Tagged With "Speak or Not to Speak"
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Re: Will outside Sales Rep's go away?
It will be interesting to see what the manufacturers allow and don't allow. As of right now they are still very against e-Commerce and listing things on websites etc. I can only speak for my experience with Canon, Sharp and Brother, but they do not want things done via the web.
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Re: Will outside Sales Rep's go away?
Interesting thoughts, Thank you p4p. I have sold Canon for 20+ years. Many years ago they listed the imageClass line (MFP's under 2,500 dollars) and the entire scanning line and Wide Format line. As such I stopped selling those products as I have always been compensated on hardware gross profit and there was none. Todays buyer is much different and has already done homework before I even get to speak with them. The mfr uniqueness has been commoditized and they all provide the #1 buying...
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Re: Canon SPIN Training
not here, although a friend of mine has. I can question him on it, the next time I speak with him. Mine is probably better thou
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Re: Ricoh & Epson = "perfect together" NOT!
Wide Format is in a big transition right now, I know KIP is no longer going to be putting any R&D into monochrome printing anymore. Its all color from this point forward, I know Oce (or CSA) is thinking the same way. I can't speak for Ricoh but at this point why would you put any money into it. Ink jet is not the answer ether so the Epson deal in not going to get you into too many doors. If the KIP 800 series is priced right (somewhere in the $25K-30K area) a lot of them will be going...
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Re: MFP Purchase Decision Makers?
It depends on the value proposition I want to bring forward. If I am going with the whole "we'll save you money" pitch, I'll start with a CFO or Director of Finance. If it's regarding document management or a fleet replacement, I'll start with IT Director/IT Manager and go from there. Larry Levine's teachings on LinkedIn have been really useful with cracking into appointments/conversations with these types of people. C-level execs and directors are very career-orientated, so they tend to...
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Re: Rumor has it that...
It's not the 75ppm a4 Canon machine that I speak of...There is another product that is a major game changer.
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Re: P4P member: Allegheny County signs 5 year contract with Amcon Office Systems
This is an excellent example of why Dealers should be aware of their manufacturer's Environmental initiatives and be able to speak intelligently about 'sustainability.' Ricoh does a great job in this area, as well as XEROX and Konica Minolta. You also see more discussion on 'environmental benefits' in Managed Print Services strategies.
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Re: "What is" Section 179
Leasing and Section 179 Did you know that your company can lease equipment and still take full advantage of the Section 179 deduction? In fact, leasing equipment and/or software with the Section 179 deduction in mind is a preferred financial strategy for many businesses, as it can significantly help with not only cash flow, but with profits as well. Non-Tax | Capital Lease The main benefit of a non-tax capital lease is that you can still take full advantage of the Section 179 Deduction, yet...
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Re: Dealer Management Software
I have been an independent consultant for the office technolgy industry since 1994 and in the industry since 1981. My primary focus has been on the OMD software system. eAutomate is a competitor of OMD which has been around for over 20 years. My experience with eAutomate is very limited (mainly word of mouth from industry collegues) but I have been told that the service contract invoicing (the profit bread and butter of the industry) and financial modules are not as flexible or capable as...
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Re: Scan to folder and Server 2008
We're in the process of doing that as we speak. I didn't want to keep chasing my tail until we handled that.
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Re: Prisim Doc record
We have used DocRecord internally at our dealership for the last two years. I like it; I find it pretty easy to administer and our end users think it's intuitive and friendly. I can't speak to integration with your specific platform. But, for automation it's just a matter of setting up a process with a watch folder through DocRecord's Automation Server tool, and programming a one-touch button on your MFP that scans into the watch folder. PS - we're a Konica Minolta dealer. :-)
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Re: Managed Services "Are You in or Out"!
If you're going to sell I.T. you have to know I.T. and be able to speak their language. I take our I.T. Sales Specialists on a lot of calls, and once they start speaking geek, I know enough to somewhat understand, but the conversation eventually gets to areas that are completely Greek to me. It's just like if we were to get some sales guys from IBM and tried to train them to understand and sell imaging. It would be completely foreign to them.
