Tagged With "Solutions Sales"
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Re: Post-Virus We Must Defeat The Zombie Companies!
Although I am 60% on board with your move to A4 strategy, most of the rest of the stuff you are posting is "knocking it out of the park"! I would like to see a poll. As a business owner, during COVID-19 would you prefer? 1). No lease payments for 90 days 2). 1/2 price lease payments for one year The auto industry is pushing no payments for 90 days but I think business owners are more concerned about cash flow for the next year. I think the correct strategy is to offer as part of your...
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Re: The Cannata Report 30th Anniversary Awards & Charity Event
Thanks buddy.. Talk soon. Let me know if there is anything I can do for you..
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Re: When is Net New Business not Net New Business?
Interesting perspective. We constantly have the talks about competitive machines we took on service, especially brands we don't carry. I tend to consider is taking a Konica on service and then a year or two later upgrading it to our equipment net new business from the sales side. Obviously we had net new business on the service side but not net new for "x" with the equipment sale. I'd be interested to hear how others see this. I hear a lot of people say it doesn't matter but if I bring a...
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Re: When is Net New Business not Net New Business?
I was wondering if the subject of those customers who were acquired through service was going to come up, & Jason's comment is certainly "food for thought"... In his example, he brought on the service customer (with the obvious intention of upgrading them at the first opportunity) & the dealer gets a contract & machine sale that they otherwise wouldn't have. Sounds like net new to me. In my experience, though, most of these service to machine sale conversions are from customers...
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Re: Top Ten "Why Copiers Should Have Warning Labels"
Ty Jason! Had fun with this!! Ty for the email about your rep, that was very humorous sale!! Maybe post in on the forums?
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Re: The A4 Challenge or Opportunity
In my experience A4 machines are as much or even more hassle than an A3 machine to install and train which I do myself for the customer but my income off of the sale of the A4 device is a fraction of what it would have been had I sold an A3. Beyond that most A4 machines lack a document feeder built to handle the page volumes of walk up copying and scanning my customers do. At the end of the day I have to make a living so I spend my time on A3 opportunities.
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Re: Assume My Copier Lease....What?
@Kitz: Dealer support is also a great question. Currently we approach this on a case-by-case basis. New transfers would go to an affiliated partner in the geographical territory that is qualified to service that equipment. Ultimately, we are building a network of independent dealers not unlike what the direct channel already has access to. This way, independent dealers can leverage the network for new contracts as well, such as when a sale is made to a head office that includes installations...
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Re: Smart Scanning with Scan2Cloud Apps
Hey Art, Good post. I didn't know too much about DocuShare so I'm glad I could read about it. I think Canon products deserve a mention. The imageRUNNER ADVANCE line allows you to directly scan to/print from Google Docs and Microsoft Exchange. This is a free feature. Larger imageRUNNER ADVANCE units allow you to scan directly into Microsoft Word and Powerpoint (again free), and if you add the Universal Send Advance/Security Feature Set you can create PDFs with OCR, annotations and...
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Re: Smart Scanning with Scan2Cloud Apps
Ricoh will have their ICE version soon, will try to write more on that. I've found over time that most apps from the manufacturers are so so at best and developing a direct relationship with companies like UDOCX and Print Audit is more beneficial to the end user and to the dealer that is selling the solution. Thanx for the comment!!!
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Re: Can I Copy Mixed Sized Documents on a Copier?
I disagree. Most law firms and many insurance companies still have a commonly re-ocurring need for mixed size originals. I am currently working with one European shipping company based in NA that wants to do do mixed size originals with a mix of A3 and A4 documents. I say it cannot be done as the paper is all of different widths. I am hoping that my unscrupoulous competitive vendors will admit to the same..... not likely!!! They want the sale today! Please advise.
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Re: Lease Maestro Checks into Print4Pay Hotel
Art - Thank you for such a warm welcome to the site. I look forward to helping the P4P Hotel members with any of their questions regarding this important aspect of their business. Sincerely, Lease Maestro
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Re: Lease Maestro Checks into Print4Pay Hotel
What are the best options to getting around an "evergreen" clause in a prospects lease contract? Specifically, if the clause renews the contract for 1 full year & they missed the timeframe to provide written notice to cancel? Is the prospect obligated to make every payment? Is there a way for me to win the business without having to refinance that full year of "evergreen" payments into the new lease? Your input would be appreciated. --Garrett
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Re: Lease Maestro Checks into Print4Pay Hotel
Hello Garrett - The dreaded "Evergreen" clause. This clause has caused many problems customer and dealers over the years. Depending on your situation, it may be tough for you to get the customer out of the contract early without some significant work on yours and the customers part. Based on your comment of "win the business", I am assuming that you are not the original dealer that put the customer into the lease with the an "Evergreen" renewal clause. If this is the case, there is a good...
