Tagged With "Natural Born Salesperson"
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Re: Is This the Beginning of the End for the Padding of Lease Rates?
In some cases, more is made on the lease padded rate than the salesperson makes in commissions. Others may tell you that they use the "padded" rates to create promo's for the reps. Do I look like I need an incentive to sell? Frak that, if you need an incentive to sell then you need to get a job at Mickey D's
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Re: Copier Parts & Accessories China Tariff Starts in 9 Working Days
President Trump announced today, effective Sept 24 2018, a 10% tariff on a broad list of $200 B worth of Chinese goods. https://ustr.gov/about-us/poli...inalizes-tariffs-200 On this final list are all forms of copy devices. No mention of printers. No mention of toner. Unless China makes serious trade concessions to the USA, without retaliatory tariffs of its own on USA made goods sold in China, the 10% tariff will rise to 25% on Jan 01 2019. These devices are on the final tariff list,...
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Re: Copier Parts & Accessories China Tariff Starts in 9 Working Days
SSG Thanx for keeping this thread up to date! Kudos The economy is doing so well here in the US that I don't think many will care. I will use this to my advantage to get clients to move now. Now, I hope they do care! Art
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Re: Copier Parts & Accessories China Tariff Starts in 9 Working Days
Yup, it's a pretty BIG Hammer! I heard a radio report that the US trade debt rose significantly in July. I'm thinking what you stated is that "many of the manufacturers have stuffed thier warehouses". That's probably why we haven't seen anything to date with increases.
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Re: Telemarketing & The Person with the BAD Attitude!
I agree to a certain extent, Art, but at the same time, our industry has a deservedly bad reputation for being overly-persistent in efforts to reach prospects. The way in which people evaluate products, services, vendors, etc. has completely changed due to the wealth of information that is available online. Many buyers now want to know what they want (especially in up & down the street accounts) before they ever agree to talk to a salesperson. There are only so many hours in a day, &...
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Re: How to Add More Selling Days Without Really Trying
Wow. I had a salesperson meet me at 2:00 today. It is much easier for me. Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE DROID
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This Week in the Copier Industry 5 Years Ago, The First Week in January 2014
Some great threads here, especially the blog series I wrote for "31 Ways to close more copiers sales". Enjoy these threads from 5 years ago this week! Pacific Office Automation Helps Local Children by Matching Donations in the Fox 12 Holiday Toy Drive Art Post · 1/2/1410:14 PM Pacific Office Automation Pacific Office Automation ( http://www.pacificoffice.com ) is a leader in managed printing solutions and document management software. Since 1976, Pacific has grown to become the industry’s...
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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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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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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 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 Third Week in August 2003
Seems like I may have misplaced a week. Last weeks thread was the first week of August, however I had notes in from the second week. Well, it's time for the third week in August notes from 15 years ago. Check out the awesome story from Old Glory below or click here Remember the 1035 Scanner/copier story? High-Speed Copiers: 8/19/037:29 PM begin? Does it require a dedicated salesperson ? Who are the best prospects? What are the best selling strategies? Perhaps any discussion of the topic...
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Your Copier
Earlier today I was posting some news articles on the site and thought I'd play some eighties tune to pass the time. One of the songs that I haven't heard in some time was "Your Love" which was performed by Outfield. The lyrics were simple and short, thus I thought I would write a parody based on "Your Love". Yeah, I know it's screwy, but I actually had some fun with it. You can click the here to hear that song. You can ready my lyrics below. Wish I could sing it for everyone, on second...
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Why Product Knowledge Can Vault You to Success
Would you agree or disagree with this statement? "You can have the best sales skills in the world, however, if you don't know your product you won't sell a damn thing". I'm a firm believer in the above, excellent product knowledge has allowed me to be extremely successful selling print devices. I feel bad for those sales peeps have the cheapest or lowest price along with zero product knowledge. The end result is guy and gals like me will eat them for lunch. LinkedIn is full of sales guru's...
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Leasing Companies are not Exempt from Changes
Those in the technology industry face many challenges caused by innovation, new competitors, and changing buyer habits. Regardless of your core function in the technology deliverable whether you are a manufacturer, software provider, lessor or a reseller who delivers equipment and its services to the end-users, no one can assume yesterday’s circumstances will remain relevant tomorrow. Today all leasing companies in the channel are delivery models based on a monthly payment where hardware is...
