July 2016

Geesh, it's been ten years since the release of the Ricoh MP C615 MFP!   The 615 was Ricoh's first and only foray into liquid ink technology for an A3 MFP.  We sold a few and everyone who had em, hated them!  I would have bet the ranch that Ricoh would have introduced more ink based products ten years ago.  Glad I did not bet the ranch! 

Enjoy the most popular threads from ten years ago this week in the copier industry!

Ricoh 615C

In my last post, Sales Reps... Why writing content should be part of your sales strategy, I speak to successful sales reps recognize and learn how to not only engage the new digital buyer but to align their online and offline resources to the buyer journey.

Successful sales reps realize the one critical part of addressing the new buyer’s journey is not merely creating digital tactics, but focusing on how they engage prospects and even clients once they engage digitally.

Successful sales reps acknowledge the content they generate or curate must engage the digital buyer in conversation.

Successful sales reps augment their prospecting efforts by generating new business opportunities online by focusing on making their LinkedIn profile a destination stop for information with custom content. Why? According to the 2014 State of B2B Procurement study from the Acquity Group, 94 percent of business buyers do some form of online research:

• 77% use Google search 
• 84.3% check business websites (This could be your LinkedIn profile)
• 41% read user reviews (This could be recommendations on your LinkedIn profile)

I realize writing content for sales reps doesn't come easy, however; it is a skill sales reps must develop. The old saying, "You must crawl before you walk" applies to sales reps and content. 

Crawling = Recurating Content

Walking = Writing Content

Sales reps... Let's go visit the bait and tackle shop so we can find some content to cast out into the deep blue digital ocean.

A helpful hint to sales reps... Before you visit the bait and tackle shop spend a few minutes with some of your current clients; CFO's, CIO's, IT Managers or Purchasing Managers and ask them this question...

"What sites online do you frequent when you are looking for education to help you improve what you do within your position?"

Hint... Follow those sites! Become the conduit by providing educational content to your prospects and clients. Heck, you may even learn something along the way.

3 Sites To Help Sales Reps Find Digital Bait

Flipboard - Think of Flipboard as a social network aggregator. Flipboard collects content from social media, newsfeeds and other websites and presents it in magazine format allowing users to "flip" through their social-networking feeds and feeds from websites. Here are few sites you may want to follow; Forbes, Harvard Business Review, CFO Agenda, CIO or CEO.com.

Feedly - Think of feedly as a news aggregator. Feedly compiles news feeds from a variety of online sources for the user to customize and share with others. You can also customize the content aggregated by Feedly to include your own personal preference of RSS feeds. Here are a few feeds you may want to follow; Fast Company, Business Insider or CNET News. 

DrumUp - DrumUp was developed for professionals and businesses for content discovery, curation and social media management. DrumUp mines through tons of content across the web in real time then uses sophisticated algorithms to recommend fresh stories most relevant to you. You can then quickly review, create and post to social platforms such as LinkedIn or Twitter.

As part of your prospecting approach; relevant and educational content does drive conversation with the modern digitally driven B2B buyer. Successful sales reps integrate the use of content as an additional method of communication along with email and the phone.

Build A Content Library To Stay Competitive

In cases where sales and marketing may not be aligned, successful sales reps will take ownership by building a digital library of content which can then be used to teach and tailor their audience (prospects and clients) throughout the buying process.

I will leave you all with this quote from the Acquity Group, "Digital content is becoming a deal breaker for consumers who are looking for information online. Companies (I will add in sales reps) that aren’t there with answers to prospects’ questions will fall off the radar, while brands that anticipate questions and provide useful resources will win brand awareness and, eventually, conversions."

Good luck in reeling in the revenue!

If you would like some inspiration I welcome the conversation or send me a message to llevine@socialsalesacademy.net. Your comments are greatly appreciated.

If you would like to learn more please visit the Social Sales Academy and our special reports.

Look for more information within the Social Sales Academy blog site.

Be on the look-out for upcoming special announcements from the Social Sales Academy!

