October 2017

Every now and then I like to include a few tidbits about sales for everyone.  Ask yourself, "what makes you unique and different?" from the other reps in your geo area. 

Success comes home to S. Jersey Copier Dealer!

What is involved in Security Printing

Find out what the related areas are that Security Printing connects with, associates with, correlates with or affects, and which require thought, deliberation, analysis, review and discussion. This unique checklist stands out in a sense that it is not per-se designed to give answers, but to engage the reader and lay out a Security Printing thinking-frame.

How far is your company on its Security Printing journey?

Take this short survey to gauge your organization's progress toward Security Printing leadership. Learn your strongest and weakest areas, and what you can do now to create a strategy that delivers results.

To address the criteria in this checklist for your organization, extensive selected resources are provided for sources of further research and information.

Start the Checklist

Below you will find a quick checklist designed to help you think about which Security Printing related domains to cover and 46 essential critical questions to check off in that domain.

The following domains are covered:

Security Printing, Tamper-evident technology, Optically Variable Ink, Check digit, Security hologram, Identity card, Die cutting, Security Printing, Universal Product Code, Automatic identification and data capture, Fluorescent dyes, Fair Packaging and Labeling Act, Smart label, Track & Trace, Geometric lathe, Tamper resistance, Copy-evident document, Release liner, Magnetic ink character recognition, Void pantograph, Mandatory labelling, Active packaging, Package pilferage:

Security Printing Critical Criteria:

Deliberate Security Printing issues and spearhead techniques for implementing Security Printing controls.

• In a project to restructure Security Printing outcomes, which stakeholders would you involve?
• How do mission and objectives affect the Security Printing processes of our organization?
• What vendors make products that address the Security Printing needs?

Tamper-evident technology Critical Criteria:

Confer over Tamper-evident technology visions and give examples utilizing a core of simple Tamper-evident technology skills.

• How will you know that the Security Printing project has been successful?
• Do Security Printing rules make a reasonable demand on a users capabilities?
• How can skill-level changes improve Security Printing?

Optically Variable Ink Critical Criteria:

Have a round table over Optically Variable Ink planning and overcome Optically Variable Ink skills and management ineffectiveness.

• What are the Key enablers to make this Security Printing move?

Check digit Critical Criteria:

Give examples of Check digit tactics and track iterative Check digit results.

• Do we aggressively reward and promote the people who have the biggest impact on creating excellent Security Printing services/products?
• What knowledge, skills and characteristics mark a good Security Printing project manager?
• What are your most important goals for the strategic Security Printing objectives?

Security hologram Critical Criteria:

Revitalize Security hologram governance and achieve a single Security hologram view and bringing data together.

• How important is Security Printing to the user organizations mission?
• Are accountability and ownership for Security Printing clearly defined?

Identity card Critical Criteria:

Incorporate Identity card adoptions and reduce Identity card costs.

• Think about the people you identified for your Security Printing project and the project responsibilities you would assign to them. what kind of training do you think they would need to perform these responsibilities effectively?
• What is Effective Security Printing?

Die cutting Critical Criteria:

Distinguish Die cutting failures and forecast involvement of future Die cutting projects in development.

• How does the organization define, manage, and improve its Security Printing processes?
• What are the business goals Security Printing is aiming to achieve?
• Who sets the Security Printing standards?

Security Printing Critical Criteria:

Accommodate Security Printing quality and budget for Security Printing challenges.

• Consider your own Security Printing project. what types of organizational problems do you think might be causing or affecting your problem, based on the work done so far?
• Is the Security Printing organization completing tasks effectively and efficiently?
• What are specific Security Printing Rules to follow?

Universal Product Code Critical Criteria:

Consolidate Universal Product Code risks and get the big picture.

• How do we ensure that implementations of Security Printing products are done in a way that ensures safety?
• Will Security Printing deliverables need to be tested and, if so, by whom?

Automatic identification and data capture Critical Criteria:

Discuss Automatic identification and data capture leadership and know what your objective is.

• Can we add value to the current Security Printing decision-making process (largely qualitative) by incorporating uncertainty modeling (more quantitative)?
• When a Security Printing manager recognizes a problem, what options are available?

Fluorescent dyes Critical Criteria:

Check Fluorescent dyes outcomes and modify and define the unique characteristics of interactive Fluorescent dyes projects.

• In the case of a Security Printing project, the criteria for the audit derive from implementation objectives. an audit of a Security Printing project involves assessing whether the recommendations outlined for implementation have been met. in other words, can we track that any Security Printing project is implemented as planned, and is it working?
• Think of your Security Printing project. what are the main functions?

Fair Packaging and Labeling Act Critical Criteria:

Discourse Fair Packaging and Labeling Act strategies and ask questions.

• How do senior leaders actions reflect a commitment to the organizations Security Printing values?

Smart label Critical Criteria:

Define Smart label adoptions and proactively manage Smart label risks.

• What sources do you use to gather information for a Security Printing study?

Track & Trace Critical Criteria:

Guard Track & Trace quality and sort Track & Trace activities.

• Where do ideas that reach policy makers and planners as proposals for Security Printing strengthening and reform actually originate?
• What are the success criteria that will indicate that Security Printing objectives have been met and the benefits delivered?
• How can the value of Security Printing be defined?

