This Week in Copiers "Industry Updates" 10/24/10

Special thanx to Print4Pay Hotel Members from around the world and a few moles in very good places for posting these great threads!


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- Hewlett Packard sued by some of its shareholders. The lawsuit claims that HP permitted or encouraged illegal kickbacks and bribes to government agencies to win bids. In August, HP had agreed to pay a $55 million fine to settle a U.S. Justice Dept. probe over alleged bribery.
- Hewlett Packard announced it would hire 2,000 workers in Bulgaria for a development and support center.
- Hewlett Packard announced it had completed its $1.5 billion acquisition of ArcSight, maker of security software.

- Hewlett Packard, at its Innovation Summit in Singapore, announced that it will offer Toshiba MFPs to its managed print services customers in Asia/Pacific region. HP already is offering Canon MFPs in the U.S. Unknown if HP will offer Toshiba MFPs in the U.S.
- Hewlett Packard announced it has appointed Gail Galuppo as new Senior VP of Worldwide Strategy & Marketing for the printer/MFP division. Ms. Galuppo was hired from Western Union, and will work from San Diego office, reporting to Vyomesh Joshi, executive VP.

- Hewlett Packard is threatening to cancel a large number of resellers for failing to sell enough HP maintenance and warranty service contracts (HP CarePacks), according to Computer Resellers News magazine.
- Hewlett Packard won a managed print services contract from large law firm, Allens Arthur Robinson:

o locations across Asia and Australia

o 3 year contract

o Also includes document management system (DMS)

o Replaced 408 printers with 206 MFPs

o Reduced page volume from 61 million pages to 24 million

o Claims will reduce costs by $3 million over life of contract

o Help desk calls about printer/MFP issues down from 30% of total to 3%

o Attorneys no longer have a personal printer

- EFI announced a new version of PrintMe, that will allow users of Apple iPhone, iPad, Blackberry and Google Android cell phones to print to an Internet enabled device.
- In a surprise move, Microsoft’s Chief Software Architect, Ray Ozzie, announced he is leaving the company.
- Adobe announced it will ship a new version of Acrobat software, called Acrobat X, featuring:

o rebuilt scanning and OCR engine

o scanned files are 50% smaller

o automatic color and grayscale detection

o uses OCR software from IRIS of Belgium

o integration with MS SharePoint

o ability to export files to MS Word or MS Excel

o basic commenting functionality
- CVision of Queens, New York, announced it won research grants from the National Science Foundation to develop new JBIG compression technology to increase speed of OCR scanning. The company’s goal is to allow copier companies to have built-in OCR that can make a searchable PDF as fast as the copier’s scan speed.
- Sharp announced it will scale back its laptop computer operations and instead focus on making the new Sharp Galapagos tablet PC. Japan’s Nikkei newspaper reported that Sharp will cease all PC desktop and laptop manufacturing due to declining sales.
- Loffler Companies, a Konica Minolta dealer in Minnesota, was named to the prestigious Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies in the U.S.
- Ricoh announced that it is now on the Premier Group Purchasing Organization (GPO) contract, to enable its branches, IKON and dealers to market to member healthcare facitlities.
- Samsung of Korea filed suit against Panasonic over patents in the manufacture of secure digital memory cards.

- IKON/Ricoh and GE Capital were sued in Florida. Apparently, customer Kenneth Hackett & Associates is trying to get out of their lease due to a dispute over click charges.
- Kodak an acquisition target? That is the opinion recently published by George Conboy, President of Brighton Securities.
- Brainware Inc. of Ashburn, Virginia, announced contract wins for its Intellicapture scan capture software:

o Will be relabeled by Oracle as Oracle Forms Recognition

o Installs include:

