"
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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: Is This the Beginning of the End for the Padding of Lease Rates?
Here is a report from leasingnews.org. One of their legal editors is doing a three part review of this legislation. Leasing News Exclusive: State Senator Steven Glazer and the genesis of CA SB 1235 (Part 1 of 3) By Tom McCurnin Leasing News Legal Editor This is important not only if you are doing commercial business in California, but this may affect other states. If you are new to this, here is legislation passed both the assembly and senate, awaiting California Governor Jerry Brown’s...
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Re: Is This the Beginning of the End for the Padding of Lease Rates?
Part Two: Leasing News Exclusive: The Opposition and How Senator Steven Glazer Got SB 1235 Passed (Part 2 of 3) By Tom McCurnin Leasing News Legal Editor The bill was "Engrossed and Enrolled" and presented to the Governor at 5 p.m., September 12th, awaiting his decision to sign or veto. How He Pushed It Through the Legislature What are the takeaways from this interview and SB 1235? ▪ First , I Was Surprised at the Overwhelming Support of Trade Groups for the Bill. When he rattled off the...
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Re: How Far Out On the Pier Are We?
Ray Stasieczko Great point with the typewriter industry. Many of those typewriter dealers saw the writing on the wall and moved into the imaging industry. They survived, they flourished and they made the change to another product within the Office Technology Industry. There are too many brilliant dealers principals out there that will let themselves fail by staying on board a sinking ship. Those dealers will innovate because they have too in order to survive. Those that are not brilliant...
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Re: A Minute with Ray
"Bring the future to the present"... How right you are! The future is already here: - self-driving cars - self-landing re-usable rockets - algorithms that win a Go competition - Augmented Reality - ... So: let's keep our eyes open and let's be prepared to change our ways of doing!
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Re: 5 Reasons Why I Like Print Audit Best Over PaperCut
I do like the control that the dealer has with Print Audit as well as the pre-sale MPS tools if you are one of their Premier dealers. But, turning on various rules in PaperCut is MUCH easier than in Print Audit/PCS Director or other similar products in our industry. Additionally, it works extremely well in environments in which Mac workstations are present, & their embedded (PaperCut MF) software works with most product lines which makes it easy to integrate if a client has a mixed ...
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Re: HP should Buy Xerox
Appreciate the comments. However, your arguments regarding A4 vs. A3 pertain to what’s good for you. Industries which are going through disruption or when an industry’s particular product or its services become less valuable to those once dependent on them. The disease of Product-Centric thinking will infect those with a stubbornness to modify. It is not up to those who sell a product or service to determine its value. Its value is determined by those who buy the product or service.
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Re: HP should Buy Xerox
There is little to no margin in A4. Folks who want those products are just going to buy on-line. Let them. Best bet is focus on areas where you can still make money. Let other people chase the race to the bottom stuff.
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Imaging Channel, 2019 the year of DaaS - My suggestions to help you Implement.
Well, it happened some pioneers in the print industry are delivering an as a Service model. The Participates of the Imaging Channel must respond and deliver print equipment, its supplies, it’s parts, and its labor to repair in this as a Service model. A fixed cost for a product which eats consumables. Some in the industry are beside themselves and will more than likely lose control in how they proceed unless of course, they move forward timely based on knowledge over desperation caused by...
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ConnectWise, Continuum, and Thoma Bravo. Oh, the possibilities are becoming probable
Well, it’s not just Office Supply and Print Service Resellers who are witnessing changes which pose both opportunities, and threats to their Status Quo. When Sycamore Partners the Private equity firm who owns Staples bought the office supply wholesaler Essendant - many office products re-sellers became gravely ill knowing that their product’s wholesaler was now owned by their competitor. As the dust was settling on the Essendant deal. Staples buys DEX Imaging a mega copy/print dealer. It is...
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Value Prop Out of Alignment? Disruptors bet on that
It seems when looking at disrupted industries you see the familiarity of a false sense of comfort. When products decline in need, they also decline in value. Those two things are tied together. Value propositions are hypnotic; they can hijack the common-sense of reality during market shifts causing the disease of Product-Centric Thinking. The speed of innovation disrupting a deliverables current circumstances continues increasing. Today innovation not only changes the customer’s desired...
