9-1-1 Seventeen Years Later

For years DOTC has paid tribute.

Go sell copiers.

Go sell managed IT.

Go sell water coolers, medical devices, or vitamins...sell something.  And remember many of those on the North and South towers were selling as well.

Copiers: Let Go of the Past

Copiers, printers, scanners, fax, print servers, cloud print, duplex, scan-once-print-many, color, analog to digital, laser, inkjet, managed print services, to managed services...our turbulent path has crossed many borders, hills, and valleys.

Lots of things have changed since Chester pulled together his seven steps and yet, much remains the same. The print world moves slowly.  Like a river cutting the Grand Canyon, a real, significant change occurs over decades(which seem like eons).

For the Change Agents, this is the apogee of frustration.  We saw the true meaning of managed print services and the future of print.  The signs were there before the HP split, before the debacle that was Xerox/Fuji.  

We predicted the need to shift from selling from boxes to solutions to business acumen, in 2007. We saw the "P" change to "p" in MpS.  The time was then.

Along the way, a few early adopters burned the ships.  Back then, what we saw as secular most experts called a fad.  I remember presenting the Internet of Things back in 2012.  Interesting and way ahead of the curve.

No longer frustration; we're morose. It is sad to look at the missed opportunities. Volumes are dropping so how can an OEM still release 13 or more new models?

Is it ignorance? No, everybody is printing less and has been for a decade.  It's not a secret.
Is it stupidity? No, back in the day, these folks were THE technology innovators.
Is it the continued propagation of a bygone belief that if you build it, they will buy? Yes.  More succinctly, it is the undying grip on the past, unrelenting fear of change, and stubborn faith that if "we can hang on, we'll flourish".

Although purchasing devices, customers are placing a reduced number - worse, if there is a copier on every floor, nobody is using it.  Volumes are down to around 2,000 images a month.

The consolidation continues, independent dealers coagulate and OEMs dissolve, as the niche works through its annihilation.

Options are getting scarce, but there are painful opportunities: Medical equipment, BI, Energy Management, and more.  We've just got to let go.

Fortunately, we see the end is near.

We can make plans, see friends, write letters and move to the next stage, confident and aware.

Advice for New Copier Sales Reps: What Have You Gotten Yourself Into?

The following content is intended for new copier representatives. But if you’ve been around the copier block a couple of times, participated in demo-ramas and are considered a seasoned selling professional, I implore you to read and comment. Not for my edification - you owe it to the industry to help fix the future and advise the next generation. So let them know what’s up, the good, the bad and the ugly.

So you’re new to selling. Welcome to the greatest show on Earth where all the clichés apply:

"Learning here is like drinking from a fire hydrant.”

“This is baptism by fire.”

“It’s sink or swim.”

“Remain calm, everything will be OK.”

Over the next few months, it will be my honor to regale you with legends of glory and doom; with stories of heroic tragedies and mundane existence; with tales for your enjoyment and possible tutelage.

My story is a simple one. I began selling technology in 1988 and tripped into “copiers” in 1999. I’ve worked with AFLAC, Cintas, Océ, Panasonic, Industrial Videos, IKON and multiple VARs, from Michigan to California to North Carolina to Wisconsin.

Let me be clear - I am NOT A SELLING EXPERT. There was a time when..

Read the rest, here

Ten Things All Great MpS Practices Have

1. MPS Specialists
2. Separate P/L
3. Outside MpS training
4. MpS specific software tools
5. Comp plan that includes:

• Hardware
• Monthly service revenue from:
• A3 & A4
• Managed(IT) Services
• Renewals
• Separate service team

6. Separate help desk
7. MpS vendors(vs. copier)
8. OEM neutral
9. Single Services contract for:

• Copiers & Printers(A3 & A4), Paper

10. IT services

BONUS: All Managed Services Network Assessments embed an MpS study; MpS is part of the Managed Services proposal

#managedprintservices #gregwalters #MPS

DOTC/AOTC: Annihilation of The Copier #copiers #managedprintservices

Death: the passing or destruction of something inanimate

The Death of The Copier isn't about the end of you - like looms and typewriters, - DOTC is a lens into the passing of an industry; growth and expansion, not a terminus.

