MFP Copier Blog

Our Best Friends Name is Darby and He's a Dog!

Art Post · 8/12/1310:54 PM

Darby........during the Christmas of 2003 my wife brought me a little furball with a wagging tail. This little furball with the wagging tail would grow to almost 200lbs, actually he weighed 198lbs today. He is a mix of a Rottweiler & Mastiff with brindle coloring.

I was elated and never in my life did I have a dog this large or one that tested me for love, obedience and trust. He and I enjoyed many walks, many rub downs (oh how I loved to rub him down), it seemed the older he got the more he enjoyed the rubdowns! However his large size was a blessing for him as he would sit at the dinner table and wouldn't need a chair and rested his head on the table as he was waiting for a treat or a scrape of food. Darby was also the connoisseur for deserts, busy bones, rawhides & chickie sticks and any thing else he could wrap his mouth around. He also thoroughly enjoyed watermelon!!

At a young age Darby stole many napkins off the dinner table and would proceed to eat them until he got is treat, I can remember him devouring an entire chicken one night, and then a box of chocolates. He was tummy up in his bed that night!

My wife and I were not Darby's owners as to we were his humans that were entrusted with caring for him, which included long walks at the beach, nightly strolls under the stars, slipping and sliding in the snow and surviving a few Hurricanes. A couple of things that Darby had a dislike for was CATS, string beans, and going to the vet. He hated the vet and would have to be dragged out of the car, and coaxed into the exam office, on most occasions he just laid down outside and the vets office and would not move. It's really tough to get a 200lb dog to move when he doesn't want to.

In fact one year when the wife and I went on vacation my father in-law was in charge getting Darby out, on one of those vacations my Father in Law slipped going down the stairs and grabbed DB (Darby's nick name) and DB held like a rock and stopped my Father in Law from hitting the concrete! All in all DB was a champion of mixed breeds.

At 9 1/2 years DB still had spunk, liked his walks, and was always yakking at my wife to give him additional treats, it was not uncommon that after eating 4 cans of food, whatever he could grub from the table that he would also get and additional 2 busy bones or chicky sticks at night. My wife and Darby had a special relationship since she was the first one home every day, he would climb into the bay window and start wagging his 3 foot tail and you could hear it hitting the window from the outside of the house, DB would then exit the window and head for the door to great his "mommy". DB was also an expert at dishing out the love and kisses for everyone.

I wanted to get this down on some format because often as time passes on, so do some of our memories, of course we have the pictures but sometimes not the words that described those picture and events.

Today, we had to put our beloved Darby to sleep, in the last month he had developed a limp which got worse by the week. It was confirmed that he had developed bone cancer and in a large dog..well that's not so good. Since he was so large, amputation was not an option. When a dog has bone cancer chances are it will develop quickly to the lungs also.

My wife and I are saddened by losing our BEST FRIEND, however we look back at the 9 1/2 years (which is a long time for a big dog) and we remember how much love and enjoyment he gave us.

Our little Sadie (a rescues we got about 12 months ago) is not sure what to do and she knows something is amiss. I also wanted to remember that my wife gave Darby his name and at the time the best name I was able to come up with was snot, we were much better off with Darby!

We miss you Darby!

Copier Scams Part Deux "Dude Where's my Copier"?

Art Post · 8/8/139:09 PM

I ran across yet another scam from a copier dealer. First let me point out that 99.9% of the dealers out there are great at what they do and great to do business with.

However in any industry there are always a few bottom feeders that go to any length to fatten their wallets and steal from others. I just wish that one day we could rid our industry of those problematic bottom feeders. I'm hoping that by writing about it will be greater attention to some of the issues at hand.

A big part of our business to help prospects to lower their costs that are related to hardware, service and supplies. Since most copiers aka MFP's are leased there is usually a fixed cost associated with the lease and in some cases the monthly or quarterly service and supplies. Once we have the price that the customer is paying most sales people will try to see if they can lower the cost by swapping out the old lease with a new lease (upgrade the existing lease).

This is where it gets sticky, when you're working with a new account, the lease you are proposing to upgrade is not yours. Not yours, meaning you (your company) were not the originated vendor for the lease, it was another copier dealer. In the course of negotiating the new lease the professional sales person will get together with the prospect and figure out the remaining stream of payments that is owed on the old lease to the leasing company. Once they have a agreed on the number of payments, a check for the remaining payments will be paid back to the prospect when they enter into a new lease. That check to the prospect can be handled in a few ways, the company can offer to pre-pay the remaining payments on the lease or just continue to pay the monthly payments on the old lease until the copier has to be returned. In most cases the old copier is stored at the same location where is was installed. Removing the copier from that address needs prior approval from the leasing company. Removing it without the consent of the leasing company may put in default of the lease. Ninety-nine percent of the time all goes well and there are no problems.

