Remote Workers and the Paperless Office - 2014

One Of My Earliest Articles at The Imaging Channel: Paperless Offices, 2014

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The year was 2014 and like some ancient legend, the paperless office debate was at full speed.

Today, as you know, the paperless office is 'still a dream'.

Or is it? 

• Can you tell me that you're selling as many copiers as you did in 2014?
• Can you point out to your customers who have INCREASED their monthly volume? 
• Remember, there was a time when copiers were kicking out 10k images PER WEEK. Any of those in the field today? How about mailrooms, remember them? 

New to Copier Sales – Your Anti-Sales Plan

As autumn creeps across the United States, and the final quarter begins, how should a new copier representative plan for the end of one year and the beginning of another? It’s time to close out and plan for what’s next.

There are plenty of traditional approaches: write a strategy, review it with your manager, track your progress and adjust as needed – old school.

Let me ask you or, better yet, ask your colleagues: how often does that process work?  Not very.

The illusion of control

Everyone has done it. You write it out, and by January 2 it’s forgotten. 

Read the rest, here.

New to Copier Sales: Another Lesson in Basic Selling

In the article "New to Copier Sales: Another Lesson in Basic Selling" by Greg Walters, the author provides insights and advice for new copier sales representatives. With the plethora of tools available today, it can be overwhelming for newcomers to determine the best approach. 

Walters emphasizes that while sales managers may advise traditional methods like phone calls and physical visits, the landscape of selling has evolved.

Executive Summary:

1. Evolving Sales Landscape: New copier sales representatives face a steep learning curve, with a plethora of tools and methods available. While traditional methods like phone calls and physical visits are still recommended, the modern sales landscape requires a more multifaceted approach.
2. Five Essential Sales Tools: Greg Walters highlights five key tools for sales success: the phone, instant messaging, LinkedIn, emails, and face-to-face chats. Among these, the phone remains crucial, especially in the post-pandemic era where a human voice offers a unique connection.
3. Multifaceted Sales Strategy: A successful sales strategy should integrate various methods. Starting with a phone call, building an online presence, and turning cold leads into warm engagements are pivotal. The ultimate goal is to provide a seamless and engaging journey for prospects, ensuring their transition into loyal customers.

Managed Print Services 2007 to 2022: That Was Then, This Is Now

The managed print services (MPS) renaissance of 2022 rolls on, and it got me thinking: What’s the difference between then and now?

Let’s compare, shall we?

2007 – That Was Then

OEMs – Believe it or not, few OEMs had viable MPS practices, departments, or divisions.  If an idea did not perpetuate or drag copier devices with the sale, it was not considered.

Supplies – This sector asserted to have been in managed print services for 20 years, which of course was impossible.  This claim was an indicator of how the industry was going to equate MPS with selling supplies.

Dealers – Resellers were dubious and at times hostile to the concept of managed print services. The first rule of MPS was “reduce the cost of print,” which quickly translated into lower revenue. More importantly, MPS negatively impacted the golden goose – service revenue.  A sales mantra was, “We can reduce the costs associated with your print by 30%.” Who in their right mind would knowingly reduce revenue by 30%?

Read the rest, here.

New to Copier Sales? What Are You, Nuts?

“When I grow up, I want to sell copiers and printers,” said nobody, ever.

"If two years ago you told me I would be selling copiers, I would have slugged you in the head,” said new reps everywhere.

An aunt to her nephew over Thanksgiving dinner: “What do you do for a living now that you’ve graduated, Johnny?”

“I help companies manage and reduce the costs associated with documents!”

“Oh. You sell copiers. That’s nice. Could you pass the potatoes?"

For those of you who have been in the business for more than a couple of years, you may find the above statements apropos, if not a bit painful. I wanted to be an astronaut once, but the closest thing I’ve gotten to Star Trek is my iPad. I do know the seven steps of the xerographic process, however, so I’ve got that going for me.