 NEC Europe

 Mueller Industries

 Lafarge

 Rabobank

 Cook’s Childrens Hospital

 Resurrection Healthcare

 Gilead Healthcare

 Gunderson Lutheran Healthcare

 Mayo Clinic

- Canon announced that so far this year, it has planted 38,000 trees in the U.S. as part of its Generation Green Program. Canon makes the donation for every qualifying imageRUNNER MFP sold.
- Jefferson Parish School Board of New Orleans was sued by CIT Leasing for failing to make payments on its copier lease. The 5 year lease started on 6/15/2006.
- Carr Business Systems, a dealer owned by Xerox/Global in New York, announced it won a contract as a preferred office equipment supplier for the members of the Greater New York Home Furnishing Association.
- MGI of Australia announced it sold a Meteor DP60 Pro digital color system to JP Graphics, a printshop in Appleton, WI.
- Kyocera (Kyoto Ceramic Company) announced it will sponsor the Anderson Cooper 360 show on CNN cable TV.
- Toshiba announced it will resell the new 700 and 7100 wide format b/w systems from KIP.
- Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, announced the next version of Macintosh computer operating system will be called Mac OS X 10.7 Lion.
- Gregory Lavallo and Amelia Abdulmagid were arrested for using a color copier to make fake $100 bills in Amsterdam.

-=Good Selling=-

How to Fix Your Copier Sales Problems!

Dam, Jesse submitted an awesome blog for our readers, it's brings tears to my eyes and music to my ears to hear Jesse preaching to the choir!!!

Guest Post by Jesse Harwell - Why Copier Companies are Paying More Attention to Laser Printers.

Are you walking by business everyday because you aren't paying attention to the landscape you are in? This article is to help copier reps grow their business!

If you sell copiers for a living, the writing is on the wall. Copier prints are going down and laser printer average monthly volumes are going up. The average copier rep must take a course of action which will make their business more substantial and stable. If you are in this industry, you know what is being spoken of here. What are your options if you intend to stay in the business and want to eat something other than Top Ramen?

We can think of a few ways you can improve your business without killing yourself in terms of effort!

The first thing you must consider is smarter marketing. If are still walking door to door, that may be effective, but you better have some great shoes! We think it is smarter to utilize the internet and social media ALONG with your current strategy to get more qualified copier leads. We have some great methods we have used to generate more leads. Contact me if you are interested in learning more!

Adding more devices to existing contracts -- If you sold the copier, did you bother to get all of the printers under a maintenance contract too? If not, you left a bunch of money on the table, especially because of how expensive color prints can be!

Add a secondary product like Document Management or Data Backup. If you are simply trying to sell boxes, rather than services, you are going to lose a lot of deals!

Stay educated, read blogs like the one you are on often to understand what is happening in the business.
Become a Premier Member with P4P Hotel as you will learn about leads in your area you have never heard of before. If one of these leads every 40 years leads to a sale, you'll be breakeven, a no-brainer. E mail Art for more details

Start tracking what you already own with software like Print Audit (Tell them we sent you) so you can find opportunities which exist in the fleets of printers and copiers you already own.

Consider joining a high quality leads group. There are tons of bad ones out there, so be picky here.
Finding more business in this economy is much more about learning how to help people do more with less, not just bringing cookies and stopping by once a week. You will find as you look for ways to help your customer and to be more efficient with your own time, your sales may actually increase rather than decrease this year!

Guest author Jesse Harwell writes for multiple sites related to printers and copiers. Read more of his writing at Denver Copier or the Laser Printer Center . Image source FLICKR - Creative Commons License.

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler." ...Albert Einstein

-=Good Selling=-

This Week in Xerox "TWIX Notes"

- Xerox reported financial results from its last quarter:
o Includes ACS, which Xerox acquired for $6.4 billion
o Total revenue of $5.43 billion, up 48%
o Profit of $250 million, up 103%
o Laid off 100 employees during quarter
o Projects spending $400 million on restructuring, as it will lay off 2,500 more employees
o Has 133,000 total employees currently (76,500 in the ACS division)
o Paid off $1billion in debt, with $9.5 billion remaining
o Predicts debt will be reduced to $8 billion by end of 2011
o iGen3 & iGen4 production color installs up 54%
o Nuvera production b/w installs up 2%
o 13% increase in equipment sales
o 5% increase in supply sales
o Finance income dropped 10%

- Xerox announced it won a managed print services and business process outsourcing contract from Ingersoll Rand.

