October 2019

If you've been selling wide format MFP's for some time I think you'll agree that the manufacturers have been slow on refreshing most models from most manufacturers.   Aside from KIP with the recent introduction of the KIP 600 toner based color wide format MFP (multi-functional product), the others are just regurgitating the same tired outdated wide formats for the AEC (architect, engineers and construction) market.

Five plus years is a long time to wait for a refresh of an existing model or something completely new.  Over the years I've had this talk track with many within the wide format community and the same question arises from every conversation. "What else can be added to wide format MFP's?"

Document Feeders

Is it really that hard to design a 10 page document feeder? I don't think so because it should be rather easy.  Yes,  you would need a larger area to stack the originals for feeding. But it could be designed in a way that it would fold away when not needed. The next question becomes where do the scanned originals stack?  That's easy and Ricoh is already doing it with the MP W6700. I kind of like the idea of not stacking the originals as they are scanned but rather to have them exit and then rolled. I'm pretty sure Ricoh had something like this years ago.  Clients are asking for document feeders in wide format, the reason most of us don't hear and because we're not asking the question.  What a tremendous advantage for the manufacturer that designs one first!

12x18 or 11x17 Paper Trays

With the previous models of Ricoh wide formats there was the ability to add a cut sheet paper tray. That paper tray was capable of holding letter, legal, tabloid and 12x18 (half size of 24x36).  Many clients would take advantage of this feature for printing check plots.  On some of the higher end toner based wide formats some of the manufacturers offer cut sheet trays.  But on most of the low end wide formats the cut sheet paper tray is not offered.  I think a cut sheet paper tray should be offered on both low end and high end.  Seems to me that the manufacturers are making what they want and not what the clients need.

Original Document Exit Trays

I touched on this with the section under Document Feeder.  Whether it's a flat stack or a roll stack device document stacking needs to be an option on all devices (toner and ink).  It's archaic that clients still need to feed one document at a time isn't it?

Print Stackers

And not the type where the print falls into a cloth basket.  My goodness is our industry that cheap that we can't figure out a better system?  I know of one manufacturers  has a standard exit print stacker and I cringe every time I have to sell against it.  Thank goodness that device is at the low end of the market. Which makes my point, if it's possible to design for a low end ink based wide format why oh why can't it be offered on all devices!

Tameran is no longer offering document exit stackers for wide format MFP's. I would tend to think that the manufacturers need to step up their game.

Toner Based Color Wide Format

Here's the next holy grail for wide format.  Bring to market a toner based MFP that will have an MSRP of $22K.  Thus with the $22K we know where the dealer cost will be.  More and more clients want to print color in wide format. What the clients don't like is to have two devices (color and black), clients also don't want to pay the high price of color ink.  Coming to market with a toner based wide format will at $22K will eliminate many of the existing color plotters in the field.  Reps will be able to cost justify the sale of toner based color wide formats  on the supply and maintenance costs.

In the end, I feel like 4-5 years is way to long to wait for a new model.  In some cases we as sales people have no upgrade path for the client at the end of a five lease.

All I can hope for is that just maybe this blog will open some eyes and manufacturers will give the clients the features and the price points that will help.

-=Good Selling=

Today's Over Confidence in Yesterday's Performance Can Empty the Chairs at Tomorrow's Play.  

Does the Imaging Channel have too much confidence in yesterday's relevance? A diminishing relevance either in a businesses' deliverable or a theatrical performance will lose its audience. It's Relevance, which fills seats.

Today some of the Imaging Channel's actors have done an excellent job memorizing their lines in a play written 50 years ago. OK, the script has been updated, been modified, and at times has even added new scenes to inject a new relevance. However, today, the audience's appeal to the foundational merits of the play are rapidly diminishing and many of its actors don't understand the importance of improvisation.

"A play or a business will empty their seats if they ignore their audience."

It's the critics who start the conversations the actors, producers, and directors could not bring themselves to start and some even block their ears to silence criticism directions for improvements. So, during declining audiences either in business or plays, it's the critics who will spark needed improvements. However, It's the play's writers, directors and actors which must be in sync with their audience to continuously sell-out the seats. When organizations fight to remain as they were over fighting for relevance, will all ways lose to progress.  