Geometric lathe Critical Criteria:

Face Geometric lathe tasks and attract Geometric lathe skills

• Among the Security Printing product and service cost to be estimated, which is considered hardest to estimate?

Tamper resistance Critical Criteria:

Troubleshoot Tamper resistance management and oversee implementation of Tamper resistance.

• What are your current levels and trends in key measures or indicators of Security Printing product and process performance that are important to and directly serve your customers? how do these results compare with the performance of your competitors and other organizations with similar offerings?
• Will Security Printing have an impact on current business continuity, disaster recovery processes and/or infrastructure?
• Is maximizing Security Printing protection the same as minimizing Security Printing loss?

Copy-evident document Critical Criteria:

Powwow over Copy-evident document governance and create Copy-evident document explanations for all managers.

• What are all of our Security Printing domains and what do they do?
• What are the short and long-term Security Printing goals?
• How can you measure Security Printing in a systematic way?

Release liner Critical Criteria:

Participate in Release liner visions and inform on and uncover unspoken needs and breakthrough Release liner results.

• What are internal and external Security Printing relations?

Magnetic ink character recognition Critical Criteria:

Think about Magnetic ink character recognition projects and assess and formulate effective operational and Magnetic ink character recognition strategies.

• For your Security Printing project, identify and describe the business environment. is there more than one layer to the business environment?

Void pantograph Critical Criteria:

Debate over Void pantograph leadership and simulate teachings and consultations on quality process improvement of Void pantograph.

• To what extent does management recognize Security Printing as a tool to increase the results?

Mandatory labelling Critical Criteria:

Think about Mandatory labelling leadership and customize techniques for implementing Mandatory labelling.

• Does Security Printing analysis show the relationships among important Security Printing factors?
• Is there a Security Printing Communication plan covering who needs to get what information when?

Active packaging Critical Criteria:

Deliberate Active packaging governance and simulate teachings and consultations on quality process improvement of Active packaging.

• Who is the main stakeholder, with ultimate responsibility for driving Security Printing forward?

Package pilferage Critical Criteria:

Group Package pilferage goals and remodel and develop an effective Package pilferage strategy.

• What new services of functionality will be implemented next with Security Printing ?

Conclusion:

This quick readiness checklist is a selected resource to help you move forward. Learn more about how to achieve comprehensive insights with the Security Printing Self Assessment:

https://store.theartofservice.com/self-assessments/

Author: Gerard Blokdijk

CEO at The Art of Service | http://theartofservice.com

gerard.blokdijk@theartofservice.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerardblokdijk

Gerard is the CEO at The Art of Service. He has been providing information technology insights, talks, tools and products to organizations in a wide range of industries for over 25 years. Gerard is a widely recognized and respected information expert. Gerard founded The Art of Service consulting business in 2000. Gerard has authored numerous published books to date.

External links:

To address the criteria in this checklist, these selected resources are provided for sources of further research and information:

Tamper-evident technology External links:

Check digit External links:

Access Excel Function HKID Check Digit (last digit)

http://access-excel.tips/hkid-check-digit

Security hologram External links:

OPTAGLIO security holograms exceeded 5 million DPI

http://optics.org/press/3712

Security Hologram Technology - Holographic Holograms

http://holographic-holographic.com/technology.htm

Identity card External links:

Identity Card | Identity Card

https://identitycard.com/product/identity-card

Identity Cards | Immigration Department

http://www.immd.gov.hk/eng/forms/hkid.html

Die cutting External links:

The Best Die Cutting Machines | Top Ten Reviews

http://www.toptenreviews.com/h...die-cutting-machines

Plastic Die Cutting Quality Control - Colvin Friedman Company

http://www.colvin-friedman.com...ity-die-cutting.html

QC Codes | New England Die Cutting (NEDC)

https://www.nedc.com/about-us/qc-codes

Universal Product Code External links:

Google Answers: Universal Product Code (UPC) bar code

http://answers.google.com/answ...dview/id/193761.html

Universal Product Code Query - ASAP Systems

https://www.asapsystems.com/ba...duct-code-query.html

What is a Bar Code | Universal Product Code | Barcode

https://www.scribd.com/documen...9/What-is-a-Bar-Code

Automatic identification and data capture External links:

Automatic identification and data capture - WOW.com

http://www.wow.com/wiki/Automa...ion_and_data_capture

Fluorescent dyes External links:

Intracellular Staining with Fluorescent Dyes - Springer

https://link.springer.com/cont...1-4612-6018-9_14.pdf

Fair Packaging and Labeling Act External links:

USA Fair Packaging and Labeling Act - Academia.edu

http://www.academia.edu/639110...ing_and_Labeling_Act

Fair Packaging and Labeling Act - ComplianceOnline.com

http://www.complianceonline.co...ling-act-11521-prdad

Fair Packaging and Labeling Act of 1966 | Express Week

https://expressweek.com/wiki/f...nd-labeling-act-1966

Smart label External links:

Adding a Smart Label for Critical OS Patches (157338)

https://support.quest.com/kace...nt-appliance/kb/1573

Track & Trace External links:

Search Results - StarTrack Express - Track & Trace

https://sttrackandtrace.startrack.com.a

Geometric lathe External links:

A Brief History of Geometric Lathes | JF Berns Company, Inc.