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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 Second Week in January 2014
One of my goals for this year is to garner more leads. You can do that with generating educational documents. I wrote this blog a few years ago, hope this helps. 31 Ways to Garner Net New Copier & Managed IT Business (2 of 31) Enjoy the threads from 5 years ago this week! This Week in the Copier/Office Equipment Industry 10 Years Ago (2nd Week of January 2004) Art Post · 1/12/143:32 PM it... Ricoh Dealer Meeting 1/8/04 9:48 AM Topic by Boston Mike Ricoh Dealer Meeting - Las Vegas, NV...
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Imaging Channel, DEX Imaging and Staples oh, Imagine the Probabilities
Thanks for chatting with Staples. Yes, Sir, we can deliver the New A4 you bought online. How’s Tuesday? Can we bring it with your supply order? Yes, one more question can you pick up and dispose of my old copier? Yes, we can let's discuss that when we come out to perform your managed print assessment. Thanks again for choosing Staples. End of Chat For Now!! 2019 is indeed starting with a bang. The Imaging Channel changed on Friday the 8th of February. Well, that’s what some will say. In...
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Continuously Modify
“If you are forced to change you waited too long and should have Modified along the way.” Well, everything must end or at least it gets depleted. We have all found ourselves saying. “What do you mean that doesn't exist anymore.” “Customers buy outcomes; the means to their achievement always modifies.” Today we must Constantly Modify. If you're forced to change you waited too long. The marketplace customers either of business to business or business to the consumer are modifying quickly and...
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3 Core Attributes Of A Selling From The Heart Professional
Getting to the heart of the matter, if sales people are unable to uncover a personal or emotional need for the prospect to make a change, then they might consider breaking off the meeting, thanking them for their time and move on to the next prospect. Yes, I know it may be harsh BUT all too often many sales people will continue down the journey without finding what motivates the prospect to buy, and then they wonder why they can't close the sale. No question about it, emotions play a part in...
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Copier Quoting Tool Could Add Weeks of Selling Days Every Year
Usually I take Friday nights (yah I know it's Monday) off from writing a blog. My Friday's are usually spent relaxing with access to my iPhone or PC, and watching Gold Rush and ZNation. I had a call from my buddy Jesse with Pahoda Imaging while on my way back to the office from an appointment. Jesse is the smartest dude when it comes to marketing copiers on line. He's got his stuff down! Jesse sends me this link to check out one of his copier sites that he's just built. He told me that it...
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Consistency... It's At The Core Of Every Sales Professional
When it comes to sales performance, consistency separates the good from the great. How often have you observed a sales rep having a series of record quarters or a banner year, only to follow it up with spats of mediocrity and below average performance? Consistency, especially in the sales world is an enormous word. This differentiates the successful from the unsuccessful and the professionals from the reps. Consistency will change the course of your sales life! Consistency allows you to...
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This Week in the Copier Industry 15 Years Ago, The Second Week in July 2003
It's Sunday night, I start vaca on Wednsday of this week. Not a lot of stuff from last week, except for the additional tariffs that will go into effect the first week of August. We're not sure if copiers are included this go around. Enjoy the threads from 156 years ago this week! Sales Training Help 7/15/034:56 PM December 31, 2011 - Sales Training Help - Click Here Industry Analysts, Inc. has been developing customized industry training programs and materials for over 30 years. Major...
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This Week in the Copier Industry 15 Years Ago, The Second Week in September 2003
Haha! Something pretty funny in with one of the links below. "Moving closer to the paperless office". This was fifteen years ago. Do you remember the Ricoh C1224? Was a color MFP that had a speed of 12 pages per minute in color and 24 pages per minute in black. Needless to say that Ricoh never informed sales that the copier would go into auto calibrate during a print or copy run for up to minutes! Relive that experience with the threads below Enjoy the threads from 15 years ago this week.
