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COVID19 "Remote Working" Day One

 

Over the years I've spent many days working from my home office. One thing I have going for me is that my office office is much bigger than my cube! 

Today was a little sobering since I'm not sure when I'll be back in the office, could it be two weeks, two months or the end of the summer?  All uncharted territory for most of us in office equipment sales. 

Today was the first day of our marching orders to work from home.  However, I did have to make a trip to the office to get a few addition items to make sure I can be as productive as possible.  By the time I arrived back at my home office (zero traffic) it was about 11AM. 

I was plugging all kinds of stuff into outlets, then had to connect my MFP (A4) to my wifi (what a bear that was). Answered a few emails, sent a few emails and it was time for a lunch break.  I tell you watching the news can be a real bummer especially when they're showing you the stock ticker in the same screen.  The pain, the pain of not having what we once had in our 401Ks.  The way I figure it is that I never really had it and there was bound to be a correction, but this correction really hurts. After lunch I decided it was a good time to walk our dog and get some fresh air.  This entire being in the office all day is going to wear on me real quick. I like people!

After lunch I sent three emails and connected with three on-line meetings for tomorrow.  BTW,  I'm using ZOOM which is a free service for up to 40 minutes. At this point I'm still novice with ZOOM and just hoping I can get through a smooth meeting.  At this time I'm still trying to figure out if I can share documents also. I'll be doing that first thing in the AM along with some prep work.

Most of my afternoon was spent putting the final touches and research for a large opportunity for a specialty print solution.  I wasn't happy with just proposing one option thus I put in a few hours researching what I thought would be a great fallback option.  Fallback options, how many of us have those planned out in advance? As salespeople we all know there's going to be some type of objection and what happens if the objection crushes your entire plan?  I'm grateful that I learned how to play chess at a young age, that whole thought process of what happens next has allowed me to always have a fallback plan.  Not saying it will work, but having additional options is always a good thing.

I then spent some additional time on Ricoh's intranet site watching some webinars that were that were on my to do list.

By late afternoon I was on the phone with one of my Ricoh reps and confirming some specs about my fallback option.  AS I was ending the call my wife was telling me it's time for dinner.

All in all, I got quite a bit done today, thinking maybe this not being in the office may not be a bad thing at all.  More to come tomorrow.

-=Good Selling=-

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SalesServiceGuy posted:

I have been working out of a home office for most of 40 years.

If your employer gives you the correct piece of paper, saying you must work at home, there are some great tax benefits.

You can claim your office space, the path to your office space, the path to your bathroom, any office equipment storage space and maybe a front room where you receive couriers.  Ask a friendly sales rep to meet you in that front room at least once for a sales meeting and an alibi and bingo you can claim that as well.  Plus electricity, heat, internet, renovations, etc.  Important this deduction can never be more than 1/6 th of your total living expenses or the tax man is going to get suspicious.

Put the TV far away and off and turn off any stock tickers.

Danger working at home becomes a lifestyle and you might end up working way more than 40 hours per week.  This is called the Gig economy and you are now a gig worker.

Everyday, I wake up at 8:00 AM and bang I am at work.  No commuting.  I can go to like 10:30 AM before I realize that I did not have breakfast yet.

These are strange times, so you need to learn not to get too comfortable and throw yourself out the door to make sales calls as soon as possible.

I am just starting with Zoom video conference tonight (Ray S's recommendation) and plan to practise on a couple of my sales reps this week.  This will be a new skill for me that I have to master and be able to setup quickly with clients.

Thanks for the mention and glad to see getting a hold on Zoom it's a great product and more of the world will be using it. Stay well my friend. 

Kimberly posted:

Look at all the restaurant industry is doing to save its business. Office equipment reps millennial and younger are looking for a 2 week vacation, while us in the in the business for years have seen some of this such as the housing collapse and 9/11. Interesting as they support the Bernie type politician but when you ask them to pull together for the team and region to remain profitable to put off layoffs they claim excuses. 

Thanx Kimberly

I was looking for a two week vaca also, but my reasoning is that the entire nation should shut down except for essential services.

Look at all the restaurant industry is doing to save its business. Office equipment reps millennial and younger are looking for a 2 week vacation, while us in the in the business for years have seen some of this such as the housing collapse and 9/11. Interesting as they support the Bernie type politician but when you ask them to pull together for the team and region to remain profitable to put off layoffs they claim excuses. 

I have been working out of a home office for most of 40 years.

If your employer gives you the correct piece of paper, saying you must work at home, there are some great tax benefits.

You can claim your office space, the path to your office space, the path to your bathroom, any office equipment storage space and maybe a front room where you receive couriers.  Ask a friendly sales rep to meet you in that front room at least once for a sales meeting and an alibi and bingo you can claim that as well.  Plus electricity, heat, internet, renovations, etc.  Important this deduction can never be more than 1/6 th of your total living expenses or the tax man is going to get suspicious.

Put the TV far away and off and turn off any stock tickers.

Danger working at home becomes a lifestyle and you might end up working way more than 40 hours per week.  This is called the Gig economy and you are now a gig worker.

Everyday, I wake up at 8:00 AM and bang I am at work.  No commuting.  I can go to like 10:30 AM before I realize that I did not have breakfast yet.

These are strange times, so you need to learn not to get too comfortable and throw yourself out the door to make sales calls as soon as possible.

I am just starting with Zoom video conference tonight (Ray S's recommendation) and plan to practise on a couple of my sales reps this week.  This will be a new skill for me that I have to master and be able to setup quickly with clients.

Last edited by SalesServiceGuy
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