The industry is NOT dying.  It is being annihilated.

Annihilation: the conversion of matter into energy, especially the mutual conversion of a particle and an antiparticle into electromagnetic radiation.

"...conversion of matter into energy..."

We're living in the organic process of evolution, that's all.

Notice we aren't "moving through an organic process..."  Because we're not moving, more specifically, Xerox, Ricoh, HP, Canon, Konica Minolta, Epson, Kyocera, and everyone else have been standing firm believing the new world will flow around them/Us.

The tide has been coming, the signs blatant for all to see:

• Why didn't Xerox start the move from hardware into services back in 2010? (or 1973)
• Canon has alternatives but hasn't made the move. 
• Ricoh seemed to be on the right path back in 2009 but took a left turn somewhere between here and MpS nirvana, which was the door to the managed services panacea.
• Lady Blue(HP), the most expensive dustpan in history,  will sweep the fragments and splinters, toss them into some 3D printer, spitting out picnic tables.

They all saw it coming, they all knew.  But why believe in the revival of paper?

It is the human tendency toward self-destruction.

Everybody appears to be self-destructive. Some people are very obviously self-destructive because they’re addicted to heroin or alcohol or they act in a psychotic way or whatever, and they offer their self-destruction to you. Other people are very comfortable in their own skin, and they’ve got a fantastic job and a fantastic life and everything seems to be bulletproof. They feel like they’ve sort of cracked something about life.

But then when you get to know them, you discover odd bits of self-destruction, which then become significant bits of self-destruction. It was the universality of it, that even the people who’d cracked it all had not cracked it all. And then I started trying to think – Where does it come from? Why is it that you have a really good marriage and you dismantle it? Why do you have a really good friendship and you dismantle it? Why do you have a really good job and you dismantle it? Whatever it happens to be. 

- Alex Garland

Transformation flows around the pillars of a bygone era. Some abdicate early while others define stopgap tactics as strategies - consolidating on higher ground.

What once was, the dogma of xerography and toner will never again be.  The age of paper is ending - consolidation, turmoil and dwindling sales reflect the shattering of the realm.

Here's the thing - the industry has mass, but no velocity.  Without movement, change will not be internally driven; true evolution will be affected from the outside - like an asteroid hitting the Earth.  The coming wave will dismantle everything, ejecting the bad, and re-configuring the good creating something completely alien. (to us now)

So, do you wait for the force to change you or walk in, confronting the past, present, and future?

Move-in.

• Take in all the generic training you can - stay away from hardware or software specification training. 
• I loath the demo.
• Recognize value propositions, slide decks, 30-day cycles, and Sales Managers as fodder for the future.
• Brand yourself, not your dealership or OEM.

Embrace the Shimmer.

Greg Walters Kicked Out of Sushi Restaurant for Stance on Paper: "No Paper, No Peace!"

"We serve paper users, only."

It was a calm and enjoyable evening as the chant of "no paper, no peace...no paper, no peace..." drifted over the swank dining area.  I knew before my guest that tonight was not going to be typical print/copier discussion over adult beverages.

That uncanny ability to discern the HP hum from the Lexmark rattle - an amusing parlor trick - was a curse "...no paper, no peace...no paper, no peace..." seeping into everyone's dinner conversation.

I knew what was coming.

"Chicken in the Coop!"

Nowadays, getting kicked out of a restaurant is a simple task. A contrarian view or disagreeable word, phrase, color, or micro-thought can trigger expulsion. Everybody is offended.

Print is Dead.

Say what you want about wedding invitations,  corrugated boxes, and meat-labels saving print - if companies are printing like it's 1999,  Xerox wouldn't be fighting for her life and Lexmark would still be an American company.

The chorus, "no paper...no peace..." grew in volume.  Spotting a nervous manager huddled up with her team, I was sure they were not discussing the future of sushi, or saki.

