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Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Business and Bourbon with Greg - ArcDrive


Join me for the first “Business and Bourbon with Greg” at Vino, Etc. in Oconomowoc, Wi. on January 8th, 2020. Sampling starts at 6:30 and intermixed business conversations until 7:30.

We’ll drink bourbon and casually converse about your business and the application of technology. Specifically, I will introduce my latest project, “ArcDrive for the SMB”. ArcDrive is a computer solution designed to help businesses cross the digital divide.

New to Copier Sales: How to Talk with Prospects


The first year of appointments presents many challenges to the new copier rep, not the least of which is building knowledge and confidence. There are many aspects of sales to remember when meeting prospects for the first time, including building rapport, qualifying, informing, establishing trust and moving to the next step. But beyond all the sales techniques and training, when you’re meeting across a desk, coffee table or board room the best thing you can do is have a conversation. A simple, human to human conversation.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

New to Copier Sales: What is Document Management?



By now you know a copier is more than a copier — and a connected copier is capable of doing so much more.

In the early days, copiers simply copied. Output was the name of the game — that was it! Today our machines capture, ingest and scan almost as much — and in some cases more — than they produce. For you, the new copier rep, this may seem obvious. Document management has represented the future of the industry for over two decades.

Document management is a big subject, and I’ll try to explain it in general terms to help you understand the overall landscape. If your dealer has an application for document management, you will be trained in some manner on how to use and sell that specific solution.

Friday, September 27, 2019

New to Copier Sales: How to Conduct an Assessment



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.

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

911 - 18 Years Later



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.



Monday, September 9, 2019

The Next Level in Selling: "The Converged".


"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)

Who is a CP?

Thursday, September 5, 2019

Team #ArcDrive to be at BTA Grand Slam, New York City as guests of InkCycle.




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.

Be ready to join the #ArcDriveMovement.

Questions?

 Email us at interested@thearcdrive.com

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

New to Copier Sales: Who Do You Read?

 

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.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

#ArcDrive Does Not Do Trials. You Shouldn't Either.


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?

I know why.

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

New to Copier Sales: What is Convergence?


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.”

Impressive.

Friday, August 2, 2019

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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.

Thursday, July 25, 2019

MPSA webinar, "MPS What Went Wrong?"


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.

What is my big take-away????? 

greg@grwalters.com

Contact Me

Greg Walters, Incorporated
greg@grwalters.com
262.370.4193