In 2016, Larry was recognized by ENX Magazine, "The Difference Maker" as someone who is making a difference inside the copier channel. Larry is passionate about helping sales reps succeed in creating their online brand image

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 B2B Office Technology Sales Professionals to grow net new business by helping them tell their story and communicate on LinkedIn. My commitment is to help office technology dealers thrive in a changing marketplace. You can follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter, as well as at the Social Sales Academy 

I was going through the photos on my iPhone the other day. First, I should say I am glad I set up albums – apparently I take a lot of pictures. As I was looking through the millions of photos of Buddy, my Boston terrier, who recently passed, (yes, I guess my wife and I are those pet people who never had children, so our pets were spoiled absolutely rotten) the pictures reminded me of the many times Buddy would flip his head around, his ears would stand up along with all the hair on his back, when I spoke the words – Buddy! Squirrel!

He would race to the back door, and wait impatiently for the door to open. He knew in just a few seconds, he could run and attempt to catch a squirrel. I never saw him actually catch a squirrel, however, I did witness him climb 5 feet up the 100 year old cotton wood. Buddy would have called it the squirrel high-rise condo, if he could have talked.

This trip down memory lane also reminded me of the times I myself chased squirrels – you know, the new thing, getting distracted by the noise of a better way. Like Buddy, regardless of what I was doing, that vision of something begging to be chased was sometimes irresistible.

So, in a sense, leaders are a lot like dogs; loyal to the way things are, but always eager to chase something new.

As I get older, I look back on what I chased, and for the most part, I can say the things I caught actually worked out for me. I also wonder sometimes what would have changed had I caught the things that got away. I don’t regret anything. I have always believed that what we learn from missed opportunities is much more valuable than any regret.

 Another thing about getting older is when you do find yourself chasing the squirrel, the length of the chase is much shorter. Maybe it’s the wisdom that comes with age, or maybe because we recognize more quickly that the squirrel is faster, we figure out faster that the squirrel is misleading us. Or, we simply recognize the squirrel thinks we’re nuts.

Leaders must stay focused on the present, and they must also inject the future as needed. Organizations that can bring the future to the present will be the disruptors. The distractions of every industry can become extremely misleading. As industries go through transformations, its leaders will be teased by all the squirrels sitting right outside their comfort zone, begging to be chased. The trick is determining which squirrel to chase and how long to chase it. 

The excitement of the new way is first realized when we begin the chase; we get more excited as others join in, and along with our peers, we all chase something we believe will help transform our industry. As the chase continues, we seek out help to avoid tragedy along the chase.

 Now, when there is a pack chasing the future, and everyone is feeding off each other’s energy, it usually seems like the squirrel will be caught. Then, the pack gets impatient. Some of the chasers stop, and some take detours when they see a slower squirrel.  The chasers are bound and determined to catch a squirrel, and soon even the guides are allowing them to take complete and unobstructed control.

As industries migrate through market shifts, the information overload from the consultants, the trainers, as well as the adapting pioneers will provide the interested many different approaches to chase. The struggle is in determining the best ways forward, which squirrel to chase. The reality is the best way forward must start with a mindset, then a business plan. You must see yourself catching the squirrel, and understand what that catch will give you.

 When you become impatient with the chase, determine if the guide you have is the problem or if the squirrel just too fast. Those who have a plan and can visualize not only catching the squirrel, but also what happens when they do, will more than likely realize their guide is being bogged down by all the slower chasers.

A dog chases the squirrel with passion and focus, because dogs think every squirrel they chase is the same squirrel, and dogs live in the moment. Their future is today.  I believe Buddy caught the squirrel in his mind every time he started the chase; he had the passion to remain excited.  When you choose to pioneer something in conjunction with your peers, make sure your plan isn’t interrupted by the slower chasers who never had a plan when they started, and never visualized catching the squirrel. Keep it firmly in your mind – your future is today. Catch the squirrel – every time.

R.J. Stasieczko

I wrote this back in 2011 and thought it would be a good repost for everyone.  Enjoy!

Yes sir, 31 years in the business and counting...over those 31 years I've seen and heard some strange things happen in the copier business.  Here's some warning labels that I'd like to see on copiers. BTW, most of these threads came from Print4Pay Hotel Members forum.  Enjoy!

