Information security has become one of the most widely discussed topics among boardroom members, public sector officials and consumer advocates in the past few years, as identity theft has ravaged the U.S. economy. Although progress has been made in this regard, firms are still struggling to really strike the right chords with their security programs, and the biggest problem appears to be a lack of comprehension, leading to vulnerabilities that can be capitalized upon by threats.
Hackers and malicious insiders are increasingly skilled when it comes to identifying the areas of an IT security program that would be easiest to break into, rather than attacking exceptionally well-guarded systems. In a way, this is similar to virtually every type of crime out there, in the sense that threats will always go after the low-hanging fruit first, and this can be seen in the immense damages that have wreaked havoc on small businesses and organizations with lackluster protections in place.
Unfortunately, strong efforts in one area of the security equation can be completely wasted when only one piece of the puzzle is missed, and this is a fact that far too many leaders have come to see for themselves of late. Strategies must be broadly reaching and exhaustive, while the solutions used to fortify systems that contain mission-critical and sensitive apps need to be updated and maintained properly to truly protect against major data breach events.
One of the best ways to go about creating an exhaustive and comprehensive IT security plan is to go piece by piece through the three areas of management that count the most - people, processes and technology. When organizations adequately cover their bases within these components, the chances of vulnerabilities and risks going unmitigated will be inherently lower, and the time to act on these matters is now.
People
First and foremost, one of the prevailing problems in IT security has been employee negligence, and this can be somewhat easily handled by simply instituting more wide-reaching training and awareness programs. Regardless of which solutions are in place to protect data, or how progressive company policies might be, those efforts will be moot when the staff members tasked with obliging requirements and using technologies are not prepared to do so in a secure fashion.
Employee training can work to reduce the threat of negligent errors that lead to data breaches and vulnerabilities, while awareness programs and testing will add a level of assurance to managers and IT departments that staff members are all on the same page when it comes to security. Businesses should consider incentivizing certain aspects of training and testing, rewarding employees who go above and beyond the call of duty to boost engagement within these programs.
Processes
Policies will tend to make or break an IT security strategy, and this is true for several reasons, including the fact that overly restrictive process requirements can lead to rogue activities, while those that are too loose will simply not protect the business from threats. The trick is to identify a balance between employee freedom and corporate control within the policies that dictate general IT service delivery and management frameworks so as to support staff members while still avoiding the prospect of losing control.
Leaders should always consider bringing managers and even lower-level employees into meetings that involve discussions about security policies, as representation will tend to yield more accurate and wide-reaching insights. Additionally, constantly evaluating and refining policies related to IT security can work to ensure that the programs are relevant to the risks the organization faces.
Technology
With the people and processes components of the equation taken care of, decision-makers will need to ensure that they are protecting their IT assets with the required fortifications and tools. For example, when organizations do not have a large IT department staffed with seasoned professionals who know how to handle the full range of technologies involved, they should consider outsourcing certain aspects through the acquisition of secure cloud services.
Going a step further, email encryption and network monitoring tools will be vital to the consistent protection of information and mission-critical systems, and these investments will tend to be more than worth their weight in gold. The cost of a data breach is going up quickly, and the frequency with which firms are being struck by these events has skyrocketed in the past few years. Leveraging more advanced security technology can help to shore up defenses and patch what would otherwise be significant vulnerabilities in the IT chain.
March 2016
Print4Pay Hotel Receives 2015 Constant Contact All Star Award
Print4Pay Hotel Receives 2015 Constant Contact All Star Award
Recognized for achievements using online marketing tools to drive success
HIGHLANDS, NJ — 3/29/2016 – Print4Pay Hotel, a leading provider of web based information and collaboration for the Imaging Industry, has been named a 2015 All Star Award winner by Constant Contact®, Inc., the trusted marketing advisor to hundreds of thousands of small organizations worldwide. The annual award recognizes the most successful 10% of Constant Contact’s customer base, based on their significant achievements leveraging online marketing tools to engage their customer base and drive results for their organization.
Art Post stated “We’re happy to be recognized by Constant Contact for achieving strong marketing results and engaging with our peers. Constant Contact’s tools have helped us better manage member relationships, and member engagement with their peers in the Imaging Industry. We can only hope that this level of engagement helps all of our members to become more informed about our great industry.”
Small businesses and nonprofits using Constant Contact’s online marketing tools are eligible for this award. Criteria used to select this year’s All Stars included the following:
- Level of engagement with email campaigns
- Open, bounce, and click-through rates
- Use of social sharing features
- Use of mailing list sign-up tools
- Use of reporting tools
“At Constant Contact, we aim to help small businesses become marketers so they can do even more business. Our All Stars are leading the way, showing us the difference online marketing can make for a small business. It’s truly inspiring,” said John Orlando, chief marketing officer at Constant Contact. “We’re thrilled to recognize Print4Pay Hotel for their commendable achievements in 2015 with this All Star Award.”
About
The Print4Pay Hotel established in 2003, is a web site designed by Imaging Professionals for the benefit of our colleagues in the Imaging industry.
The Print4Pay HOTEL was envisioned as a means to satisfy our "Need for Knowledge". We have developed this site Imaging Specialist to share information and to find answers quickly on our forums.
The Print4Pay HOTEL is a place to store our knowledge, search our knowledge and to share inspirations, ideas and our passion for the Imaging industry. You will find that Print4Pay HOTEL members are some of the brightest and talented Imaging professionals in the industry.