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New Players, New Rules, New Game.
One thing few in the Imaging Channel want to discuss is the innovative processes which will replace much of the old way’s deliverable. The glory days of selling print equipment and its services are just beginning for some innovative thinkers and ending for some others. All things do in-fact change. Even those who refuse, eventually are forced to change. No one can circumvent progress regardless of their marketing strategies or their hopes that current circumstances remain a little longer.
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This Week in the Copier Industry 10 Years Ago (Second Week of April 2009)
Super thread below titled Where do you see this industry in 5 years???? A must read to see what everyone thought back in 2009 about 2014. Enjoy these threads from ten years ago this week! WEekend Copier Notes from 04/12/09 Neal · 4/13/097:17 AM print color systems, the PRO C 550EX and PRO C 700EX: - Base MSRPs of $54,290 & $62,690 - C 550EX offers 55ppm full color and 60ppm b/w - C 700EX offers 70ppm full color and 75ppm b/w - Uses engines from the MP C 6000 and C 7500 mid-range color...
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This Week in the Copier Industry 15 Years Ago (Second Week of April 2004)
In the last two blogs and in this blog I used some scene pictures. If anyone can tell me what country these are from we'll comp you a one year Premium/VIP membership at no cost. You need to post your answers in the reply section. Enjoy these threads from 15 years ago this week! Color On Demand from bizhub C350 4/9/044:56 PM punching with the addition of PK-501 Punch Kit. Printing and Scanning Capabilities are Standard The standard configuration for the bizhub C 350 includes color and B&W...
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3 Key Ingredients To Bring To The Business Table
If you wish to sit with executive leaders at the decision-making table, you need to learn, consume and mirror their characteristics. Now granted, not all sales require C-level or executive access. However; engaging at this level is critical if your goals are to build strategic client relationships, be perceived as a trusted professional and to differentiate yourself from the competition. Do you have what it takes to gain a seat at the table? EARN THE RIGHT TO SIT AT THE TABLE Business...
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This Week in the Copier Industry 10 Years Ago, The Last Week in December 2008
WooHoo, I'm on vacation this week, well at least from my day job! Enjoy the threads from ten years ago this week! Weekend Copier Notes from 12/28/08 Neal · 12/29/087:08 AM , president of Xerox Office Group (XOG), Xerox products now account for only 55% of the MFPs that Global locations are selling . (now that Xerox is experiencing slower sales in the U .S., will it continue to allow other brands to be sold in its Global subsidiary?) In an article in The Wall Street Journal, Bill Jordan,...
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Selling Copiers in the Eighties with Roland Tolan
Roland and I found each other about 6 weeks ago on Linkedin. Seems Roland and I have a similar background with selling copiers. We both started in the eighties. While I was on the East Coast and Roland was on the West Coast. We've never met but hoping our paths will cross soon! How did you find your way into the copier industry? In 1985, I was 23 years old. l was ready to join the sheriffs department in Los Angeles CA., my mom begged me not to do it. A friend of mine was a salesman at small...
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This Week in the Copier Industry 5 Years Ago (Second Week of February 2015)
It's Friday night and late. Tuesday evening I traveled to Atlantic City for our annual showing of wide format copiers and white boards. Our event started Wednesday in the AM and lasted until 1PM today. I'm getting too old to put in 10 hour days on the show floor (lol). I love doing them because of the interaction with potential clients and you never know who you're going to meet. We brought the BIG 65 inch white board and it was the sizzle that we needed to catch all of those prospects. All...
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What Do You Do When You Need Competitive Copier Specs?
Years ago and I'm talking before the dawn of the internet. There were only a few ways you could get information on other manufacturers copiers. BI (before internet) 1) Call your competitor and ask to speak to a sales person and fib about who you are, your company, and give a BS call back number. We did this many times in order to get answers to those speed, feed and feature questions. In many cases we got snagged and had to hang up. 2) Another way was to get your significant other to do your...
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Stop Thinking About Saving-Focus On Creating
It's Not About Returning To A New Normal It's About Creating The New Normal Getting back to a new normal is not a plan! For the normal is not defined, it will instead be created. Entrepreneurial sprit will bring life to new beginnings, and it will be entrepreneurial sprit, which will defeat those things which the circumstances of the virus deemed less warranted. The year 2020 will consume the pages of digital history books. The closing of the globe was by far the most impactful thing anyone...