Here's the scam I've seen and where the problem starts is that the sales person aka dealer owner tells the customer that they will remove and store the system (no letter goes to the leasing company about the system being removed nor does a letter of intent if one is needed at the time the system is removed), that dealer then tells the customer that they will make the payments on the old lease for the remaining stream of payments. Thus the bottom feeder of a dealer cuts a check back to the customer either monthly, or quarterly or in some cases they don't make any payments because they are horrible payers. But the real scam is the copier, remember the copier that is suppose to be sitting in the dealers warehouse? (Please keep in mind that the copier may have to sit in the warehouse for 6, 12 or even 24 months). The bottom feeder of a dealer then takes the leasing companies property and rents it to another company for a term that is shorter than the term that is left on the lease!

The leasing company is getting hosed because instead of getting a system back early or getting a system back with a low meter read they will get the system back with higher usage. Think of it this way, you leased a car, traded it in early with 30K mileage, the car dealer did not return the car to the leasing company but they put in their rental fleet. Here the cars gets additional wear and tear and is then returned on the end of lease date.

The customer is in violation of their lease and could be called into default, and what happens if the dealer goes out of business (like a dealership did here in NJ), the customer is left holding the bag for the remaining stream of payments, probably no copier to be found, a legal mess and still making payments on the new copier.

Here's my point, these bottom feeders need to go. There is no room for them in the industry as there is no room for PED's in baseball. Just as you would have a lowjack system on a car, maybe it's time that the leasing companies put them on their copiers. This way they can track the movement of them, and it one is turned off then that would raise a red flag. I'm not sure if the leasing companies are willing to pay for this and if they are then I'm sure everyone will pay with higher monthly payments for copiers.

If you know of a dealer who is doing this, turn them in, and get rid of the bottom feeders of the industry.

-=Good Selling=-

New Ricoh MPC 3003/3503/4503/5503/6503 Feature Review

Art Post · 8/5/1311:43 PM

Geesh, where do I start? One MFP with 5 different flavors of speed. Keeping with tradition of most copier manufacturers the speed of the system is somewhere in the model number. Take the first two digits of the model number and you have the copy/print speed of the system, the 03 represent the 3rd generation of the product. All systems will print at 1200x1200 dpi, standard 250GB Hard Drive, 1,200 sheet paper supply, Full Color TWAIN & Scan2email, Scan2folder, Scan2FTP, up to 12x18 media, embedded USB & SD card slots for print from and scan to.

Ricoh will call them workflow enhancements however since I'm an old timer in the business I'll refer to them as new features.

Improved Home Screen with Document Server operability: The tilting home screen now measures from diagonal corner to corner at nine inches. Also with customizable color touch screen LCD. Doc Server will now allow for up to 200 folders with the ability to designate personal or shared along with user name and password protection. In the field I always talk about the FAB (Feature Advantage and Benefit of the Document Server), this is an awesome workflow solution and can win you many deals. There's more about this on the forums.
Embedded Smart Card Reader (Option): At first I wasn't sure what this was, it's and embedded card reader, for example you can use it for authentication to the system or even use it for secure printing applications (Print Audit Secure is a really nice one).
New Smart Operation Panel Option: Why oh why is this an option? Sell the sizzle right? The smart operation panel replaces the 9 inch color display with a 10.1 full color touch screen with "pinch, flick, tap and zoom". We'll also be able to program some colorful "quick screens" that will promote additional ease of use. One P4P Hotel member put it like this, Ricoh touts that they are a ECO friendly manufacturer, then why would they make us throw away a perfectly good color LCD displays in order to install the New Smart Operation Panel? Couldn't they at least give us a credit for the non used ones and they can re-use them on additional systems?
High Capacity Standard Document Feeders with faster scanning speeds: The MPC3003 & 3503 comes standard with a 100 page document feeder and the MPC4503,550, 6503 comes standard with a single pass document feeder of 220 pages!! Yikes, since it's a single pass scanner and you're working two sided originals you'll be able to scan or copy 440 pages at once! Love it.
Standard Gigabit Ethernet Card: With previous systems the Gigabit Ethernet Card was an option that retailed for $599. It is now a standard feature.
Scan to Searchable PDF (option): Take those paper based documents and turn them into searchable .pdf's is an awesome feature for people that need to review or find content when a paper based document is scanned. This feature only can save hours of time. I'm not a big "option" fan, Ricoh should have included this as a standard feature and compensated with a higher MSRP.
ID Card Copy: Place the ID card on the platen glass copy the first side, flip the card and both images come out side by side on one sheet of paper! It's about time, right?
Auto Paper Draw Closing: Watch out for your tie, as I understand it, you give the paper draw a small nudge and the draw will then close on its own. (Something else that can break right)
Poster Printing: Years ago you needed to buy software that would allow you to print multiple pages to create a poster from your document, now you can do this right from the printer driver.
Folding without Stapling: Just think for years we've had to jury rig the sensor in the stapler to make this happen for accounts. Nice feature just a TAD too late, however it will be a great selling point.
Standard Envelope Feeding from Paper Tray #2: With the option Paper Feed Unit, you'll also be able to feed envelopes from trays 3 & 4 also.
500 Sheet Internal Finisher: Available as an option on the 3003.3503,4503 and the 5503. In the past a finisher on these models would have required and additional foot print to the base unit. The internal finisher would now rest in the paper exit area for one nice neat cubed package.
Flat Booklet Production with SR 3170 Finisher: Seen it, love it, more professional and takes up less space when you need to pack booklets in a box.
Distributed Scan Management: Something new.... allows administrators to set up customized scanning workflows that match document submission preferences of the recipient.
Improved MFP Browser: I'm loving this because I can finally start selling the heck out of UDOCX with their scan2cloud solution for MS365.