Go ahead register for the forums and with the help of the Print4Pay Hotel you too will be among the elite in the Imaging industry.
Print4Pay Hotel Road Show Visits East Texas Copy Systems
I was starved after flying into Dallas at 11:30AM and then taking another flight to Tyler. The second flight was rather unique since I had never been in a jet that small!
Arriving in Tyler, Texas on Tuesday the 22nd, I was able to hook up with an old friend for dinner at Bodacious Bar-B-Q in Tyler, Texas. The brisket sandwich was awesome, they don't make 'em that tender in NJ!
I was fortunate to hook up with Rick Fedell with a referral from Mr. Paul Story from Ethos Technologies aka Blue Ridge Copiers. One of my best memories from my presentation from Ethos is the story that Mr. Story told me about the "pre" xeroxgraphy days.
One of Mr. Story's account was (I believe) the Texas Road Department, and at one of the departments he had placed 18 or 36 of these "copy cat" (I hope I remembered that name right) copiers. These systems were unique in that they took a picture of the document, the document then had to be hung on a strung line to dry. Thus, in the copy room there was an operator for each device and the lines hanging with documents. Mr. Story told the story so well, that I was able to picture all of those devices, the documents hanging from the line and all of the documents.
It was quite awesome re-telling this story to the sales team at East Texas Copy. In fact, there were some old timers who remembered Mr. Story from his days in Texas.
One of the first points that I try to get across to the team, is that I'm just like them. Even though I'm there giving a presentation, my day job is still selling copiers to SMB accounts. I'm up against the same day to day issues that they have from pricing, cold calling, finding pain, setting appointments, researching and closing the order.
When I arrived at East Texas Copy, I was immediately impressed with the size of the location and the awesome demo room! Everything is bigger and better in Texas right? East Texas Copy Systems is a reseller and service provider for Canon, Kyocera, Lexmark and Samsung. Dang, I only have one brand to sell and was jealous that the reps had so many brands and models to support their clients with the "right" device for the customers needs.
I was also impressed with the amount of tenure of the reps, there was at least 5 plus reps with more than twenty years experience. That's an excellent sign that they work for a great dealership.
The presentation went well, was a little slow at the start, however once we moved into the day to day activities of what I do to reach new clients it was a blast. I did some home work and picked out three accounts in Tyler, Texas that I thought I would like to sell to. We then focused in on how I would research those accounts, garner as much info as possible before making that first call.
All in all, I enjoyed meeting the entire sales team, and sharing what has worked for me over the last thirty six years in the imaging industry.
Special thanx to all who attended and allowed me to take up one of their "selling days"
-=Good Selling=-
Data Analytics Raises Health Care IT Security Concerns
Health care providers have been somewhat under the gun when it comes to the integrity, security and privacy of patient data for more than a decade now, while breaches have increased in prevalence and damage. The onus has been decisively placed on individual medical firms to begin making more progressive changes to their IT security and general data management strategies, but the entirety of the sector is increasingly expected to invest more time and resources into these endeavors.
Unfortunately, this has been in no way, shape or form a simple matter, as the complexity of technology has only intensified in the past few years, with a proverbial universe of new tools entering into the average medical organization rapidly. From enterprise mobility and telemedicine to the Internet of Things and beyond, healthcare providers have had to face a steep learning curve when it comes to modern technologies, all the while obliging various regulatory compliance demands.
Perhaps the most important matter in this discussion is the analytics component of the equation, as healthcare firms are rapidly looking to deploy more robust big data strategies to make more of the information they generate, store and collect. When the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act was passed in 2009, officials did point to the potential analytics applications that would become more feasible with the widespread adoption of electronic health record systems.
Now, more health care entities are fearful that big data programs in their sector will eventually lead to issues with privacy given how much information is involved. Healthcare providers will need to ensure that they are leveraging the right solutions, such as secure cloud services, to capitalize on the opportunities involved in advanced analytics while avoiding falling victim to the countless inherent risks.
What's the problem?
CIO Magazine recently asserted that the data sources involved in health care analytics strategies might be the most worrisome aspect of all, as so many new pools of information have been created in a relatively short period of time. According to the news provider, Internet-connected devices that fall into the Internet of Things, social media websites, credit score banks and other sources are increasingly viewed as potential generators of useful information in analytics programs.
Because of the sheer novelty involved in pulling information from these resources, privacy advocates are concerned about how such strategies will end up impacting the average patient, or consumer for that matter. CIO Magazine explained that while medical organizations' use of more wide-reaching analytics strategies might be troublesome, the fears therein do not hold a candle to those focused on major corporations following suit.
At the very least, companies that generate medical data will need to implement more effective controls and standards to ensure that the information does not fall into the wrong hands. More importantly, though, healthcare firms that are embarking upon more advanced analytics programs will need to keep a keen eye on security, privacy and compliance every step of the way to avoid being the source of a major breach.
Is big data common?
To be clear, health care analytics programs are far from being a rarity in the medical sector today, and they are expected to spread significantly through the end of this decade with respect to adoption rates and investment volumes. Research and Markets recently reported that the health care analytics industry is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 26.5 percent between 2015 and 2020 globally.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the analysts argued that these gains will be the direct product of a wealth of major pressure points in the medical sector, including the need to use EHR systems meaningfully, lower the cost of care and improve quality all at once. These catalysts are expected to take the medical analytics market from a global size of $5.8 billion in annual revenues this year to $18.7 billion by 2020.
