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Thursday, June 16, 2011

Toner Crime from Down Under: "40 years Worth of Toner purchased" - MpS, OMG, LOL!!!

In the, "Gee, MPS is a really good fit for Public Sector" file, a story of back room shenanigans, intrigue, gift giving and 40 years worth of toner from our friends in Australia and a place called Arts Victoria.

Well, it ain't toner bombs from the Middle East, its a bit more fun.

Odd as it may seem, a number of Purchasers in Australia have been caught, allegedly, paying 4 times the going rate for toner cartridges and receiving 'gift cards' in return.(No way!)

Cut right out of the report from the Victorian Ombudsmen:

"Ricoh CL7000 printer

In June 2003, Arts Victoria purchased a Ricoh CL7000, black/white and colour printer. The purchase of this printer included a service contract with Ricoh
Australia (Ricoh).

OfficeMax, the approved supplier under the State Purchase Contract, do not supply toner cartridges for a Ricoh CL7000 printer. OfficeMax advises purchasing officers to purchase toner cartridges for this printer from Ricoh.

The Ricoh service contract included:

• regular servicing
black toner cartridges free of charge
• colour toner cartridges at a set price of $342 each. In January 2004,

Ricoh reduced the price of colour cartridges for this printer to $263 each.

My officers received advice from Ricoh that the price of $263 per unit for colour toner cartridges for a Ricoh CL7000 printer was available to Arts Victoria and remained until May 2010."

I know what you're thinking, "wait...Ricoh is supplying black toner cartridges for free?"

More tomfoolery, no doubt.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

DOTC to Review books about Managed Print Services. Starting with Tab...

A collection of my fav's...and some not so fav...

Quote from a World Famous IKON Rep:

"I don't read, books..."

She said this out loud, during a Monday morning sales meeting.  I ain't kidding.

She was a very successful copier rep.

Over on LinkedIn, there is a nice little conversation going on around books. Books that exist, and books that do not exist - books about selling MpS. In my not so humble opinion, books aren't the answer.

On my desk, up there in the pic, are a few of the books I have read and collected over the years.  I had many, many more, but I lost them it what I loving call "the flood".

Let me first say this - there are more Poser authors, cloaked in mysterious garb, than one can point a stick at.  Most honestly believe what they are saying. Some even believe they are the first to utter such brilliance.

I find value in most, but in some, very little.

So here it is - DOTC will review "MPS: Managed Print Services" by Tad Edwards. Then we will look at "Designing a Document Strategy" by Kevin Craine and "Power Selling" written by Steven Power.

Honest reflections as seen from the trenches, from the Selling Professional, and from the MpS Practice Manager.

Hang on to your hats...

Monday, June 13, 2011

MpS & Selling: Are You a Hunter or A Farmer? Lions Prefer Farmers...



In the beginning you thought there was only one. But there were two.

At first, you thought you were smarter than both. But you were wrong.

They were simple animals, no scheme, no plans. Again, you were wrong.

Then you called down "The Devil" - he helped get one.  But was consumed by the other.

Tonight, the blood soaked field is afire.

Tonight, you're alone. Tonight, you're "going to sort it out."

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Solutions Sales: The FireBox 500..."Do You Want it In Red or Blue?"

"I do not have time to be probed..." If I had a dime for every time some hottie told me that, I would have a dime...

Matt Jones, MpS'r and partaker of the DOTC way, posted this little ditty over on LinkedIn - he made it.

Check his stuff out.

One of the greatest sales managers I have ever known, from IKON no less, once told me, "...sometimes we simply over complicate all this...we're selling copiers here, not the SpaceShuttle..."

Sometimes, you gotta just quote the box.






Click to email me. 

Monday, June 6, 2011

D- Day...Does Anyone Remember?

June 6.

If not for this, who would we be selling MpS/MOS to?

If not for Them, who would we be?

You think we're an Empire?

The only foreign land we conquer and keep is the land we use to bury our dead.

This makes Us unique in history.

We are Rugged. We are Individuals.

We Are Exceptional.

Remember...




Sunday, June 5, 2011

Another Consultant in The Making: Edward McLaughlin To Step Down As President Of Sharp Electronics Corporation

Sharp Electronics Corporation (SEC) Chairman and CEO Kozo Takahashi and Edward McLaughlin today said that they have reached an agreement concerning Mr. McLaughlin’s decision to step down as President of Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America (SIICA) and as a Director of SEC. Mr. McLaughlin will assist in the search for his successor, which is now underway.

Once SIICA’s new President has been appointed, Mr. McLaughlin will remain with SEC where he will serve as a senior advisor to SEC and to SIICA. This advisory role will include, among other projects, working to ensure a seamless transition to SIICA’s new leadership.