So, there's a lot of sizzle in the new color systems, and for an industry that has lacked creativity with MFPs in recent years it's good to see that some manufacturers are finally starting to get it. A few items I'd like to see in the future is a standardized OS (operating system) for all MFP's. In the future, I'd like to be able to plug in my smart phone or tablet to the system and be able to print, scan and fax to or from my applications.

Next week (if I have the time), we'll go over the specs of the new systems.

-=Good Selling=-

Sales Pipeline, Points, & Opportunities Equal...

Art Post · 8/4/139:23 PM

I wanted to comment on an article that I picked up in the Channel Pro rag from April of 2012. Yeah, it's been a few months but I keep my reading material in various reading sites at the homestead.

The article was titled "So I have to Sell too"?, and anything with a reference to sales will get my attention. The article was directed at an IT company that is 2-10 employees in size, and assumed that the owner/partner/CEO has to wear many hats with one of them being sales.

The article reads to point out 5 steps to keeping your pipeline full, in the past I've written a few blogs about how to keep your pipeline full.

The second point in the article states "Create a 15 point weekly plan" and I'm all for this. But I disagree with the point value that Ken is assessing for each metric. Ken states 5 points for 2 meeting, five points for delivering three proposals and three points for attending a networking meeting.

I can only hope that IT sales will follow Ken's advise, because this type of activity and only attaining 15 points will NOT keep your pipeline full! Six meetings will get you 15 points, but with out the opportunities the 15 points is worthless for activity. Networking events??? equals zero points in my book and never ever 3 points!!

We need to rate appointments at 1 (0ne) points, developing an opportunity (which means you are delivering a quote/proposal) should be 2 (two) points, a demonstration of a product or service should be 3 (three) and the minimum points for the week should be 18 points. Sales should have a minimum of 8 appointments per week for a total of 8 points. Five opportunities will get you 10 points, a demonstration a week will get you into the twenties. Some weeks you may have more appointments and less opportunities and other weeks you could score with 3 demonstrations and 6 appointments and 3 opportunities.

I understand in the article that a person who runs the business also needs to address other business items also, however when was the last time you ran across a business owner that only worked a 40 hour week?

I did like some of the additional points that Ken brought up an one in particular is a pet peeve of mine. Read at least one sales skill book per year, better yet read two if you can. Personally I have at least 5 books, and even though I've read them all I'll go back to the books from time to time and re read a few chapters at a time.

In closing I really see Imaging Dealers as the future VAR's (Valued Added Reseller) of the future. We have the sales conditioning, the on-site service support systems in place (and BTW there's not many IT companies that can hold a hat when it comes to having SE's on site in four hours and maintaining a parts inventory) and the fortitude grab a substantial piece of the IT business in our market place.

-=Good Selling=-

7 Questions for Lisa At OES

Art Post · 8/4/138:19 PM

From time to time I try to get my sponsors involved with the MFP Solutions blog.

Sometimes a banner ad does not tell you enough about the company nor the person behind the product. Many months ago I had an email from Lisa Chiu introducing her self and asking for help in promoting the products and services that she sells. Over the last three months my team was able to help Lisa with building her website, optimizing for SEO, and promoting her brand. While you may not know Lisa like I do, I think when you're done reading what we've put together you'll have a better understanding that Lisa is committed to the channel and committed to offering quality products and service.

Without further ado (keep in mind that your truly does not do many of these interviews and I'm just learning) please enjoy my interview with Lisa!!