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Re: 5 Questions for HP about the Acquisition of Samsung Printer Business Unit
I hope HP (Hardly Profitable)'s idea of market innovation is not to make the whole industry hardly profitable. Outside sales reps need to make a buck and will not flock to a new product that dramatically reduces their commission on every sale. Kind of like the A3 to A4 transition of a few years ago. Sales reps do not want to be forced to try and sell a lot more boxes to earn the same income regardless of how great the technology might be. Did that, been there.
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Re: 5 Questions for HP about the Acquisition of Samsung Printer Business Unit
I'm not sure......will be interesting to see how the industry responds. I think it may be time for HaaS or Seat Based Billing for MFP's. Get ahead of the curve and tie up your accounts now!
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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: 5 Reasons Why I Like Print Audit Best Over PaperCut
Great Article! Of course I am a bit biased... I'm not sure if the reader who commented is familiar with the standard rules available in Print Audit 6/PCS Director. They exist under the Printer Profiles section and can be implemented across the board with a click of the mouse. These basic rules address color usage, duplex print as well as limits on pages of print. By definition the basic rules apply across to board to all printing (subject to that Printer Profile). These rules are also MUCH...
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Re: Selling Professional Services for SMB Accounts, Worth it or Not Worth it!
Comments, would like to hear from others!!!
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Re: Selling Professional Services for SMB Accounts, Worth it or Not Worth it!
As an independent dealer we are definitely giving away too much Pro Services in the SMB space. We kind of us it as a sales pitch against the National vendors who almost always charge Pro Services. Right now we are starting to give the customers invoice for many Pro Services that we deliver but offset it with a credit, so that they can see it's value. This will set up a future invoice where there will be no credit. We leave it up to the sales rep how he sells the workflow and how much...
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Re: Selling Professional Services for SMB Accounts, Worth it or Not Worth it!
interesting...on no commissions for pro-services. What have you seen for the price per hour of Pro-Services from the National Vendors (direct)? Thus what happens when you have almost no margins in a workflow solution? With me, there was only $200 from cost to MSRP with a workflow solution, are you then selling over MSRP?
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Re: Selling Professional Services for SMB Accounts, Worth it or Not Worth it!
I can charge what I want and get 30% of that.......if I do the work myself.
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Re: Canon Business Systems Pulling a Ricoh
Had a deal recently that we were the incumbent and CSA came in and placed the exact same machine as we tried. Customer gave us the quote and our true cost was around 14,000 or 15,000 and they sold it to them around $9,000.00. Anytime CSA is in a deal there is a very small chance of winning. The only thing we have going for us is their service is very lousy so after the lost sale we usually pick up a service agreement at some point. Ricoh has been good about enforcing the rules of engagement...
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Re: Canon Business Systems Pulling a Ricoh
We have been very pleased with Ricoh's commitment to the ROE. We even got full credit for a sale that RBS made after we brought the discretion to Ricoh's attention.
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Re: I Don't Walk Away from Many Opportunities, But this One was Crazy
Yes, I had an account who had TWO Xerox down for over two months and would NEVER do business with them again. I had been renting to this contractor for years and really made a great proposal and pretty much expected that sale. They stayed with Xerox!! You just wonder what their thought process is on these kind of deals. They will end up in the exact same boat in 5 years and go through the motions and get absolutely nowhere. Good Luck!!
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Re: How Scannx Changed My Fear Of The Library Coin Box
Monte Excellent blog, I was not familiar with Scannx and agree that we all should have this arrow in our quiver. Cant wait for your next blog
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Re: How Scannx Changed My Fear Of The Library Coin Box
As someone who has placed a solution for a library I completely agree.
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Re: MSP & MSSP Industry Notes for November 9th 2019
Nice recap Art keep up the great work my friend
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Re: HP should Buy Xerox
I do understand where you are coming from in terms of your data that A4 MFPs are destined to displace A3 copiers at an accelerating rate. I also agree that A3 copiers vendors need to step up their game in terms of IT support and capabilities. A3 vendors still hold a couple of cards that IT centric print resellers do not have. 1). Feet on the street, experienced outside sales reps who can make 20 cold calls a day. We are in the B2B business which to some people means belly to belly 2).
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Re: Losing is the Key to Winning!
Art, Love it! Great perspective, a true professional. We can't bat 1.000 though it is a nice mindset. Being able to debrief, self-evaluate and learn how to improve is the key. The office environment we sell into as copier reps is rapidly changing and evolving. You may have lost the hardware sale but may look what you gained. Play your "sales cards" right and this can be parlayed into more revenue and more profit. Great job!
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Re: Are Your Salespeople Good Losers? Ask Cam Newton...