https://www.jfberns.com/post/a...-of-geometric-lathes

Tamper resistance External links:

Tamper resistance and hardware security

http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~sps32/PartII_201109.pdf

Tamper resistance - Revolvy

https://www.revolvy.com/topic/Tamper resistance

Tamper Resistance : GPS World

http://gpsworld.com/transporta...per-resistance-11403

Release liner External links:

Patent US9017512 - Release liner and method of using same

http://www.google.com/patents/US9017512

KEY PROPERTIES USED TO SELECT PAPER RELEASE LINERS …

https://www.pstc.org/files/public/Engel.pdf

AWA Global Release Liner Industry Conference & Exhibition 2015

https://www.awa-bv.com/files/w...ures/GRLICE_2015.pdf

Magnetic ink character recognition External links:

MICR - magnetic ink character recognition - whatismicr.com

http://whatismicr.com/index.html

Magnetic ink character recognition - Revolvy

https://www.revolvy.com/topic/Magnetic ink character recognition

Information processing — Magnetic ink character recognition

https://webstore.ansi.org/Prev..._ISO+1004-2-2013.pdf

Void pantograph External links:

Void Pantograph Software Free - astrobertyl

https://astrobertyl.jimdo.com/...ograph-software-free

VOID PANTOGRAPH (PASSIVE SAFETY FEATURE)

http://www.fasset.org.za/downl...cableLegislation.doc

The pull-economy is gaining momentum across many industries when will the Imaging Channel be impacted?

Let’s go back in time. Back when copying and print usage was growing. Everybody was printing everything. The information one read was read from paper, back then things just CLICKED away. Customers leased hardware and paid for service by the click. Print Manufactures sold their A-3 through distribution channels made up of independent dealers; some had direct operations as well. A-4, for the most part, didn’t exist except for segment one of course and segment one produced around ten pages a minute. 

Back in this time, A-3 copier manufactures, for the most part, competed strictly against each other. All manufacturers had the same equipment, and most of its distribution partners sold, serviced, and supported it in the same manner.

Channel sales Push the equipment to the end-users. The push economy was good to the Imaging Channel. Local independent dealers competed for market share. Both dealers and direct operations set the stage for how their customers would both acquire the equipment and service it. For the most part, sellers decided the deal structure and pushed the process to the buyer.

When we look back, we would all conclude one important thing. The end-users hardly at all decided on the equipment the equipment was pushed to them. Equipment was sold to the end-users using an in-person salesforce. A sales force which pushed the most beneficial self-serving program to the end-user. We always sold the highest cost equipment and program we could that’s what we were compensated to do.

So how will the past carry to the future as print equipment moves more and more to A-4 and even the A-3 will reduce in cost and require nowhere near the service intensity of its past? Less service intensive, and lower cost, with lower demand or need for products equals an enormous shift from the way things are to the way things will be. Buyers will have more choices to acquire, and the equipment acquisition complexities of the past will disappear.

I recently heard someone say that the imaging channel would not be disrupted by the current players it would only be disrupted by others outside who eliminate the need for the equipment itself. Ok, that is one day. I don’t intend to begin a paperless argument those discussions are distractions to real threats. I will say this the Imaging Channel will be disrupted way before that. The service annuity will continue declining in value, and the end-users will gravitate to the pull-economy these two dynamics will cause pain for some in the channel and reward others who prepared. Leaders of the channel can be the disrupters or can be the disrupted. The challenge will be the time to decide to become the disruptor is running out.

Today more than ever the Imaging Channel must prepare and extract as much profit from the current circumstances as possible. Truly understanding your profit potential takes data, not hype or delusional accounting methods. To prosper in the future, we must capitalize on today’s circumstances and take nothing for granted.

R.J. Stasieczko

For over 25 years BEI Services has been recognized as the world’s largest database of service metrics for the Imaging Channel. With hundreds of organizations, thousands of Technicians, millions of devices and billions of pages on the BEI Platform, the data and statistics we provide to our partners are unprecedented in helping them achieve best in class benchmarks along with increased profits. It is from the knowledge of facts in our Trademarked Worldstats Database which allows BEI partners to improve by accurate measurement eliminating the emotional noise of complacency. https://www.beiservices.com/

'In memoriam' is a Latin phrase that directly translates as "into memory".

I really wasn't sure how to title this blog, and thought long and hard about how to get my message across in the title.

Back in August of this year I started a forum thread on the P4P Hotel forums titled "Copier Terms/Language from days gone by".  We had a few old timers that chimed in (including me) to post those terms and language that we just don't see anymore in our industry.

What started all of this,  was the word "skyshot". I had used it in a sentence one day in the office in and I noticed that no one knew what the heck I was talking about. Of course I had to explain, that a "skyshot" is when you leave the "platen" top (oops there are no more platen tops) in the open position and then press the copy button.  Today, you can do the same by leaving the document feeder in the open or up position.  The result is a black image over the entire document.  Well, not the entire document, because with most copiers aka MFP's there are "void" areas.  Oh, there I went again.  When was the last time you or someone mentioned a void area on the print?

Believe it or not there were times during our demonstrations when we produced a "skyshot" from the copy machine and then showed it to the decision maker.  Back then you had to have really awesome image quality and in most cases it was a gamble if you did the "skyshot".  It was kind a hit and miss since humidity and paper moisture played a big part in making sure the entire page was solid black.  Thinking back, the best blacks and "skyshots" came from Toshiba copiers. I hated demoing against those because the black was very dense and coverage of the page was exceptional.