Regardless, let’s say you’re a fresh-out-of-school, new copier sales representative. Perhaps you’ve taken a sales class in college, worked retail over the summer, or your friends and family tell you, “You’re such a people person, you should be in sales." Congratulations, you are more than qualified.

As a newbie, your target market is going to be what we love to call “down the street” copier sales. Everybody starts here; many stay. Down the street (DTS) selling is just that; your prospects are located up and down the street and, like the Fuller Brush man, you’re expected to prospect to these small businesses — funeral homes, real estate offices, insurance agents, auto dealers and shops, HVAC, construction, electrical subcontractors, trucking companies, churches and the ever popular print-for-pay businesses.

But the best way to approach this segment is not through a precise email campaign, massive research or a cute social media program. The proven method is a combination of door-knocking and over-the-phone cold calling. That’s it. It’s hard work, no doubt, and the first step in the journey to major and strategic accounts management.

Here’s how these DTS accounts behave:

Read the rest, here.

Today's 3D Printers are Like the Apple IIe of 1987

A recent article on America’s dying industries on the website 24/7 Wall St. included industries such as “curtain and linen mills,” “formal wear and costume rental” and “professional employer organizations.” To perhaps no one’s surprise it also included industries including “bookstores and news dealers,” “newspaper publishers,” “other publishers” and, coming in last on the list, “office supplies, except paper, manufacturing.”

Following on to the last item, the site goes on to explain, “Office supplies manufacturing is one of many industries in the United States negatively affected by the increasing digitization of the workplace ... The increasing ability to store documents and other data virtually has rendered fax machines and photocopiers less necessary and reduced demand for office supplies manufacturing. Employment in the industry has fallen by 42.1 percent since 2007, among the most of any sector.”

Tell us something we don’t know.

The search for new revenue streams continues.  Read the rest, here.

Of Blockchain, IoT and Scan-Once-Print-Many

What does "scan once, print many" mean? Anyone? Bueller ... ? Back in the good old days of analog copiers, pagers and dinosaurs, the scanner on copiers needed to take a “picture” for every copy made: When 10 copies were requested, the scanner moved across the original 10 times. You can imagine how this added to the wear and tear of a device and repeated, on-site service.

Once devices became digital, the need to scan for each copy ended. Instead, one picture was taken, digitized and available to print for each image requested.

It was a common demo technique to place an original on the glass, touch 10 copies, and while the batch was being output, raise the ADF. In the analog world, this act would result in copies of open lids and black space. Prospects were known to gasp because the digital photocopier kept churning out copies of the original, even with the lid raised.

Digital devices carried another cool quality;

-- Read the Rest, Here --

The Selling Professional of Today

"What do you want out of life, kid?”

I remember the first time somebody asked me that question. I hesitated, a 20-something kid, trying to figure my answer and this guy’s angle. In the end, I stammered out an incoherent response; he was recruiting for A.L. Williams.

“More money.”

His answer to me was the best, “I’ll tell you what you want out of life in one word: More."

More work, love, sex, money, cars, kids, toys. More time.

More. Makes sense, in a 1980s kind of way, doesn’t it?

Let me ask you this: What do you want out of the imaging niche? More sales, more contracts, device, software, services sales, MPS, or managed services? More clicks?

Or just More?

Unlike the sustainable and always-growing pool of life insurance prospects...

Read the rest, here.

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Three Alternatives to ‘Clicks’

 It’s been almost a year since I’ve written about copiers here at The Imaging Channel. During that time I’ve been in the field, in the IT realm, watching office print disintegrate from the end user side of things. It isn’t 1999 out there; companies are not buying big, 11x17 copiers as they once did and end users are not printing emails or recipes by the thousands anymore. On the good side, end users don’t hate printers or copiers as much. Unfortunately, that’s because end users hardly, if ever, think about print. To them, toner on paper is approaching irrelevancy.

Can anyone deny that this niche is in the midst of historically turbulent times? We’re witness to the transformation of an industry embedded in the fabric of modern living. Every person in the business world recognizes the copier and printer as foundational tools of the trade. Our industry is all over the world, but that world is changing, transforming daily away from the mundane, away from slow processes and away from paper.

