March 2019

Back in January of this year my wife asked me what I wanted for my Birthday which is Feb 7th (if anyone would like to send me a card or a gift) . I thought about many things and finally stated, "hey why don't you get me one of those Ancestry.com DNA tests?" My wife looked at me and with that look she gives me and said "really"?", "yes that's what I want" and with a nod of the head I knew that's what was coming for my birthday.

I wanted the ancestry.com because I was living in a foster home with my twin brother until we were three years old. I can still remember certain events from that age. What I remember the most is the time we were hustled in the car, driven down the NJ Turnpike and delivered to our new adopted parents.  I believed we asked, where we're going and was told that we're going to our new home.  My wife finds it hard to believe that I remember events from when I was three years old, I guess with an event like that it stays with you forever.

Thanks to God, we had wonderful, loving and supporting parents. God be good to the two of them (they passed many years ago), they were and still are my Mom & Dad.

Almost twenty years ago my twin bother passed away. Since that time, well let's say that I've felt alone in the world because I'm the only one left with my bloodline.  Sounds kinda crazy right.

Anyway back to the Ancestry test, I wanted that because I needed to know my ethnic background after 62 years> I was tired of thinking of myself as a basket baby and needed to know something about me.

A little over a year ago I was able to get my original birth certificate from the State of New Jersey. For years and years those records would not be released to adoptees.  However all of that changed and if you filled out a form and gave the state twenty-five bucks you could get one.  Mind you, that birth certificate could be redacted if the birth parents requested it.

I think it was eight months later that I received documents from the State, low and behold there were no redactions. Ya! I finally knew my birth name, first and last. My last name was Conti and my first name was "baby A". WTF!, "baby A", was that some kind of joke?  After a minutes of thinking, yeah that's probably right because the parents knew they were putting both of us up for adoption and my twin brother was probably "baby B". But I had something,  I had the names of my parents (first, and last) and also their age and birth locations.  However those data points has led me to dead ends trying to find out more about them. It was so exhausting that I just gave up.

Right, right, back to the Ancestry DNA. My wife had a small bet that I'm Italian, and I begged to differ and told her. "betcha it comes back as French".  After 5 weeks of waiting, checking the app, and waiting, I was notified my results were in!

Woohoo, the day has come. I was not shocked that my DNA showed 67% for Northern Italy, nor the 10% England, Wales, 7% French, 7% German, but how the heck did I get 1% Middle East?

Hey, I was happy, I finally knew my ethnicity. But there was a shocker with this news. My DNA test matched someone else, in fact it was so close that Ancestry labeled that person as an immediate family member. A grandparent, a sister or a brother. I knew grandparents there was no fraking way, but a sister or a brother are you for real?

Ancestry listed that person (to connect, kinda like and inmail with Linkedin) and it seems I have another Brother out in the world. In fact that brother is alive and well and living in the SouthWest USA. The name was there and a button to connect with that person through Ancestry. Yeah, I was floored, and I was hesitant at first. First thing I did was a google search with images and the first thing I see is a guy that does have a resemblance that has a full head of gray hair. Dang, I got a full head of hair also, but it's not all gray yet.

Thus, I clicked the connect button, shot off a short message with names of my birth parents.  Six or seven hours go by and I get a message back and he mentions that he too was adopted, lived in NJ, and mentioned some data points that he knew.  It wasn't long before we were sending messages. I checked out his facebook page and my wife and I were floored with the resemblance of the photo's. There was no doubt that he is my Brother.

He was just as shocked as I was, even his wife remarked about how much we looked alike. Dang, my twin brother and I looked almost nothing alike.

We've since chatted on the phone, exchanged some stories and data. On April 22nd I'm going to ITEX in Las Vegas, my brother lives in Phoenix, Arizona and will be making the drive to Vegas while I'm there. We'll meet and spend some time together. But above all he's not alone in this world anymore!  I guess making the decision to go to ITEX was a good one. My wife always tells me that things happen for a reason.

See you never know what the tomorrows will bring you!

-=Good Selling=-

I wrote and addition 3 blogs on this topic here

Yes, I created a new word. “Relationship-Less” As time moves along so must our thinking. We hear a lot about relationships and their importance in the sales process. I agree with that. However, I also caution those who believe that their success will hinge on only building 1990 style relationships. In these times we live relationships are modifying too.