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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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Hey Sales Leaders: Is Your Sales Team Still Partying Like It Is 1999?
This blog isn't meant to cause you any sorrow. This blog isn't meant not to cause you any pain. Allow me to take you back a few decades, the Thomas Guide was a sales reps best friend. It was the spiral-bound version of what our present day smartphone GPS accomplishes. Remember carrying around both a pager and a cell phone? How about taking photos and having no clue how they'd turn out? All of this got me thinking... STOP LIVING IN THE PAST Many sales leaders are still guiding their sales...
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Attention Sales Leaders: What Could Your Team Do With $7.2 Million Of Sales Opportunties?
Observe those successful in sales, and you'll soon notice they're good at the art of conversation. If you think this sounds easy, think twice. Having engaging sales conversations takes a tremendous amount of skill, practice and patience. With so many leaning heavily on social media for their interactions, the less face to face communication is practiced, the less skilled your team becomes in having business conversations. If your business relies on your sales team to win clients, the better...
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3 Dead Giveaways That You Are An Empty Suit
A true sales professional thinks before they act. They plan, prepare and practice as they build a structure of success. They lead with intention, and become the example. A great sales professional is precise with their decisions by aligning their vision and values to earn the respect of their clients. With purposeful intent, they engage in heartfelt activities benefitting those around them. And this is what your clients and prospects crave, right? They deserve a sales professional who is...
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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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3 Keys To Help Sales Professionals Unlock The Digital Business Door
Technology and sales enablement tools are not only helping sales professional's gain momentum in their marketplace, they're also changing the way they sell their services. Selling successfully in a digitally driven, highly networked and socially empowered business world takes a new mindset and skill set. Inside many sales departments there's a tug-of-war happening, a generational change and shift in sales thinking. Tenured, well-seasoned sales reps are watching tech savvy young professionals...
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Ten Reasons Why the New Ricoh IM 350F, IM 430F and IM 430Fb is a Winner
It's been sometime since Ricoh introduced the MP 301 (A4 black MFP 30ppm). Five years is a long time to hang on to a model, especially when A4 devices are being introduced left & right. There's a new kid on the block of A4 devices. Ricoh is now offering the IM 350f (37ppm), IM 430F (43 ppm), and the IM 430fb (45ppm). All devices come standard with copy, print, fax and color scan. Anyone can get the speeds and feeds on these devices, but I wanted to dig a little deeper and express what I...
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This Week in the Copier Industry 5 Years Ago (Third Week of March 2014)
Wow! Hard to believe that the end of the first quarter is a mere two weeks away. Twenty five gone and Seventy five percent of the year left. How is your first quarter going? Would love to hear from you in the reply section of this blog! These were the top threads from 5 years ago this week. Enjoy Konica Minolta Honors Pacific Office Automation of Beaverton, Oregon with 2014 Pro-Tech Service Award for Service Excellence Art Post · 3/19/1410:16 PM Colorado. The company is also one of the...
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The Print Equipment and Services Industry must separate their deliverable.
Recently I had an opportunity to speak at ITEX, An Industry event for technology resellers. During that talk, I discussed the three types of deliverables or more importantly the three types of end-user customers within the print equipment and its services industry. This industry is strangling their full profit potential as they continue to deliver these different types of customers with the same processes. Here are the three equipment customer types: 1. High-Volume segments 6,7, and 8...
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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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Emotional Alchemical Marketing
Emotional Alchemical Marketing By: Nathan Dube https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=JzYFjCk6sMk The video posted above was created by a prospect/customer of a company I used to work for . The video was a submission for a promotional contest series that I created for my company to generate brand awareness regarding our products and services. The “Destroy Your Printer Contest” series is an excellent example of what I like to refer to as “emotional alchemical marketing”. The...
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This Week in the Copier Industry 5 Years Ago (First Week of March 2014)
Avoid Insulting the Customer Obvious, right? Well, people do it without even realizing by using comments like "did you understand that?" and "are you following what I'm saying?". This automatically shrinks the customers' intelligence and ability to catch on. It is down to your own ability to make the customer understand and therefore if you feel the customer is failing to do so, use comments such as "did I explain that clearly" and so on. Enjoy these threads from 5 years ago this week!