- Are Star Trek fans disappointed? Xerox has renamed their desktop A4 color wax printers. Formerly known as Phaser, which was name of weapon on the old science fiction TV and movie series, the printers will now carry same name as the floor-standing A3 color wax MFPs, called ColorQube. The ColorQube 8570 and 8870 desktop color A4 wax printers will replace the Phaser 8850 and 8860 models, offering a top speed of 40ppm. The Phaser name will still be used by Xerox color desktop models that use laser/LED and toner technology.

- Xerox announced it has developed a video camera that could be installed on school buses to catch bad drivers. The “CrossSafe” cameras would take high quality images of vehicles that could be in violation of traffic laws by passing the blinking stop sign arm on buses. Xerox’s ACS division announced it won a contract to install them on street sweepers in the City of Chicago.

-=Good Selling=-

This Week in Copiers "Industry Updates"

Special thanx to Print4Pay Hotel Members from around the world and a few moles in very good places for posting these great threads!


Take a moment and join the largest group of copier professionals in the world. Here's the link for the P4P Hotel


- Lexmark launched a new A3 color MFP, the X925de featuring:

o Actually made by Fuji of China (which makes most products sold by Xerox)

o Base MSRP of $5849 (print only version has base MSRP of $2399)

o Uses LED, not laser technology

o 600x600dpi actual (advertised as offering 1200dpi with interpolation)

 Does not offer true 8 bits per pixel

o 30ppm top speed b/w or color

o 4 tandem OPC drum design

o Polymerized toner

o Hole-in-the-middle design

o 10.2” touch screen color LCD control panel (one of the industry’s largest)

 LCD can by customized via MyMFP feature

 Help function provides voice and animation to guide end user

o Auto duplex standard

o 100 sheet document feeder standard (does NOT scan both sides of original at same time)

 Top scan speed of 32opm

o Comes standard with 50 sheet stack bypass, 150 sheet paper drawer and 250 sheet paper drawer

 Can add up to three more 550 sheet paper drawers to make unit floor standing (or put on stand)

 Banner printing mode, up to 48” long

 Bypass can hold up to 10 envelopes

o Optional fax board

o Optional card shot feature

o 11 second first color page out time

o Max duty cycle of 200K/month

o Pantone certified (but done not offer optional color calibration device and color management software)

o Built-in print controller standard

 Actual maker unknown

 512MB RAM (can upgrade to 1.5GB)

 1GHz processor

 Hard drive

 USB port on front of device for print from and scan to thumb drive

 10/100/1000BaseT and USB ports in rear

 PCL, PostScript and XPS print drivers

 Optional embedded applications integrated with control panel (LESF or Lexmark Embedded Solutions Framework)

 Scan to email/FTP/network

 Supports PDF 1.6 (but not 1.7)

 IPv6

o Thumbnail preview on color LCD

o Optional proximity card reader

o Hard drive security standard

o No finishing options


- Lexmark launched a new A4 color MFP, the X792 series featuring:

o Made by Fuji of China

o Base MSRP of $4499 (fully loaded $6349)

o Letter/legal size paper handling only

o 50ppm top speed b/w or color

o Uses LED, not laser technology

o 600x600dpi actual (advertised as offering 1200dpi with interpolation)

 Does not offer true 8 bits per pixel

o 4 tandem OPC drum design

o Polymerized toner

o Hole-in-the-middle design

o 8.5 second first color page out time

o Pantone certified (but done not offer optional color calibration device and color management software)

o 10.2” touch screen color LCD control panel (one of the industry’s largest)

 LCD can by customized via MyMFP feature

 Help function provides voice and animation to guide end user

o Comes standard with 100 sheet bypass and 550 sheet paper drawer

 Can add two more 550 sheet drawers to make floor standing

o Banner printing up to 48” long, but only 8.5” wide sheet

o Auto duplex standard

o Document feeder holds up to 75 originals (Scans both sides of original at same time)

o Optional hanging finisher offers stapling and 2/3 hole punch

o Optional fax board

o Optional card shot feature

o Built-in print controller

 Actual maker unknown

 Hard drive

 1GB RAM standard (can upgrade to 2GB)