1. Warning:  If you don't insert the toner cartridge carefully you're gonna ruin your clothes and your co-workers are gonna have a good laugh.

2. Warning:  Excessive weight on the copier glass will cause it to break and you will suffer.

3. Warning:  Don't stare at the exposure lamp while the copier is running, it could cause temporary blindness.

4. Warning:  Don't copy or print on to glossy ink jet paper, this will cause a major cluster %$#$ in the fuser (melted plastic is never good).

5. Warning:  Don't place your cup of coffee on the copier while waiting for copies or prints.

6. Warning:  Don't put the wrong toner in the unit, if it doesn't fit.....where have I heard that before....it's not legit!

7. Warning:  Don't scan your face or any other body part since a digital copy will be held on the hard drive for ever!

8. Warning:  Excessive use will cause the system to fail on a regular basis.

9. Warning:  Dispose of properly and in a safe manner, these systems are not eco friendly to be used as for the start of an artificial reef.

10. Warning: The printing or copying of money will land you in jail, if you don't believe me than print some money, spend it and email us to let us know what happens!

If anyone would care to add to the list, feel free!!  I'm sure there's a heck of alot more than this! 

BTW next week I'll have a Top Ten of the Funniest Copier Moments in the Industry. 

If you'd like to have one of your Funniest Copier Moments in the Industry published then log on to the Print4Pay Hotel forums, and post your thread along with the others.

Dam, I can't wait to read the threads on the forums.

-=Good Selling=-

The thread titled  Caught this in my email "Sales Process Questions" , the thread has two different talk tracks.  One with the sales person asking the VEEP of Sales for help and the other is the VEEP looking to the sales rep for extra effort.  It's a good one.

Konica Minolta Biz Hub vs. Ricoh 3035

Sales teams can't go one day without hearing, "You have now entered the world of buyer empowerment." Yes, thanks to Google buyers have the ability to research and make buying decisions independent of communication with sales reps. 

It is no secret, digital and online resources are playing a major role in altering the way buyers buy. The landscape is changing rapidly as buyers conduct pre-purchase research to understand their options via a combination of channels including search, social, email and numerous competitive websites. 

Successful sales reps who recognize this learn how to not only engage the new digital buyer but to align their online and offline resources to the buyer journey.

How far is today’s B2B buyer through the decision-making process before engaging a sales rep? Whether it is 57%, 67% or 77% the actual number probably doesn’t matter. What’s important is today’s self-educated B2B buyer increasingly turns to sources other than salespeople for information.

Exercise for Sales Reps...

Go face to face with one of your clients. Ask them this...

"When making a purchase with significant impact to your organization, how many people get involved? And at what point do you engage a sales rep for help?"

CEB executives Brent Adamson, Matthew Dixon and Nicholas Toman in an article published in Harvard Business Review entitled “The End of Solution Sales.” say it best, “The hardest thing about B2B selling today is that customers don’t need you the way they used to.”

Successful sales reps realize the one critical part of addressing the new buyer’s journey is not merely creating digital tactics, but focusing on how they engage prospects and even clients once they engage digitally.

HOW DO SUCCESSFUL SALES REPS CREATE ALIGNMENT WITH THE DIGITAL BUYER?

I

"Sales reps must learn how to become digital fishermen and content is the bait on the hook"

Calling all sales reps, how you... Capture, Converse, Collaborate, and Connect along with providing relevant and insightful Content to grab the attention of the executive buyer will determine your sales success in the 21st century. 

Sales Reps Must Leverage Content As Bait

Writing content attracts prospects. 

I am here to inform you wisdom often comes from the mouth of salespeople.

Gather the top questions you hear from your clients and prospects during your sales meetings and answer them in a blog format. Potential prospects researching for those answers online could end up finding your blog posts.

Here are a few ideas for you (especially if you are inside the B2B Office Technology Channel)

• Top 5 reasons why implementing Document Management is critical to your business
• 3 reasons document scanning can enhance productivity within accounting department's
• 3 reasons why BYOD security is important within the digital workforce

Prospects and clients today not only search by keywords but by topics or through questions entered in a search engine. If your posts are hitting on the topics your prospects are searching for then you are attracting potential customers.