Mr. McLaughlin also expects to begin to pursue new business opportunities as an independent consultant to companies in the field of office automation, focusing on designing, developing and managing projects that would employ his deep expertise and more than 35 years of industry experience. He and Sharp have agreed that, during this period, he will not enter into consulting or other engagements that would conflict with Sharp’s business objectives.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

CISCO and Xerox, Sitting in a Cloud, K. I. S. S. I. N. G. - And YOU are Comfortable in Stage 1 and 2?

On May 9, 2011, Xerox and CISCO announced forming a strategic alliance delivering cloud-based IT services, and technology that combine network and print services.

This is more then cloud printing.  This is more then mobile print.  This is about ITO, this is about Borderless Networks.

And its about opening up "new revenue opportunities in managed print " for Cisco partners.

Its about Xerox partners having opportunities to drive network services promoting Cisco Smart Services, supporting their customers' Cisco network solutions.

Do you see?

Can you see the handwriting on the wall or should we dig up an interpreter?

No?  Yeah, that's right, you need stick figures, don't you?

Thursday, June 2, 2011

This Friday is Leap of Faith Friday...

MpS, copier sales, toner sales, leasing, business reviews, sales forecast meetings, reviews, marketing meetings, cold calls, asking her to dance, asking her on a date, for her hand, sending your little one off to first day of kindergarten, giving her away at her wedding - there is a point, it could be a nano-second or a month, when you peer over the Edge, stare into the Darkness and leap.

Leap of Faith

We've all had that feeling. We've all been to an Edge. And we all will be there again.

Sing it, Bruce...




All over the world the rain was pourin'
I was scratchin' where it itched
Oh heartbreak and despair got nothing but boring
So I grabbed you baby like a wild pitch


It takes a leap of faith to get things going
It takes a leap of faith you gotta show some guts
It takes a leap of faith to get things going
In your heart you must trust


Now your legs were heaven your breasts were the altar
Your body was the holy land
You shouted "jump" but my heart faltered
You laughed and said "Baby don't you understand?"


It takes a leap of faith to get things going
It takes a leap of faith you gotta show some guts
It takes a leap of faith to get things going
In your heart you must trust

Windows 8 - Another Example of less Print, More Content - TheDeathOfIcons, TheRiseOfTiles



Probably years off, but do you see the future of the 'click'?

Not only will print clicks fade, mouse clicks, too...

"See your future, be your future..."

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

The MpS Ecosystem Contracts: Who could be next? I See...software and hardware...merging as One.


So he says to me, "Greg, what the hell happened in Orlando? Since then, it seems DOTC has been watered down on the hot babes."

Point Taken. So instead of watering them down, let's break out the oil, pop cycles, and champagne.

And for good measure, throw in a goofy, baggy-crotched pants guy, sporting a wicked, Tourette-like twitch.

Caution - Kitchen counters are slippery when wet.

Perfect.
-----
I am certain the acquisition wave is not completely ashore, just yet - but who is next?

Shall we spread a rumor about White Castle buying Canon?

Can you see Lexmark part of anybody once her patents run out? (didn't know about that one, did you?)

Or should we focus on the fact that Ricoh is going to lay off enough employees to form a separate MDS company?

No. I'm scaling down my vision and looking to the east. East Coast of the U.S. that is...oh, and a bit north. Into Canada...


Machine to Machine(M2M) communication refers to one machine communicating with another. Telemetry in the old days.

We in MpS are familiar with this as it is part and parcel of every remote monitoring software out here. My fleet of machines"report" back to me.  More appropriately, back to a server/machine.

MWA Intelligence is a company on the hardware side. Developing M2M apparatus.

PrintFleet created software that reads the MIB and reports back to a server.

I dunno - maybe somin happens, the way things usually do, and baddah bing, baddah boom - Mike's chocolate is in Brian's peanut butter...

I'm jus sayin, stranger things have happened, capeesh? For-get 'bout it...

Honestly, I have no idea, no evidence, nobody tells me anything.

Click to email me.

Does Your MpS World Reside in Toner & Service?

6/1/2011

This is a three minute advertisement. Unfortunately, Oracle hasn't paid me a dime.

The statistics within are stunning - reflecting a huge scale and compressed timeline like never, ever before. Moore's Law applied to content.

I love the folks who argue "...paper will never go away..." or "...MPS is only about devices, toner remote monitoring and increasing volume..."

Well, sit back, watch this three minute reflection and projection - and listen to all those 'clicks' fade...away...

Content is increasing, not prints...


Prezi on steroids!


Click to email me.

Immortals - "The Gods Chose Well..."



Contact Me

Greg Walters, Incorporated
greg@grwalters.com
262.370.4193