Yesterday's relationship building as a must before selling. Is not the reality of many today's buyers. There are many things purchased every day both goods and services which are void relationships as defined in 1990. Today there are too many in sales who still believe that without a relationship they can’t provide the means to a prospects desired outcome. This misguided thinking is costing them business to the savvier sales organizations.

The disconnect, is based on what precisely defines a relationship with a buyer? The old school thinking will make it near impossible to face the realities of today’s buyer. Many buyers today see this obsession from sellers who must build relationships ahead of delivering as an aggravation, not a benefit. The old-way is pushing and the new buyer wants to pull.

Buyers and more of them every day want to pull to them want they need and then build a relationship. Quite frankly with the speed to action available through technology today. Buyers what to act, and buyers expect to be treated fairly and when they need assistance they expect cooperation as a way of doing business.

Buyers do not purchase relationships they buy desired outcomes. If the means to those outcomes fails the customer will replace them, and in reality, most of the replacements are with someone they do not have a relationship with.

Understanding the relationship required of the deliverable is essential. Times are changing, and it seems buyers are changing their buying habits quicker than sellers are changing their selling habits.

Selling must live in two worlds for those who provide both goods and services. These two worlds are re-shaping commerce across the globe. Understanding how to navigate between the Digital World and the Physical world is a must as this defines the new world of selling and the new world of relationships.

Today Customer Experience will win over Customer Relationships. Sellers cannot merely focus on relationship building or taking advantage of their relationships they must concentrate on giving the better experience and in 2019 and beyond that better experience might just be without a relationship as defined by 1990.

In Closing:

“You can be the vendor with the greatest relationships and lose to the innovator who delivers a better experience.”

If you wish to connect here on LinkedIn send me an invite be well.

Ray Stasieczko

CEO/TEASRA, The Innovation Channel

"Doubts in your mind are a much greater roadblock to success than obstacles on the journey"

Orrin Woodward

In society and especially within our business culture, an image of the heart is often associated with yielding kindness or weakness. However, the heart is strong and powerful, the driving force of life, one heartbeat at a time!

Your ability to succeed as a sales professional becomes crippled when there's an unbalanced connection with your heart. Embracing a heart-centered approach to sales rests with your ability to stop, look inward, and reflect upon the course of action you know is the right one, rather than succumbing to external pressures and misaligned sales tactics.

Our heart is the absolute key to our survival. Plain and simple, if our heart stops beating, we die. We know this, so we take good care of it. We exercise, we eat healthy and we try to avoid stress; all in the name of heart-health.

A BEATING HEART

Unfortunately, many sales organizations have become bottom line focused and results driven. They're looking outward as they're being led by their brain. Their core values have been thrown to the waste side as money and profit have become the driving force.

“If your goals aren’t synced with the substance of your heart, then achieving them won’t matter much.”

Danielle LaPorte

What we seem to have forgotten is in order for the brain to work we need a strong heart. When I look inside many sales organizations, often times I find an unhealthy heart where the sales reps values and beliefs are misaligned. Layer on top of this misaligned values in management and folks... this is a recipe for sales disaster.

REMOVE THE ROADBLOCKS

"Poor sales performance is due to an unhealthy sales lifestyle"

In a sales context, let's refer to the Merriam Webster definition... something that blocks progress or prevents accomplishment of an objective

What prevents many in sales from selling with their heart?

THEIR BIG FAT EGO

Heartfelt professionals check their ego at the door. Media and the movies portray salespeople as egomaniacs with slick-backed hair and a “do whatever it takes to close the sale” mentality. Doesn't this remind you of Glengarry Glen Ross? While there’s always some truth to stereotypes, the biggest exceptions to the rule lie within ourselves.

Ego plays a huge role in a sales success but it can also hinder one from sales growth.

In today's highly connected, digitally driven and socially empowered business world; highly assertive, a know-it-all mentality combined with super-charged egos will be the kiss of sales death.