Content drives conversations

My friend Jack Kosakowski says it best, "Content drives value, value drives conversation, revenue is a result of both of these combined once you go offline."  Content includes blogs, social posts, videos, webinars, white papers and more. All the content your company produces to engage customers is marketing collateral that translates directly into sales. Posting content online (LinkedIn as an example), one of the most important things to remember is that you are starting a conversation.

Important, the content posted must be relevant, educational and worth reading. As opposed to a bunch of self-centered sales propaganda. The goal is to teach, tailor and encourage conversation. 

Benjamin Franklin once said,

“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing about.”

Content nurtures a relationship

As sales reps speak with potential customers, they need to remember it’s a conversation involving talking, listening and hearing. Selling in today’s connected digital space is about building long-term business relationships. Before you can get to the closing opportunity, you need to understand each potential customer on a 1-1 individual level.

Learning their business challenges, what problems or concerns they have, and what they are looking for allows sales reps to make better recommendations and most importantly educate. Getting to the sale starts with small conversation and listening; as content can be a great way to keep in touch.

Content personalizes the sales process

Conversations are personal, by nature. Unfortunately, most sales funnels are not very personal. This may leave sales reps struggling to engage with prospects who may or may not know much about their brand and how they can help.

The only way to overcome any initial disconnect is through education. However, bombarding prospects with general marketing materials is not the answer; 1-1 personalizing is. It’s time to change the pace of sales by changing the way you sell. Sometimes just slowing down allows sales reps to sell faster. Check out more by reading...

Sales is just relationship-building at scale. It might impossible for sales reps to spend the time to get to know each prospect or customer personally, but this doesn’t mean they can’t personalize their approach integrating the use of content.

Let's face reality, most prospects feel sales reps are full of Sh%T. As you capture, converse, collaborate and connect with your prospects; share with them with your posts, educate them and help by guiding them in the right direction. One direction you can point them to is to your LinkedIn profile. This is where you promote your business professional brand, your story, how you have helped your clients and what your prospects can expect when the get engaged with you. You can check out my profile here...

In conclusion...

Be Honest, Share your Knowledge and Reduce the Risk

Misleading your audience is sure way to damage your professional brand and discourage prospects from trusting you. Being completely honest, accurate and genuine will greatly boost your credibility both online and face to face. If you consider yourself an expert in your field, you already have a fantastic source of credibility. Make that resource known by offering your knowledge to the rest of your community. Whenever possible, put your potential prospects at ease by reducing the amount of risk associated in doing business with you. The fewer roadblocks and red flags the more they’ll be able to trust in you. 

If you would like some inspiration I welcome the conversation or send me a message to llevine@socialsalesacademy.net. Your comments are greatly appreciated.

If you would like to learn more please visit the Social Sales Academy and our special reports.

Look for more information within the Social Sales Academy blog site.

Be on the look-out for upcoming special announcements from the Social Sales Academy!

In 2016, Larry was recognized by ENX Magazine, "The Difference Maker" as someone who is making a difference inside the copier channel. Larry is passionate about helping sales reps succeed in creating their online brand image

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 B2B Office Technology Sales Professionals to grow net new business by helping them tell their story and communicate on LinkedIn. My commitment is to help office technology dealers thrive in a changing marketplace. You can follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter, as well as at the Social Sales Academy 

Insuring the Future

National Crop Insurance Services is using DocuWare throughout their organization to manage email, accounting records, meeting minutes, time cards, and most importantly, information distributed to its members. Having easy immediate access to essential information is invaluable for this not-for-profit.

National Crop Insurance Services is an international not-for-profit organization representing the 18 crop insurance companies that sell Federal crop insurance, as well as others that write private crop-hail insurance only.  NCIS members write crop-hail insurance, the federally-supported risk management program and privately developed crop insurance products, totaling more than $11 billion in premiums, with an insured value of nearly $150 billion in 2014. On behalf of its members, NCIS collects and manages data and information, conducts research and analysis, serves as a licensed statistical agency for the crop-hail program and conducts extensive educational activities on claims adjustment, ethics, policies and procedures.