Anyone remember CROP codes?  Have no idea what CROP meant, but with Sharp copy machines only you could press four different buttons on the key panel and access a meter read of the device.  Since the LED display only displayed two numbers at a time, you had to wait for the entire sequence to finish in order to get the full meter read.

"Knockouts" was a term that we used for large black areas on the page.  In most cases there was a black square and the type (font) would be white.  Thus, the reason for calling that image a "knockout".  I can tell you that I lost many sales because another device had a blacker or more dense "knockout" than what I was offering. Decision makers would actually save copies from the demo's to compare with other copiers.  We used to say, that if you left the demo without the order the chances of closing that order dropped by 75%.

Wow, "Dispersant", a little before my time, but I learned how to be a tech by working on old copiers that used a liquid dispersant. I guess you could call it a developer by today's standards. It was a mess to deal with and stained your skin and reeked havoc with suites, shirts, ties. You name it dispersant stained it.

I still have a large bottle of this in my garage and it's called "Fuser Oil".  Back in the eighties almost every device used fuser oil (clear, light weight oil) and we sold them like hot cakes.  If you had a plain paper copier you needed fuser oil.  At my dealership we had a hot shot supply sales person (Gene Trout), he would sell a few thousand dollars of fuser oil per month!  But wait, that's not all, fuser oil had many uses other than copiers.  We used it to clean the covers of the copiers (added a light sheen to those used copiers), used it to clean the power cord (when selling a used machine, a dead give away that it was over used was a filthy power cord). 

Outside of the office, fuser oil was great for cleaning and rejuvenating any and all rubber parts on your car. Excellent for adding a shine to your tires, in addition we also used it on the interior.  Yes, fuser oil was the "poor mans" Amour All.

My word, it's a "Plain Paper Copier"!  Plain paper copier was something that we used in our telephone scripts.  Before plain paper there was coated paper (dang, other term coated paper). "Coated paper" was much more expensive than plain paper and in most cases those copy machines that used coated paper had so so quality.  Everyone, I mean everyone had to have a plain paper copier. It was like keeping up with the Jones.

Betcha you didn't know that most copiers could not automatically produce a two sided copy.  The rule of the demo was "simplex" (there I go again with simplex).  Simplex means a single sided copy. In most copiers you could flip the copied paper and then flip the original on the glass, and then pass the simplex copied paper into the by-pass tray to make your own two-sided copy.  However, you had to know which side to face up in the by-pass tray and do you insert the "lead edge" or the "trail edge" first!

It wasn't until sometime in the eighties that the manufacturers manufactured copiers with "Duplex Trays".  Geesh, let me explain, once one side of the paper was copied, those pages were  stored in a tray in the copier.  When it came time to copy the back side the paper was flipped and passed through the imaging area again, thus putting an image on the back side of the paper.  Demonstrating two sided copying with duplex trays was painful. You told everyone it could be done and when asked to perform a demonstration, all we could do it cross our fingers and hope there was no jamming. 

The rule of thumb with all demo's was KISS (Keep it Simple Stupid), only demo what the decision maker was interested in seeing!

"Push button color" was a feature/term that we used for copiers that had dual developing units in them. I think there were three colors which were black, red, blue and green.  With the push of the color button you would engage the color developer unit and the image would come out in all red, blue or green.  You could only keep two colors the copiers at one time.

Manufacturers thought they would add an editing board to enhance dual color copiers. OMG, you want to talk about a cluster ****!  The technology would allow you to produce two colors in one pass and the "editing board" allowed you to edit what portion of the image would be black or red.  Let me tell you, this was a whole heck of a lot of **** to learn.  A piss poor demo resulted in a NO SALE!

Did you know that most brand new copiers also came with a "copier cover"?  "Why do I need a cover?" A cover is a vital part in keeping your copier free of dust and contaminates when not in use.  You want to protect your investment. Thinking back the covers probably cost about fifty cents to manufacturer.  You see back then, demonstrating copiers was all about the sizzle!

What is the heck is a "key operator"?  Is that the person who guards the keys to the office? Nope, it was the person who was in charge of the copier.  Every office had the one go to person that you would give extra training to for paper jams, adding toner, removing mis-feeds and knowing how to uses the different features of the copier.  As a sales person you needed to make sure your key operator knew it all, because you did not want to go back and do the training all over again.

It's late and there are many more terms that I haven't mentioned, however I need to write some orders tomorrow.  Thus, we'll close with "clam shell design”. In the golden age of copiers, all copiers jammed. Don’t care who the manufacturer was they didn’t feed paper that well. Thus, a few of the manufacturers, well at least Minolta designed their copiers to open like a clam in order for the user to remove the mis-feed. This was definitely a feature you wanted to demo, and most attendees were marvel at the technology.

It was all about FAB (feature, advantage, benefit) and KISS (Keep it simple stupid)

Special thanx to all of the Print4Pay Hotel Members that made this blog possible!

-=Good Selling=-

Before you switch off as you consider security uninteresting, just remember that if you think about it George Lucas has made $5.3 billion out of a data breach story.

General Tagge  " If the Rebels have obtained a complete technical readout of this station it is possible, however unlikely, that they might find a weakness, and exploit it."