Origami & Haiku -

The gaggle stared at me in unison as the matron of the dining room floated over to my table.

"Hello..." I said.

"Good evening, Mr. Walters, " the standard retort, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you and your guest to leave our establishment. It has come to the attention of me and my staff, that you are a strong proponent of a paperless society. Indeed, you call for a violent end to copiers. This contrarian position is an affront to our collective morals. You must leave now."

I wasn't shocked. I was amused.

Best future use of paper.

"I'm sorry to hear this and hope our presence hasn't disturbed your other guests," I respond.

"My sister is in the paper business, she sells to the big carmakers and advertising companies. So you can understand how I cannot serve somebody with your moral standing. Please go." was the terse reply.

The short walk to the car was jeering, "You call for the death of copiers! NO PAPER, NO PEACE!", screamed a librarian-looking lady.

I expected a barrage of empty waste-toner bottles, instead,

"You can't hide! Wherever you go, we'll be there, with paper, in your face!  Napkins, shipping containers, meat labels, PAPER EVERYWHERE!"

Not a CNN reporter anywhere.

We left, without a Tweet, Snap, InstaGlam or Yelp!

No bother, Sushi can be found just about anywhere; even in Milwaukee.

There’s no paper

In the company future

Trees are digital!

###

Satire.

When a restaurant asks a person to leave because of who they work for, their political proclivity, or business model - isn't it THE SAME as enforcing "whites only" bubblers?

The world is upside down.  False prophets claim to support diversity as long as they define diversity.  They demand open discussions and viewpoints, as long as the viewpoint is theirs.

I've seen this first hand, from California to North Carolina.  Detroit to Oconomowoc.

The Auto Unions feigned defense of the working man, yet betrayed the companies employing members.

The open borders, sanctuary cities of SoCali, pose as immigrant advocates unknowingly promoting human trafficking, the drug trade, and child exploitation.  How many illegal immigrants, mothers, fathers, and children, perished in the desert chasing the hypnotic tone, "Come to America.  Land of opportunity.  Vote Democrat."  Sanctuary Cities equal Terminus.

Meanwhile, erudite, "non-violent" academics, sip wine, listen to Hungarian Christmas music, and scream, "I wish Bush was dead!" I saw it, I was there.

Nice haircut. Can he shave, yet?

Today, we walk among the entitled, frail, offended, sissified,  Generation of Whine.  There is no such thing as mental toughness.  There is no such thing as playing fair; it's a risk.

Everybody has the plan, everybody is an expert - kids with less than 20 trips around the sun are considered 'wise'.  But they are tools; being a victim does not an expert make.

So what is a (copier) salesperson to do in this crazy, mixed-up world?

I don't know how to say this, so I just will...you, the salesperson, the technology provider, we who reach out every day, experience loss, failure, and defeat yet get up each morning without a gripe are this century's greatest hope.

You know mental toughness, don't you?  Mom isn't asking prospects why they "didn't buy".  You're not blaming the NRA for your position in life.

We survived a childhood filled with treehouses, BB guns, riding in the back of pickups, bicycles without helmets, scraped knees, mud, dirt, germs and band-aids.

We stand alone.

The generational tsunami hitting our cultural shores have never been shown the destruction socialism leaves in its wake.  They've never reviewed eugenics and too easily cast their political rivals as "Hitler".  They grew up without conflict or competition. Coddled in mom's bosom past the age of 18 they are still scared of everything from peanuts to full-contact, youth football.

Politically, their mantra is "make everybody equal by making everybody poor".  Except them.

So it is up to you, up to Us.  Soak everything up.  Ask your clients real questions about business.  Do they feel confident in the economy?  How are they planning to grow the business over the next decade?

Distill these stories into your personal wisdom.  Invest more in this type of discussion over speeds and feeds - learn to have a proactive, business conversation around your prospect, not your OEM or dealership.

Tell people how you feel, what you've seen.

And when you finally get kicked out of a fancy restaurant, you'll know you've made it.