Both plays and businesses must come to the realization it's time to close the curtain on yesterday's performance even if that performance was award winning. Breaking new box office records takes an ability put in check the records or awards of the past.

"Your past and current successes can cause hallucinations when visualizing plans for the future."

When the Play's Curtin opens, the audience will decide when to clap, when to laugh, and when to cry. The emotions of an audience determine the Play's Relevance. In business, it's the emotions of your external customers, which must direct you over the emotions of your internal customers. As audiences grow, the cast and crew are happy and content and will fight all that is threatening to that happiness.

So, be cautious! As ticket sales begin falling, the pressures on the cast will cause many to fight for the comfort of yesterday's complacency, instead of fighting for tomorrow's upcoming relevance. When weakness meets pressure, weakness will always fight for complacency over the pain associated with a continuous relevance.

"It's time to keep the curtain closed when your encore is more for you than your audience." 

The play called the Imaging Channel needs some new directors, new play-writers, new actors, and even its stage needs a remodeling. Otherwise, one day, the curtain will rise, and from the stage, the actors will see empty seats. As the play's audience evolves, so must the play. Remember, a business's stage will only have prosperous actors if the audience continues buying tickets.

"Status Quo is the killer of all that will be invented."

Ray Stasieczko

I look forward to speaking at the Remax Summit in Zhuhai China on Oct 18th https://www.rtmworld.com/event...axworld-summit-2019/  and again at BTA West Capture the Magic November 4th 5th http://www.bta.org/BTACoronado

Send invite if you wish to connect here on Linkedin

Did you know that we have questions, comments, sales tips, sales advise, copier quotes and proposal that go back 16 years?  Yup, more than 100K in threads stored for your enjoyment on the Print4Pay Hotel!  Enjoy!

Enjoy these awesome threads from 15 years ago this week!

Member

trc

Member

Chuck

Reply

Re: Leads in Florida

Boston Mike · 10/10/046:07 PM

PowerLinx, Inc. (formerly SeaView Video Technology, Inc.) http://www.power-linx.com OTCBBWLX WHAT IT DOES It designs, manufactures and markets powerline communication products that transmit video, audio, voice and data. (number of employees: 13) EVENT 09-28-2004--$3.18 million in a private placement OPPORTUNITIES company expected to make purchases to support... - product and technical support - expanding internal and external sales force - launching and marketing new home monitoring product

For the next couple of weeks I'll be posting a picture of how many visitors we've had on the site at one time.  All of this activity is from the last 30 days. I can't thank everyone enough for their support and making the Print4Pay Hotel a special place for Imaging (copiers) & IT Professionals!

Enjoy these awesome threads from 10 years ago this week!

Member

livestrong

Some of my favorite quotes for sales:

"The harder you work the luckier you get"

"Luck is for rabbits"

"As long as you work hard, you never what the tomorrows will bring you"

"The thought of the cheapest price is long forgotten after poor service"

"If it sounds too good to be true it usually is"

"You cant see both sides of the coin without looking at the edges"

Enjoy these awesome threads from 5 years ago this week, especially the one from the "ghost"

If you're reading this blog series for the first time you'll notice one of these icons .

Clicking that icon will take you the collection of blogs that we've posted with our amazing industry veterans who were selling copiers in the seventies.  I believe its important that we not only post these blogs but to also have them archived for our industry.

Rich Sissen is President and Owner of Sissen and Associates.  We met via email and had a couple of phone conversations about our early copiers days.  Rich also told me about his current business which organizations recruit and select quality people.

Selling Copiers in the Seventies with Rich Sissen

• How did you find your way into the copier industry? 

I was looking for experience in sales. I took a sales position with Apeco. Was only going to stay the summer and go back to college. Worked for Apeco for eight years.

• What company or manufacturer did you start with, what was your title and what year did you start?

Started July 1971 Apeco [American Photocopier Equipment Company]. As a rookie went 90 days with out a sale and sold four units in one day.