Before we start let us say we aren't self-appointed gurus, we are most likely just like you, a user/business person. During this search, we realised that we both knew very little before and that the threat is much bigger than we had previously understood.

In this series of articles, we will cover a number of topics around security

1. What is really going on?
2. Why is this happening?
3. Who are they?
4. What are the different types of threats?
5. What can you do about it?

Switching Sci-FI metaphor to another film, The Matrix, if you were given choice to make.

• The green pill would allow you to remain comfortably ill-informed, or
• The red pill would allow you to escape into the real world, but living the "truth of reality" is harsher and more difficult, what would you choose?

If you had chosen the green pill you would be forgiven if you believed that security was the job of the security specialists. Many organisations follow the Hope Strategy, which HK Bain defines as “We lock our filing room, have a password policy on employee computers, and use a firewall on our network. We hope that’s enough to keep out the bad guys. Besides…why would anyone want to me after us?”

As you chose the red pill and are continuing to read, the harsh reality that you will wake up to is the fact that security is a myth, and you pretty much need to assume you are being attacked right now.

It’s easy to dismiss the topic as scaremongering, in this series of articles I will aim to prove that it’s a serious threat that isn’t being taken as seriously as it should.

If the US Army is vulnerable its difficult to argue that any organisation is going to do better.

Lieutenant General Paul Nakasone of the US Army Cyber Command said “ My first thought was, ‘Wow, it only took them 10 minutes to identify a vulnerability. How long would it have taken for us to discover?”

The reality is that there are plenty of vulnerabilities out there and the only reason why you haven't experienced a breach is pretty much luck.

77% of all bug bounty programs have their first vulnerability reported in the first 24 hours. Hackerone

Are you hoping that private medical data is safe?

“We’re attacked about every 7 seconds, 24 hours a day," John Halamka, CIO of the Boston hospital Beth Israel Deaconess.

If you require further proof and are visual you can actually get real-time visibility into global cyber attacks from Norsecorp, which resembles another film from the 1980’s Wargames.

 “Even if you have the best security in place, there’s still a chance that you may be breached,” said Peter Toren, an attorney specializing in computer crimes at Washington D.C. law firm Weisbrod Matteis & Copley. Toren was also a federal prosecutor for eight years, in the Justice Department's computer crimes division.

4,000 ransomware attacks happen daily that’s 1,460,000 attacks a year. Department of Justice

Here is a chilling real example from a Fortune 100 company CIO following a cybersecurity assessment.

“It took the attackers only six minutes to circumvent the perimeter defences. From there, they achieved domain administrator privileges in less than 12 hours. In less than a week they fully compromised all 30 of our global domains. They harvested more than 200,000 credentials, giving them the ability to log in to the network masquerading as any of us—they could even change our investment elections in our 401(k)s or transfer money out. There was no place on our global network they could not go and only a handful of computers they did not have easy access to—only 10 percent of our manufacturing facilities are behind firewalls, segregating them from our network. The attackers were in a position to electronically transfer millions of dollars out of our bank accounts through our accounts payable system. Their tools did not set off any alarms—our antivirus software did not trigger any alerts. They had direct access to our manufacturing environment and could affect both the quality of our production processes and safety on our shop floors. They had access to our most sensitive intellectual property, including our past, current and future plans for major acquisitions and divestitures as well as the results of the billions of dollars we have invested in a decade of research and development. And, in the end, they were able to steal all the data. We were not able to stop them, or even see them in our network!”

Why don't we hear more about this, many companies are experiencing breaches but may not necessarily be publicising the fact, or more chilling may not even be aware its happening.

According to PWC 90% of large UK organizations reported suffering a security breach in 2015 - 2015 Information Security Breaches Survey, PwC UK

The reality is that most security breaches go unreported.

More than 89% of security incidents went unreported in 2007, according to survey of about 300 attendees at this year's  RSA Conference.

In the past, we would all have been forgiven for believing we were all much more secure than we really are, and that security and my data was taken very seriously.

There is a belief that you "do security" and then you "are done", yet it’s a constant battle, with everyone in your organisation needing to be involved .

The situation is so serious that the Cyber Insurance market is growing exponentially

Lloyd’s of London has warned that a serious cyber-attack could cost the global economy more than $120bn (£92bn) – as much as catastrophic natural disasters such as Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy.

We will cover GDRP and its impact later on in the series. In the next article in the series, we will cover Why is this happening?

* Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report

Mediocre, average, unexceptional, ordinary, complacent - these aren’t qualities that usually come to mind when we consider successful salespeople.

What is one key trait to expect of salespeople who make an impact, achieve success and smash their sales targets?

Being insanely curious is a required character trait if you wish to master business disruptions. All sales professionals put learning on overdrive.

A naturally curious salesperson can put themselves in the customer’s shoes, get to the bottom of their problem, and present a solution to meet their needs. 

Curiosity is the most powerful thing you own as a sales professional

Curiosity is essential because it can drive your sales reps ability to make new connections. The more engaged they become with prospects and your clients the more inclined they are to ask questions; the more they learn and uncover the more they can grow the relationship enabling them to hit their sales targets.

An insanely curious sales rep is always learning something new, allowing them to build upon their expertise. Prospects and your clients want to do business with salespeople who are true experts. Becoming extremely curious allows your salespeople to develop creative solutions to your prospects and clients problems.