 USB port in front for scan to and print from thumb drive

 PCL, PostScript and XPS print drivers

 Optional embedded applications integrated with control panel (LESF or Lexmark Embedded Solutions Framework)

 Scan to email/FTP/network

 Supports PDF 1.6 (but not 1.7)

 IPv6

- Print only version, called C792, has base MSRP of $1349 (fully loaded $2999)
- Lexmark launched a new desktop color inkjet printer with an innovative feature. The $399 Genesis features a 10 megapixel imaging sensor (normally found in a digital camera), instead of a flatbed scanning CIS, so that it can capture a color photo in seconds.
- Print for pay industry data for second quarter of 2010 from PIA:

o Total print shipments up 5.1% over 2009

o Toner based print shipments up 11.5%

o Average selling price decline of 2.9%

o Shop owners project increase in sales of 8.2% over next 12 months

o Project growth of 10.5% in toner based printing
- Okidata announced it is adding a hologram to its toner cartridges to prevent counterfeiters from making compatible toner products.
- Equitrac announced it will be a Silver Sponsor of the upcoming Solutions Summit, held in November in Chicago, and organized by InfoTrends.

- Kyocera (aka Kyoto Ceramic Company) announced it will now offer an optional proximity card reader for some of its MFPs. The card reader is made by RD Ideas.
- Kyocera announced it has entered into agreement with Pantone LLC so that its 552ci color laser MFP can carry the Pantone Certification.

- Xerox an acquisition target? This is opinion published by Alexander Roepers, head of Atlantic Investment Management. (Xerox’s current market value is $15.4 billion)
- Xerox announced it sold a 1000 Digital Color Press (made by Fuji) to SPM Print of Rotherhithe, England to replace a DocuColor 8000.
- Xerox announced it sold a 700 Digital Color Press to Arnold & Wessels, a printshop in Klerksdorp, South Africa.
- Xerox announced it purchased TMS Health of Boca Raton, FL. TMS has 600 employees that call physicians and pharmacists to tell them about new pharmaceutical products, fields call-in lines for drug companies and helps find patients for clinical trials. It will become part of the ACS division.
- Toshiba announced that it is the fourth largest maker of notebook computers according to IDC.
- Toshiba announced that it won a bid to build a solar power plant for Chugoku Electric Power Company of Hiroshima, Japan. When it is completed, it will generate enough power for 900 households.

-=Good Selling=-

This Week in Ricoh "TWIR NOTES"

Special thanx to Print4Pay Hotel Members from around the world and a few moles in very good places for posting these great threads!

Take a moment and join the largest group of copier professionals in the world. Here's the link Print4Pay Hotel Forums.


Ricoh announced a new optional software package brand for its production print customers, called “TotalFlow”:o Uses tag line of “Capture, Manage, Produce & Innovate”
o Web to print
o Personalization
o Document and job management
o Multi-channel marketing capabilities
o Business Booster Program (resource center, consulting services, marketing services)

Ricoh announced more changes to its management structure in the U.S. after acquiring IKON:

 The Ricoh factory direct branches and IKON locations will now have same leaders in Region and Area