• If you worked for a dealer please tell us what brands you sold and what was your favorite model top sell and why that was your favorite.

Never work for a dealer but was a Sharp dealer form 1978 till 1995

• What was the percentage of copier sales people that made it past two years and what made them last or not last so long?

 For Apeco zero, if you made it that long you were a sales manager. When I started my dealership, I too had zero but in 1983 I hired a consultant, [Mike Riordan ] and we reduced our turn over to less than 20% in that two year time period. Poor selection process and training big failures in turn overs.

• What did you like the most about your job in the eighties?

   Lots of stuff going on in the industry. Lots of National meetings, vendors trips and good money.

• What did you dislike the most about your job in the eighties?

 The vendors were terrible to work with!!!!!

• What was the compensation plan like, was there a salary, what is just commissions or was there a mix of salary and commissions?

Salary plus commissions and car allowance. Commissions percentage 10% to 20%. Salary $2000.00 to $3000.00

• How did you go about finding new business, and what was your favorite of those methods and why?

 Cold calls, 20 per day

• What was the first sales book that you read that and what did you take away from it?

    Can remember any book.

• What type of car did you use for your demonstrations and how many demonstrations would you perform in a week demonstration?

Ford Station wagon. Goal was 10 demos per week. Seldom hit the goal.

I started selling “Coated paper liquid copier” and we carried in our wagons. Had to take the liquid out for  moving, lots of ruined suits!!!!

• Can you tell us a couple of funny story about selling copiers in the seventies?  

We sold the Apeco 288. It was a liquid coated paper roll copier. We call it the “Jam o meter”. When jam on a demo, this happen often, you told the prospect. “ I am glad that happen, now I can show you how easy a jam is to clear.

• What is the biggest problem you seeing facing the industry today?

Always looking for a new pricing scheme. ER: “cost per copy”, “MPS” and know “no meter service contracts”.

Another problem is that you can sell yourself out of problems [cash flow] and another is you can sell yourself out of troubles.

• If you had to would you do it all over again, if so what would you change?

Yes the copier industry has been to me.  At dealer level better selection process and training.

• What’s the one piece of knowledge that you’d like to share with new reps entering our industry?

Three  pieces of knowledge to rookies, Activity, Activity and more Activity.

Rich thank you or this!  Please feel free to connect with Rich Sissen through his Linkedin page and tell him that you read Selling Copiers in the Seventies with Ricoh Sissen!

-=Good Selling=-

“Investing in yourself is the best investment you will ever make. It will not only improve your life, it will improve the lives of all those around you.”

Robin Sharma

I'm here to tell you... investing in yourself is one of the greatest examples of self-care. Quite frankly, it may very well be the most profitable investment you'll ever make.

Are you bold enough to take the steps necessary to improve your sales performance? If you do, your sales universe will respond by granting you some freaking amazing results.

Simple but ever so complicated for many, it's the effort you put into consistently investing in yourself that will play a large role in determining the quality of your sales life.

YOU are the most important thing you can place your time and money on.

Studies after studies after studies of successful salespeople prove time and again that they simply have the self-discipline to do the things unsuccessful salespeople are not willing to do. This doesn’t mean they enjoy doing these things any more than you but instead of procrastinating or making excuses they take massive action, ARE YOU?

The cream of the crop, the top sales professionals in every industry have one trait that the salespeople who struggle just to make quota don’t. They simply have self-discipline. They do the hard things that quite frankly many in sales fail to do.

Are you developing yourself personally and professionally?

You must give to yourself first before you can give to others. I believe in my heart it's your responsibility to take the time to develop your sales gifts and talents, in order for you to best serve others (your clients).

You must love yourself first before you can love your clients.

PRIORITIZE YOU

It's so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of life. We immerse ourselves in our work and personal lives that many fail miserably at finding time for themselves.

I'm a frequent flyer and during safety demonstrations, flight attendants instruct passengers that in case of an emergency an oxygen mask will drop down. If you're traveling with children or adults that need your assistance, you must put on your oxygen mask first before tending to them.