INSANELY CURIOUS

Curiosity can be developed with the right mindset.

Words which come to mind with curious salespeople: intense desire to know something, eagerness, questioning, interested, detectives, thirst for knowledge and inquisitive.

Insanely curious salespeople are constantly thirsty for success!

CURIOUS SALES REPS SMASH THEIR SALES TARGETS

Being curious means always wondering "why?" What is behind your sales teams why?

How many curious salespeople are on your team?

Curious salespeople think on a different plain. They identify and ask questions that solicit deeper results.

Becoming curious drives them down different roads, creating more opportunities for them to see things with fresh perspectives.

CURIOUS SALESPEOPLE KNOW THEIR VALUE

The average sales rep may think they know how to sell value, but it means nothing unless the value is built up from the customer’s perspective.

Insanely curious salespeople know what drives their clients’ decisions and how to create awareness of the value they bring. This is accomplished by developing a learning mindset to help your customers get what they need, an outstanding experience.

I truly believe it’s more effective to act as if no one knows you or recognizes the value you bring as this makes you have to prove it every day.

Curious salespeople go face to face with your customers and ask...

• "What value do my services, products or solutions create for you?" 
• "What does value-add look like to you?"

Sustaining value in the minds of your customers requires persistence and extreme focus. This is what curious salespeople are all about... an obsession with understanding value.

CURIOUS SALESPEOPLE TAKE RESPONSIBILITY

Average sales reps are always making excuses for everything bad that happens to them. It’s the economy, the leads are weak, the competition has better products, buyers are idiots, we’re too expensive, our service is horrible; stop the excuses!

Curious salespeople see all of this as learning opportunities. They learn to do something different and practice different ways of progressing towards achieving sales success. They view roadblocks as learning opportunities and become obsessed with the identifying as many ways as possible to improve.

Curious salespeople have a strong appetite for knowledge and eat information daily for breakfast.

• 82% of extremely successful salespeople had intense levels of curiosity. Top salespeople are naturally more curious than their lesser-performing peers.

CURIOUS SALESPEOPLE ARE CURIOUS ABOUT THEIR CLIENTS

The top sales professionals know their clients and potential clients deserve more than just a phone call with a rehearsed sales pitch. They recognize the importance of exploring their beliefs, their challenges, what drives them and most importantly, what they want to accomplish.

Innately curious salespeople are ready to ask the right questions, provide the right insight and respond with answers.

How curious are your sales reps in making sure your clients feel special before, during and after doing business with them?

• Are they making your clients feel important?
• Do your clients feel that your sales reps care about them?
• Do your clients feel like they can trust your sales reps?

Curious salespeople focus on developing conversations, not sales campaigns. It is about opening up human to human conversation. It is not about your sales reps it is about helping your clients.

Attention to all sales leaders...

When was the last time one of your sales reps had a conversation with one your clients that didn't involve trying to sell them something?

Imagine the outcomes your sales reps would have by increasing their level of curiosity when they are with, doing work for and thinking about your clients.

What would it look like as they became more curious on behalf of your clients? What could they help your clients do better?

With curious intent, spend some time with your clients and ask them how your sales reps have been enhancing their experience with your company?

You may want to check out this episode of Selling From The Heart

Picture your sales reps entrenching themselves in your clients world not their sales world.

STOP AND THINK FOR A MOMENT

The one thing separating successful sales teams and others who are merely surviving or should I say, being complacent; is their desire to learn as curiosity ignites it. Successful sales people never stop learning. In turn, they translate their new understandings into innovative ideas for their customers. 

Help your sales team break out of complacent, default modes of thinking. Recycling old ideas with traditional sales approaches won’t help your sales team smash their targets or satisfy your clients.

Create a sales culture based upon curiosity. In the words of the great Walt Disney...

"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things because we are curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths"

Lead your sales team down new paths to help them smash their sales targets.

I had the honor of speaking at the RemaxWorld Summit held Oct. 12- 14th 2017 in Zhuhai China. In describing the expo size, one could only say huge; some might say, Bigley, this event was incomparable to any Imaging Channel focused event I have ever attended in my 30-year history in the Imaging Channel. There were booths, and when I use the term booth, I don’t mean a table with a colored cloth draped over it. These expo booths some the size of small apartments. Spread across five football fields of space inside the Zhuhai expedition hall. Within these booths, you would find print cartridge manufacturers, Chip Manufacturers, and Print management software developers to name a few. A visitor would believe that the world of Print is as lucrative as it was in 1980.

In front of the expo hall stood one of the most elaborate Sheraton hotels on the planet. I must admit before coming to China. I thought of China as a completely different kind of competitor. Like many, I visualize depressing factories where thousands of unhappy workers drilled holes in used H.P. cartridges and refilled them with toner disregarding any quality standards.

What I was not visualizing were Billion Dollar Corporations with extremely talented executives who have a deep passion for business growth and winning. These leaders are the true definition of an entrepreneur; These leaders are building state of the art manufacturing facilities, employing the best of best practices, and stay commented to constant improvement. China and its business leaders want recognition as a world leader just as other countries in the world do.