o Will continue with both Ricoh and IKON branches competing against each other and dealers
o Direct and IKON is run by Mark Bottini (who reports to Jeff Hickling, President)
o Region VPs for direct/IKON branches and the Area VPs reporting to them are:
 Jim Morrissey – Northeast
• Danny Brown (ME, NH & MA)
• Mike Cintolo (RI & CT)
• Paul Lee (VT & NY
• Ron Pandorf (New York City)
• Steve Fedell (OH & PA)
 Tom Brown – Mid Atlantic
• Wally Case (NJ)
• Ramzi Jredini (Philadelphia)
• Mitch Holmes (WV, KY & VA)
• Renaud Rodrigue (Baltimore & DC)
• Will Armfield (eastern NC & SC)
 Pete Bringe – Southeast
• Bob Brock (western SC & NC)
• Michael Hare (TN & AL)
• Jeff Galovic (northern FL)
• Rick Soluri (southern FL)
• Dean Nolley (GA)
 Paul Ferrandino – Midwest
• Kirk Lynch (WI)
• Bill Batrow (MI)
• Kelly Daugherty (IN & KY)
• Craig Fouts (Chicago)
• Kim Castagnetta (SD, ND, MN & IA)
 Terry Sukalski – Central
• Scott Meyer (MO & IL)
• Doug Stewart (LA, MS & AR)
• Patrick Braun (east TX)
• Mike Johnson (southcentral TX)
• John Byxbee (north TX)
• Shelley Rodriguez (NE, KS & OK)
 Bob Koether – Pacific Northwest
• Rob Remker (WA)
• Christine Stonesifer (OR & Spokane)
• Curt Albrecht (Associated Business Systems of OR and WA)
• Lee Christensen (Automated Business Products of UT)
• Steve Rinaldi (MT, IT, WY, UT & CO)
 Jon Elwell – Southwest
• Ron Nielson (AZ, NV & NM)
• John Mahoney (central valley CA)
• Steve Carter (bay area of CA)
• Dan Walsh (greater Los Angeles)
• Ted Haugner (San Diego & Hawaii)

Ricoh also announced the following appointments in Direct/IKON division:o Dave Greene is VP of Strategic Sales, which includes Global, National, Production, Federal, Legal and Healthcare
 Dominic Pontrelli is General Manager of Global Services and Marketing
 Linda Smith is in charge of Global and National Account sales
 Joe Campanella is in charge of federal government sales
 Brian Balow is in charge of Production Print in U.S.
 Dave Barwick is in charge of Healthcare Vertical
 Eric Wangler and Mark Davey are in charge of Legal Vertical
o Michael Lowe is Director of Inside Sales (aftermarket products)
o Dan Merkle is VP of Leasing


-=Good Selling=-

This Week in Canon "TWIC Notes"

Special thanx to Print4Pay Hotel Members from around the world and a few moles in very good places for posting these great threads!

Take a moment and join the largest group of copier professionals in the world. Here's the link for the P4P Hotel

- Canon unveiled new technologies at a show in Paris:
o Showed a prototype of new production color system
 had code-name of imagePRESS Z
 used engine from current imagePRESS C7010VP
 had a fifth toner hopper with clear toner in it for gloss applications
 unit ran at 70ppm while applying all 5 toners
o also showed an Apple iPhone application that allowed imagePRESS to accept print jobs
o launched a consultancy business in collaboration with Accenture
o New feature for its optional UniFLOW 5 software:
 Prevents user from attempting to print, scan, copy or fax a document containing prohibited keywords, such as client name, project codenames, or foul language
 Will email admin a PDF copy of the document in question
 Will inform offending user via email of the transgression
 OCR feature (relabled software from IRIS of Belgium)(

- The shrinking value of U.S. dollar hurts Japanese companies. Canon’s CEO, Fujio Mitarai, stated that its operating profit will shrink by 4.7 billion yen for every 1 yen the currency strengthens beyond 90 against the U.S. dollar.

- Canon launched several desktop A4 laser printers:
o Color imageCLASS LBP7200C offering 21ppm color, with base MSRP of $699
o imageCLASS LBP6650 offering 35ppm b/w, with base MSRP of $599
o imageCLASS LBP6300 offering 30ppm b/w, with base MSRP of $499
o imageCLASS LBP6000 offering 19ppm b/w, with base MSRP of $249

- Canon announced that its Toray, Japan plant will make plastic parts partially made of plant materials that will be used in some of its imageRUNNER ADVANCE MFPs.

- Canon announced it will launch a 50ppm A4 b/w laser MFP, with optional hanging finisher, in early 2011.

-=Good Selling=-

Possibly moving to Ricoh....

Possibly moving to Ricoh....was the title of a recent thread on the Print4Pay Hotel Forums. Click here to find our more about the forums.