NCIS members range in size from one-state companies to national writers, as well as international company members. The companies service all farmers participating in the federal program, including limited-resource and socially disadvantaged farmers.  In partnership with the government, these private companies deliver the safety net that equitably provides effective risk management tools to America’s farmers and ranchers.

Requirements

With a staff of 45, NCIS needed a secure single location where it could store and manage their corporate documents such as internal meeting minutes, information from the federal government and bulletins it distributes to its members. They were also in need of a better way to track the different versions of notes as they worked towards making a decision and they needed to be able to easily research when and why a decision was made. The organization also needed to update its document retention policy regarding email in order free up room on its servers. In general, they saw the benefit of making their processes as paperless as possible.

Solution

NCIS spoke with their trusted IT vendor about their needs. As an Authorized DocuWare Partner, their IT vendor recommended and installed DocuWare. The software was initially rolled out to the HR department and all employees were trained on how to use the software to manage time cards, time sheets and time off requests. This was done to help the entire organization feel comfortable with DocuWare before it was rolled out to other areas with more complex work processes.

Next, DocuWare was rolled out to manage meeting minutes with long term retention schedules. Today, meeting minutes are stored in DocuWare making them available from a laptop, phone or tablet, eliminating emailing out the notes. Version control is used to help the staff keep track of high priority decisions and to document the evolution of policy decisions. NCIS decided to back scan Board of Director minutes to 1997.

“Because agriculture policy is based on long term results it is very helpful to be able to use DocuWare’s full text search feature and research our own internal database,” said Jim Crist, Chief Financial and Operations Officer for National Crop Insurance Services.

In the past, five to six times a year NCIS would mail a CD to its members containing a federal report for every county and crop in the nation. Today, member agents can login to DocuWare through NCIS’ website and download or access the information that is pertinent to them for their clients. Agents use this information to determine the premium and coverage amount for crops, so knowing that they are always looking at the most current information is critical.

Benefits

The more NCIS used DocuWare the more uses they found for the software. Their DocuWare system has expanded from purely storing HR and meeting minutes to a seamless integration with Peachtree, their accounting system. NCIS can access their AP invoices and other accounting records that are stored in a DocuWare file cabinet directly from the accounting software.   When an invoice is processed in the accounting software, the index fields for the image of the actual invoice are updated automatically, keeping both software solutions working together.

“We love having all our documents in their native formats stored in one location. Peace of mind and ease of retrieval have been the biggest benefits we’ve received from DocuWare,” said Crist.

For NCIS, knowing that their members and staff have easy access to current and historical data and reports fulfills their primary objective of providing its members with the information to develop fair underwriting for crop insurance.

Using version control for meeting minutes lets NCIS manage their meeting minutes with transparency. Version 1 is the working draft, version 2 means the minutes have been approved by the Legal Department, version 3 minutes contain revisions. At the next meeting, the version 3 minutes are opened, formally approved and stored as version 4. By using version numbers, the staff can see what changes were made and where in the process they were made for complete transparency.

The organization was also able to update their document retention policy. Important email can be archived in DocuWare in its native format and easily searched. All other messages are stored for two years then deleted. By implementing this policy, the organization was able to free up needed room on its email server and guarantee that vital content was not lost.

Conclusion

Using DocuWare for records management has become essential for NCIS because their information is securely stored and searchable, giving the organization peace of mind similar to the way crop insurance brings peace of mind to agricultural producers. In 2014, 1.2 million policies were sold protecting more than 120 different crops covering 294 million acres, an area larger than Texas and California combined, with an insured value of $110 billion. The impact of NCIS’ work ripples out to affect us all. 

“Having immediate easy access to information, it is priceless,” concluded Crist.

