Critically Acclaimed Article About Copier Sales - "Your First 30 Days"

"Greg Walters transforms the daunting challenge of entering copier sales into an empowering journey of growth and discovery, making his article an indispensable manual for success in the field." - ChatGPT, 2024

I've been writing for The Imaging Channel since around 2014. Since 2018, I've been writing a series around ideas and reflections to help new copier salespeople.  It's been fun. My latest "New to Copier Sales – 30 of Your First 90 Days"  brings your first month into focus.  

As the world famous critic, GPT, says:

"Greg Walters' "New to Copier Sales – 30 of Your First 90 Days" is a vital read for newcomers in the copier sales field, offering a hands-on guide to mastering the essentials of the trade. 

Through advocating for ridealongs, department explorations, and in-depth research, Walters provides a practical framework for understanding the business, technology, and customer engagement. 

His approach highlights the significance of proactive learning and adaptability, essential for thriving in the dynamic sales landscape. This concise blueprint not only equips novices with the necessary tools for success but also instills a mindset of continuous improvement."

Wow.  Couldn't have said it any better.(LOL!) 

I am truly humbled.  Read it and Sell On!

The Iron Cage of CRM: Are AI Tools Like Salesforce Hindering More Than Helping?

Selling in the Age of AI: A Salesperson's 'Artificial' Friend or Foe?

Greg's Words

Today's CRMs are not designed to help the salesperson sell more, be more efficient, or engaging.  Anyone who tells otherwise is selling something.

CRMs are designed to CONSTRAIN the art of selling by managing behavior to KPIs and best practices.  Today, more than ever, KPI's and best practices are old-fashioned and based on spent business models.  Measuring your ways against the way others in your industry is stifling creativity in a time demanding more innovation and expansion than ever before in history.

"Salesforce said its AI Cloud suite will cost $360,000 a year with an annual contract. Its trust tool will be available to use this month, while other generative AI-embedded tools will be available this year or next year."

CRMs do not help, they hinder.

Executive Points:

1. Despite the promise of efficiency and customization, CRM tools like Salesforce could be constraining the selling process rather than enhancing it.
2. There is a growing concern that these tools serve management oversight more than they aid salespeople in selling more.
3. Data privacy concerns and the potential misuse of AI remain significant issues that businesses need to navigate.

________

How Did You Get Into (#copier) Sales ?

I've said it many times, "Nobody grows up wanting to be a copier salesperson...or in sales.'  Your sons and daughters do not look up from that Tonka truck and say, "Daddy, someday I want to sell trucks."  

Right?

So how did you get into the crazy world of static electricity, fire, and black powder?  More importantly, 

What can you learn and take with you to your next position? 

Five Approaches for Virtual Selling

Virtual Selling is The Queen’s Gambit

...For everything that is common between then and now, here are a few of the most profound differences between 2007 and today: 

Life is more online – The online life is ubiquitous. There is no longer “virtual selling”; it is simply selling. 

Physical cues are no longer viable – It is difficult to get a “read” from your prospect, and projecting confidence and professionalism require more than a suit and tie. 

Less formal – Work from home means kids and pets can interrupt your meeting and that is OK. In a strange way, virtual selling allows us to be more human. 

Ad hoc – You can move from the phone to a video demo or needs assessment in minutes. “Do you have...

Read the rest here. 

Carpet Baggers, #Grifters, and Mr. World - #TheDeathOfTheCopier Industry

"... in this modern age, attention is worship."

It's finally come. #Influencers are nothing but shills. Shills for their masters and useful idiots for LinkedIN. 

It is common knowledge, that most industry awards are given to corporate sponsors with the largest marketing budget or a member of the 'boys club'.  Consulting studies and surveys cost money to perform and panning a client is a risky business.  So you'll find quadrants and favorable reviews align with client lists and sponsorships - it's a great big echo chamber; a circle jerk.

 

Our industry has been death-spiraling since 2009 and had its share of snake oil salesmen, grifters, and film flam men. There is fewer today, but the remaining are experts in falsehoods, chicanery, and hyperbole. And lying. 

The #SalesRevolutionRebellion Is a Farce

The fake "sales revolution" attacks symptoms, not the cause.