A junior member of the P4P Hotel stated that he or she is currently in sales with a dealer that sells for "xyz" equipment and thinks the prospects of the dealer, even short term is not viable and she or he is considering a move to a Ricoh Dealer. So, the question was asked "Can any of you give me info on the advantages of Ricoh products vs XYZ products?

From here I'm just going to give a partial list of the threads for everyone:

Ricoh has tremendous market share

Top four and not in this order KonicaMinolta, Ricoh , Xerox and Canon
Ricoh puts much more into R & D for MFP's (from Jersey)

Ricoh product ranks at the top of the industry. That being said, selling today is about far more than the box. What other value can you bring to the table with a given vendor/dealer? How about ......
(from NE)

Unfortunately, I am already at a place that only sells "boxes". I don't know which companies in my area do those other services, of if the Ricoh.......... (from Montana)

I'm going to say something here from my experience of being a copier buyer BEFORE I started working in the copier industry. Yes, it's true, I was a client of the very dealership that I came to work for.



You're not going to like what I have to say because you're sales reps and you trained to think a certain way. Please, for once, listen with an open mind to someone with experience being on the other side of the proposal. Ponder it, don't spin it.


Most buyers don't care one bit what.......... (from WI)

Excellent post, makes me think twice about everything I do! Kudos (from Jersey)

best post in quite some time! I cannot agree anymore with what you said about the reason a customer will buy from you or not...... (from JAX)

Jack Daly said it best "People buy from people they like"

I know a local RBS where.......... (from CA)

One of our P4P members gave us six paragraphs on "What do buyers care about?", this member used to be a copier buyer before they went to work in the copier industry.  The post/thread is awesome and a good read for all of us who are in the field day in and day out. 

Take some time to sign up for the P4P Hotel forums, there's no cost, no hassle and communicate with your peers in a closed and secure forum.

-=Good Selling=-

Copiers & MFP's "Do You Want to Know a Secret"

Just a little gut check here. One of my every day chores is to pour over all of the press releases and threads that come across my google alerts. In recent months I've read about the Xerox purchase of ACS, the Canon purchase of Oce, along with the many articles and blogs that report that companies like Xerox, Canon, Ricoh and KonicaMinolta need to diversify.

In a recent statement from Canon Chief Executive Officer Fujio Mitarai, is that Canon could focus on aquisitions of chemical, printing and medical companies in the near future.

Let's face it, the writing is on the wall for the paperless office. I'm out in the field and every day I'm focusing on ways for my customers to improve their business process, and it's usally by printing or copying less and incorporating different types of software applications. I'm in an industry that makes money by putting ink on paper and we're selling solutions and hardware that reduce the amount of pages that are printed or copied, that's crazy.....are we driving our own demise?

At times we are tapping into to new markets with solutions like Planet Press, however these applications are not making up for the amount of documents/pages that are lost to scanning and emailing. Sooner or later, our industry will have to adopt a scan per page charge.

My generation "Baby Boomers" are still relying on paper to review, markup and distribute. My son's generation (he's now 26), he doesn't even own a printer. He uses his phone and his pc, does on line banking, and all of his bills are emailed to him. His generation may be the tipping point for paper, yeah we'll still have paper, but we'll not rely on it for distribution, or review.

Here's the secret:

"Every organization must prepare for the total abandonment of everything it does." Peter Drucker

-=Good Selling=-

Copier Price Quotes Revealed "Part III"

Over at the Print4Pay Hotel forums we've just uploaded these new MFP Price sheets (Special thanx to all of our Print4Pay Hotel Moles for sharing) from KonicaMinolta, Xerox Canon, Ricoh and Toshiba!

These MFP Pricing Documents were just uploaded!!

Xerox ColorQube 9202_WC7755 CPP Pricing

Canon ir Advance 5045P iRC4080i CPP Pricing

Xerox WorkCentre 7346_ColorQube 9201 CPP Pricing

Sharp MX-C401_MX-3100N_MX4100N_MX4101_MX5001N CPP Pricing

Ricoh MPC 3500SPF CPP Pricing

KonicaMinolta Bizhub C360 CPP Pricing

Canon iRC2550 Proposal

KMBS-Copiers_Pricing Updated

-=Good Selling=

Copier Price Quotes Revealed "Part II"

Over at the Print4Pay Hotel forums we've just uploaded these new MFP Price sheets (Special thanx to all of our Print4Pay Hotel Moles for sharing) from KonicaMinolta, Xerox and Toshiba!

