Please keep in mind that anyone can post new messages on the forums. We're all here to learn more about the industry and share information. Sharing information, sales techniques and solutions can help all of us.
What I share may help someone else who can't or does not know the answer. Or maybe it's that tidbit of sales knowledge that helps us close another deal.
Let's face it we're not in this crazy business because we like copiers/printers, we're in it because we have the ability to write our own pay check along with being able to do our own thing from time to time. Those veterans in the industry know what I'm talking about. Heck, if you're an above average producer you can write your own ticket in this industry. If you're below average the information from the site can help you become a top earner!
The Print4Pay Hotel forums was created back in 2003. To make a long story short, Ricoh had a forum/message board on there aficio league (intranet site). Many of us conversed about solutions, hardware and shared information. I had just sold the of my first 80 ppm digital copier to a print shop in NJ. It was a great sale until I had a call from the owner asking me to take the machine out (he had not signed the D & A yet), because the 80ppm could not reproduce halftones that were acceotable for his print/copy business. I went there and truth be told the halftones were not good, we sent techs, ricoh techs and nothing made a difference. We pulled the machine and I lost a sale.
To say the least I was not happy, I kept digging and had a former Ricoh person tell me that Ricoh new in advance that the 80ppm would not produce good halftones. After I heard this I blasted the TRUTH about the new system on Ricoh's message boards, because one I was upset, but two I didn't want to see this happen to anyone else. Thus a few days later my account was deleted from the site.
At this point I stated I could do a better job and started my own forums on an MSN community. A few weeks later I was re-instated on the Ricoh message boards with the condition that I would not slam Ricoh products. Well, I accepted because I needed the site at that time, but in the mean time I was emailing members stating what had happened. After a few years my msn community had more action than the Ricoh forums, another year later I started what you see today.
Today we have members from every manufacturer, members from all over the world. It truly is a global community. But the community can't work if members don't share information. You might ask "how can I help", that's easy, post a question, post a story about a sale or a solution sale, tell us what you like or don't like, ask for help like how to do this or how to do that. Maybe you had a similar sale like I did, well post it here so we can all benefit from your knowledge.
We have no union, little help from corporate marketing (rarely do you get the real spin on certain products), we pretty much have to do it all (sell, market, prospect, research, close). If you've been doing this awhile most upper level people want to keep sales people in the dark about certain things.
The Print4Pay Hotel is your community, treat it as an extension of your family. No question or thread is not worthy on the forums. We are here to help each other sell more, become more knowledgable and support ourselves and our families.
Please find the time to contribute to the forums, you'll be glad you did.
Art Post
Original Post