One can only hope that health care providers will lean more heavily upon reliable security service providers in this time frame, as a failure to do so could quickly land hospitals and others in hot water with regulators, patients and others.
Are preparations being made?
EHR systems represent an important step for the American health care sector, which had lagged in the adoption of digitized patient record systems up until the passage of the HITECH Act. However, these technologies heightened the need for more progressive security programs, especially as the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act is still very much in action. Healthcare organizations should consider deploying proven security solutions to mitigate threats more proactively, including secure cloud, email encryption and data center services.
3 Ways Copier Sales Reps Can Use LinkedIn To Solve Sales Math Problems
I know what you are thinking, "What does math problems and sales have to do with each other?" How many times have you all heard the "Sales is a numbers game" cliche?
By incorporating simple sales math, copier sales reps can integrate LinkedIn to invigorate their sales funnels.
No need for a calculator to help solve my social business development math problems.
Allow me to ask a serious question to help set the stage. This may open up a "can of worms" with a vast majority of dealerships and their tenured copier sales reps.
How many net new business appointments versus current client appointments are your tenured sales reps going on per week?
Scoreboard says:
NET NEW: 0-2 CURRENT CLIENT: 5-8
Allow LinkedIn to Help Solve The First Math Problem
A copier sales rep manages 125 current accounts. Copier rep has 500 plus LinkedIn connections. Upon further inspection the tenured rep is only connected to 50 current people inside all of their current accounts.
If the tenured copier rep connects to 6 people inside their current accounts (decision maker & influencers) how many potential current clients can help them expand their net new business opportunities? Starting to visualize the potential impact?
125 current accounts x 6 people inside each account = 750
Hello there! These are 750 people who know, like and trust you my friends!
How many lost business relationships has the tenured copier rep missed out on?
Allow me to share... 750 people - the 50 they are already connected to yields the tenured copier rep a net loss of 700 relationships they could have cultivated to help grow their sales funnel.
Hello there people, time to remove the sales blinders and start socially connecting with your current clients. Hands downs, the single best source you have to help grow your business.
The right activity + enhancing the skill set + daily habits = Sales Success
Allow LinkedIn to Help Solve The Second Math Problem
Upon inspection, a tenured copier sales rep goes on 0-2 net new appointments per week along with 5-8 current client appointments per week but claims they have no time for anything else.
Further inspection has them delivering toner to clients who have run out, grabbing meter reads for billing, handling billing issues with the accounting department and pleading with the service department as to why their clients service issue is the most important.
Stop the madness, stop the excuses! Get your priorities in alignment! It is time to grow your business, it's your responsibility!
In my last post, 3 Ways Copier Reps are Nailing Net-New Quotas Using LinkedIn I spoke to how successful copier reps communicate. Successful copier reps can increase their exposure by cultivating, teaching and tailoring to their audience by engaging on the LinkedIn platform. On a daily basis they share, comment and like other people's status updates; a 365 day a year 7 day a week social business development party.
Here is an extra credit, socially advanced addition equation:
Capture + Converse + Collaborate + Connect + Convert = Sales Revenue
Let's say the tenured sales rep gets engaged in 5 new conversations per week via LinkedIn. This is one social conversation daily. There are 4 weeks in a month equating to 20 new conversations. Taking this over a year and this is 240 new conversations! Using a 10% conversion ratio to appointments and this means 24 new opportunities added to the sales funnel.
Relationships to revenue my friends. Just imagine the impact to your sales funnel with 24 new sales opportunities being funneled into the sales cycle.
The right activity + enhancing the skill set + daily habits = Sales Success
Allow LinkedIn to Help Solve The Third Math Problem
Follow me with this last one. This will blow your mind. This same tenured copier rep who handles 125 current accounts and connects to 6 people inside of their accounts has created 750 prospecting opportunities all around people who know, like and trust them.
Conservatively, let's say they isolate the key decision maker within 3 current accounts per week and mine their LinkedIn connections looking for 5 people they can be introduced to.
Taking this one step farther, the tenured copier rep sets up an account review where they can personally ask for the help.
1 single current account contact x 3 = 3 current client connections to mine
3 connections x 5 new people per connection = 15 new introductions per week
15 new introductions per week x 4 weeks in a month = 60 new prospects
60 new prospects per month x 12 months = 720 new prospects to build a relationship with based on a common connection.
At a miniscule 5% conversion ratio this equates to 36 new sales opportunities added to your sales funnel.
Attention to all copier sales reps... By asking for introductions from people who know, like and trust you; what could you do with 36 new sales opportunities?
Copier sales reps must focus on their unique value and target prospects which will have the greatest impact on their business and their quota! The answer lies right in front of them, their clients.
The best sales reps inside your dealership are your current clients. Start asking them to help grow your business.
Instead of playing the old school numbers game, identify where to focus your efforts to maximize your sales potential.
"Change your focus, Change your results"
Actually, there’s a new numbers game, it is called the LinkedIn Sales Growth Game; the smarter you work, the more strategic you work, the harder you work, the more money you make! Now this is a game I love to play! Let me introduce you to the ultimate sales game changer...
By integrating basic math skills along with leveraging their client base, tenured copier sales reps and managers can help solve their sales funnel dilemmas.