These MFP Pricing Documents were just uploaded!!

KonicaMinolta BS-Copiers/MFP Pricing


KonicaMinolta BS_Copiers Maintenance

Toshiba-Copiers/MFP Updated 20100927

Toshiba-Copiers Maintenance Options 

Xerox-Copier MFP PriceSheet

Xerox-Copiers Maintenance Options

Konica/Minolta Bizhub C452 Proposal


Go here for documents

-=Good Selling=-

10 Reasons for Nirvana for a Copier Sales Rep!

The Buddha described Nirvāna as the perfect peace of the state of mind that is free from craving, anger and other afflicting states (kilesas). It is also the "end of the world"; there is no identity left, and no boundaries for the mind. The subject is at peace with the world.....

1. Every lease deal was approved this month with no PG's!
2. Not one deal was kicked back by management for additional paper work required!
3. You received one new refferal for each sales day of the month!
4. All of your proposals were accepting and completed that month!
5. You received one new lead for each day of the sales month!
6. You delivered & installed all of the equipment in the same month you sold it!
7. All your cleints stated "We like you, we're gonna buy from you"!
8. You didn't make a wrong turn or was late for an appointment that month!
9. No one haggled on price!
10. You were at home by 4PM and on the couch by 4:15PM watching your favorite show!

I like em all! Anyone care to add?

-=Good Selling=-

Multifunctional Copier & MFP Price Quotes Revealed

Over at the Print4Pay Hotel forums we've just uploaded these CPP Pricing Sheets:

These CPP Pricing Documents were just uploaded!!

imagPRESS C6000vp_C7000vp

iR Advance C5501_C7055_7065_9065_9075 CPP Pricing

KM Bizhub PRO C552_C652_C5501

Ricoh Color MPC 6501 CPP Pricing

Sharp MX-6210_MX-7001N CPP Pricing

Xerox ColorQube 920_WC776 5P CPP Pricing

Canon iR3230_2030i_3235i CPP Pricing

Xerox WorkCentre M20i CPP Pricing

Sharp MX-M260_283N CPP Pricing

Ricoh mp2510_2851sp CPP Pricing

KM bizhub 282 CPP Pricing

Canon iR 1025_2022_2025_3225 CPP Pricing

Xerox WorkCentre 4118p_x

Sharp AR-208D CPP Pricing

Ricoh 171SP CPP Pricing

KM bizhub 181 CPP Pricing

Canon ir2018i CPP Price

Go here for documents

-=Good Selling=-

The Customer Isn’t Always Right. . .

Guess who's back for our guest blogger for October?

If you guessed Matt Espe........well YOU'RE WRONG!

Leslie Simone gave us "You know what they need to do, so why isn't your team selling?" back in April of 2010. Leslie's back and packing heat with.......

The Customer Isn’t Always Right. . .

Many of us work painstakingly to live by motto ‘The Customer is Always Right.” That’s generous and customer service-oriented, of us, right? Sometimes, . . .No!

Often, executives have stopped having hard and necessary conversations with their clients in the name of ‘good client relations’, and therefore their clients don’t benefit from the very specialized expertise they originally sought. In working with our executive clients, we have heard time after time, things like “the customer will never go for it,” or “the customer said ‘No’ so we have no choice but to give them this. . .” When faced with these responses, let’s challenge ourselves to dig deeper and speak our truth with grace and respect.

· First, check your integrity. Ask yourself ‘is there definitely a compelling relevant advantage to THEM in your solution vs. what they’ve requested?’

· Next, check if there is anything you need to own or admit about what you’ve offered in the past that didn’t meet their needs. I recall having to explain to a customer that we terminated an application we had formerly touted as exceptional because we found it no longer able to meet our customers’ dynamic needs. Typically if you are up front about your proactive response to emerging liabilities, you gain substantial credibility and give the customer peace of mind.