A good book on this subject is: From a Good Sales Call to a Great Sales Call ...Close more by doing what you do best... by Richard Schroder. It's about how companies should conduct post sale interviews on all deals to determine why you won or lost. They quite effectively illustrate the value of this process and why someone other than the salesrep should conduct the interview. It pretty much proves that a very high percentage of the time, the salesrep really has no clue why they lost or won...
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Re: Are Your Salespeople Good Losers? Ask Cam Newton...
That's what this book is all about. Think of all the things that may influence a sale that the prospect will never say to your face. Are they going to tell you that they didn't believe what you said? Are they going to tell you that they just didn't like you as a person? Are they going to tell you that you were too pushy? No...they are going to say that you were more expensive whether it was true or not. The job of a sales person is the strategic management of perception. How can I possibly...
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Re: Why I'm So Past Reading Sales Blogs on Linkedin
While that blog has some valid points, much like Art, I'm more inclined to think "when's the last time that writer took off their headset and actually pushed some pavement or had a face to face meeting?". While there is something to be said about not hard closing all the time, it's got to be done but with some skill. In my nine years doing this, each sale is different in that there are some customer that want to be hard closed and others that have their own way of making a decision. One...
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This Week in the Copier Industry 10 Years Ago, The First Week in January 2009
Ten years ago this week and what was on our minds? It was the Great Recession. I remember it all too well. Many of my accounts were in the AEC market, remember losing almost 30% of that business because of bankruptcies, companies closing and companies just buying their device once they came to the end of the lease. Hope I never have to go through that again! Enjoy the threads from ten year ago this week! Weekend Copier Notes from 1/4/09 Neal · 1/5/097:19 AM According to survey of printshops...
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This Week in the Copier Industry 10 Years Ago, The Third Week in January 2009
There's a pretty decent thread below about relationship selling. It's ten years old and yes I found it some place on the web. Speaks about common ground with the client along with trust. Take the three minutes to read this thread. Relationship Selling – The Buy and Buy Enjoy the threads from ten years ago this week! Weekend Copier Notes from 1/18/09 Neal · 1/19/098:46 AM bundled with Kodak MarketMover, which is a package to assist printshop owners in marketing and selling digital output. The...
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This Week in the Copier Industry 5 Years Ago, The Third Week in January 2014
Enjoy the threads from 5 years a go this week! Topic Five Vendors Earn Winter 2014 BLI “Picks” in the A3 Color Category Art Post · 1/23/145:35 PM buyers. Konica Minolta Business Solutions, U .S.A., Inc. Konica Minolta bizhub C 364e Outstanding 31- to 40-ppm A3 Color MFP Konica Minolta bizhub C 454e Outstanding 41- to 50-ppm A3 Color MFP KYOCERA Document Solutions America, Inc. KYOCERA TASKalfa 5551ci (Also sold under the Copystar brand) Outstanding 51- to 60-ppm A3 Color MFP Ricoh Americas...
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How Well Are You Creating Visibility? My Journey To Outbound 2019!
Those close to me, who know the real me, know I have no problem asking for help. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness. It's an opportunity to expand your horizons. I'm simply amazed by the amount of people who simply fail to ask for help. I've made it my mission to educate, engage and excite all those inside the sales world. Sales leaders and their sales teams must stand up, unite and transform how they go to market in a world full of sales mediocrity (I'm being nice). I believe every...
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This Week in the Copier Industry 15 Years Ago, The Last Week in January 2004
In the next day or so I'll be blogging about the new Ricoh IMC MFP series. There's a lot of new stuff and I'm chomping at the bit to get my hands on one. Enjoy these threads from 15 years ago this week! Peerless Systems Announces Everest Family of MFP Controllers; New Controllers Based on Sierra Techno Boston Mike · 1/28/046:58 AM document products rely on a core set of imaging software and supporting electronics, collectively known as an imaging controller. Peerless' broad line of scalable...
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This Week in the Copier Industry 5 Years Ago, The Last Week in January 2014
Dang, there's a ton of content here! Check out the blog series for 31 Ways to Close More Copier Sales #25 of 31 , there are 31 in total and I'm trying to get them all in a collection for us. Enjoy these threads from 5 years ago this week! This Week in the Copier/Office Equipment Industry 10 Years Ago 4thWeek of January 2004 Art Post · 1/26/142:19 PM the new product.http://support. ricoh .com/bb/html/dr_ut_e/rc2/model/ c 32_38/ c 32_38en.htmJG Toshiba America Business Solutions Introduces The...
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Sales Professionals Get To The Heart Of What Matters
Heart is greatly misunderstood. Heart is relevant in sales, culture, and in leadership yet so many get it wrong. Getting to the heart of the matter, if sales reps 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 reps will continue down the journey without finding what motivates the...