In conclusion, I encourage you all too socially connect with your current accounts. Isn't this a fantastic way to stay top of mind and relevant? If not, I am sure your competition will!
If you enjoyed please share your comments. Look forward to connecting and starting a conversation.
Check out more at the Social Sales Academy blog site.
Please enjoy my other posts on LinkedIn Publisher and on SlideShare
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 and coach copier sales professionals to grow net new business by helping them tell their story and communicate on LinkedIn. My commitment is to help independent office technology dealers thrive in a changing marketplace. You can follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter, as well as at the Social Sales Academy
Five Tips for Better Scanning of Documents with Your Copier
Right before I left for a trip to Texas, I received an order from a net new customer for the replacement of their old digital copier for a new digital copier.
When I opened the three page PDF, I noticed that the quality of the scan was poor, so poor in fact that it looked like the document had been faxed.
For those of us in the industry, we know that scanned documents, especially lease documents need to be readable. Poor quality scans will not be accepted by the leasing companies.
Thus, I thought I would post these tips of how to scan higher quality documents from the scanner with your copier.
1. Increase the resolution from the default of 200dpi to at least 300dpi. The higher resolution will result in a larger file size, but the document will be sharp, crisp and readable.
2. Check to make that the auto color scanning is enabled. This will enable the scanner to scan both black and color documents in a single scan.
3. If your document is two sided, enable the two-sided scanning option. Thus, you'll only have to scan the two sided document once.
4. Your copier may have an additional feature called "blank page detection", enabled blank page detection will automatically delete any and all blank pages. This is especially useful for two sided documents that may have a blank back side page at the beginning and end of the document.
5. Enable the OCR detection, this means that every word on every page is indexed. Thus, when you open the scanned .pdf document you'll be able to search that .pdf document for a certain word, phrase, number, etc.
More and more businesses are relying on scanning documents instead of copying them and saving paper based files. That's a good thing, however, many are not checking those documents for the quality of the document once they have been scanned.
Some copiers will allow you to preview the scanned pages before you scan the document to any location on your network. This one feature can save countless hours of re-scanning because the original documents were not scanned at a high enough resolution (dpi).
Do your homework, and ask questions from the rep, the reason for asking the rep is because many of these additional scanning features may not be on the manufacturers brochure, in addition they may not work they way you think they would work. Do the research and find a quality rep who knows their system inside and out.
-=Good Selling=-
3 Ways Copier Sales Reps are Nailing Net-New Quotas Using LinkedIn
In a previous post, I referenced how copier reps can boost their close rate by branding themselves correctly on LinkedIn.
Inside Hubspot's State of Inbound 2015, Salespeople cite prospecting as their #1 challenge when ranking the most difficult parts of the sales process.
We must make prospecting for NET NEW business a priority. This is the fuel to keep sales funnels consistent.
Think about this quote for a minute and let it sink in...
"Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don't recognize them.", Ann Landers
A consistent, systematic approach to prospecting for new business is a priority in order to maintain a healthy sales pipeline. Lack of prospecting may impact your wallet as some compensation plans now have net new business growth gates. Time to set aside your ego and the mentality of I am beyond prospecting or this is beneath me. For goodness sake you are salespeople. Part of your job is to prospect and grow your business.
Successful copier sales reps have made prospecting gratifying by making one simple tweak...
They have realized integrating LinkedIn and the power within their network has become mission critical to growing their business. Realizing their network is their net worth, successful copier reps turn on the hot water faucet to warm up their approach to prospecting.
3 Ways Copier Sales Reps are Nailing Net-New Quotas Using LinkedIn
They Leverage Current Clients
Successful copier reps capitalize on existing relationships. This means they connect 3, 4, 5 and sometimes 6 deep within their current accounts. What better way to grow your business by connecting with your clients as you now can be exposed to their network! Successful reps farm and assemble a first-rate list of potential clients. Switching the faucet from cold to hot these now become warm calls as opposed to cold calls as they ask their clients for an introduction. There’s no one better qualified than a happy client to introduce you to potential clients. These introductions are golden and a fantastic bridge to building relationships.
In this hyper-connected digital world, your network is your net worth. We are in an era where shifting business and cultural values along with advancements in technology enable sales reps to network in vastly improved, more focused; more enjoyable ways which are more aligned with our personalities and passions. LinkedIn has accelerated networking, reduced the degree of separation between connections, amplified our playing field, and redefined the sales prospecting process.
Copier sales reps who are nailing their net new quotes reinvest in their networks.
They Construct Target Lists
Successful copier reps integrate the Advanced People Search fields within LinkedIn to help them nail net new business.
Successful reps throw on their digital detective hats and create in-depth strategies to identify key prospects through effective targeting. They find out who within their network is connected to someone within their targeted accounts. Furthermore, they leverage their 1st degree connections to bridge introductions into their targeted accounts. The more 1st level connections you have the more success you will have searching.
Light bulb moment folks... This is why you connect with multiple people inside your current accounts.
Lets do some simple math...
A sales rep handles 100 current accounts. Sales rep connects to 5 people inside the account. 100 x 5 equates to 500 people inside their current accounts who know like and trust them. This opens up Pandora's Box of networking my friends.
Copier sales reps who are nailing their net new quotas understand how to leverage their network and mine their connections. They ask for help in growing their business. Start getting familiar with this term... Digital Referral Selling.
What happens when the M.I.F. (Machines in Field) well runs dry?