Why? If you aren't breathing it becomes next to impossible to help anyone else.

You must put your oxygen mask on first and then serve your way to sales success.

Taking care of everyone else first and giving more importance to your work rat-race, ignoring the importance of you is a recipe for long term sales disaster.

THE MOST IMPORTANT APPOINTMENT

Set aside the images in the back of your head as your sales manager is hammering on you for more sales appointments. The single biggest appointment, the one you may be forgetting to add to your schedule is staring at you as you look in the mirror.

Question becomes... Are you bold enough?

Make an appointment with YOURSELF!

This may sound a bit odd and you may be saying to yourself, "This is a bit weird" but it's the most important appointment you’ll ever make! Remember, you are just as important as everyone else in your life.

Right now, I want you to acknowledge that you are important and start making appointments with YOU! Mark it on your calendar. Every day, mentally phone yourself first thing in the morning. There's no gatekeeper except the mental one!

Set the mental timer daily and when that time comes, don't miss it!

• Set an appointment with yourself to read for 15 minutes
• Set an appointment with yourself to exercise
• Set an appointment with yourself to write thank you notes to your friends, people who mean a lot to you and more importantly your clients
• Set an appointment with yourself to uncover what you could be doing better

"If you don't care of yourself then how can you take care your clients?"

STOP MAKING EXCUSES AND INVEST

Living a sales life full of excuses and finger pointing will have long lasting and unhealthy consequences. Excuses prevent you from reaching your full potential and what's sad for many, is most know it.

If you continue down the sales path you're on and you fail to challenge yourself to reach new heights, then how will ever know what you’re truly capable of.

There are new sales opportunities hidden around every corner. What's sad and unfortunate is you'll never find them if you fill your mind with B.S. and an ever-ending list of excuses.

Those who consistently make excuses, fill themselves with:

• Paranoia which deprives them from taking action
• Regret as they play the "what-if" mental game

Are you making excuses?

Are you settling?

SALES PROFESSIONALS INVEST

Today's sales world is more competitive than ever. Look no further than to professional sports. How hard is it to repeat as champions? It's extremely difficult as other teams raise their game to compete in order to take down the champions.

Are you starting to get what I'm cooking? You must stand out from the competition now more than ever as a sales professional. One of the most effective ways to make that happen is to invest in yourself and your career.

Sales professionals first commit to themselves

Will you consider making the investment? I would like for you to think about what this could mean to your sales career today, tomorrow and into the future.

Impact Areas:

• Income Potential - By enhancing your professional skills this could translate to higher pay and commissions.
• Job Growth - Making an investment and gaining expertise allows you the opportunity to move into more advanced sales roles.
• Job Knowledge – Always be learning. This allows you to stay on the forefront within your industry. Learning new techniques can have immediate impact to your career.
• Leading Others – An investment in you may even help you transition into a leadership role. Think of the impact you could have on others as you inspire those around you to reach for higher goals.

"If you want to invest in something with minimum risk and a guaranteed big return, invest in yourself"

Investing in yourself packs a powerful punch!

It allows you to become the best version of yourself. As you invest in yourself watch out for the opportunities that come your way and the people who start turning to you.

This one sales appointment you must not procrastinate in making!

Success isn't a light switch. Success starts with changing your mindset. Invest in your mind.

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! It's about understanding value before visibility.

Selling From the Heart is making a difference! I poured my heart into every page of this book and I think you're going to love it. You can find it on Amazon in paperback and Kindle. You can click on the book image below and this will take you to Amazon.

You can find more material inside Selling From The Heart.

In a world full of empty suits, I'm passionate about helping sales reps succeed by getting valuable before they get visible. I help sales teams understand the true value they bring to the market. 

I appreciate getting the opportunity to share my stories. Integrating the use of social and sharing my story on LinkedIn was my “game-changer” in the highly competitive office technology world. With great pride I transform, challenge, coach and inspire sales teams to grow new business by helping them share their story and how they communicate it out by integrating the use of social inside the sales process. You can follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter and on my podcast by clicking on Selling from the Heart.