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This Week in the Copier Industry 5 Years Ago (Last Week of February 2015)
There's a cool thread I did years ago about the history of the fax. We sold tons of faxes in the eighties and had a lot of fun doing it. It was not uncommon to sell multiple units along with boxes and boxes of thermal paper. There's also a cool thread about some fun that we had with selling fax machines. Enjoy these threads from ten years ago this week! Konica Minolta Rewarded for Sustainable Investment Standards With Globally Renowned Distinctions Art Post · 2/24/1510:41 PM improve our...
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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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Simple Managed Print Service Quoting Tool
I'll be the first one to admit that I'm no expert when it comes to Managed Print Services. Over time I've struggled with trying to sell it because I did not have a tool that would make it a simple process. The wait is over, that simple process is now a reality with Simple MPS Program from Harry Dearing and H4software.net We have a webinar scheduled for for April 9th at 1PM EDT, you can go here to register and get log in details Simple MPS Webinar . Here's some additional information that...
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This Week in the Copier Industry 5 Years Ago for the Third Week of May 2015
Saturday morning here in Jersey. Looks like it's going to be a nice day while the we are still in lock down. I'm seeing more cars than every on the highway leading to Sandy Hook, thus the order of stay home is not being heeded by the regular people of NJ. Which is a good thing because people need to be living their lives as they want and not by what the government mandates. Enjoy our marvelous threads from five years ago this week! This Week in the Copier/Office Equipment Industry 10 Years...
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Re: 5 Reasons Why I hate My Comp Plan!!
It helps if salesperson is at quota. May have compassionate ear . Best of luck. May be a good idea to consider working on a contract basis , need to have the business and confidence and resources to do so. Don't plan on many incentives other than making your own fortune... Best wishes...
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Re: Selling Copiers "Reading Between the Lines"
In the scenario your VP asked you about, I would let them know our typically delivery/install process and the associated timelines and would ask if they would like me to email them the necessary paperwork or schedule a time to review it together. If the contact says yes, we're likely moving forward in the process. If he says no, it makes it easy for me to find out why he is asking & gives me a platform for uncovering and addressing his objections. I would withhold any mention of...
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If An Old School Copier Rep Can Build His Brand, So Can You!
"A brand is no longer what we tell the customer it is - it is what customers tell each other it is" Scott Cook Should copier sales reps leverage the power of branding to differentiate themselves to rise above the noise? My answer, an absolute yes! Branding is powerful. When you think of brands, most turn to large brands such as Google, Amazon, Starbucks and McDonalds, just to name a few. Why is establishing a world-class business brand invaluable? Besides the distinct value it brings,...
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Has your sales team swallowed the "Jagged" Little Digital Pill?
Alanis Morissette, Jagged Little Pill was released on June 13, 1995. It is one of the most successful albums of the 1990s. It peaked at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 , and was the first album to reach both 12 million (in...
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Why We Love B2B (And You Should, Too!)
Social selling and marketing gurus are firing loaded machine guns directed right at sales departments. 1.47 billion --The amount of active users that are on social media right now! (reported by emarketer ( eMarketer ) 2 out of 3 - That’s how many companies do not have a real social media strategy for their sales teams. Haven’t you ever wondered why so many businesses fail every year? ( Sales Management Association ) We’ve all heard this popularly-quoted statistic: that 70%...
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What is a Simple Workflow That Can Benefit Attorneys? "Part V for Print Audit LAW"
About a week ago I reached out to my friends at Print Audit for some advise for a PA6 LAW installation that I was working on. While speaking with Paul Giorgi at Print Audit, I stated that if we can automate paper based billing for copies and prints with software, then that's a workflow right? Thus, with PA6 we would be eliminating the countless hours that are required to capture the pages, and cost the appropriate pages to the correct billing account. In addition, we...
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Ricoh America's Trying to Poach Dealer Account?
First, let me state that what I'm about to post came from a long time P4P member. He emailed me a few minutes ago, in reference to a Ricoh America's Direct sales person that contacted one of his accounts via email and sent pricing via email. Our P4P member is a Ricoh dealer and has had this client for 7 years, in addition the entire MIF is owned by the dealer. "This is our account for the past 7 years and we have all the MIF. This guy knows better and I want his rear end in a...