---------------------------------------Bulleted Lists-----------------

Tasks

Create a single location for all information

Facilitate the distribution of information to members

Track meeting minutes versions

Benefits

Peace of Mind

Access to information

Ability to search for information

Long-term secure storage

National Crop Insurance Services

Industry: Not-for-profit

Location: Kansas, USA

Application: Company-wide records management

Document Types: time cards, email, accounting records, meeting minutes, bulletins

DocuWare Corporation | 4 Crotty Lane, Suite 200 | New Windsor, NY 12553   

(888) 565-5907 | www.docuware.com

When King Harold was mortally wounded (by an arrow in the right eye), the Anglo-Saxons fell back and the Norman knights could continue their victory march.

King Harold, still sitting on his horse, suffered horribly when the Norman knights surrounded him and killed him with their swords. Only a few Anglo-Saxons reached the woods and survived.

Duke Willem of Normandy set up his tent on top of the battlefield and slept between the death bodies of his enemy’s.

Are we King Herold or Duke Willem?

Are we Defenders or Conquerors?

Are we Losing or Winning ?

What strategy are you following in your day to day copier business?

Competition or Collaboration?, Quality or Price?, Volume or Value?

What do you offer your customers and prospects?

More of the same? Same as everybody?

What if King Herold and Duke Willem, instead of fighting the ‘Battle of Hastings’ in the year 1066, would have founded the ‘Treaty of Hastings’?

Now 950 years went by! Will we ever learn?

Recently I attended a technology conference; the technology industry has never been short on having conferences. This particular conference was hosted by a manufacturer and it had roughly 800 attendees. The article I am writing today is not about the vendor or the conference host; I wanted to explore the meeting of the minds. It’s interesting to discover the way many define what they see, or what they miss, all very differently.  

All of us have attended conferences. The conferences within the technology community are more than likely the same as most industries as it relates to the attendees. The conference is the place to bring organizations and people together in a quest for collaboration, sharing best practices, sharing war stories, looking for the next secret weapon for their sales arsenal, and finally and most importantly, participating in good fun with their peers. I personally love conferences.

The attitudes of the attendees is what I personally find the most interesting, starting with the guy who hates the world. Everything he heard at last year’s conference didn’t work, so he’s determined this conference would probably be a waste of time too. Ok - obviously no one would come out and say those things, but all reading this have translated a conversation similarly.  Then there’s the guy or gal who is so excited about what they do, they can overwhelm people. I admit, this could be me sometimes.  All the attendees are there to be inspired, to learn something new, to uncover a more profitable opportunity, and to find new connections to help solve old problems.  

Everyone wants the secret weapon; they would pay a lot if someone was selling it. They would travel across the country or across the world to find it. What most miss is - they are the secret weapon, they just need to ignite the fuse. Nothing learned, no matter the cost of tuition, no consultant regardless of their knowledge, or their reputation, and no sales advantage or gimmick will become a secret weapon. The facts are - your secret weapon can only be you, and you will uncover it when you commit to your passion causing action. It’s commitment which harness ones passions into accomplishments.

 The value of the face to face time and the collaboration that conferences provide the venue for is priceless. When I attend conferences, I ask other attendees a couple questions. What did you learn last year? And how did you benefit? Most answer like this: well, I can’t really say one particular thing or another stood out, and they go on and explain how much they enjoyed all the peer to peer sharing, and will try a couple things.

This answer was a lot of times my answer, and what a stupid answer it is. What we are saying is, we love collaborating, learning new things, listening to the dreams and goals of others. This is so important to us, that as soon as the conference ends, we lock all this knowledge up in our own procrastination vault, where it stays - in the catacombs of our minds, right next to the last un-acted on knowledge from the conference the year before.

 The talking part of collaboration is useless if you don’t apply action. Here is my strategy for conference attending: talk to as many people as possible. However, determine the value of the conversation by the length of conversation; the last day, decide what two things elevated your passion on something you would actually consider committing to. Once you define those two things, that last day, put together an action plan on what it will take to move forward. Revisit the individuals who inspired you, and make sure you both have executed an agreement on action for next steps. Make it your goal from the conference - don’t let your passion for doing something different be swallowed up by the status quo monster when you return back to the office.

I believe if someone or something can wake up and fuel your passion, and then your response is procrastination - you are committing what I have defined as –

“Aspiration Malpractice, when you procrastinate from doing what your goals demand you do.”