How long have you been in the toner supply industry and what did you do prior to OES Tech?

I've been in the industry for almost 10 years. I started in this field by selling OEM parts and supplies in laser and copier to individual technician in 2004. Not knowing anything about this industry, I really mean it..... zero knowledge. Two months after I started, I asked one of the technicians give me a lesson by taking apart our copy machine Toshiba BD 2860. It was then that I realized where all the consumables were in the equipment along with the function for each part. I made sure to store them all in my head as world map and I'd be able to relate to any supplies when technician calling order, I was also learn the interchange able models in between brands. I thought this is FUN!!!!….....Before that I was in the Shoe industry as a Office manager , Shipping Supervisor & sales assist for east coast contract sales… pretty much I ran the whole company , I love selling and trading and anything that turns into green as everyone else out there. (Lisa)

What's special and unique about your company?

Things got twisted by the poor economy condition. Since 2007 start shifting left and right till rolling down the hill three years ago, luckily we are in the field will never die out but compress in size which trigger lots of thinking to lots others and including myself.. thinking change to different supplier with lower cost or changing business field. Then I thought with the resources I have in Compatible Supplies will definitely help customers to save in cost . “ If it is the Same then Why Pay More” from that point on I was able to change my business strategy and only deal with OEM Equivalent Supplies (O E S) , it’s not easy to convince your OEM user to aftermarket but everyone is interesting to saving. By passing out samples as free trials, they loved it and started ordering pallets and pallets to central America and US domestic reseller. Things start working well and I keep tell my customer "No feedback it’s always a good feedback”.

Is there any one sale/order that stands out from another?

I ran into a presentation with a well known Original Equipment Manufacturer and presented our products to 10+ directors and supervisors from Head corporation and sub dealers (I were sweat like no tomorrow, with my 4 inches on my feet… what a killing!! ) and every word you said it counts as a promise and documented. … after 30 minutes of the meeting /presentation the head director of the aftermarket supplies chain department asked me “ Why makes you think you capable to do business with us ? What makes you think you are special compare to all other companies out there?” … I sat back the chair a little and thinking … Quality? Price? … Service ? Oh no, I cant think of any thing my brain went blank but in less than 10seconds I reply------ “well, we do not alternate sourcing of our products and I can invite all of you for a manufacturer site inspection” … I had found my spirit in business as Dedication.

Do you attend any of the ITEX or BTA events?

We do not exhibit any conventions but we do attend shows as to social with some of our clients and obtain information of the market.

Where do your supplies ship from and do you offer special discounts to Print4Pay Hotel members?

All our products are FOB CA 91789 ( Walnut, CA) . Full Fill 95%, rest will fulfill with 1-business day. Daily cutoff 4pm . order can be accept by email or you may obtain User ID and Password to browsing and place order on our site. Normal Customer who order over $750 will get Free shipping . For P4P Hotel member you will get Free shipping when order over $500.00.

Do you guarantee your products?

We do pallet loads order all time , we guaranty 1year with 1:1 replacement. Note from Art: If you're a Print4Pay Hotel member and even a dedicated reader of the MFP Solutions Blog, I can't do what I do without the help of companies like OES Tech and our sponsors. Please find the time visit Lisa's site www.oestech.com and to also call Lisa and ask us to tell us more about those 4 inch heels!! Thank God I don't have to sell in those.

-=Good Selling=-

10 Things Might Not Know About Digital Duplicators

Art Post · 8/4/137:41 PM

10 Things Might Not Know About Digital Duplicators

Every so often it seems I'm back on the duplicator band wagon for awhile. For years I was only able to sell the Ricoh Priports, let me stop here for a moment.
What does Priport mean or what possessed Ricoh to choose the name Priport? If I had to choose a name for a hi speed duplicator I would have chosen something like DocuPress, Image Print or DupliPress many years ago.
In the last few months I've been able to learn more about the Riso Duplicators, and while my heart is still with the Ricoh Priport there are some awesome features with some of the Riso Duplicators.

The first true digital duplicator was developed and introduced by Riso Kagaku Corporation in August 1986.
Digital Duplicators can print up to 10,800 11x17 pages per hour.
When printing 2 up on 11x17 media, you can run 21,600 images per hour.
Digital Duplicators do not use any heat when printing and image, thus the reliability of the duplicator is better than most Production Print Systems.
Digital Duplicators are now capable of printing two sides in one pass (letter size only).
If you get a tear in your plate/master you can place a piece of tape on the tear and continue with the print job (as long as the tear is not in the image area).
Digital Duplicators (some models) can run two colors in a single pass.
Digital Duplicators can't print on to Gloss stock.
When figuring cost per page, Digital Duplicators yields are based on an 11x17 image. Because the Digital Duplicator will wrap an 11x17 plate/master around the image cylinder.
Digital Duplicators can be used to create raised print with a post print process. Thermography

Digital Duplicators are also ideal for printing envelopes, NCR and thick stock. Since there is no heat used in the process of printing and image there are virtually no consumables except for plates/master and ink. You can expect duplicators to run hundreds of thousands of prints without any service calls.

