Hey everyone, John Roof has been a member of the Print4Pay Hotel for quite a few years. Many of his threads and share on our site has helped many of us to win a deal or learn more about a product or feature. Kudos to John for sharing his love for the industry and his story.
Selling Copiers in the Nineties with John Roof
Art: John, how did you find you way into the copier industry?
John: I was working at the Ohio River Company as a Warehouseman in 1992, when my Mom went to buy some BBQ from the Knights of Columbus, met with Gerald Roof, former partner of Modern Business Systems, and mentioned her son needed a job. Gerald had recently purchased Advance Business Concepts, the year before.
I met with Gerald, who asked if I had any experience in Sales. I told him I had recently gotten out of the Air Force, and no on sales. His response was, “I will give you a chance because of your mother.” I’ll start you out at $1,500 straight commission. That way I’ll know if you don’t bring in any sales, I won’t have to worry about keeping you. That was a comforting thought going into a new job!
Gerald took me under his wing and taught me how he had been successful in Modern Business Systems in Jefferson City, MO back in the day.
Art: What company or manufacturer did you start with, what was your title and what year did you start?
John: Advance Business Concepts, Inc. in Paducah, KY. The company started in October 1991 with partners, Gerald Roof, John DeBow, and Jeff Burton.
I started in October 1992, as a salesman. At that time, we had 3 office supply salespeople, 2 copier salesmen, 1 technician, and I started as a Fax Salesman. Fax machines were still relatively new, and nobody knew how to sell them.
In February 1993, I was enrolled in Ricoh High Volume Selling Strategies in Atlanta. Gerald thought I could sell the big machines. I drive the 6 hours down on a Sunday evening, get to the hotel, and was told they had no reservation for me. I called Gerald, who told me, to just pay with my credit card, and he would reimburse me next week. I told him I didn’t have a credit card. Long story short, Gerald’s wife gets on the phone with the hotel and takes care of the bill, then proceeds to give Gerald an earful, with me on the phone, for not letting her know he was sending me down.
Art: What brand(s) you sold and what was your favorite model top sell and why that was your favorite?
John: ABC was a Ricoh / Savin dealer. I started selling fax machines, because the other copier salesmen did not want to sell them.
I sold the FT4421, FT4222, FT5433/5733, FT6750, Fax 21, Fax 22, Fax 3000L, Fax 1700L. The Fax 21 was easier to sell over the Fax 22, since it was easier to program. When the Fax 3000L and Fax 1700L came out, plain paper fax was easier to sell than thermal. You learned early on if you had a proposal on a thermal fax sheet, do not leave it in the dash when you went to lunch. I learned the hard way when I had a quote to give a customer out of town, went to lunch, came back and the sheet was solid black. I had to drive an hour back to the office to print off another one, then copied it onto copy paper, so I wouldn’t lose the image, and drove an hour back to the customer.
In the late 90’s, I secured a contract with United States Enrichment Corp (USEC) in Paducah to supply their fax machines. I sold 150 Ricoh Fax 3000L’s and Ricoh Fax 1700L’s, along with the service for each.
Art: What was the percentage of copier sales people that made it past two years and why made them last or not last so long?
John: When I started in 1992, we had 3 copier reps, and me as a fax rep. We averaged 20 salespeople a year, some lasting a couple months, some a couple weeks. It’s hard to make a living on straight commission, if you cannot sell your product. Only myself and one other lasted past two years. We had 8 competitors selling Ricoh, Savin, Canon, Panasonic, Copystar, Sharp, Toshiba, Nashuatec, and Lanier.
Art: What did you like the most about your job in the nineties?
John: You either like sales, or you don’t. I was shy, didn’t like meeting new people, stayed in my own “bubble”. I never thought I was cut out to be a salesman, but it brought me out of my bubble, and I found out I was good at it. I found my niche and maximized on it. I was not a pressure salesman, (still not) or bragged about myself to customers, to get them to think I was the best thing they’d ever seen, as a reason to buy from me.
Art: What did you dislike the most about your job in the nineties?
John: Making 30+ office visits per day, when or if the “GateKeeper” would let you in the door, and COLD CALLING! Gerald told me to call on anybody, anywhere, and pound the pavement, and don’t come back in the office until you reach 30 new or follow-ups per day. This did not include telephone calls. Email and the Internet wasn’t even a thing yet.
Art: What was the compensation plan like, was there a salary, what is just commissions or was there a mix of salary and commissions?
John: From 1992 – 1995, we were strictly straight commission. My first year I made $16,000. When John DeBow took over, and Gerald Roof retired in 1995, we started a draw against salary. Commissions were at 50% GP, so you received say $1,500 draw and your commissions had to be over $1,500 to make extra per month. Some months you learned how to make Mac & Cheese at least 20 different ways, lol.
Art: How did you go about finding new business, and what was your favorite of those methods and why?