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Top Secret Tip for Locating a Prospect's Email Address
Copier prospecting without having contact information? How can you locate an unknown email address? I believe the year was 1995. I had taken my first copier sales job working for a Lanier direct location. Sales was a pretty straightforward...
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How I Revolutionized my Sales Results, and you can too!
I absolutely love the personal relationship building aspect of sales. Based on building these personal business relationships, I discovered the secret power behind LinkedIn. It’s the personal connection that makes the difference ...
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Why We Love Building Relationships (And You Should, Too!)
I wrote a post last year, “People buy from People” We can expand on it to include, people buy from people they know like and trust which in turn can help them solve a business problem. I believe at the core of “People buy from...
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It's the 21st Century, Is your Sales Team Stuck in the 1990's?
1988 has some great significance to me. As a raving Los Angeles Dodgers fan, I cringe knowing this was the last year they won the World Series. Kirk Gibson’s infamous homerun trot is a distant memory. More importantly, this was the year I...
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Print Audit 6 & "Eric the Office Worker" Keeping it Green
You just bought or leaseda shiny new Color "Green" Copier akaMFP that can print/scan/copy & fax.. You know the system, your salesperson touted the "Green" features such as default auto off, default power save mode, default duplex copying, the small carbon foot print, scan2email, scan2folder, scan2usb, scan2dropbox, scan2googledrive, scan2sdcardand of course it was the end of the month special deal just for you! So, what good is all of this...
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Take a look at yourself, and then make a change!
“Your premium brand had better be delivering something special, or it’s not going to be in business.” (Warren Buffet) To quote from one of the greatest performers of all-time, Michael Jackson: I'm starting with the man...
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Samsung Copier Million Page Test "A Tree Massacre"
I recently saw caught a google alert in reference to a test that was done on a Samsung Multi-Functional Copier the other day. I thought, wow that's kinda cool, and dismissed it as a link that I didn't need to post on the site. ...
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I Tried LinkedIn As A Copier Rep, It Doesn't Work!
Inside the copier industry, the generational gap conversations run rampant. Let's face it, it is tough inside the copier world. Baby boomer dealer principals aligning growth strategies with Gen Xers who in turn are leading and coaching Millennials. Meshing business philosophies, sales strategies and even marketing strategies; yes it is challenging. The opportunity for copier dealers to expand and grow their business beyond hardware in this hyper-connected, fast paced office environment is...
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Why I Spent 30 Minutes Researching a Headset and What That Means to Copier Sales Reps
All I wanted was a headset for my laptop so why did I mind-screw it for 30 minutes. After pulling my head out of…… well you know where and 30 minutes later I bought a $35 headset. Laughing internally this had me thinking….....
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I tried LinkedIn, it Doesn't Work
Before there was the internet, smartphones and video games; kids who grew up in this era had to find creative and innovative ways to entertain themselves. Let the dating myself begin…… kick the can, stick ball, over-the-line and...
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How Do You Get Most of Your Appointments?
Appointments, we love to have em, and we hate to have to prospect for them. Wouldn't it be grand to wake up every day and have four appointments scheduled for each day of the week that you didn't have to spend the time...
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Why We Dial the Next Number, Write the Next Email, Knock on the Next Door
I thought since this is Christmas week and most of my favorite shows are in re-run that I would dig up a few "Blast from the Past" blogs that are still located on the BlogSpot site. Today I found my self a little out of sorts. I had scheduled five appointments for the day, as the day wore on one appointment forgot that I was scheduled and then another had to reschedule. Dang, I thought......., and these were probably the best appointments out of the five. With only nine...
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Paranoia is Paralyzing
According to the definition in Wikipedia, Paranoia is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or...
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How to Not Prospect for CEO's with Linkedin
I'm on LinkedIn every day, how about you? Some days it's a few minutes and other days I could spend a few hours. For me prospected is not about how many phone calls I make in a day to people who don't want to talk to me,...
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Position Yourself as the Print Assessment Guru
Do you feel that you're the one of the best at selling MFP's & MPS? Do you consult more to the end user and then let the customerpry the orderfrom you? Are you consistently producing print assessment reports for customers that have an ROI? If so, you need to add this weapon to your arsenal. In your territory look up the 10 largest CPA firms. Once you have them, be prepared to make the calls to success! CPA firms rely on selling their services. They have...