Zhuhai, China is the Printer Consumable and Printer Cartridge Chip capital of the world. Zhuhai is a small city a little over two million people. The modernization of Zhuhai is only around twenty years old. Its architecture would rival any city in the world. As I drank a local beer sitting on the patio at the Sheraton under the palm trees watching the valets parking Tesla’s, Mercedes, and even a Bentley well actually two Bentleys. Looking toward the waterway, you could see the many people walking along the state of art walkway which flanks the Pearl River Zhuhai’s roadway to the South China Sea. I thought to myself this modern, sophisticated city is not what I expected as I am sure many first-time visitors to China think.

One thing is clear the Chinese Business Leader does not lack any less desire for success than her or his worldwide competitors. The global world economy was defined more clearly for me during this trip.

The world all cultures share may differ in governments, languages, religions, and each defines their values. However, this global world of commerce we all share has one thing in common, and that’s business. Today all businesses will compete at new levels, some will be fair and some may not. Corporations will argue global competition such as geographic human cost advantages, or arguments of ones’ countries patient laws from another country or manufactures whose arrogance will argue only products manufactured in their country can be superior in quality. These arguments may continue, and some will be resolved. However, throughout the world the real power is in the hands of the consumers, and as the world continues to reduce in size by technology. Governments’ will have to decide what they are willing to modify or what to compromise to ensure their piece of the enormous opportunities the revenue of global trade provides not just to governments their people as well.

Zhuhai opened my eyes to the fact that no one country or hemisphere of countries have a monopoly on the Entrepreneurial spirit or business leadership acumen. As the world’s products end-users have more and more access to technology and the Push Economy continues transitioning faster and faster to the Pull-Economy the world we all live in will be the world we all shop in and is the world we all compete in.

R.J. Stasieczko         

Just about a week ago I was able to visit a client with an existing KIP 3000 multifunctional wide format device with hopes of providing a new Ricoh MP W6700SP.  Seems the KIP 3000 had received quite a workout over the years and was closing in the end of it's useful life.  After spending about fifteen minutes with the device and the operator,  I found that the KIP 3000 was purchased pre-owned,  and the volume was about 3,000 square feet a month, in addition the KIP 3000 has a dual roll paper feeder.

Our next step was to meet with the users of the KIP 3000 and to uncover any workflows for scanning, printing or copying.  Our discovery process enabled us to pinpoint the clients needs the following.

Clients Needs

• Paper sizes included 30x42 and 36x24
• PDF workflow for printing & scanning
• Average monthly volume of about 3,000 square feet a month
• Need for color scanning
• Need for new device to have a dual roll feeder
• Ability to scan to multiply destinations (server, folder and email) with the touch of one button
• Ability of the new device to exit prints to the front of the device

You can read the rest here

I can hear it now “Buyers are treating us as a commodity”, “It’s all about price, price and more price”, “We don’t have anything unique to offer”….. This can all be prevented!

The modern buyer is better equipped than ever to drive salespeople toward commoditization. Prices have become increasingly transparent, comparisons are easily available and today’s technical differentiator is tomorrows "me too".

Most buyers don’t really care about your company or your product, however; what they do care about is if you can help solve their problems and bring measurable value to their business. Unfortunately, too many reps start off conversations by using outdated old school tactics such as talking about themselves, their company, their product or their features. How's this working? I bet it's not!

Do you all know why you get beat up on price? Plain and simple... It is your fault!

BREAK OUT OF THE COMMODITY BOX

Commoditization happens when the buyer does extensive research on prospective suppliers, you; then narrows down the field to the top 3 or 4 thus treating you all as commodities as you get whacked with the price hammer.

In a 2016 study conducted by Hubspot, they found that sales representatives are acknowledging the shift in buyer behavior.

"57% of salespeople agree that buyers are less dependent on sales during the buying process compared to a few years ago."

Don't allow this to happen to you. Inspire the buyer to make a decision in your favor based on new insights and new ideas raised within your sales messaging.

Enhance the level of your conversations to break out of the commodity box.

3 VALUE BASED SALES CONVERSATIONS TO ENGAGE THE MODERN BUYER

Sales reps need to think about offering real value to buyers by solving pressing business problems in every conversation. True differentiation in today’s complex business world shouldn’t be limited to having the best solution; value needs to be created by each individual sales rep themselves. Successful salespeople consistently add quantifiable value by educating buyers about their business, market trends and business drivers as they become seen as trusted advisors.

CONSIDER YOUR BUYERS PERSPECTIVE

The art of creating added value starts with the ability to see your business through the eyes of the buyer.

Consider what’s important to them and how your product or service will benefit them. What problem does it solve, how will it help them overcome obstacles to do their job better? Shift your focus to providing educational content. Provide examples and stories of how you helped others. Start focusing on your buyers' needs and start helping!

Conduct a thorough analysis of their buying behaviors which can lend insight into what is most important to them. This "IS THE ONE THING THAT MATTERS"; a helpful tip... buying behaviors can be uncovered by conversing with your current clients as well as some of their clients.

“Successful sales professionals not only understand their specific market sector and business critical issues but also help their clients visualize how they can solve their issues by using their products and services,” 

Harrington Starr , a London based company.

CONSIDER BUSINESS VALUE

Sales reps must discover what business problems are troubling buyers and then offer them sound advice. A true sales professional is always helpful. Instead of pushing buyers to buy, they offer advice and best practices within their area of expertise. By showing how valuable their knowledge can be for their business, buyers soon start to trust sales reps as a resource they can turn to.