"A huge ego is a sales growth buzz-kill"

Top performing sales professionals, the true superstars - sell from the heart, are the open-minded, curious, collaborative, vulnerable, open to learning and aim for partnerships when working with their clients. These sales professionals have humility and operate without any deception whatsoever. This is a direct conflict to the behavior of ego-driven salespeople.

VIEWING IT AS A SIGN OF WEAKNESS

Honoring your heart is not a sign of weakness. This especially holds true within the sales world. True power resides with listening to your 'gut' and finding it within your heart by making a commitment to clear all that stands in the way of a heartfelt connection.

Sharing your knowledge is not a sign of weakness. The focus must be placed on how you can help your clients and prospects. Share your knowledge, your insights and what you can do for others rather than for yourself. I guarantee no one likes a know-it all, self-centered and stereo-typical sales rep... This does not build followership.

It takes strength, sales professionals who lead with their heart and not just their wallet are able to connect with the emotional needs of their clients and prospects. They understand people have the need to be valued, respected, heard and acknowledged. By acknowledging and not forgetting the human element, heart-centered professionals maintain the wisdom to positively transform their clients business by helping them to do better business, a profitable one.

FAILURE TO LISTEN

A heartfelt connection leads to a heartfelt conversation.

“We hear through our ears, but we listen through our minds.”

Something magical happens when sales reps set aside their "sales bravado" to become engaged in a real, genuine and heartfelt business conversation. Yes, this means placing your clients and prospects front and center in your conversation.

Are you sincerely listening without an agenda?

Leave your hidden agenda back at the office. With sincerity focus in and listen to your clients. Zero in on how you can best serve their hopes, dreams and goals. Zig Ziglar said it best, 

“You can have everything in life that you want if you just give enough other people what they want.”

When you fail to listen with your heart this means you're not giving your full attention. You're failing to allow your clients and prospects to express their feelings, concerns and issues in a way that is heard and understood.

GET YOUR HEART IN YOUR CAREER

Placing your heart at the forefront is about opening the human door to connection, to serve, and to become vulnerable. It’s about showing up in a way that lifts the spirits of the people around you. It’s about the willingness to be real, relatable and authentic.

Bringing your heart to what you do makes for a deeper, richer experience which benefits both you, your clients and your prospects. I encourage all of you to step away from the armor and the sales facade. Create opportunities for in-depth relationships that can never be experienced hiding behind a “professional” sales mask.

A HEARTFELT SALES PROFESSIONAL

Sales professionals must learn to serve with their heart.

• Servants make themselves available to serve
• Servants pay attention to others needs
• Servants complete every task with equal dedication
• Servants become faithful and trustworthy
• Servants go beyond making their clients happy, it's their purpose

I challenge all of you in sales to find ways to do servant activities.

If you want to be 'great', if you want to be 'successful', learn to become a servant. Stop selling…Start serving... Start with your heart and lead yourself.

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.

If you're on Linkedin as much as I am, then you'll see dozens if not hundreds of people willing to entertain you with thier top secrets for sales success. 

One such linkedin thread yesterday inspired me to write about those top sales secrets.

I've been selling for copiers for almost forty years and another 2 for years with other sales positions. Over those years I can't remember one secret that I read from a so called sales guru that impacted my sales career. Yes, there have been some good tips but no secrets.

Becoming successful is the time and effort you put into to it. It also helps to have the desire, determination and dedication to succeed every day. The Three DDD's of selling is desire, determination and dedication.

Here's my top secret for sales success.

THERE IS NO SECRET!

There's no golden goose, no Midas touch, and no holy grail that will give you that immediate boost to sales success.

To be successful you'll need be a :

Work your ass off, that's right nothing is going to be handed to you on a silver platter. You'll need to put in mega hours if you want to be the best at what you do.  Ours is not a 9-5 job, rather it's working your tail off and putting the time in to be the best at what you do.

Never ever stop prospecting. Once you're in sales everywhere you go and everyone that you meet could present prospecting opportunities.  Even driving the highway can present you with new prospects. Spotting a company that you never knew existed or just reading commercial vehicles with thier corporate lettering can create opportunities.

Educate yourself, become the guru of your industry. Read your brochures, read your operators manuals, read your product guides and when you've finished all of them read them again. Know your products features, be able to tell your client the advantage of having that feature, then explain how your client will benefit from those features. FAB (features, advantages and benefits)

Put in your own words how one or many features of your product can improve the way they do business or how that feature can save time or reduce costs.