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This Week in the Copier Industry 15 Years Ago (First Week of February 2005)
Struggle, struggle and more struggle seems to the topic for the month of January. I'm in a slump and need to pull out of it. Today I had three planned calls after driving back from our 2020 Kick-off meeting yesterday. It was more of laying the seeds to reap in coming months, actually more like the third quarter for this year. Two calls went well and the other company moved on me. Thus, I need to do more leg work. Seems next week will be a complete week of working the phones and emails! Enjoy...
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This Week in the Copier Industry 10 Years Ago (Second Week of April 2010)
For each of the next few blogs I'll be inserting some tips from what other dealers and sales peeps are doing on a daily basis from around the globe for staying relevant with their clients and prospects . Share our FB posts daily. Enjoy these wonderful threads from ten years ago this week! Konica Minolta Helps AMG Resources Eliminate Paper Filing Guest · 4/8/1011:21 PM .A., Inc. is a leader in advanced imaging and networking technologies for the desktop to the print shop. For the third...
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It Won't Work! Is the motto of the unimaginative, and the Cry of the Insecure
The XEROX/HP saga playing out is proving that many can't see past what's in front of them and have limited imagination to assist them in discovering how things could be, based on how things should be. It has been a few months since Xerox took the bold action and beat HP to the table in a merger discussion. BUT XEROX IS TOO SMALL TO BUY- THE GREAT BIG HP!! Say those looking with no imagination. Yes, HP should have approached Xerox. HP having three times the market cap acquiring the smaller...
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The Pandemic Gets The Blame
The times we are all navigating through are brutally devastating. The death toll across the globe is tragic, and the human suffering through this pandemic will remain long past its eradication. I am writing this article for the millions of business leaders who are being tested like never before. It is my effort to help them pass the test and prepare for the next one. "Through candid conversations, new realities can blossom." Well, I guess Amazon is finally off the hook as the pandemic is now...
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3 THINGS Your Dealership Needs To Do To Recover From the Pandemic
The Global Pandemic has hit the Imaging Industry hard. We are not alone though. All businesses are experiencing extreme hardship, and that should make us feel better about that, correct? I agree; me neither! This Global Pandemic is a first time for everyone. No one had a playbook on how to do business in a post pandemic world, however, here are three things your dealership can do to get things started on the road to recovery: Reduce your inventory Inventory is money. Converting that...
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This Week in the Copier Industry 5 Years Ago for the Last Week of May 2015
Two selling days left in the month and I looking for another $10K to get me over the hump. Two days of pushing coming up and it should be exciting! Enjoy these awesome threads from 5 years ago this week! Ricoh Multi Copier Lease Award in Missouri ART POST · 5/31/1512:50 AM TOPIC Ricoh SP4520dn print will not print... ART POST · 5/26/159:58 PM Ricoh SP4520dn print will not print on to carbonless paper from Relyco. No matter what we did it was still pulling two sheets. Rats!!! Proposed...
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This Week in the Copier Industry 15 Years Ago (First Week of April 2005)
It's late, need to be ready for another day. You know what they say another day, another dollar! Xerox Launches Industry’s First Color................ Guest · 4/4/057:46 PM Xerox CopyCentre® C118 black-and-white copier and Xerox WorkCentre® M118/M118i black-and-white basic multifunction systems. These compact MFPs are designed for small to midsize workgroups that require copy, print, scan and fax functions. · The EFI™ Fiery X12e controller for the Xerox DocuColor 12 color copier/printer. The...
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COVID19 "Remote Working" Day Three of Sales
Starting today my wife is now working from home, thus I had the pleasure of setting her office up in one of our spare bed rooms. I really do hate being the IT guy at home. Never fails that it's my fault that when there's a network or connectivity issue. Never the less that telechat appointment I had for this AM cancelled early and rescheduled for next week. The only saving grace to the day is that one of my clients asked me to provide them with final docs for a wide format MFP. Not holding...