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Re: Transform Global 2012
Day one has passed and overall, I'm impressed with the event. I actually ran into a couple of P4P members and finally after all of these years got to meet Lee Rummage from RJ Young. On Wednesday evening Oki hosted the evening reception @ Hiltons Signature Island. Food, drinks and networking, at this time I also had to the chance to meet Greg Walters (Death of the Copier) and now the newly elected President of the MPSA. I also ran across many new contacts and believe it or not many readers of...
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Re: 150 Calls a week
I just re read your thread and it's pretty much impossible to make 150 and connect to every DM. However the more calls you make the more dm's you'll get to speak to. Anyone else care to comment?
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Re: Hurricane Sandy Highlands NJ
HIGHLANDS - After weeks of stress and struggle following Hurricane Sandy, Highlands residents will gather together tomorrow afternoon for some serious fun at a free benefit concert. The concert, starring many well-known Jersey Shore musicians, will raise funds and awareness to help rebuild their town. The Hope for Highlands benefit concert will take place Sunday, November 25, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Seastreak Ferry terminal, 325 Shore Drive in Highlands. Although the concert itself is...
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Re: How do you feel about the industry?
Yes...all this "you have to provide solutions" talk is all fine and good but it's still a numbers game. However, you have to make each call effective by getting information that will help you someday get in the door. What they have (or who they call for service should tell you what they have), whether they own or lease, are they 100% satisfied, and who makes the decisions. Your questions can't come across as an interrogation or you won't get any info from the receptionist. But if you are...
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Re: Over Holding On MFP Lease Costs Unnecessary Dollars
Yoda, you need to not be so quick to throw around the "ignorant" and "dumb" labels. Just because something is true in your tiny little world does not mean it is universally true. For instance, we share revenue from the first month, not the third but what difference does that make. It is still not in the best interest of the customer (in most cases), which should be our primary concern. That brings me to your next, supposedly obvious, observation. "shame on any rep that allows a lease to get...
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Re: Over Holding On MFP Lease Costs Unnecessary Dollars
Re: Over Holding On MFP Lease Costs Unnecessary Dollars
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Re: Document Capture/Global Scan
From: Ted Sent: 3/11/2002 7:16 AM Brian, as for me 4.5 years copier sales, but 17 total in sales. Copier sales to me are the easist sales in the world. Yes you have good and bad months, but everyone in business NEEDS what we have. Not so with other sales jobs. A business cannot operate these days without printers, faxes and copiers. Lately, you can add scanning to that list. With the advent of the doc mall and e-cabinet, once you get a customer using this type of technology, they will never...
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Re: PostScript Question
According to our internal UNIX Guru, Unix does not require PostScript (although at one time that was true). He mentioned something about UNIX now using something called CUPS. Our Server is UNIX and our client PC's are WIN98SE. The UNIX and the Clients all print to the Ricoh devices. I can't really fully understand our UNIX Guru, he tends to speak in binary code, but this is more or less what I understood from him for whatever its worth.
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Re: Volume Printer Orders
I am working on a proposal as we speak, email me for the specifics. Art
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Re: Selling against Offset Press
Keith: I may have a few old excel spreadsheets, I will have to look. However, I can explain here and you may be able to create your own spreadsheet. Commercial Press Shops (ones that have union employees) have a tremendous overhead cost when it comes to making a plate for the press. You have to find out what type of plates they are making, whether paper, metel, or poly. The Metal has the highest cost and the paper plate being the least expensive and then the poly in between. The cost for the...
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Re: 400 DPI IMAGE MOVEMENT!!!
We must not forget the Riso V8000 2-color single-pass system. I also can't speak for registration variance Riso vs Ricoh nor TC-II vs. 2 passes. I'm mearly suggesting that it makes for a compelling argument...whether it actually holds water, I don't know. Riso quotes a +or- one millimeter as an "acceptible variance on their current product line not counting the V8000. I don't sell the Ricoh nor do I compete against it so I can't speak to the registration or lack thereof.
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Re: Tattoo Parlors
Graham, you seem to speak from experience. How many and what designs are your tatoos?