There are three players left in the Digital Duplicator Industry now, Ricoh, Riso and Duplo. Years ago I would have bet the ranch that one of these manufacturers would have developed a four color single pass duplicator. Who wouldn't have been interested in a producing full color prints at 10,800 pages and hour, especially for a cost of about penny. Of course that was my thinking.

With the continued advancement of liquid ink technology it seems that Digital Duplicators may become extinct in the next few years.

-=Good Selling=-

3D MFP Printer/Copier/Scanner "Ready for Prime Time"?

Art Post · 8/4/137:39 PM

3D printers are hot, and they got even hotter after President Obama made mention of them in his State of the Union address this year. My google alerts now carries at least 10-15 mentions of 3D printers each week, before the State of the Union address, maybe 5 or 6 per week.

Since you have or may be thinking about getting that 3D printer, could we possible see 3D MFP's (multifunctional device) that will scan 3D and copy 3D items in the near future?

Think about it, if I'm a novice user with a 3D printer and I'm really not good with engineering software or I'm tired of the template files that came with my 3D printer, why the heck would I want one? Where I see the value at least for me, is the ability to place and item on the 3D MFP and then make copies of them. Think of it, you could make a copy of just about anything, whether it's a small part, a sculpture, nick knacks, flower pots, or whatever the heart desires. I'll admit I'm knew to the entire process of 3D printing, however if we had a 3D MFP would we'd be able to scan an item and then have that data transformed into a CAD or some type of engineering file. Better yet, what about sending a copy of that item to another 3D printer that could be located anywhere in the world. Could there be a 3D printer portable image format that's just dedicated to 3D MFP's for copying and scanning? Would I be able to them email that to someone else?

Maybe 3D MFP's could be the first replicators that were used in Star Trek in the seventies. I'm thinking there is a place for 3D MFP's in the very near future. Would it be far fetched that we could scan out favorite pet and keep the likeness of them around forever? Could we see color 3D MFP's in the near future? The possibilities can become endless, but could also open up new businesses opportunities for those creative entrepreneurs.

Why haven't we seen any of the major copier manufacturers enter the industry? It's a no brainer to me, closed consumables, service contracts, on site service and training it's all there. 3D printers would be a great additional to your dealerships portfolio of products and services offered also!

3D printers, 3D MFP's (maybe), but for right now it seems like it's the Wild, Wild West about this for this growing industry.

How Can You be the Best at MPS, MFP, MNS?

Art Post · 8/4/137:34 PM

What does it take to be among the elite sales people at your branch or your dealership?

For starters you've got to have a passion for being number 1. Nothing floats my boat more than being at the top of the totem poll each and every month. I like to win, don't like to lose and will do the extra work to make sure my numbers are the best they can be month in and month out.

I've spoken about the 3D's of selling before and they are Desire, Dedication and Determination. Too often I see reps that will slack off once they've hit their number. The phone calls, the appointments and the opportunities drop. On the other hand I also understand why this can happen, our business unlike any other is filled with rejection, riddled with price driven customers and reps, along with countless hours of research that can lead to failure.

To be the best you've got to WANT IT! Why would you be in sales if you didn't want to be at the top of the ladder each month, each quarter and year end?

For me, I pick out a goal each year, this years goal is to be number one, not only in percentage of quota but overall sales volume (it's gonna be a dog race to the finish). This year in 2013 wanted to raise my quota by $10K per month, you know what I did? I refused it and asked then to raise it by $25K per month. I'll admit, I'm driven and once I set my mind on something I'll try my hardest to achieve that goal. Along with claiming the goal, everything else seems to fall in place like the commissions, the spiffs, the placements and additional knowledge of the competition. It's a never ending learning cycle and what I like best about sales is that as long as you put the work and effort in, you never know what the next day is going to bring!

So, I've got these three targets that I try to hit every month, I know that as long as I hit these targets I'm going to be Number 1.

If you'd like those targets, then please email me and after you've registered for the forums and I'll send them to you. Feel free to log on and become a member of the largest group of Copier (Imaging) Professionals in the world!

