"Autonomy is the market leader in the provision of software that automates the analysis of unstructured data, whether in the form of text, audio, images or video." - UBS, July 2008
The other day, I sat in on a webinar. The fine folks at Lyra were presenting "Printing supplies market trends MPS" - yeah, I know, who the hell would sit in on one of these?
MpS Geeks, that's who.
Of course, the data presented has been fodder for DOTC for the past year; we will never get back the placement levels of 2008, A3 devices are dying(ahem), any recovery will be linked directly to the surviving dealership's ability to focus on workflow, not the box. We know this, correct?
Then a funny thing came up - OEMs are "rationalizing" their fleet offerings. They are narrowing down the number of models.
Oh boy, I am in the middle of the Anthony Robbins "Ultimate Edge...blah blah blah..." - it's good, really, I mean it and someday I want a place on Fiji right next door. So what better way than to study the dude.
He's humongous, you know.
Perhaps you don't know Anthony Robbins or what he does - in a nutshell, he helps point out the obvious to the oblivious. He sounds sincere, is the consummate selling professional - always closing - and makes an impression. He attracts - I guess that is one reason he has 'handlers' - huh. Well, the material I am visiting is dated and timeless pointing out how so unaware we walk through Life.
The waning days of Summer 2011 entice a review of my journey these last 90, a Quarterly Review of sorts - who says our clients should be the only ones to get QBRs?
This summer has been about breaking through Stage 1 and Stage 2 - wait, that's not 100% - before I could breakthrough, I needed to 'remember' Stage 1 and Stage 2...so yes, now I see S1/S2 completely. Table stakes. Temporary.
"Just over three years ago, when I started writing about copiers, MpS, technology, selling and pole dancing, I was one of three. Back then, if one were to Google “managed print services,” the dozen or so returns would’ve consisted of wedding invitation printers and “full-serve” print advertising providers.
There were few fleet monitoring alternatives and fewer proactive supplies management solutions. Hardly anyone mentioned cost reduction, business process, fleet optimization or phases. And nobody championed reducing costs by reducing prints, copies, or printers and copiers.
This isn’t to say nobody serviced printers or supplied toner. Yes, some were “optimizing” fleets, shifting volume, addressing document workflow and business process or managing hundreds of devices, but we..."
Get the rest of the story at The Imaging Channel blogs, The Imaging of Greg.
“Business Acumen” is a cool way to say, “been there, done that…got three years' financials to prove it” – I admit, it is a big word, does it scare you?
From Merriam-Webster:
Acumen: keenness and depth of perception, discernment, or discrimination especially in practical matters.
Practical Matters.
Lots of salespeople don’t think they have acumen, or that there is some special process that goes with acquiring the skill of discernment. Worse, some employers don’t believe their employees possess keenness – more than a few sales managers feel their salespeople lack depth of perception.
You know I’m right. You’ve seen it, I’ve seen it, we’ve all been there.
What to do?
Stand back, there is something going on here, something new; The New Age of Selling. It has nothing to do with the Mayan calendar although "The New Age" calls upon the collective selling skills of the past 25,000 years.
Woah, heavy.
I know it’s difficult to see, but the current economic “Charlie Foxtrot” will someday be in our rear view mirror. When the recovery does start, for real, the new selling professional will lead the way. I believe that our industry, our sales people, in the trenches, will be examples of success, role models.
The New Way demands more from you, the Selling Professional:
Collaboration – be open to working with everyone, yesterday’s rivals could be today’s partner
Engagement/Intent – work with your clients, partners, peers at a deeper level, with High Intent
Growth – thrive on change, bring change, be the agent for change
The New Way also exists in a new environment, a business context that has never existed:
Information is everywhere – Content and data are universal and will permeate
Power is shifting down – from the OEMs to the cube farms, personal power is increasing
Technology is mundane – your refrigerator will talk with your toaster
“Citizen Mobil” – brick and mortar is dead. Smartphones, tablets, wireless and G4 networks, you, your clients, and clients’ family and kids are processing business everywhere. Think Cold Calls from the beach.
You must correctly present and follow up – to build trust. This may be new, but you still need to handle your shit. The basics – I won’t say ‘blocking and tackling’ – I loathe clichés, but I just did, didn’t I?
The times are different and personal acumen is more relevant, you are much more relevant, and in context.
One more thing: There are No Academic Experts. We're making this up as we go - and because this is all new, dynamic, and changing every 30 days, formal, teaching experts are simply rehashing history - not projecting
The New Selling, not Sales 2.0 or 3.1, let’s call it, Sales X dot XX - “Sales X.Xx"
In view humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi now vacant, vanished.
However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin, vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition.
The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous.
Verily this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that its my very good honour to meet you and you may call me V."
Yeah, I know, the electric paper trick has been around for decades.
Below is the latest:
"I think the greatest breakthrough was that traditional display devices usually require electricity to write, but our technology made it closer to how we would use normal paper," said John Chen, Vice President of the Institute and general director of the Display Technology Center.
The more interesting advancement revolves around micro-robots.
In our little industry, one can live or die on the difference between 3% and 8%.
The white spaces between the toner, Fact and Fiction, Vision and Reality.
Between all those Silo's.
I first saw Peter's presentation online, from the MPS Conference in Barcelona.
My impressions were, "...who the hell is this guy? A shorter version of T. Robbins only from New Zealand?"
I know, its Australia...and everyone is shorter than Anthony Robbins.
I jest!
Peter's conversation was geared toward innovation, technology and miscalculations. He talked about how our beliefs and more importantly, how our successful past, holds us back. He talked about the silo's that keep us separated and how the cracks present the best opportunities.