They Communicate
Successful copier sales reps add value to their relationships by sharing relevant industry information. They stay in front of their clients, prospects and audience by making daily status updates on LinkedIn.
Successful copier reps increase their exposure by cultivating, teaching and tailoring to their audience by engaging on the LinkedIn platform. On a daily basis they are sharing, commenting or liking other people's status updates.
They understand the importance of staying top of mind to their 1st level connections as well as fellow group members.
Communication on LinkedIn directly impacts all aspects of your sales funnel. Conversation and collaboration leads to conversion!
"If your content isn't driving conversation, you're doing it wrong", Daniel Roth
Lets do some simple math...
A sales rep gets engaged in 5 new conversations per week via LinkedIn. There are 4 weeks in a month equating to 20 new conversations. Taking this over a year and this is 240 new conversations! Using a 10% conversion ratio to appointments and this means 24 new opportunities added to the sales funnel.
Attention to all copier sales reps... What would it mean to your quota if you added 2 new opportunities every month to your sales pipeline?
Copier sales reps who are nailing their net new quotas understand how important gardening skills are to their new business growth. Please meet cultivate, teach and tailor.
What I have outlined for you are three simple ways to enhance your new business development efforts. Integrating the power behind LinkedIn will invigorate your sales funnel. This approach is intended to start conversations with qualified prospects.
This will work as part of a well-rounded prospecting strategy. It will work much better if you have a well optimized LinkedIn presence (see mine for an example) and you are actively creating content on LinkedIn that will be of interest to the people you are reaching out to.
In today’s business environment, people want to know who you are and what you are all about before they invest any time talking to you. If you are active on LinkedIn, curating content and blogging regularly, you make it pretty easy for your prospects and clients to see you as a thought leader.
"If you are looking to make meaningful personal and professional connections with people you don’t yet know you’ll need to develop a plan of action and some online navigation skills.", Laura Rubinstein
This is a great time to be a copier rep! Be social, build relationships and remember your gardening skills. Think of prospecting as social business development and watch what happens. To your future success!
If you enjoyed please share your comments. Look forward to connecting and starting a conversation.
Check out more at the Social Sales Academy blog site.
Please enjoy my other posts on LinkedIn Publisher and on SlideShare
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 and coach copier sales professionals to grow net new business by helping them tell their story and communicate on LinkedIn. My commitment is to help independent office technology dealers thrive in a changing marketplace. You can follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter, as well as at the Social Sales Academy
Why Selling Copiers is a lot like Fishing
On my recent vacation in Deerfield Beach, Florida, I had the chance to catch up on some fishing.
The day before I was going to fish, I thought I would check out the pier and see what types of rigs were being used, what was being caught, the type of bait they were using and possibly what was the best time to go fishing. I figured I would get an early start and made it to the pier by about 6AM.
The fishing pier was about a quarter mile long and was shaped as a T at the end. I noticed there were two types of fishing going on.
One group of anglers were armed with five or six fishing poles each. They were fishing for the REALLY big ones, Tarpon, Wahoo, Cobia and Barracuda.
The other group of anglers were armed with one fishing pole and fishing for the REALLY small ones, Grunts, Runners, Puffers and some other name I can't recall.
Our first group anglers the Really Big Ones would bait up all of the their poles, cast them out and then wait, and wait and wait some more. After being there for four hours, there was not one REALLY big fish caught by the REALLY BIG ONES, as a matter of fact they caught none! They were caught up in the waiting game.....and what's the old saying "winners make things happen and losers wait for things to happen".
Our second group of anglers the REALLY SMALL ONES were only using one pole each. However, this type of fishing seemed to best if you were there to catch fish. Once they lowered the lines they were getting hits and bringing fish in, no big fish, but never the less, they were bringing one and two pounders consistently. These guys were constantly changing their baits, cutting their baits and rail'in and pail'in fish! That's what they came for, heck they didn't even have the time to rest! That's fishing, working the bait, and spotting the fish.
Another Fishing Event
In a recent trip to upstate New York during Salmon season. You can travel the bank of the river and find 5 or 6 anglers wading in the river, making noise, and moving from slot to slot. These anglers are waiting on the fish, however, wading around, talking to your buddies does nothing more than to spook the fish. Alas, these are the anglers that go home with nothing.
The anglers that take the time to scout the river, move slowly, walk quietly and spot the fish, have a better chance of getting their reward.
That day, I traveled a small stream by myself, after 20 minutes or so of walking, I saw an area of the stream that pooled up ahead of me.
Knowing that there was a good chance their would be fish hanging in the pool, I moved slowly and quietly to the pool. Before stepping in the water I scouting the pool and noticed that there were about a half a dozen fish in that pool (some really big ones). I scouted the fish for about ten minutes and noticed a pattern of how those fish moved. One undercut bank to the next, each one of them would push another one out because there was not enough room in the two undercut banks for all of them.
Slowly, I entered the pool, and stood still for some time, just watching the pattern develop. I casted my sponge in between the two undercut banks and out in front of the first. I was hoping that fish would then hit the sponge when he exited the undercut bank. Well, he did and I ended up with a 22lb Coho Salmon. It was a wonderful day!
So, where's the meat in all of this? Well, the guys who fished hard and were willing to take the smaller fish were the guys who went home with fish. The guys who wanted the big ones, got nothing and went home with no fish.