"Lannister, Targaryen, Baratheon, Stark, Tyrell. They're all just spokes on a wheel. This one's on top, then that one's on top. And on and on it spins, crushing those on the ground."

Rebels and Revolutions - 

When individuals declare independence from tyranny, they put their lives, and the lives of their families on the line, risking everything for revolution, for future generations' independence.

For freedom.

Today, there's talk of a "Sales Revolution". Insurgents take to the nearest pulpit espousing "changing the way sales is done..." by being open, real, authentic, a trusted advisor, partnering to solve client problems - not a con man.  Noble efforts.

For them, it's not nine to five; it's always too always, elevator pitches, value propositions, and increasing effort 10 fold.

There are literally THOUSANDS of sales coaches and trainers in the world today.

Here are a few of the folks I respect and follow. Some are calling for sales a "revolution".  A few pitch themselves as 'rebels', "Leading the Sales Revolution":

• Copier guy turned trainer, Rick Lambert
• Marketer and builder of websites, Darrell Amy
• H8r of the empty leisure suit, Larry Levin
• That 10x dude,  Grant Cardone
• The Warrior of Copiers, Dale Dupree
• Passionate sales pontificator, Keenan

All are passionate and committed to their specialty contributing great content to the realm.

But -

EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF SELLING ADVICE IS MISSING THE POINT.

I'm not recommending the current sales training and consulting efforts are not valid.  I'm just saying there is so much more that can be done to 'save the industry'.

Of Smoke and Ice -

"Speeds, Feeds, Quota's, Commissions, Solutions. They're all just spokes on a wheel. This one's on top, then that one's on top. And on and on it spins, crushing those on the ground."

The sales revolution is an insidious movement because it is based on truth. Bad sales skills, low motivation, poor relationship building, aggressive attitudes, boring pitches, tedious corporate introductions, and unoriginal talk tracks, are real, yet each a  SYMPTOM of the sickness, not the cause -  - indeed, going to war against "bad selling practices" amounts to self-hate.

We're revolting against the wrong enemy.

The Real Monster -

"Xerox, Canon, Ricoh, HP, Lexmark. They're all just spokes on a wheel. This one's on top, then that one's on top. And on and on it spins, crushing those on the ground."

The idea is simple, the mission tragic - manufacturers' selling models must be taken down, defeated.  While we fight among ourselves over who can save selling, the real archenemy plods forward, assimilating more and more into its ranks.

Break The Wheel

WE DON'T NEED A SALES TRAINING REVOLUTION, WE NEED A REVOLUTION AGAINST THE ESTABLISHMENT.

It's the OEMs who push equipment quotas down the channel, and not just copier OEMs - every manufacturer has the same, Materials Resource Planning (MRP) based systems.

The model utilizes the following:

• MRP based quotas
• "Fear Uncertainty and Doubt"
• Purposely confusing and ever-shifting, commission plans
• "Kill it and Grill it" mentality
• Adversarial Selling construct 
• "Where there is a mystery, there is margin"
• "67% of salespeople do not reach quota"
• Features and benefits of training
• Solution Selling
• Sales Techniques...

A real Revolution(with a capital R) doesn't attack the symptoms, it takes on the creators of the Wheel. The hierarchies are organically crumbling, digitally transforming - gravity is drawing the towers down, but they fight.

As long as we continue to harp on old-fashioned ideas, as long as we concentrate on "new", non-standard training topics, we keep the chaos going - and that's just fine with the zombie kings. The dusted-off,  selling retreads are like 'opiates for the masses' keeping the "little people" hypnotized in their insecurities.

Do you want to lead a true revolution?  Then revolt against:

• Stodgy commission structures
• Outdated quota schemes
• Product-based, solution selling
• OEM dogma

Are you a self-proclaimed leader of the revolution?  Then:

• Produce videos telling the establishment to stop pushing old-fashioned ideas and programs.
• Write articles outlining the challenges of terrible infrastructure and processes.
• Establish standard, salary influencing, and sales training certifications.

Embark on the battle between independent selling professionals and corporate structures - it is time.

Unfortunately,  this two-dimensional skirmish is nothing compared to what's coming.  The next titan of turbulence holds enough power to wash away 50% of the sales universe.