Sales reps should zero in on a specific business challenge the buyer faces that they can in turn address and solve. You must be able to demonstrate you understand their issues and prove other companies successfully overcame similar situations thanks to your expertise.

Enhance your business acumen to drive valuable conversations by thinking like the buyer. Here are a few tips...

• Look at the “big picture” within their organization. Uncover key business drivers and how this relates to producing profitable growth by helping them do their job better.
• Work together with the buyer to communicate your ideas to other employees, managers and most importantly, the executives making the decision.

CONSIDER BEING CURIOUS ABOUT THE BUYER

Do not fall into the trap of assumption. Do not assume you know exactly what the buyer values in a solution and how they measure success. Become an expert questioner by layering your questions as you uncover and understand what "quality" or "risk removal" means to them as you put some quantifiable numbers around it.

Curious salespeople are always looking for opportunities to learn about the buyer, their markets, their industries their products and what is important to them.

For sales reps to become more successful, they must become obsessed with being curious. Your sales growth is going to come from helping the buyer grow their businesses. The only way to effectively do that is to constantly be curious. Never be afraid to ask why they are doing business a certain way. Get nosy, pry a little, ask great questions and win big.

TO CONCLUDE

A value added buyer centric conversation focuses on:

• The challenges the buyer faces
• The pain points these challenges present to them
• How much, in quantifiable numbers, remaining in a status quo mindset will cost them and their company

Allow me to leave you all with this...

If you don't know the value you bring to your current clients then how can you engage in a meaningful value based conversation with a prospective buyer?

I understand, I get where you all are coming from. Every day, I walk in your shoes. I am fully committed to helping your sales team integrate social aspects and modern strategies into your current sales process to grow new business. I want you to get results. This is why I am passionate about doing this the right way, the genuine way, the authentic way!

In 2016, I was recognized by ENX Magazine as, “The Difference Maker,” as someone who is making a difference inside the B2B office technology sector. I am passionate about helping sales reps succeed in creating their online brand image

You can find more advanced training material inside the Social Sales Academy website.

I appreciate getting the opportunity to share my LinkedIn stories. Integrating the use of LinkedIn was my “game-changer” in the highly competitive copier world. With great pride I transform, challenge, coach and inspire Sales Teams to grow new business by helping them tell their story and communicate integrating the use of social media. You can follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter, Social Sales Academy and on my podcast at Selling from the Heart.

Tens years ago Tom Salierno, also known as Tom, Jr lost his job as Chief Operating ... Officer of Ricoh U S of Ricoh Corporation from June 2006 to December 2007.   In the ten years after it seems that Big Tom was the chief culprit in Ricoh dealer acquisitions for Global Imaging.  Today Tom serves ae Chief Executive Office with Global Imaging.

Big Tom Out as Prez at Ricoh

It's late, just about 11PM here on the East Coast and I'm watching/listening to the Nationals & Cubs do or die game.  Let's Go Cubs!  Not that I'm  a Cub fan, but more of a hater for the Nationals.  I guess that's what happens when you're a lowly NY Mets fan.

K, so I have no idea where I got this next hack from. I do know that it was not one of my ideas.  Thinking that I may have read about doing this from some sales book that I read many moons ago.

Decision Makers

They come with many different titles.  In most cases we are meeting with C-Level execs with titles of CFO. CEO, CIO and probably a few others.  Most of us understand that in the first five minutes of any meeting, the Decision Maker is sizing us up.  How we dress, what we wear, how we walk, how we talk, how we look, are all taken in to account in those first five minutes.

However, it can also be about what we read in our spare or business time.

You're probably thinking how can the Decision Maker know anything about what we read?  True, the Decision Maker does not have a clue about what you read unless you perform a subtle hint.

K, that subtle hit would be to carry a copy of CFO Magazine in your bag.  Years ago,  I subscribed to CFO Magazine and to this day I still receive the magazine in the mail.  Each month I'll replace the old rag with the new rag  and take a quick read to see if there are any interesting articles that pique my interest.  In most cases there may be one or two that I'll read.

Thus, when I'm off on a new appointment and I know I'm going to be meeting with a CFO. I'll make sure that I pull the CFO magazine out of my bag and lay it on the side of the table as I'm looking for my notepad or brochure. In some cases I may just leave that in my bag, making sure that the CFO header on the magazine is showing.

I can't tell if the magazine has ever helped me garner a sale, but I can assume that the Decision Maker did see the magazine and drew a conclusion from seeing it.  In most cases I would assume that the Decision Maker would have thought, "interesting, this sales guy must really be in touch with what I do".

Over the years, there have been some articles that I've read from those CFO magazines that have increased my knowledge about the duties of a CFO.  Thus, when you do have that C-Level discussion there will be times when you will understand their language and their duties.

My point is, if that's all you want to do is to carry around the magazine and use if for show and tell, it probably won't help that much.  However, if you do read an article here and there and do the show and tell you'll have a much better conversation with that CFO.

You can also do this with CEO magazine, CIO magazine and any other C-Level magazines that you can find.  Again, the key is too read the articles from time to time.  You'll be amazed at how much this can help your career and those first five minutes.

-=Good Selling=-