 Everyone has an understanding of what changes are needed for success in every field, but not everyone has the passion to change or accept the new or better ways. This fact provides the value prop for those who execute the changes needed. So at your next conference, seek out the conversations which scare or challenge your status quo. Learn something different, and if it stirs your emotions, act on it. These results of action will provide you conference dialogue next year.

So if someone were to ask, what did you learn last year? And, how did you benefit when executed? You will have not only brought value to yourself, you will be sharing value with others. This, after all, is why we all go. See you at the next conference.

R.J. Stasieczko

C-Level Executive, seeking to help the right organization navigate

IS200e+Savin CLP27dn = Duplex Copy?

For sales professionals, LinkedIn has become the single best platform to build personal brand awareness and drive thought leadership to help facilitate building personal business relationships. Of course, this all starts with how you position yourself on LinkedIn. Positioning yourself is not bragging about how great you are. It is positioning yourself in the eyes of your clients. What is it you can do and provide to help them?

Well this got me thinking........ How can V.P. of Sales and Sales Managers help themselves to attract high quality sales professionals? 

My last blog, Attention Sales Reps... Your LinkedIn Profile Is Your Storefront - Are The Windows Broken? got me thinking... V.P. of Sales and Sales Managers, are the windows to your LinkedIn profile broken? Is this preventing you from attracting high quality sales talent? Think about repairing the cracks and removing the roadblocks.

Social should matter when recruiting and hiring sales reps as well. When a socially savvy sales manager goes to hire a salesperson, they’ll check the sales candidate's social media channels to monitor activity. They may look at the quality of the content posted and the frequency of how often that person engages, as this may have some influence inside the hiring process.

What do you think that sales candidate is doing as well? Don't you think he/she is looking at your website, your social channels and more importantly your LinkedIn profile? What opinions are they forming about what you have to offer to help them?

CLICK HERE... SALES MANAGERS LEARN NEW WAYS TO USE LINKEDIN TO RECRUIT AND PROSPECT

Let's open up the LinkedIn Window and Remove the Roadblocks!

 Reposition Your LinkedIn Profile and Dangle the Virtual Carrot

Eliminate The Roadblocks With a Few Minor Tweaks To Your LinkedIn Profile

1.  Professional Headline - This is your moment to grab the attention of the ideal candidate. Most people are not aware your professional headline follows you wherever you go on LinkedIn. This means every post, every comment, group discussion and published article. Would a professional headline of "Sales Manager at XYZ Company" entice someone to want to know more versus "Providing Sales Professionals Growth Opportunities by Fostering a Culture of Leadership, Coaching and Collaboration"
2. Summary Section - This is the one powerful part of your LinkedIn profile. I love this section! In 2,000 characters, share with potential sales candidates who you are, what motivates you, why you do what you do and how you can help them get to the next level in their careers. I am a huge fan of storytelling. Why not tell your story of how you can help? Appeal to their emotional side and position yourself as a relationship builder.

"Design Your Summary to What Great Salespeople are Attracted to..."

• Leaders with a clear vision and great team
• Access to resources
• Clear expectations
• Company culture fostering growth opportunities
• Company growth potential

Think about utilizing the summary section from the perspective of the sales candidate and what would entice them to come work for your company.

Inside your Summary Answer Questions such as:

• What do I (Insert your name) want to be professionally known for?
• What do I love most about what I do?
• What do our clients consistently use to describe the work of my sales team and their support?
• What kind of environment I (Insert your name) provide to my sales team?

With a few minor tweaks clearly communicate why the best candidates should join your company and what you offer to help them succeed.

Create the value, be proactive and promote yourself. Get out there on LinkedIn and become visible to other sales professionals!

Look for more information within the Social Sales Academy blog site.

Be on the look-out for upcoming special announcements from the Social Sales Academy!

Please enjoy my other posts on LinkedIn Publisher and on SlideShare

In 2016, Larry was recognized by ENX Magazine, "The Difference Maker" as someone who is making a difference inside the copier channel. Larry is passionate about helping sales reps succeed in creating their online brand image

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 

What does the future hold for the likes of Ricoh, Canon, and KonicaMinolta? 

