Network Installations.

In my opinion either perfect your skills in sales or IT not both. Not to be mean but it sounds like you lack a quality IT department.

I will be the first to admit that I am not your traditional copier salesman (Don't really want to be either). I spent 12 years as a technician wrenching on machines before switching over to sales 6 years ago. I am a hands on person. That is what works for me. It is a selling point and a reason why people buy from me. The buck stops with me so to speak. I don't like to rely on other people to implament the selling features I have highlighted for the customer. I also know the job will be done right and my customers will always be treated the way I expect them to be treated.

This is not a slight on my IT department. If there is something I can't figure out on my own I have a very good IT dept. to back me up.

I think it goes to how well you know the equipment you are selling, what it can do and how it works.

This approach may not be for everyone but it has worked very well for me.

I have to disagree with Larry. What is wrong with perfecting your sales AND your IT ability? I would contend that in today's selling environment, anything short will impede your chances for success. Anyone that does their own installs can attest to the volumes of information you can learn about the account in the process. Oftentimes, installs lead to your only chance to have direct exposure to your customer's IT personel and there is no substitute for that. Also, your IT people may know how to set up scan-to-email for instance, but they won't know why...not the specific whys that you and your customer discussed. Then what if there needs to be minor changes a week or two after the fact? Will your company send out IT at no cost? Mine won't so it sure is handy to have the option of doing it myself.
I don't see a downside...if I think it will be timeconsuming, I always have the option of sending IT but it is an option if I know how to do it myself.

I guess it depends on the size of the deal and the size of your company. In a major account installation I can not see a sales person installing a major installation without the help of the dealers IT department. One machine transactions in low volume environments something different. So I would say it depends on your market, the account and dealer philosophy. I bet the larger the dealer you will not find sales people installing devices on companies networks. What do other people think?

I've been in dealerships where, as the rep, I had to do the installations and became very proficient at doing so. Being able to do it certainly doesn't hurt, however, to do so on a regular basis isn't my job. I will assist but not be the end all be all. That takes away from my demonstrating just what value my company as a whole brings to the customer. I know as a rep I like to think that I am the one and only reason for the customer going with me, but I have found over the years that I am much better off by selling the value that my company as a team brings to the table. Don't allow the pride of being "the man" keep you from using the resources a good company can bring to the table.

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I am sure my boss would prefer me to be selling rather than doing my own installs. It has been a source of debate for us for a couple of years.

From experience I can tell you how that debate will end.

For a point of reference, are you ***consistently*** leading the dealership in sales? Your answer is the answer.

It is tempting to refuese to develop as a member of a team, but until you get past that, you're capped at the "one-man band" level of achievement. Many folks can't ever get past it, and they will work like dogs to stay above water, which is admirable I guess.

They definitely get to paint themselves as "Martyr" with their clients and boss, but that doesn't pay anyone's bills.

No martyr here. I do it the way I do it because that is how I like to do it. I enjoy the challenge. We are a mid size dealer with about 25 employees. Perhaps it would be different if I were with a large dealer in a larger market. I have been successful doing what I do.

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For a point of reference, are you ***consistently*** leading the dealership in sales? Your answer is the answer.

Well then that is the answer!

You say..."I have become very proficient at doing my own networking for the clients. So much so that I refuse to use our own IT department to do it for me. I prefer to be hands on. I view it as a value add for the client and part of building the relationship. Also its a big help when a customer calls me with a question because I know exactly how their printing and scanning is set up and I can either walk them thru it by memory or I can use webex to web in and fix it myself."


Why not have a WELL TRAINED and CERTIFIED IT team member go with every connected machine at installation, install it and head-off or fix any problems at the very beginning? By the way our sales team are industry certified, too. See details at www.thermocopy.com

This is good dialog. I think all points are well taken. However, sales people should concentrate on selling and IT should concentrate on connectivity. Think of it this way, say you have problems with your back but you go to your dentist friend because he has has some training in chiropractic care. He is a value add as someone has said but he is not an expert.

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Originally posted by CashGap:

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For a point of reference, are you ***consistently*** leading the dealership in sales? Your answer is the answer.

Well then that is the answer!

There are only 2 sales reps in my company and we both handle our installations the same way. Perhaps this works for us because we have been in this game since before we had an IT department. Back then we had to do it ourselves because there was no other way. We brought on IT help about 3 years ago to take the load off of the two of us and our service manager as we were the main points of contact for IT issues back then.