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5 Reasons Why Those in the Copier Industry Should Be a Print4Pay Hotel Member
We've all heard the expression, it's not what you know it's about who know. The larger your network, the more access you have to opportunities. Almost twenty years ago I created the first and still the only web based forums for copier industry professionals (not a tech forum). Over the years I've been able to lean on others in the industry to get information that I need to close orders through the Print4Pay Hotel forum members. Sometimes it's competitive info, pricing, what's good, what's...
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How Scannx Changed My Fear Of The Library Coin Box
I'd like to thank Monte (p4photel member for sending me this blog the other day. After 15 years of writing blogs for the industry, it can get interesting to try to write about something new. Monte delivers with this nice blog about copiers and coin boxes How Scannx Changed My Fear Of The Library Coin Box I don’t know about you but in my 20+ years of experience in our industry whenever a client came to me wanting a solution for a public library that included a coin box or some other pay model...
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What Does It Mean To Sell From The Heart?
Selling From the Heart goes against everything that standard sales training teaches you. The world has changed and yet, how we sell seems to be stuck in past decades. No longer are the old-school or hard-nosed tactics working, it’s time for a change. So how do you sell in this current environment? From the heart!!! You put the needs of your clients first. You place them up on a silver business platter. You intently listen to their every word, what they need and how you can best fill it. You...
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This Week in the Copier Industry 15 Years Ago, The Second Week in January 2004
Fifteen years ago I was not blogging about our industry. Most of what you'll see below is threads from P4P'ers asking and answering questions. The Print4Pay Hotel forums offers our members the opportunity to post questions, answers, news or maybe you want to blow off some steam. If you do here's a link to our forums. Enjoy the threads from 15 years ago this week! Ricoh Demonstrates Its Dedication 1/9/049:25 AM manufacturing, distribution, use and the recycling of its products. Sustainable...
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The 411 on DocuWare Kinetic Solutions: Sell Preconfigured AP and HR Office Solutions with Ease
In June 2018, DocuWare launched its new cloud-based preconfigured workflow solutions called DocuWare Kinetic Solutions. I had the opportunity to chat with Jo Ann Kreidel, Solution Manager for DocuWare Kinetic Solutions at DocuWare to get a deeper understanding of what the solutions are, why they were developed, and how you can position yourself as AP and HR solution experts to sell these solutions to your current customer base. Learn how to become an Authorized DocuWare Partner to generate...
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Why a Copier Salesperson Loves to Sell DocuWare
You probably don’t know me but I’ve been in the industry now for over 20 years and have been fortunate to be successful selling Canon, Ricoh and Kyocera products in both hardware and software sales. I remember when I started it was all about hardware. I used to say “black and white paid the bills and color sent me on vacation”. Back in those days a color sale would be $40,000 plus and would always be a generous commission. I remember speaking with another colleague of mine back then who had...
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This Week in the Copier Industry 5 Years Ago, The First Week in September 2013
Konica Minolta and Komori Debut World's First 23"x29" Digital Inkjet Press at PRINT 13 Art Post · 9/5/137:08 AM today's highly competitive printing marketplace. Delivering a high level in print quality coupled with impressively fast make-ready and open systems architecture, Komori presses help printers achieve the higher productivity and efficiency levels essential for increased margins and business growth. Komori America Corporation headquarters are in Rolling Meadows, IL with sales and...
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This Week in the Copier Industry 15 Years Ago, The Third Week in September 2003
BTA National Event was last week in NYC @ the Stewart Hotel. With members and vendors I heard there were 345 attendees. That's a great showing! What was the most popular talked about theme behind the scenes? Yup, it was the One Rate or Flat Rate. More to come on this during the week. Enjoy the threads from 15 years ago this week! Fuji-Xerox merges 9/17/038:48 PM Fuji- Xerox merges internally Byron Connolly, CRN Wednesday, 02 April 2003 Fuji- Xerox will audit its printer -distribution channel...
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This Week in the Copier Industry 10 Years Ago, The Third Week in September 2003
There's a great thread below "Print Management" Truth and Lies". It's a compilation of threads from members about best and worst practices. Check it out if you have the time. Enjoy the threads from ten years ago this week! Weekend Copier Notes from 09/14/08 Neal · 9/16/087:20 AM 11% annually o copy volumes are declining 2% annually o HP sold 60 million printers last year o Xerox sold 3 million printers last year o Kyocera only sold 115,000 printers last year o Average print volume for a...
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A True Sales Professional Knows Their Value And How To Use It
One of the most drastic changes in selling over the past decade has been the rapid evolution in customers’ overall sophistication and knowledge (courtesy of Father Google). Many of the issues salespeople encounter comes from their short-term, transaction-oriented sales mentality. This transactional approach means they go from deal to deal and from order to order. Customers made to feel like a means to an end. A TRANSACTIONAL MINDSET A transactional sales mindset runs rampant in today's sales...