Seems to me this is a lot like sales, you can be the sales person who only goes after the big ones or the salesperson who is willing to work harder and take the smaller ones. Day in and day out the salesperson who works hard and takes the smaller deals can out sell the sales person who waits on the big ones.
I've always stated that I may not be the best sales person nor the best closer, however what I will do is out work everyone else.
A friend of mine once said, "the hardier you work, the luckier you get"
-=Good Selling=-
This Week in the Copier/Office Equipment Industry 10 Years Ago The Fourth Week of March 2006
Savin CLP17 / Ricoh 2000 printer drums
Ricoh Aficio 240w/480w toner price!
Canon's New MF7280 Boasts Big Office
Konica 7812 Service Manual
New Seri VDP System from Ricoh
The New Océ TDS320 Print, Copy and Scan System—High Functionality in an Affordable So
Document Management Software Facilitates Sharing Across Locations
Re: 480W and "Hatch"?
Re: Konica 7812 Service Manual
Re: Pantone color Matching
Re: 2051 duplex copy from bypass?
Re: Job gets reset when it gets to the printer.
Re: Ricoh Aficio 240w - cheap toner cartriges - where?
Pantone color Matching
Scanning Solution Suits Small Workgroups
DocuShare CPX and DocuShare 5.0,
Document Communication Systems Suits Growing
Healthcare IT Security Onus Remains on Access Control
As major trends in corporate computing such as the Internet of Things, enterprise mobility, big data and telecommuting continue to intensify, security professionals have increasingly urged leaders to understand the importance of enhanced access control. Up until this point, simple passwords have been the most common means of authenticating users and allowing individuals to use and share sensitive corporate information through a range of platforms, websites and devices.
However, the effectiveness of passwords has been constantly called into question - and for good reason, as they are inefficient, easy to break and rarely managed properly by businesses or their staff members. Password dumps have taken place with some regularity, in which hackers break into databases that store the access-related information and sell it to the highest bidder on the black market, allowing this bidder to intrude on corporate systems shortly thereafter.
The IT security conversation is no doubt complex, transcending just one topic such as passwords, but the most transformative trends have indeed forced the issue on business leaders. In health care, more advanced and progressive approaches to access management and control need to be released soon, as telemedicine, mobility, electronic health record systems and other common initiatives will present immense complexities when antiquated authentication procedures are still in place.
Access the right way
Healthcare IT News recently reported that the mass digitization of patient information has directly provoked a more ominous security situation among medical firms, and one that has not appeared to be handled properly quite yet. EHR systems, as well as the advanced technologies that are interacting with these databases, are still commonly protected by passwords and very little else, leading to a wealth of problems in practice for those staff members tasked with maintaining adequate protection.
According to the news provider, hospitals and other health care organizations do not need to necessary throw out their password programs and standards, but do have to come up with additional fortifications that will provide more consistent and sustainable protection against breach. Authentication tools, including those that leverage biometrics to manage access, can be highly effective, and often present more efficient alternatives to traditional controls, for example.
The source pointed out that federal regulators and law enforcement officials have started to up the ante when it comes to patient data protection, which means that a failure to better protect systems can quickly yield fines and other penalties for health care firms. Healthcare IT News argued that multi-factor authentication might represent the best path forward for this industry, as this approach tends to be far more effective than simple passwords, and can be used in a supplementary fashion alongside current controls.
Other fortifications of note
The very same trends and challenges that have placed the onus on access management and identity control have direct implications for general IT security as well. For example, the spread of the IoT and enterprise mobility is making it clear that companies need agile, modernized infrastructure to make information accessible for a wider range of users without defying the standards of regulatory compliance.
In this situation, a secure cloud might be the best option for a medical firm to have its cake and eat it too, as the technology will yield more fluid access capabilities to stored information while being managed by a team of experienced professionals. Similarly, leveragingemail encryption tools can work to ensure that the data contained within this popular communication medium can only be seen by validated and authenticated users.
At the end of the day, health care providers and businesses ought to be focused on comprehensively modernizing their approaches to security as soon as possible.
This Week in the Copier/Office Equipment Industry 10 Years Ago The Third Week of March 2006
It was Monday, under the sign of Pisces. The US president was George W. Bush (Republican). In that special week of March people in US were listening to So Sick by Ne-Yo. In UK It's Chico Time by Chico was in the top 5 hits. Inside Man, directed by Spike Lee, was one of the most viewed movies released in 2006 while Micah by Laurell K. Hamilton was one of the best selling books. But much more happened that day: find out below.. March 2006
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How to Add More Selling Days Without Really Trying
Some dealerships or direct branches will close on the calendar end of the month. Others will close the month early so their "bean counters" can get a better handle of closing all of the sales by the end of the calendar month.
Some months have more selling days and some less, your job is to get a handle on how many days you have each month to attain your quota. On average we had 22 days per month, however there are months when we have double holidays, weather events and or personal events that decrease the number of days we have available each month.
Believe it or Not!
It's Saturday morning, it's cold, rainy, windy and just a miserable day, can't do anything outside, there's nothing to do inside, what's a self motivated sales person to do? Go to your CRM and dig out those 20 or 30 accounts that you've never been able to get a hold of Mr. or Mrs. Right, dial them up (yes on Saturday), you may be surprised that you'll get through to Mr. or Mrs. Right because they were thinking the same thing about the miserable Saturday but they choose to go to the office to get some additional work done! This is not BS, I've done this from time to time. Another avenue is if you contact the DM during the week and you can't come to terms with scheduling an appointment during the week, as them if they are in on Saturdays. If you ever get a Saturday appointment these are the best, because the DM is not rushed (and neither are you), they appreciate your effort to work on a day off.