· Then, empathize with any potential fears they might have, and explain what you will do to move them through to success.

· Next, make your request to consider the alternate solution that you genuinely feel would be best for them.

· And finally, be willing to negotiate. Yes, you are there to serve the customer and they have the right to the final call. Lets just make sure to speak our minds and give our expertise boldly, without hiding our feelings in an attempt to “keep the peace.”

If you are still unsettled about challenging your customer, ask yourself a few questions: “Am I and my company really executing my current philosophy of the ‘customer is always right,’ without exception?” “Do we ever complain, gossip internally, or begrudgingly carry out requested implementations that we judge to be foolish or shortsighted?” “Are we resigned to only limited success with the transaction because we see the flaws in their requested designs?”

If you answered Yes to any of these questions, ask yourself, are you ultimately acting in the customer’s best interest -- giving their requests your 100% best energy, attention and can-do spirit? We teach that it’s better to stand toe to toe with your client and have a hard conversation than to passively participate in something that you secretly believe is doomed to fail. Plus, the mutual respect generated by speaking your opinions will either create deep lasting partnerships, or might signal that you should part ways and find other partnerships where your true strengths and contributions can and do shine.

To continue this conversation, please either send comments, or follow the link below to experience an unparalleled immersion into leadership development at the Handel Group’s Executive Boot Camp 2010 at Per Se Restaurant in NY: http://www.handelgroup.com/executive-coaching-boot-camp-in-new-york-city/

Bio: Leslie Simone, Senior Consultant of the Handel Group, has been working with the Handel Methodology for over ten years, co-hosts a monthly TV segment on topics of interest to professionals in the Northeast, leads crash courses to executives in New York, and consults executives one-on-one throughout the country in developing extraordinary leadership.

Takin Care of Business "MFP Homework"

Homework, I cringed when I heard "homework" from my high school teachers. I was a firm believer that homework should be done in school and when I'm home that's my time.  I had presented that scenario to a few of my HS teachers and all I can say is that I didn't win any brownie points.

Fast forward to my selling career in copiers/multifunctional devices and all I can tell you is that "homework" is now the name of the game. Go figure, something I hated to do is virtually all I do when it comes to selling!

Most nights will find me in the front of the pc searching for additional information for a product, service, researching a corporation or solution that I need to find an answer for. I’m a firm believer that anything can be accomplished and a canned answer of “it’s not possible” is not acceptable.

Last week I had meet with an existing client in reference to the possibilities of upgrading to a new Ricoh wide format system. The customer was an architect and they were still chugging along with the Ricoh 480W that I had sold them almost 5 years ago. For those of us selling in the Wide Format Market we all know the industry is down, lease approvals are interesting at best. This particular client’s volume had migrated down to less than half of what they were doing 5 years ago. The upgrade of the 480W was not an option due to price point, and the Ricoh w3600 seemed like a better fit since the volume was not there anymore. I presented, proposed and painted an excellent scenario for the W3600, however there were some underlying objections. I was able to answer those and then the last objection was brought to the table. My client showed me a brochure and a quote on the new KIP700M, this system with color scanning was priced $2,500 less than my Ricoh and I didn’t have color scanning! I was not worried and here’s why.

The night before I had done my homework on the KIP700M! I knew that sooner or later I’d have to answer questions about the KIP700M or need I’d to point out the differences between the KIP700M and the Ricoh W3600. So, when my client handed me the brochure and asked “why shouldn’t I get this?”. I was able to rattle off at key feature points of why the Ricoh would be better than the KIP! Ten minutes later we signed the order for the Ricoh.

There’s always a moral of every story and what hits home is the desire, dedication and determination to be proactive, consultative and be an asset to your client, means to do you “homework”, our job is not a 9-5 effort. There’s countless hours that are needed and the rewards are well worth it.

Need to do MFP homework, take a trip to the Print4Pay Hotel Forums.

“Good Selling=-