If you're interested in raising the level of your sales team(s) excitement with a motivational seminar. I'm available to speak at your dealership or direct branch. I have an awesome story to tell that can inspire reps to stay in the industry, sell more, and have more passion. Send an email to art@p4photel.com

-=Good Selling=-

The Beautiful Compensations of Corporate Philanthropy

Art Post · 7/31/139:05 PM

The Beautiful Compensations of Corporate Philanthropy

By Paul Joe Watson, ESP/SurgeX

Corporate philanthropy isn’t a new idea, but it is often understated. It can be easy to forget that practicing generosity as a company can be good for business. Doing so doesn’t need to be complex or expensive, nor does it mean having a formal partnership with a nonprofit. Here are two examples: Every few months at ESP/SurgeX, our employees donate blood to a local hospital when their bloodmobile comes to our facility. In addition, recently some of our team members helped a local youth football event through volunteering and monetary donations. These are simple, proactive ways our business helps those in need. What corporate philanthropy looks like for each company will vary, and it often has beneficial impacts regarding three aspects:

1. The Personal Satisfaction Aspect

Ralph Waldo Emerson once stated, "It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself." A great thing about helping others is that it makes the giver feel good. When companies make the effort to practice generosity, their employees feel good, and morale is boosted.

2. The Human Aspect

I hear a lot about how necessary it is for businesses to humanize themselves in order to remain relevant. Philanthropy is a great way to do this because the practice reminds clients and consumers of the human side of a business. By doing good, companies show their humanity—that they care about others. This can make it easier to establish or maintain important relationships.

3. The News Aspect

By giving to others, companies are essentially saying, “Look what we’re doing to help people.” And with all the tools digital media provides to spread the word, it’s easier than ever for those philanthropic deeds to become known. If a business’s acts of goodness are disclosed in a classy, tactful way, the company could get some positive press.

Remember, corporate philanthropy often does not need to be complicated or burdensome. If you keep a lookout for opportunities to do some good, you’ll be surprised by how you can make a positive impact in a meaningful way.

Closing Tip for The End of the Month

Art Post · 7/30/1310:55 PM

Below is a brief overview of an email that I sent to our sales team.

Believe it or not there are additional ways to close additional business at the end of the month.

We close our month early which can actually work to our advantage.

Also an important point is that we all have two end of the month closes to work with, one for the bean counters (our end of month the 23rd) and the calendar end of the month, which is the last day of the month.

What our VP stated is fact, other reps are calling to close on the phone, stopping in and in most cases offering "a deal that can't be refused". We also need to be offering some type of calendar close, whether it's a "drop close" where you add additional service, supplies, make extra payments or drop the price to get the prospect to "fish or cut bait".

You can also give the prospect the "ultimatum close" that this is "the once in lifetime offer", and if you don't take it now you can do business with someone else because I don't have the time for you. It works and many prospects are fearful that if they don't act now they will miss out on a great opportunity.

There are many closes that can be used, you just have think which one will work best for your prospect, address their pain points or address their greed.

Hope this helps!

-=Good Selling=-

Are you Buying HOT Copier Supplies?

Art Post · 7/28/137:55 PM

On Wednesday of last week I scheduled an appointment with one of my prospects to go see a Plockmatic Booklet Maker in action at an existing account.

The existing account is one of those accounts that... how can I say was a little tardy on keeping up with agreements and had to go and find supplies and service somewhere else if you get my drift.

I finished the demonstration (by the way, signed the order after the demo) and then went off to thank my account for the time they allotted me in their office and use of their system. We got to talking and my client asked, "Do you know where I can get some OEM toner for the system"? I stated "What's wrong with your current toner provider"? The client went on to state that they were buying toner from ebay for the last year or so from one source and that source had dried up. I was then then told that the person or persons that were supplying the toner had been actually stealing the toner and selling it on ebay! They got caught by the US Post Office, and now face at least two Federal crimes, one for shipping across state lines, two for using the US Post Office and then the crime of stealing the product in the first place. Odds are this person or group of persons may go directly to jail! As luck would have it my client had no idea they were receiving stolen goods, seems like they are off the hook.

Which leads me to ebay, there's no way to tell if you are buying stolen supplies that are posted on ebay, and when the price seems to be to good to be true then the product might just be stolen. Consumers seem to be so caught up in getting the best price for a product or service and where does that get them? Saving $10 for a toner cartridge that lasts 10,000 pages equates to one hundredth of a penny for each page. We all know copiers need to be maintained and repaired quite often, yet end users will buy copiers on ebay only to find out that they need to spend additional dollars to set up the system, replace what is missing and deal with many issues since there is no service records/history that come with the unit.

Two New Yorkers recently got nabbed for as Toner thieves. One stole more than 1.5 million dollars worth of the supplies and the other pilfered more than $375K worth of supplies.