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Re: 1200 Series User History
Update - 10/17/2003 Black Developments: 62,883 Color Developments: 30,477 - no issues to speak of yet, I just make sure and empty the waste toner about every three weeks..... maybe the issue with these is that they need to be run harder than Ricoh suggests, perhaps low volume is what causes problems!
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Re: I guess they ran out of golf bags
What makes this site great is the ability to speak your mind and the comfort of knowing that we are truly among friends (we do look out for each other).
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Re: For HP, Copiers May Not Be A Cinch
bmiller Your reply to the HP article is very real. I would offer that you must truly take each situation on it's own. As soon as you walk out of one door and into another door, the players, preferences and attitudes change with the lock on the door knob. I have worked environments that have stayed the course with HP printers and lost the connectivity aspect. I have not yet lost to a copier, and I've been in two that were very heated. Frankly, I view Canon as more of a challenge than HP will...
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Re: Ricoh 2232/38 sometime in Feb?
Art, The 50PPM you speak of, is it Ricoh OEM or Toshiba? JG
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Re: Sales Tips
The very first rule about selling anything is you have to believe in what you are selling. How many sales people do you meet and you know straight away that they don't believe in what they are selling because you can feel it when people are lying to you. I have quite often got that feeling from used car sales people because they often know they are selling you something that you will be having trouble with later. Most of the time people sell cars because they are having trouble with them or...
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Re: Sales Tips
Your Competitive Advantage Selling Your Unique Attributes What's your competitive advantage? You can turn those cold calls into warm calls by explaining to your prospect just what makes you unique, different and better than the competition! The best way to explain a competitive advantage is by first talking about what it is not. "We give great customer service" is NOT aunique competitive advantage. Every company in the world makes this claim - whether it is true or not. This type of line is...
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Re: Sales Tips
Cardinal prospecting rule In both of these examples, getting the appointment would have been easy had the salesperson not contributed to their own demise. They destroyed their chances of landing the appointment by breaking a cardinal prospecting rule: They told their prospect what they were selling. The moment that you read the words "carpet cleaning" and "real estate," you, too, immediately stopped absorbing the presentation and began to prejudge the value of the call. So when you’re...
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Re: Konica Minolta Bizhub C451
Specs for the bizhub are impressive! Here's how I would handle this. 1. I always bundle e-copy "desktop" software with every system. I make sure I show the customer the advantages of the copy desktop software before I speak about speeds and feeds. This software could make the difference in landing the sale or not!! 2. Support is always number one in the customers mind, provide them with a list of customers that you have that they may know. 3. Position yourself as the "expert", dig deep for...
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Re: Gas Price Check
Sorry Jason, I responded to Art before reading your response to me. It is somewhat comforting to know that there is other intelligent life besides you two that believe this. Thanks for giving the answer to my "why" question. However, it still seems illogical to me. Those same profits that are "given up" in the name of encumbancy would yield a far better result if invested in advertising for the encumbant party. Do you really think that big oil thinks that 10% off the pump price will equate...
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Re: Ricoh MPC6000 vs Xerox WC7665
Good morning: The truth of the matter is that the Xerox DC systems are 2400 dpi, but at 1-bit. And KM is at 600 dpi, but 8-bit. keep in mind that there is also a third factor that dictates image quality, and that is the dither pattern, which is essentially how those individually modulated dots are placed next to each other to create the illusion of shades and tones. The problem is that it can't be easily quantified, so no one talks about it. At the end of the day, don't get caught up into...
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Re: TCRU and the MP9000, et.al.
We have a customer in the UK. A 24 hour print room. They love the TCRU. Parts are left on site. The fit them then we go and check the machine and rebulit units. Webs running out marks on fusers etc all dealt with asap. Even pm's Like many print rooms either swap or empty the waste toner everyone wins. The print room opeatives who perform the changes are experienced and do speak to the Engineers for advice. But it has reducded down time and tieing up a engineer to racing over to meet a...
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Re: Sales Tips
Don’t try to sell the Operator: be polite yet respectfully persistent while finding who the right person to speak with is. Get an internal transfer: the number will come through as an internal transfer and the person will pick up. Offer to call back: ask when is convenient for them. Random names: type in a couple of letters, wait for the system to come back; the system will supply other names and their extensions. Department directories: listen for all menu choices as other departments...