We see the results of this movement in the way our OEMs are fracturing: Xerox is splitting, HP has split, and Lexmark is disintegrating. The Big Three of American office automation are shattering into stars.

This turbulence affects the independent channel as well. Merges, acquisitions and the entry of investment groups tell the tale of a smaller, less-populated landscape. Indeed, as the manufacturers fight for their lives, how can the independent reseller manage? Should you jump into the fray, slapping a “For Sale” sign on the front door? Should you shutter the place and simply get out?

I’ve noticed a peculiar thing:

Read the rest, here.




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Eight Characteristics of a Growing Managed Print Services Practice

2015

After five years of managed print services, one would imagine a standard set of MPS rules would rise out of the fog.  And yet there is still debate over what exactly MPS stands for — not the acronym, but the vision and real value of managed print services.

I remember the great device-to-technician-ratio discussion of 2008.

Unleashed Workers and the Paperless Office

It Was a Good Run: Paper and the Pony Express

The debate rages — is there, will there ever be, a paperless office? 

The politically correct response is, “no silly, it's less paper, not paperless.” My answer is the paperless office is already here and those who refuse to admit it are deniers. In the end, we’re all simply debating ourselves, expecting different results; academic insanity.

As I consider the denier position of print volume is increasing or holding steady, I wonder why HP is experiencing so many challenges and why did International Paper shuttered A4 paper-making plants? I can imagine many carriages and buggy whip manufacturers feeling the same way and expressing similar arguments the year automobiles started replacing horse-drawn carriages en masse: 1913.

Note: Buggy whips are actually a humane product used to lead horse-drawn buggies, making snapping noises to encourage them to speed up and not meant to ever touch or harm the horse.

Read more, here.

There was a time, long ago, when men rode horses, coffee was brewed and mail was delivered by hand.

Remembering is romantic and foretelling.

We stand at the precipice of the paperless age. Like the steam engine, postal stamps, cigarettes, and the horse, paper will be regarded with nostalgia and a twinkle in the eye as you tell your grandchildren how you once read email on a sliver of dead trees.

"Be Brave."

The #Apple Watch and Printing: What? No #AirPrint?

The other day I Tweeted, “Is #Apple part of Mopria?

With digital content growing, wouldn't it make sense to print from my Apple Watch?” My point was with all the fanfare and hoopla, printing is never mentioned. Users rarely think about printing and when they do, it’s a pain.

The Apple Watch is the latest example of the shrinking relevancy of the printed document. Granted, the category is consumer based, but the Apple Watch and iOS 8 represent the fading frontier between B2C and B2B . More employees are bringing devices to work because the devices are easier to use and present information in the manner that is pleasing to the consumer. That’s all. If paper were more relevant, we’d all have the daily under our arms and my watch would only tell time.

But that’s not happening, is it?

Consider the lowly photocopier. Once the hub of communication, copiers hummed along churning out everything from memos, file copies of invoices and bound reports. Today, more information is read off a screen in your lap, or palm of your hand than ever before. Tomorrow, your wrist.

Read the rest, here.


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Good Workflow Kills Paper - The Once and Future Managed Print Services

From The Imaging Channel.

Passing notes in class used to result in a disciplinary action. Back then, the most efficient method of conveying information or querying a prospect was to scratch a simple question on a scrap of paper and ask your neighbor pass it along. “Do you like me? Do you want to be my friend? Check yes or no." In the early days of business, like those notes in third grade, sales orders were hand written on paper with a pen.

As time went by, more advanced order-entry processes developed around carbon and carbonless paper and forms. One instance of data entry, writing information down on the order, would create three or four copies, which you’d just peel apart and forward a copy to the appropriate department — original into daily sales, yellow to the warehouse, goldenrod over to accounting as an open order, and the pink gets thrown away. (As an aside, do you remember how challenging it was for some copiers to make a copy of a yellow background, carbonless form? That’s right, we were making copies of copies.)