The though of a CHEAP price is long forgotten after poor service.

-=Good Selling=-

5 Buttons I'd Like to See on Linkedin

Art Post · 7/28/1312:34 AM

More and more I find myself visiting Linkedin a few times a days. I like to scroll through the threads to see if any of my contacts have posted anything new, however I'm really bored with the three standard buttons of "Like, Comment and Share". Here's some additional buttons I wish Linkedin would add to the site!

boo, hiss: As much as I would root for a baseball player to get a hit and then boo them when they are bad, I think there's a place for a "boo-hiss" button. I would enjoy throwing out a boo or a hiss every now and then. (I'm sure I would get a few of them also)
Dude, where the frack did you get that picture from?: I must say that most of the head shots and pics put a name with the face, but good golly what were you thinking of when you uploaded that picture of yourself!
awesome: If you've really enjoyed a thread, blog or column give it an even better rating with an "awesome" button.
thumbs down: I like to be able give a thumbs down (not the person), but to the article, link of thread. When there's a "like" button then there should be a "dislike" right, we can keep in tactful with the "thumbsdown" button.
stop already: You're putting too much information on my wall! What a great way to tell someone that they need to get a life. (I'm sure I would have many of these also).

All kidding aside, over the last 12 months or so, I've found Linkedin to be a great resource to see who I may be connected with. I'm a BIG believer in Six degrees of separation and if we dig deep enough we can get connected the right person when we need to.

-=Good Selling=-

Way Back When "We Did it Our Way" Selling Copiers

Art Post · 7/25/139:43 PM

Today, I had to get some tires replaced and when you're on the road as much as I am, well.......I have a tendency to not clean my car as often as I'd like to. But, today was one of those days to find old faded toll receipts, a dried up banana peel, some forgotten business cards and a copier prospect card from 1992! Now, my car is not 21 years old and I'm really at a loss how the card got there, but it brought me back to my "golden" era of selling copiers.

In 1992 I was 32 years old and running my own Adler Royal & Copystar copier dealership out of Atlantic Highlands, NJ. We had some desktop computers but they were mostly used to letters and keep the accounting part of the business up to date. I can remember that we used Peachtree accounting software and for the life of me I can't remember the word processing software.

What I do remember is the prospect index cards, my prospect box (it was orange), and the index field tab cards. We had an index tab card for each month of the year. When we cold called in the field or called from the telephone we would fill out a prospect card and when we got a lead or generated a hot prospect. We would then hand write what we spoke about, the type of copier that they had, the contact information and the date and time that we spoke with the prospect. Following up was just a matter of putting the card in one of the future months, thus if the month was June and the prospect wanted a call in three months, we would then forward the card to the month September and mark the day of the week that we needed to follow up. If you took sloppy notes or put the card in the wrong month there was always the possibility that you would lose the opportunity!

Before I had my dealership I worked as a sales rep for a Minolta dealership and looking back there was a five sales guys, we were all in our mid twenties and I could tell some stories about what we did to alleviate the stress of selling!! As new sales guys rotated in and old ones rotated out there was always someone looking to swipe the their index (prospect card file box).

These were the days that if we had no appointments we would load a copier in the car and go cold calling, we were hawking to find the right prospect to do a demo on the spot and we used every close possible to have the order signed, get the check and return to the office without the copier. My how times have changed. There were was no CRM software, there were no rules, you just knew that you needed to make the touches to find the prospects, whether by grabbing the yellow pages and calling right down the list or knocking on doors. Funny back then the script was kinda like this: Hi this Art and I'm with Copy Machine Specialists, who am I speaking with? HI so and so, the reason for my call is to see if your company is interested in a plain paper copier? If there was a yes, we would schedule the appointment and if there was a NO we would dial the next number (and we didn't have to ever call them back!!).

Yes, things have changed, but I can remember some really good tricks we used to play on each other in the sales room (like unscrewing the handset on the mouth piece of the telephone and then screwing the plastic cover back on, the rep would start making calls and would only hear on the person on the other end saying hello, hello, is anyone there and in the mean time the rep was screaming in to the mouthpiece of the phone), indeed it was a great time to sell.

Don, John, Kelvin, Matt & Kathy we had some great times.....

=Good Selling=-

Newly Revamped Print4Pay Hotel Website Provides Members with Added Features and Value

Art Post · 7/21/1311:49 PM

Contact: Art Post

arthurkpost@gmail.com

Newly Revamped Print4Pay Hotel Website Provides

Members with Added Features and Value

Highlands, New Jersey, June 18, 2013 – Art Post, founder and proprietor of The Print4Pay Hotel www.p4photel.com, has announced the rollout of the new and improved Print4Pay Hotel Website. The original Website, which was designed by copier and MFP professionals for exchanging information among colleagues in the imaging industry and storing industry knowledge and information, has been enhanced with additional features and functionality with the look and feel of a social networking site.