Managed IT Services, 3D Printing, Medical Devices, Managed Services, Production Print Devices?

Let's take a trip back to 1986 in the office equipment industry. 

That was the year I started my own copier business here in NJ.  Copy machines had one single function, and that was to make a copy of an original.  Those older devices were very mechanical, very heavy and service techs had to have excellent mechanical skills to make repairs.

Most companies were still using dot matrix printers for report printing, while typewriters were used for filling forms, and creating proposals.  Fax machines were available but very expensive, thus getting documents from one office to another office overnight was dominated by FedEx.  Heck, I can remember dropping lease documents in the fedex paks to make sure they were delivered the next day so we could get paid on our signed leases.

Today, stand alone fax machines are all but a memory (I think I've sold one fax machine in the last 18 months), no longer do I see a typewriter in every office, in fact when I see them, I'll always ask, "what do you use the typewriter for?" 

Many of the dot matrix printers were sent to junk piles many years ago, in fact I just saw a couple of Printronix printers that were being mothballed in leiu of a Planet Press solution for printing reports. 

Ah yes, copiers, the basic copy machine is no longer. That basic analog copy machine has transformed into a digital device that will scan, fax, print and copy in color. 

Change

Everything changes, change does not take a holiday nor does it stand still for very long.  All of those devices I mentioned from thirty years ago are history, and soon many of the devices that we use today will also be history.

A few days ago, I read an article titled "Ricoh face fraud allegations and “watershed” year."  I was intrigued by the fraud allegations and clicked the link, the fraud allegation was something I was already familiar with (was with Ricoh India), however what I was not familiar with was the downturn in profits from Ricoh.  Hey, it's not only Ricoh, it's all of the copier manufacturers that are facing much lower profits. In fact this article stated that Ricoh will have a 12% drop in profits for 2016, compared to a 4% drop for 2014-2015.  The article then went on to state that 3D printing may be the savior for the Golden Age of 3D printing.

OK, I get it, 3D printing, consumables, devices that need to be repaired, planned obsolescence are good things for manufacturers. 

2046

But, instead of looking back at 1986, and 2016, let's fast forward to 2046.  Technology is moving at light speed.

“There has been more technological improvement in the last 50 years than in the previous 5,000,” asserts Patrick Cox, co-editor of Technology Profits Confidential, our brand new research service.

Thus, could the next 30 years see technology multiply by 100 times?

If you're a fan of Moore's Law, then the answer is yes, and what happens when technology could increases a 1,000 times!

It's my bet that the likes of Canon, Ricoh and KonicaMinolta will still be around  in a BIG way.  For me, the most logically transformation of these giants will be robotics. It won't be copy machines!

For those of us that are science fictions buffs, we know that many of the ideas put forth from the minds of the authors will eventually come to fruition.  

Robotics can provide manufacturers with a planned obsolescence business model.  Similar to copy machines there will be a need for on-site repairs, replacement of worn parts, broken parts and software upgrades. 

So, could you look at today's digital copier and come to the conclusion that this device is indeed the first step in robotics?  I think so, because when looking at the definition of a robot their are two definitions from Webster:

: a real or imaginary machine that is controlled by a computer and is often made to look like a human or animal

:a machine that can do the work of a person and that works automatically or is controlled by a computer

Our first definition won't work, right? Now, the second definition does work, and here's the reason why.  Our digital copier is capable of routing documents, performing software enhancements to the documents with the aid of the computer that is in the copier.

Yes, it's a stretch, but isn't it a stretch with that silly robot (Rumba) that vacuums your floors?

It's pretty much a given that paper will disappear as a form of communication at some point in the future. When?  I don't have that answer, but when was the last time you watched a Sci-fi flick and saw a sheet of paper?  You don't.

I probably won't be around in 2046, however, this blog will be somewhere on the web (there will be a web right) and I wonder if my prognostication will come true.

The ideas and visions that we write about today will be the reality at some time in our future.

-=Good Selling=

Comments are always welcome!!!