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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: 1060 and Twain driver
Ted, The client's software is supposed to work with the network connection, but I am pretty sure that this has nothing to do with their software. I am getting the same error message when using the TWAIN driver in my office when scanning from Illustrator, Publisher and even simple Microsoft Imaging. I am pretty confident that this is a problem with the TWAIN driver and not any specific software issue. Thanks for the quick response. I am setting up the third 1060 for testing purposes in my...
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Re: Scan 2 Email and Verizon
I am not speak from experience with Verizon mail, but if you have the proper DNS server entries and the smtp server name, should't the MFP reconcile the mail server IP just like Outlook or anyother desktop mail app? Let me know if it works to use the smtp.verizon.net or whatever the correct address is versus the IP address.
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Re: 240W PM's
YES, THE 2,800 was the final cost on the equipment. I quess our beef is that when a customer needs the PM, our charges to the customer is less than the charge to sales person. Plus talking to the tech is useless, they tell us nothing and to speak to management. I can understand a mu on parts and costing for labor and realize the comapany should make money for the prep of the unit. However, I have estimated the parts at about $1800 plus labor, lets give it four hours of labor at 80, which...
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Re: ??'s About Great America Leasing
The standard GALC lease states: "You may not pay off this Lease prior to the end of the Lease term without Our consent and We may charge You, in addition to the other amounts owed, an early termination fee equal to five percent (5%) of the amount We paid for the Equipment." I don't want to speak for another company, but I've been working with GALC for better than 10 years and I'm 99% certain that a Buyout to Return is not an option (unless the lease is at term). Good Luck! Brian
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Re: TWAIN on Savin 2522
Vince, you're right, TWAIN driving is ridiculous. But, some companies have applications that only support TWAIN scanning (in this case I'm working with some software for a doctors office and there are a load of other people in my territory with this software). If they are all going to have to go to the supermarket so to speak, I'd rather sell them a 1515mf or if they already need to replace their existing copier a 2022. Art, I was able to scan from the glass into MSWord, there was no drop...
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Re: Is anyone having problems with the 350/1035/2035 series?
I've been in copier biz since 1985 have seen LOTS of copiers come and go, some terrible (somebody mentioned the Ricoh 5560 the other day) some great (1022/1027,1015,2018,/551/700/1060/1075/2060/2075). ALL the new equipment is a billion times better than the equipment in the old days. A BILLION. Really , the Ricoh equipment line is amazing. That having been said, the series you speak of, with the cleaning assembly above the drum, is not a real clean running machine. Drums should go close to...
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Re: Postscript 3 Version
This is probably a better question for Ricoh Tech support. The PS3 version isn't the issue I think, simply the OSX driver. Has the customer tried it and not gotten it to work? On a mac, the "driver" doesn't generate the Postscript code, the operating system does. The "driver" we supply simply tells the mac how to speak to the printer and about what optioons are available. It sounds to me like the customer is saying the Driver we supplied them isn't working in their version of OSX. Since the...
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Re: 240 roll feed problem.
I would have a tech with valid tech ID call Ricoh tech support. Sounds like an alignment issue - the 240 is not always aligned properly when first set up. If your tech can speak to Chris Saez at Ricoh, he is really good on the wide formats!
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Re: 480 background haze
Did you ask Ricoh tech support? Again, if you can speak to Chris Saez over there,he is very good on wide format.
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Re: IT Lingo and Computer Terminology
Art, This is excellent. A plain-English explanation! I'm going to make sure all my sales reps, IT staff and service techs have this as a tool for when they speak with our clients. (Who is the Doyle? Our Wisconsin governor, or another illustrous soul out there in New Jersey? Inquiring minds are curious.....)
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Re: Fair Comission Plans
You speak of $300,000 G.P. above sales cost. Anytime you try to compare commission plans, you need to keep in mind that that the amount of "pad" added to Dealer's Cost can have a significant impact on commissions even though it may not effect total income. This is what I mean. One company may pay $3,000/mo. salary and 40% commissions but have a sales cost that is 20% above Dealer Cost. Another company may only pay $3,000 salary and 30% commissions but be a better plan because they pay based...