Be creative, just because everyone else did it that way doesn't mean you have to. It's okay to be different, people like different. Ask yourself, if I was a gatekeeper what would get my attention or why would I pass on the information you handed off to the powers to be. Then go out it try those methods, change them up and see what works best.

Become an excellent listener, it took me a long time to figure this out. For years I would do all the talking and push what I thought was right for the client. It wasn't until I became a better listener that I realized the clients would tell me what they wanted, how they wanted it and when they wanted it.

Keep in mind that if you're not working hard then someone else is going to ot work you!

-=Good Selling=-

BTW, there is nothing new in sales

I posted a thread on the forums a little earlier today.  Thought I would change things up a bit and give you this.

One thing few in the Imaging Channel want to discuss is the innovative processes which will replace much of the old way’s deliverable. The glory days of selling print equipment and its services are just beginning for some innovative thinkers and ending for some others.

All things do in-fact change. Even those who refuse, eventually are forced to change. No one can circumvent progress regardless of their marketing strategies or their hopes that current circumstances remain a little longer. 

“Those who say they are waiting for the right time to change usually prove they can’t tell time.” 

The old-way always experiences more struggles to re-invent themselves, then the creators of the new way. The new approach is so focused on the customers desired outcome, and they are minus the baggage to the way things are or used to be. The new ways very existence is to defeat the old way. This reality is why legacy players must have the courage to explore how to defeat themselves ahead of the innovators.  

The end user's realities of printers, MFP's and their services are giving birth to innovative processes from customer-centric organizations. Customer-Centric Innovators will take the old-way's great relationships as they educate those customers on how selfish, and costly their product-centric vendor is.

I think some in the Imaging Channel have been missing the point of innovation. It seems many still believe their innovation will be a result of product enhancements — innovation in the Imaging Channel just like nearly all innovation. Comes as a result of new processes, or the means to a customers desired outcome is enhanced or completely changes, thereby providing the customer with a better experience towards reaching those outcomes. 

Who wants to create the new rules, with me?

A new customer-centric deliverable will be an A4 strategy and will focus on 80-85% of the market which continues being oversold A3 equipment. The new scalable model will be void the high cost of servicing the extremes on the deliverable’s edges. These innovative resellers will run from production print a 2% or less market share; they will focus on replacing the millions of A3 copiers and MFP’s which produce 7,000 pages a month or less. There are 10 of millions of these devices. 

Remember, Innovators don’t play by yesterday’s rules. Innovators create new rules. The greatest threat to the Imaging Channel’s dealers. Is losing a vast majority of their A3 MIF (Machines in Field) to a customer-centric innovator who delivers the better experience of A4. 

As I discussed in the video, I produced on the struggles of Hertz caused by the rideshare deliverable (UBER). When an Innovative process creates a better experience for a massive amount of the old ways customers to reach the outcomes they desire. The old-way cannot survive on the customers left with them. Usually, Innovative processes are created for the majority of the old way’s customers, customers whose expectations are more in line with the innovators than the legacy providers. 

The innovators will ignore those small percentages of customers who are out of scope in expectations with the majority they seek. The Imaging Channel is too focused on delivering to every potential customer from the highest volume to the lowest volume in the same manner. This everything for everyone is not scalable or profitable in a declining needs market, and the pains of this approach are in fact surfacing. 

The Imaging Channel was born by creating a process to deliver print equipment. Over its life, it grew in its capabilities, as the market grew. Today the market is declining, and so, naturally, everything the Imaging Channel grew into will now decline, as its end-users needs continue declining. It’s not logical thinking that the engine built for growth will remain in its current state. It's now time to build a profitable engine for the decline. 

How the Imaging Channel re-invents itself to thrive off the decline will determine their relevance. One thing is for sure; the innovators will not seek permission or seek compliance from the old way. Instead, they will focus on delivering a better experience to 80-85% of the old way’s customers. 

My friends in all channels come to ITEX April 24th-25th at the MGM Vegas and learn how the disruptions coming to resellers are also opportunities. 