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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 Third Week of May 2005
Sunday and tomorrow starts the last 5 days before the end of the month. It can be bad or good, all depends on how you look at it. I see that I still have 20% of the month left to finish my goal. How do you look at it? Half full or half empty? Below were the most popular threads about copiers from 15 years ago this week! Re: KIP 3000 Guest · 5/23/0510:31 PM I was at the IRgA show in Las Vegas and saw the deom on the KIP3000. The machine looked good and the op panel looks like it is off of a...
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Re: If I Were King of My Sales Department
Great post! 11. Assign a rep a topic (round robin) to present at the next weekly sales meeting. Rules- show the team a new selling feature / function / solution, present it as you would to a client, and keep it short ( 5 minutes max) & sweet. After presenting, stand and receive constructive criticism from the rest of the team. Keep it fun and informative- but don't take it the task lightly. This will improve product knowledge, research skills, and presentation skills.
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Re: Sharp Watch....It's Like Playing Battleship
Here's a quote from the CEO of Sharp: "I believe it is my responsibility to compile a new business plan as soon as possible," Sharp Chief Executive Officer Kozo Takahashi told reporters at a briefing in Tokyo on Tuesday. Sharp will present a new business plan around May, he said. In 3 short months we'll know what's in and what's out with Sharp. I fully expect Sharp USA to fall on the sword and tell everyone that "we'll still be here no matter what"!! To me the answer is simple, you can't get...
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Are Your Salespeople Good Losers? Ask Cam Newton...
"Show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser" Vince Lombardi Well... "Here is looking at you kid! I admit I have Bronco Nation running through my blood, albeit Boise State Orange. Was I happy the Broncos won, of course. Peyton Manning, whether winning or losing is a class act. Peyton Manning and Cam Newton two phenomenal athletes at polar opposite spectrums of their careers. By now who hasn't watched the video clip of Cam walking out on the media, I laughed to myself as I watched.
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DUDE! Where's my Copier?
I've seen this scenario come true all to often. Really? Dude, where's the copier you took outta here three months ago! The leasing company is still billing me because they stating that they don't have the copier you took outta here, plus since you didn't get them the copier in time, they renewed my lease and told me I have to make another year of payments!! DUDE...Where's My COPIER! I can imagine there's been many conversations like this between customer and manufacturer over the years. It's...
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PRINTANALYZE and PERISCOPE
How to have your showroom in your pocket. Perform an unplanned presentation/demo Periscope is a live video streaming free app for iOS and Android. Their motto: Explore the world through someone else's eyes. You can really see live what others are shooting in the world. Broadcasting can be public or private. PrintAnalyze is cloud software designed to help the salesman in the Imaging business. The spark came from Art Post’s blog. Yes, of course, the idea would be to present something that...
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3 Ways Copier Sales Reps Boost Their Close Rate by Branding Correctly on LinkedIn
As copier reps, it is imperative to continue to nourish, maintain and grow your existing client base. What has become challenging is grabbing net new business. Net new business fuels the growth of your dealership! As copier reps, there is a new currency and we call this trust and value. We must adapt and adopt to integrating the use of social media to create major branding and marketing opportunities to build trusted networks. In the business community, people "believe" when your friends...
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Healthcare IT Security Onus Remains on Access Control
As major trends in corporate computing such as the Internet of Things, enterprise mobility, big data and telecommuting continue to intensify, security professionals have increasingly urged leaders to understand the importance of enhanced access control. Up until this point, simple passwords have been the most common means of authenticating users and allowing individuals to use and share sensitive corporate information through a range of platforms, websites and devices. However, the...
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Does Your Copier Dealership Offer A Bakers Dozen?
It was the Eighties, we were in New Jersey, and I was leading the pack of six copier sales people. We were all in our twenties, single and making oodels and oodles of cash selling plain paper copiers! Station wagons, hatch backs, pickup trucks, copier guerney's, rolodex's, change for pay telephone calls, yellow page books, business street directory books, mucho phones, mucho demonstrations, delivering your own copiers, and training end users were the staple of the copier...