John: Back before cell phones and internet, I drove to the customer’s offices, took brochures or flyers, and just beat the street. I went to area Chamber “Business After Hours” to meet new potential customers, used the “phone book”. I drove around areas after hours and weekends to find new businesses to call on. I bought the Chamber of Commerce’s membership directory, made up Summer Special flyers with contact information, and left them at every business I could find.
Art: What was the first sales book that you read that and what did you take away from it?
John: “The Sales Bible” The Ultimate Sales Resource, by Jeffrey Gitomer – it taught me that everyone has a story, learn how to tell yours, but first you have to get out of your bubble, to let your story be told. Learn to listen to others, and learn to get out of your way.
Art: Did you use a car for demonstrations?
John: I came into this business with a 1986 Ford Bronco II, best truck I ever had, but I listened to Gerald Roof who told me if you want to be successful, you need a van. If so what type of car did you use for your demonstrations and how many demonstrations would you perform in a week demonstration
I bought a 1992 Dodge Caravan, and built a wooden platform in the back, so my demo cart could slide in an out easier.
In 1993, we were also selling Sharp SF7320 / 7370’s. It was an easy tabletop machine that made copies, just copies, and the top did not slide back and forth. If you wanted reduction & enlargement, you could pay a few hundred extra to get the SF7370.
I’d put 5 in the van, and go out and try to move those 5. I still had to make 30+ in person calls a day, so somedays I could get 5 demo’s, sometimes less. But by week’s end, I would move those 5 machines.
Art: Can you tell us a couple of funny story about selling copiers in the nineties?
John: I had just sold a Savin 8035 to the local Sheriff’s Office. I spent an hour training each person, making sure they understood all the features. Then I came back a week later for follow up training, and one of the ladies said she thought it was too slow, and it was difficult making multiple copies. I asked her to show me how she was accomplishing her tasks. Instead of using the document feeder, she put each sheet on the platen glass. She said that she needed 5 copies of each, and proceeded to press the start button 5 separate times, lol. Trying to contain my laughter inside, I asked her if she knew how to input how many copies she needed, so she wouldn’t have to keep pressing the start button. She looked at me with a puzzled face and said “I may be blonde, but I’m not stupid!” After I showed her how to put all the docs in the document feeder, press 5, then start, the light bulb finally came on……..
One day I was transporting a Sharp SF7370 in the back of my Chevy S-10 truck. I put the copier on the collapsible cart, slid it in the back, and closed the tailgate. Evidently I didn’t get the tailgate shut, cause when I pulled out on the street, I went one way, and the copier on the cart, went the other way, down the street, into the intersection, and luckily stopped traffic.
Back in the day when we all wore suits and ties, I was demonstrating a Ricoh FT6750. My tie got in the way when I was showing the document feeder, and after I pressed Start, the tie was choking off my airway. The secretary nearby saw this, grabbed a pair of scissors, and cut my tie in half. I was grateful to be free from the tie eating document feeder, but I loved that Mickey Mouse tie, lol.
When I first started in 1992, I went on several ride-a-longs with the Service Manager. We were on a call from a customer complaining his platen glass was broken on his Ricoh FT7870. We get to the Copy Room, and sure enough the glass was missing, and as the customer was talking, our Service Manager Jeff, saw the glass in the trash can. He picked up the pieces, put them together, and asked the customer if he recognized who had left the butt impressions on the glass……………
Art: What is the biggest problem you seeing facing the industry today?
John: The declining trend of page volumes as companies look to digitize their work flow. Covid taught us that customers can work from home or outside the office, and accomplish workflows from anywhere they have access to their network.
Art: If you had to, would you do it all over again, if so what would you change?
John: Absolutely, I would not change a thing. They say a rising tide raises all boats, and when the tide goes out you can see who has been swimming naked. Which means that when copiers became multi-functional networked print devices, that made it easier to sell multiple products in one unit. Penetrating the market was easier. Now with the shrinking print volumes, we again have to pivot to not only printing, but collecting, displaying, & protecting our customer’s information. It’s an exciting time in the office technology industry.
Art: What’s the one piece of knowledge that you’d like to share with new reps entering our industry?
John: Get back out on the streets and meet your customer & prospects face to face. Sending out 30 emails a day to your target audience will not gain the traction you are looking for. Your potential customer knows more about you than you know about them, before you have your first face to face. If you have a website, that prospect has already been there scoping out what you can do for them, as well as your competitors. The Purchasing Manager or Office Manager may not be the one that makes the decisions anymore.
The IT Department may be the one deciding what company & product they want on their network. It’s your job to find out who makes the decisions. If and when you get an appointment with that prospect, get the pleasantries out of the way, and shut up. Quit talking about how great you think you are, and let the customer talk! They’ll tell you what they are looking for, if you just let them talk. You have to assume that person already knows what he is looking for, since he’s already done his homework, on your website.
-=Good Selling=-
and since we were about the same cost they wanted to stay with the same vendor.