“Innovation is what you find on the other side of the horizon you find it when you can look past what’s in front of you.”  

If you wish to connect on LinkedIn send me an invite.  

See you all in Vegas. 

Ray Stasieczko 

CEO/TEASRA, The Innovation Channel 

Can't wait for another four years!  In 2023 I'll be able post twenty years of activity on this site.  Can only wonder what the next four years will be like in this industry!

Enjoy these awesome threads from 15 years ago this week!

UPDATE - Konica Minolta

I'm booked for ITEX 2019! I'm pretty excited about going. I'll be arriving late on the 22nd and then taking the red eye out Thursday night. I'm hoping to see many P4P members, connect with new peeps along with visiting our sponsors and exhibitors.  Hit up the reply and let me know if you'll be there!

Enjoy these threads from ten years ago this week!

Introducing the NEW bizhub PRO C65hc Digital Color Printing System

Wow!  Hard to believe that the end of the first quarter is a mere two weeks away.  Twenty five gone and Seventy five percent of the year left.  How is your first quarter going?  Would love to hear from you in the reply section of this blog!

These were the top threads from 5 years ago this week. Enjoy

Konica Minolta Honors Pacific Office Automation of Beaverton, Oregon with 2014 Pro-Tech Service Award for Service Excellence

Just after this last Christmas I had a chance to chat with Brent Martin of Arlington Industries.  I met Brent back in 2017 at the BTA Fall Break in Philadelphia while Brent was manning the Carolina Wholesale booth.  Something I wasn't aware of at the time is that Carolina Wholesale also owned Arlington Industries and Digitek.

With our recent chat Brent told me about the upcoming plan to merge all three companies and create one super distributor and go with the new branding of ARLINGTON. 

The Power of 3 combines all of the strengths of Arlington, Carolina Wholesale and Digitek which will enable dealers to have unsurpassed service, multiple distribution points, along with giving dealers an "unfair advantage".  Far as I'm concerned "unfair advantages" are a good thing when it comes to today’s business climate.

Distribution: Release the power of same day shipping from five nationwide distribution centers (PA, NC, GA, TX, IL and CA). Get real-time inventory pricing though Arlington's storefront. In most cases you're a day away from getting your product to your door or drop shipping to your clients location

ArliAdvantage Rewards Program:  We all love rewards, especially when we get a little extra for selling something beyond commissions.  With Arlington you'll earn awards for every online order you make for eligible products.  These also make great hand outs to your reps for a job well done! Check out the rewards program!

Becoming a Reseller is easy! Some of the resellers benefits include the rewards program, growth services enables you to enjoy big discounts on custom website services, powerful digital marketing campaigns and industry specific training courses. Five nationwide points of distribution. Become a reseller here.

Estorefront saves you time! For those of us that have been in the industry for sometime I think we can all remember those Carolina Wholesale catalogs. Everything was in those catalogs, I remember cutting out pictures of the products and then cutting and pasting them to make our own black and white brochures. Well there's no need to do that anymore the Estore give you quick access, search bar and pricing.

eBill allows you to make payments to your pay your bills through Arlington's secure payment page.  It's simple to log on and make those payments, even easier to get a history of all your purchase. I believe it was Gartner that released information that the cost for processing and paying an invoice was $25.  It's probably more now, but just think of the savings with Admin.

Webinar(s) is the name of the game.  Brent was also very excited about the upcoming round of webinars that are scheduled for dealers to help them with their selling efforts.  There's an upcoming webinar on the 14th of March which you can check out here.

The Power of 3 Gets You the Brand Names You Want

• Brother
• Canon
• HP
• Kyocera
• Lexmark
• Okidata
• Panasonic
• Ricoh
• Samsung    

If you like to learn more about Arlington please go here.

We're proud to say that Arlington is also a past (2018) and present sponsor (2019)for the Print 4Pay Hotel.  Thier support helps us drive new content on a daily basis along with giving you un-biased opinions.  Please support those sponsors that help support us.

There's just so many more products like supplies, scanners, calculators (remember those), cash management, computer/tablet accessories, data storage, electronics, paper handling, office accessories, projection, power supply, paper products, the list goes on and on.

-=Good Selling=-