Go figure, if you lose two selling days per month due to desire, sickness, vacation, holiday or goofing off, you will lose one month of selling days for the year. Can we really afford this?
-=Good Selling=-
3 Ways Copier Sales Reps Boost Their Close Rate by Branding Correctly on LinkedIn
As copier reps, it is imperative to continue to nourish, maintain and grow your existing client base. What has become challenging is grabbing net new business.
Net new business fuels the growth of your dealership!
As copier reps, there is a new currency and we call this trust and value. We must adapt and adopt to integrating the use of social media to create major branding and marketing opportunities to build trusted networks. In the business community, people "believe" when your friends tell them about your services thus they are more likely to buy from you as opposed to listening to your copier sales pitch.
Build your brand, build your network, build your business and watch it grow!
As a copier sales rep it's more important than ever to learn how to brand yourself online. Why you may ask... Over 1 billion names are Googled every day so unless you have lived in a cave or crawled out from underneath a rock, you've been Googled. It is what people find or don't find out about you online which affects their decision to do business with you.
Please don't kid yourself; in this day and interconnected age, the first thing anyone is going to do when you catch their interest is run a Google search on you.
Word to copier sales reps, if you don't believe me, then I encourage you to think real hard and ask yourself just what your prospects or clients will find if they search for you on Google.
Why is this important? You are front and center, the face of your respective dealership.
"Branding is not just about being seen as better than the competition. It's about being seen as the only solution to your audience's problem", John Morgan
Understanding how to brand yourself as a copier sales rep begins with uncovering your personal brand. Your personal brand is not a tagline or something you take for granted. It's a combination of your interests, beliefs, aspirations, values, talents and skills, along with numerous personal characteristics.
Uncovering your personal brand is mission critical. Personal branding is not a theater act or a show you put on for your prospects or clients. Your personal brand is you to the very core. The qualities and characteristics which comprise your personal brand are unmistakable. If I were to ask members of your family or your current clients how they would describe you, I am sure they would describe you by using a few specific words.
This may help you in gaining an understanding of where I am coming from. I encourage you to consider these questions, reflect on them and take your time in responding to them.
When thinking about the work you do, what words do your clients, peers or managers consistently use to describe you and your work?
What are at least 4 things you wish every person you were meeting for the first time either in business or personally knew about you?
Understanding who you are is your launching pad and how this relates to a successful new prospect close rate by integrating LinkedIn into your daily business development routine is critical.
A vast majority of your clients and prospects are already engaged on the LinkedIn platform. This is where you want to socially hang out in managing your professional reputation. With fierce competition for market share inside the office equipment space, how do you grab and close for the attention of C-level executives?
The single best way to raise your visibility amongst your competition is to have a knockout profile by creating a cohesive, compelling brand for yourself on LinkedIn. Your LinkedIn profile maybe your first, and can be your last chance to make a positive impression online. I stress, your first impression may not be face to face but rather a digital handshake.
This all points back to branding. You’re communicating a unique promise of value separating you from your competition which is different than everyone else out there.
Copier reps, I encourage you from this day forward to create the mindset and rethink your approach to incorporating LinkedIn to help you close more business. Think of LinkedIn as a digital sales presentation on your behalf, a personal representation of you, your digital business card, an educational brochure of you, your personal mission statement, voices from satisfied clients, a mini web-site all designed to digitally say hello to your prospects and clients.
Having a complete, compelling profile is a great way to control what others see when they search for you online. A well-rounded LinkedIn profile brings your personal brand to the marketplace to parallel your business brand.
I challenge and encourage all copier reps... Create a rock-solid LinkedIn profile, maximize all the real estate you can ensuring you present yourself to the business community true to yourself then promote the hell out of yourself on LinkedIn.
These 3 areas of your LinkedIn profile can enhance your brand and boost your close rate in engaging with net new prospects on LinkedIn
Area 1 - Headline
Your headline stands as one of the most important elements to your LinkedIn profile. This is your crowning moment to make a positive first impression to entice your prospects to want to know more.
What usually happens... sales reps are enamored with their title so they broadcast it immediately to the business community within their headline...
"Hey there here I am Mr. or Mrs. Prospect, I am an Account Executive or better yet Senior Sales Executive... Do you think your prospects really care?"
Close opportunity 1... Use your headline to introduce your professional story drawing in your reader to want to know more.
Use your headline statement to promote how you can help solve business problems or challenges for your prospects. Does your current headline promote the value you bring to your prospects? If not, then think in one 120 character sentence what you do for your clients.
Provide to your prospects a value centric reason why they should get to know you. Describe by integrating how you can help them. I have provided you an example...
"Helping businesses achieve results and contain costs with improved process management"
Area 2 - Summary
With a value centric headline you now want to lead your reader right into your summary.
This is your opportunity to bring you to life. This is your opportunity to closely align yourself with your prospects. Biggest way to create disconnect with your prospects, use this section to promote all of your sales accolades. It is not about you it is about your prospects.
Integrate your summary by stating the value you can bring to their business. Think of the W’s. What you do, what makes you different, why you do what you do, what is your promise of value and how you can address the challenges businesses face in today’s market.