The new Print4Pay Hotel site still offers the popular Forums that have been so critical to members for exchanging ideas and best practices, but now provides members an opportunity to have their own “wall” where they can upload videos and audio, post photos, post on each other’s walls, and send private messages to one another.

“It’s now more of a social site and is a hybrid between Facebook and LinkedIn for users in the imaging industry,” says Post. “I wanted to develop a unique user experience for imaging professionals in our industry.”

A new feature is “Grind My Gears,” a 15-30-second audio clip where once every two weeks Post will rant and rave in an audio file about something in the industry.

As with the original Website the revamped site will include weekly blogs, which are now available in a printable format. In addition, the site now features videos about hardware and solutions, and starting in 2014, the site will feature training videos for new salespeople.

Another new feature allows the user to elect to receive either an immediate verification whenever anybody posts a comment or replies to a post or just a notification when they log onto the site. The site also includes clip sets of images related to the imaging industry along with sales documents, photos, videos, audio files, and printable blogs as well as quotes or proposals shared by members. Members can also track street pricing, including information on what a machine was sold for or leased for, and the current cost per page on the maintenance agreement.

“The Print4Pay HOTEL was originally envisioned as a means to satisfy our need for knowledge and that mission continues with the new site and its many new features and enhancements,” states Post. “The new site just takes things to a whole new level and provides members with added value that is unmatched anywhere in the industry.

The Print4Pay Hotel currently has more than 2,300 members. To become a member visit: https://www.p4photel.com/join

# # #

My Top Three Sales Quotes "Part One"

Art Post · 7/21/1312:29 AM

Just about a month ago myself and another sales person was asked to give a presentation to our sales team about sales objections and closing. I actually have this as an audio file however I haven't had the time to upload it to the clips section of this site yet.

We have a young team of sales professionals and before we started our presentation I wanted to speak about my top three sales quotes that I live and die with. I thought it would be good to share these with the team an hopefully some would get and some would be inspired. All I gave to the team was my three quotes and not the info below.

1) The Harder you Work the Luckier you Get: Believe it or not, many of us don't know how to work hard. At one point in my life I had no clue what hard work was or better yet I didn't know how to work hard. There's the physical aspect of work where labor is involved, working hard as a laborer would mean that you only stop doing something when you're on break or lunch, otherwise you move from one task to another.

At 16 years old I went to work for a produce company close to my home town of Iselin. Looking back I was doing nothing, hanging with my crowd when someone walked over to us and asked who wanted to work unloading a truck of produce. You know who spoke up and I never looked back. This laborious job gave me a rude awakening about working hard, I was exhausted after the 1st hour and was taunted by the owners son because I was not moving fast enough.

The job I took with the produce company lasted for about 5 years or so, and consisted of being at work at 6AM - 6PM. Most weeks I was working seven days a week stocking produce, unloading produce from trucks, loading trucks, cleaning produce, cleaning the store, and managing the garbage.

The taunting almost never stopped by owners son. I have to agree I didn't know how to work hard, however one of the sons did. There was always something to do and when there was nothing to do you needed to figure out something to do before you were yelled at. A lot of people would have quit, however I needed the job, the pay was crap however the long hours gave me a nice check at the end of week. Over the years I got bigger, stronger (from all of the lifting) and had my first introduction into retail sales since we sold our produce to the public. From 16-21 it was drilled into my head I wasn't paid to think I was paid to work. Thus the 12 hours days and seven days a week became my normal working hours. Like a sports professional that has muscle memory for hitting a baseball or swinging a golf club, the work habits I developed at the produce company stayed with me for the rest of my life.

The Hardier you Work the Luckier You Get means that as long as you maximize your effort you will always get rewarded. It may not be today, tomorrow or next week but you will be rewarded. In our industry our main effort is focused on prospecting and selling, thus if you are an over achiever you'll be rewarded with opportunities. I can't tell you the last time I worked a 40 hour week, my weeks are always 50 hours or more. I've been asked why do you work so much and my response has been "because I want to be the best sales person at my company". I want to be the guy with the big numbers, the big quota. the most sales and make some dough while doing it! I want to write my own ticket to where I want to go.

I'm not the most prolific closer, I don't have the vocabulary as some of my peers, and I'm probably not as educated as the rest of them. But there's one thing I have and it's the innate ability to outwork everyone else.

Stay tuned for Part 2 sometime later in the week!

-=Good Selling=-

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