I consider myself well trained on connecting our equipment. Most IT people I have encountered have no clue what our equipment can do or how to get the most out of it for the client. Since Less Artinger passed away I haven't even met anyone from Ricoh who has a real handle on this stuff.

I did not mean for this to become a debate over how we do things. Like I said we have been very successful doing things the way we do. I was just curious if anyone else does it this way.

I have a blended role in my organization and handle sales much in the same way fisher and old glory describe. As I am working mostly enterprise deals today, I find my technical background with customers' environments has increased my aptitude and confidence when working with large, centralized IT departments. I know I would not feel "at home" in these discussions had I not gotten my hands dirty early in my career.
Neal brings up the most important point to the discussion - don't leave out the resources in your organization that help you get to where you are today (or where you are going). You maybe the 'man' in the deal with the biggest and closest throat to choke, but your organization and support is only as good as the sum of all the parts.

It seems to me that the problem fisher is facing is that he doesn't have a "connectivity" person, he has an "IT" person.

Years (and years) ago, my company had the same problem. They tried to do connected installs with an IT (Network Administrator) person. They tried and they failed.

We only met with success when we put a person in place whose job was to do the connected installs.

I think the solution for you is to impress upon your dealership the importance of having such a person for long term growth.

Or, just keep doing it the way you are doing it and be happy with the level of sales you have today.

Perhaps I am being mis-understood here. I am not "facing a problem" as jason says here. This is the way I like it.....in fact I don't see how you can even sell these products if you are not capable of at least setting up scanning in a server environment and setting up printing in a server environment on your own. To me that is as important of a part of product knowlege as knowing the speeds and feeds of the device.

It really depends on your market area and the segment of product you focus on. In a small environment or workgroup I see some value in this. In a large enterprise wide rollout or major account installation it would be different. I do not think you are neing misunderstood you just have people expressing their opinions.

In my experience when I have a larger account they have their own IT department on staff or they already have an IT vendor. In that case I work hand in hand with who they already have to implament the solution. This is an opportunity to network and gain potential new business because if you build a relationship with the IT guy and show him that you know what you are doing and that you can work WITH them, they will no doubt be sending you future business.

Just playing Devil's advocate...

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Originally posted by fisher:
I don't see how you can even sell these products if you are not capable of at least setting up scanning in a server environment and setting up printing in a server environment on your own.

In a Mac environment? Unix? Linux? WINS? Citrix? What about the software available with the machine? Should the rep also be able to integrate Digidocflow into a Banner Extender system in 9 different departments of a university? How do you address the inherent limitations of SQL UTF-32 integration with XML imports?

While I applaud your knowledge of the machine and wish every rep was able to discuss the capabilities of the machine in the advanced way you obviously can, I still see it as a limiting factor.

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I don't see how you can even sell these products if you are not capable of at least setting up scanning in a server environment and setting up printing in a server environment on your own.

The best reps (as measured by results) have no idea how to do those things.

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The best reps (as measured by results) have no idea how to do those things.

There are too many variables for anyone to say things such as this. Our best reps do know how to do this but I agree that they don't do it when selling to a Fortune 500 or a large University. However, I still contend that they are more capable of selling solutions because of the knowledge they have about how our equipment relates to a network and that knowledge came from doing...not from sitting in a sales class.

I would question whether your "Best Reps" are the best because of new customers they land or is it more due to the accounts they inherited that have been with your company for years. You can get by with a lot less knowledge if all you are doing is rolling new equipment where the old used to be.

It all depends on weather you are with a dealer or a branch and what market you are in. I am with a dealer in a relatively small market. The majority of our accounts are fewer than 5 devices on networks with fewer than 25 computers. Most are running 2003 server. Our clients are the doctor, the lawer, the accountant and the realtor. As I mentioned earlier those enterprise accounts are going to have their own IT department or vendor and they are not going to let me or you or your IT department to touch their network. I'm also finding more and more that the client's IT is involved with picking the device and the salesperson had better be able to be articulate on the IT level if you hope to have a chance of winning the business.

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Originally posted by fisher:
they are not going to let me or you or your IT department to touch their network.

Good in theory, but working for a dealer who does deal with enterprise accounts, not true.

Our Connectivity team is working on the network of University and Hospital accounts on a regular basis. Recently, we worked with a University and demonstrated how their IT staff has misconfigured an entire print server resulting in slower prints. We configured it correctly and were able to save the University the cost of an entire new server they were about to buy because the old one ran too slow.

The examples I gave above demonstrating the complexity connectivity can reach weren't made up, they were examples of what we've encountered.