Close opportunity 2... Use your summary to speak the language your prospects speak and understand as you will create immediate alignment. An example, if you call on CFO's then Google search CFO initiatives for 2016. Learn their concerns and further more learn their language.
Area 3 - Experience
A well written summary creates alignment with your prospect. A well-crafted experience section reinforces your professional value while providing a clear idea of what they can expect from you if they become a client.
Ask yourself this question, "Does my experience promote added value and differentiation?" If the answer is no, then give thought to promoting how you serve your clients and what do you do within your role that makes you different?
Remember you are helping your prospects solve their business problems and challenges.
Close Opportunity 3... Remove your prospects doubts and fears by promoting how you enhance your clients experience in working with you. Share with them what they can expect if they become a client of yours.
Incorporating these ideas and making a commitment to become social new business developers; your sales funnel, your sales manager and your wallet with love you for it.
Attention to all Copier Dealer Principal's, V.P. of Sales and Sales Managers... your sales team and their LinkedIn profiles do matter
I encourage you all to think about these three things:
- Sales is changing every day and we need to adapt
- Your digital first impression has become a big deal
- LinkedIn is where people go when they want to learn more about you
This is a great time to be a copier rep! Be Social. Build relationships and watch what happens. To your future success!
If you enjoyed please share your comments. Look forward to connecting and starting a conversation.
Check out more at the Social Sales Academy blog site.
Please enjoy my other posts on LinkedIn Publisher and on SlideShare
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 and coach copier sales professionals to grow net new business by helping them tell their story and communicate on LinkedIn. My commitment is to help independent office technology dealers thrive in a changing marketplace. You can follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter, as well as at the Social Sales Academy
How Much Do I Insure My Leased Copier For?
How much do I insure my leased copier for? Was a discussion I had with one of the sales rep in our office yesterday.
From time to time, we will field calls from the clients asking how much to insure the leased copier for. The client then needs to submit that information to their insurance agent in order to produce a rider for the leasing company.
Let me back up a moment. When a copier is leased, whether it's a dollar buy-out option or Fair Market Value, all of the leasing companies require insurance on their property in case of catastrophic loss. The client can either purchase the insurance from the leasing company and pay the monthly fee or call their insurance agent and have a rider for that copier with listing the leasing company listed as the loss payee.
Our discussion centered more about insurance with Fair Market Value (FMV) lease. We ran through a few options.
- Do you tell the client the invoiced price to the leasing company? or
- Do you tell the client that the amount is the stream of payments for the total dollar amount with the lease, "e.g." payments of $200 per month for 60 months equals $12,000? or
- Do you tell the client that the amount is the stream of payments (above) and the FMV purchase price?
After debate, we both agreed that none of the above options are the correct answers to give to the client. The right course of action would be to call the leasing company and get a quote that includes the stream of payments along with the FMV purchase option. Then deliver that document to the client.
Fire
In the last few years, I had the opportunity to help a client with a catastrophic loss due to fire. In that case the leasing company calculated the stream of payments along with the Fair Market Value purchase option.
Super Storm Sandy
When Super Storm Sandy struck here in NJ, we had a few claims due to copiers that went under water. Now, here's something we found after the storm in reference the leasing companies insurance offer.
The leasing companies insurance policy will cover flood damage.
With two other storm losses where the client had submitted a rider to the leasing company from their Business Policy, there was no protection for floods. This may vary from insurance company to insurance company. Thus, a lesson was learned.
In both cases the clients were able to claim the losses with FEMA.
Thus, even though the leasing companies insurance may cost a few more dollars, it's our belief that this is the best course of action when leasing a copier. If you're a rep reading this, we hope that you are having that insurance discussion with every client. If you're the lessee reading this for research we highly recommend using the insurance services of the lessor.
-=Good Selling=-
PRINTANALYZE and PERISCOPE
How to have your showroom in your pocket. Perform an unplanned presentation/demo
Periscope is a live video streaming free app for iOS and Android.
Their motto: Explore the world through someone else's eyes.
You can really see live what others are shooting in the world.
Broadcasting can be public or private.
PrintAnalyze is cloud software designed to help the salesman in the Imaging business.
The spark came from Art Post’s blog.
Yes, of course, the idea would be to present something that remained at office, probably in the showroom, to a prospect.
Let’s imagine there is a camera/smartphone in the Dealer’s showroom.
This camera/smartphone is on a kind of mount and broadcasts all day long a film of the showroom.
This camera/smartphone is on Periscope, but in a private session.
So this camera is ready to present something.
When required, the salesman logs in Periscope and joins the private session.
At this point, obviously, the salesman needs the help of someone at the showroom to use the camera/smartphone and show precisely what the salesman wants to present.
Of course the salesman can phone to #1 techie or assistant.
If not available, phone to #2 person.
And #3…
There, I imagine something more quick, less disturbing and more in the mood of technology: on the PrintAnalyze screen , you have an extra icon. Tap it and information is directly sent to the 3 people in question. (Text? eMail?)
A quick thing that would mean: one of you three, please go to the showroom, demo or presentation required…
So the salesman doesn’t lose time on trying to join someone.
Periscope and PrintAnalyze are in the same state of mind: the name ‘smartphone’ was not well chosen.
A smartphone is not just a telephone that’s less stupid as another one.
That’s a computer and a communication device.