The assessment is a foundational piece of the sales process and all dealers, resellers, manufacturers have a method, even if it is ad-hoc. I am not suggesting you substitute my outline below for your dealer’s approach; I’m simply relaying some of the steps I’ve seen performed by successful selling professionals around the globe.
Needs assessment versus sales assessment
There are two broad types of assessments: An assessment determining solution requirements and an assessment geared to reveal the likelihood of a sale.
For as long as I can remember, I've played this video on 9/11. Super Bowl 2002, months after the attack, our country was numb and jumpy.
Well before self-loathing Americans started calling our movements in the middle-east "invasion" and "occupation", patriotism was on every street corner.
I remember that night; I remember seeing it live. I can't tell you the football teams playing, but I can say it was one of the deepest, moving TV moments, ever.
U2 - that Irish rock band, stood on the world stage, honoring the greatest country on earth and her fallen citizens. Names float to the sky, as the rousing "Where the Streets Have No Name" beats on. The song, second of the half-time set, was written about a place without class stigma, where the distinction between religions and income is no more; a World Without Sin?
Bono ends the tune exposing the Stars and Stripes - Triumph.
Here we are, 15 years later - The Twin Towers, replaced by that defiant Freedom Tower, slip deeper into the fog with each passing 911. The threat remains the same, if not more pronounced.
Do you honestly feel safer now than you did that faithful day of empty skies, September 12, 2001?
Day of cogitation: What have we learned?
On this day of reflection, consider not only the ones who've helped you see who you are, but remember the hearts you've "imprinted"; son's, daughters, mothers, fathers, friends, lovers and ex-lovers, customers and co-workers.
Be gratified knowing you've changed somebody's life for the better - we all have.
Take time to remember those on the 98th floor, at 8:47 AM, sipping a Starbucks, considering a sales forecast or the regret of not saying "I love you, I always will..." on that morning, 14 years ago.
"I want to run
I want to hide
I want to tear down the walls
That hold me inside
I wanna reach out
And touch the flame
Where the streets have no name..."
I recommend going to YouTube and watch, the stupid #NFL won't let it be viewed anywhere else. What a world we have become.
"The convergence of human and machine, the biological and mechanical, is the result of a confluence of innovation, technology, and social flows destined from the beginning. This motion is unstoppable. Unstoppable. In addition to the high-thinking, man/machine convergence, we’re starting to see the impact of all things converging.
Consider the way connectivity, manufacturing, software development, business, society, and, yes, even managed print have converged into a borderless, almost transparent solution."
I postulated this idea back in 2013 over at the Imaging Channel,
Today, I'm promoting the idea of "The Converged Professional. (CP)
In what can only be described as the greatest personal appearance in the history of mankind, the folks who bring you #ArcDrive will be attending the Grand Slam event in New York city. That’s right, live and in person.
See the latest #ArcDrive devices. Wonder at the marvel that is #ArcDrive - RTS. Be amazed and stupefied as our crack team of workflow experts demonstrate how #ArcDrive - SCN and #ArcDrive - SX solve real-world problems for you and your SMB clients. Revel in the simple sophistication that is the #ArcDrive managed print services platform.
Talk with the creator of #ArcDrive as he shares his vision of the industry, OEMs, software conglomerates, the death of the copier, the rise of managed services and why ‘edge’ and ‘fog’ computing and the IoT is the future.
Caution: You will not find ‘booth-babes’, raffles, pens, beer-coozies, #ArcDrive frisbees, stress balls or swag of any type - I doubt we’ll even dole out ‘slicks’. Just relevant conversations and low-pressure, attraction-selling.
I remember one of the first MPS training sessions I sat in on, back in 2007. It was conducted by Steven Power. He admitted to taking his “how to sell copiers” material and molding the curriculum into “how to sell MPS.” Truthfully— and to his credit — the class could have been applied to ANY industry and type of B2B sales.
Which is why I paid attention and remember it to this day.
Since then, I’ve been a party to hundreds of different sales classes, seminars, and symposiums.
Something has been on my mind for a week or so regarding sales. (go figure)
The Free Trial.
Do you send a fully configured copier to a prospect as a trial? The practice was common back in the day and carried a close rate in the high nineties. I don't hear about trials all that much anymore - I mean, who hasn't seen how a copier works?
The other day, we had a request for a 'trial version' of #ArcDrive.
We won't do trials, we don't do trials. Why would you ask for one when the investment is less than 0.001 percent of your total revenue - why are you hesitating?
There are probably a few terms you hear thrown around these days in the copier industry: “Transformation,” “digitization” and “disruption” are common ones. Another one you’re probably starting to hear a lot more of is “convergence.”
Convergence has a few definitions, but the one most applicable to our industry is “the merging of distinct technologies, industries, or devices into a unified whole.”
August 1, 2019
Contact Greg Walters
262-370-4193 or greg@grwalters.com
Greg Walters, Inc. announces ArcDrive – RTS
Easily manage stand-alone output devices and support paper to digital workflows in a remote office/retail locations.
Oconomowoc, Wi. – Adding to the ArcDrive armada, Greg Walters, Inc. announces ArcDrive – RTS.
ArcDrive – RTS is a small device that connects, non-networked devices that support remote indexing and scanning.
Many organizations have remote offices or retail locations that may not be connected to a wide area network. Managing output devices and converting local documents into indexed, digital files from these locations can be costly and hardware intense.
The ArcDrive - RTS payload carries three components:
1. ArcDrive Browser Based Indexing (BBI) allows indexing with barcodes prior to scanning
2. ArcDrive On Demand Sync Folder (ODSF)
3. ArcDrive Data Collection Agent (DCA)
“ArcDrive - RTS brings innovation to the imaging channel by making it easier to monitor remote, stand-alone locations,” said Greg Walters, “ArcDrive - RTS is a front end for document capture and indexing. This is a great solution for remote office or retail locations.”
The ArcDrive models:
ArcDrive
Precision designed appliance supporting advance capture, and managed print services.
ArcDrive – SX
Precision designed appliance with advance capture, on-prem or cloud repository intelligent document workflow, and managed print services.
ArcDrive - RTS
Manage satellite offices, printers, and provide remote capture and indexing.
ArcDrive is easy to use, affordable and establishes providers as an integral part of their customers' business process.
Visit TheArcDrive.com or reach out directly at greg@grwalters.com.
I just attended the MPSA webinar, "MPS What Went Wrong?"
Gleaned Tidbits:
1. Comp plans helped kill MpS. It is more difficult to sell MpS when working within a copier-based comp plan. Why don't reps receive residuals on MpS contracts? If you say, "they'll stop selling..." you've got a hiring problem as well as an ineffective compensation plan.
2. Although there is a global decline in output, the panelists, are not seeing a big decrease in the SMB. Actually, some SMBs increase output with new MpS engagements.
3. Not much has changed since 2011. This is my personal observation. Although the panel consisted of some of the brightest minds in MpS, the subject matter was a product of some sort of time loop. We could have and may have, hosted an identical webinar back in 2012. What does this mean? It could reflect new players in the MpS realm or it could mean that few folks jumped on the MpS train back in 2009, or MpS is still elusive.
#ArcDrive has been alive for a month, launching June 6, 2019.
We planned on measuring interest after the first 30 days to gauge moving forward or if nobody responded, scraping the idea completely.
We did not expect to sell any units in the first 30 days for two reasons:
We didn't know if the concept of #ArcDrive would resonate
We did not have logo-plates designed or manufactured(no, really. We didn't want any #ArcDrives to go out without proper logo's)
The good news is, interest is going through the roof. But as you all know, 'interest' doesn't pay the internet bill, does it?
Some interesting process innovations, realizations, and milestones in the first 30 days of existence:
We've sold units.
Team ArcDrive is solidified and growing.
Thirty days ago, our innovation path included adding to the #ArcDrive payload in Q1, 2020. Instead, we're adding to the solution stack in Q4, 2019.
Interested dealers are nudging us into "up-scoping" #ArcDrive - so we've added an entire EDM module while maintaining affordability.
We've come to realize that our offering is a new category in the internet of things realm in both the 'fog' and 'edge' computing layer. (Google it)
Validation of #ArcDrive's supporting belief that "the big are getting bigger, pricing the independent dealers out of SMB advance capture/EDM solutions.' (Ricoh/DocuWare)
Validation that dealers and their sales team are comfortable talking about business solutions that reside on the physical plane, not the ethereal.
#ImagingChannel, wanna talk about sales training? I know you do...
#ArcDrive sales training is not about the product, our sales training is about solving business problems. Yes, I know that's what you tell the new copier salespeople but you still expect 2-15 units sales a month.
I know you've heard about solution selling for years; your OEM wants you to sell his equipment so he trains you about his embedded apps and calls it a 'solution' - but the great, big machine with tiny app's is not a solution, it is a boat anchor.
When the big document management companies train your sales team, is it a product show? - "this is how you index a document...this is how a workflow is designed...see how easy it is for us to read a hot folder..." or a "how to solve business problems" show?
Don't get me started on Managed print Services sales training - the mission and vision were lost back in 2010. ( https://lnkd.in/gaByXsG )
Because #ArcDrive converges multiple disciplines, our sales training process is not about "keystrokes" it is about selling answers to real business problems.
Owners, do you understand? Do you have the eyes to see the #ArcDrive difference?
I've been kicking around ideas for a response to the Ricoh/DocuWare situation which is similar to the DEX/Staples maneuver, which is like the PrintFleet/FMAudit/PrintAudit/ECi thing, which smells like the Kyocera/DataBank(OnBase) that reminds me of the Ricoh/Ikon and HP/Samsung spectacles.
Lot's of copiers dying out there.
I know dealers that sell DocuWare, but are HUGE KM providers. Huh, how's it feel knowing your DocuWare clients woke up one morning as Ricoh customers? Yeah, hurry up and become a Ricoh reseller. Really?
Is your prospect an OnBase candidate? No problem, just forward the company name, and contact information over to your OEM, they'll qualify, design a solution, present, close and send your pittance. Congratulations, you are now a sales force for your OEM. Resistance is futile.
Do you like your DCA? How are those Windows updates working for you? And didn't somebody, somewhere say, "nothing will change". How's that rate increase feel? No biggie, just switch to one of the other DCA's. Oh...yeah...nevermind.
