August 2023 Office Technology

CONTENTS

FEATURE ARTICLES

10 Vertical Markets

Dealers share insight into the range of opportunities

by Brent Hoskins

Office Technology Magazine

How deeply have you dived into the various vertical markets in your sales territory? Perhaps the pursuit of a vertical strategy warrants another look.

16

Onboarding Salespeople

Transforming unproductive reps into top performers

by Dale Stein

Technology Assurance Group (TAG)

By the time you finish reading this article, you are going to have our 90day salesperson onboarding framework that we have shared with hundreds of business owners.

22

Leasing Reforms

They are long overdue in our industry

by Paul Archer

Automated Business Technologies

One challenge dealers face is navigating through the questionable practices leasing companies employ when it comes to returning equipment before the end of its lease.

26

Thinking of Selling?

How to identify the right acquisition partner

Brad Knepper

All Copy Products

If and when the day comes that you are considering selling your office technology dealership, one of the critical factors is finding the right acquirer.

30

Q&A: Joanne Collins Smee

Xerox executive addresses dealer questions

Compiled by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

Office Technology magazine interviewed Joanne Collins Smee, executive vice president of Xerox Holdings Corp. In June 2022, she was also named president for the Americas at Xerox Corp.

COURTS & CAPITOLS

33

With Immeasurable Gratitude

It is time for a new generation to take the lead by Robert C. Goldberg

BTA General Counsel

I wish to thank everyone in the industry for the opportunity to serve.

DEALERS HELPING DEALERS

35

President’s Club Trips

Dealers share their favorite destinations

Compiled by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

This article provides responses to a question submitted by a dealer.

PRINCIPAL ISSUES

36

U.S. Bans Ninestar Products

Companies restricted for targeting persecuted groups by Tricia Judge International ITC

The full impact is yet to be seen and will unfold over the coming months.

SELLING SOLUTIONS

37

Make It Simple Process does not manage; only managers do by Troy Harrison

Troy Harrison & Associates

Trust and manage your people and get the results you are seeking.

34

Discussion Groups Are BTA at Its Best

Ihave written here before about the BTA Dealers Helping Dealers Discussion Groups I host on a regular basis via Zoom. The format is simple. I email a single question as part of the registration process for each call: “What topics or questions would you like the group to discuss in this call?” In each call, we spend an hour going through the submitted topics and questions, with the non-competing BTA member attendees helping one another. It’s BTA at its best.

Currently, there are five groups — three for owners and senior management, one for sales management and one for service management. Three of the groups meet monthly; two of the groups meet every other week. The first group’s inaugural call was in May 2020. Since then, the group has met 77 times. In all calls, the members remain focused on sharing best practices, helping one another with business challenges and discussing topics related to achieving an optimum level of success in the office technology industry.

The groups’ members do not limit their communication to the calls. It didn’t take long for them to begin asking questions of one another between calls via email. I am copied on those emails. I have my PC set to share an audible ping when emails arrive in my inbox. When I see it’s a Dealers Helping Dealers dialog underway, well, that ping is music to my ears.

Allow me to share an example of what I am talking about. Here’s a question from June 9 of this year asked by a member via email of the others in his group: “Since COVID, we’ve noticed our clients’ hours are all over the place, and since summer is coming, we see the phone isn’t ringing much in the

afternoon. The 40-hour work week is fading into the past. What are you all doing in your business that is different from the usual?”

Among the responses: “We aren’t changing our service delivery schedule (Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.). If there is a trend in lighter workload (which we haven’t seen), we can always adjust staffing accordingly. About 80% of our staff works remotely and we don’t track the hours of exempt team members. The approach we’re taking is goaland task-based. Meaning, as long as the goals are reached and the required tasks completed, we don’t care about when and where the job is completed. Some work late hours and take time out of the day to run errands and do activities with their kids. To create a sense of belonging and team spirit, we have implemented cloud-based tools and work processes that facilitate cloud-based collaboration (Microsoft Teams, Motivosity, DocuWare, SalesChain, e-automate/CEO Juice).”

I know this is only one sample question and one answer, but you get the idea. The groups’ members take the time to provide meaningful, helpful responses. After so many Zoom calls, they’ve gotten to know one another pretty well. They want to help each other. Collectively, the five groups currently have a total of 138 members. To date, they have met on 230 Zoom calls with total attendance of 3,142.

Does every member attend every call? No. Things come up. I would say some members are regulars, while others join somewhat regularly. If you are considering joining one of these groups, don’t be thinking: “I can’t commit to joining every call.” You are welcome to attend whenever you can. Are you interested in joining a BTA Dealers Helping Dealers Discussion Group? If so, email me at brent@bta.org. The time you invest will be well worth it. n

— Brent Hoskins

Executive Director/BTA Editor/Office Technology

Brent Hoskins brent@bta.org

(816) 303-4040

Associate Editor Elizabeth Marvel elizabeth@bta.org

(816) 303-4060

Contributing Writers

Paul Archer, Automated Business Technologies www.yourabt.com

Bob Goldberg, General Counsel Business Technology Association

Troy Harrison, Troy Harrison & Associates www.troyharrison.com

Tricia Judge, International Imaging Technology Council https://i-itc.org

Brad Knepper, All Copy Products www.allcopyproducts.com

Dale Stein, Technology Assurance Group www.tagnational.com

Business Technology Association 12411 Wornall Road

Kansas City, MO 64145

(816) 941-3100 www.bta.org

Member Services: (800) 505-2821

BTA Legal Hotline: (312) 648-2300

Valerie Briseno Marketing Director valerie@bta.org

Brian Smith Membership Sales Representative brian@bta.org

Photo Credits: Adobe Stock & Shutterstock. Cover created by Bruce Quade, Brand X Studio. ©2023 by the Business Technology Association. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means without the written permission of the publisher. Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of published material. However, the publisher assumes no liability for errors in articles nor are opinions expressed necessarily those of the publisher.

FLASHBACK

The association’s magazine cover 73 years ago this month — the NOMDA Spokesman, August 1950.

YOUR PARTNER,

BTA PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Join BTA in Asheville at Fall Colors Retreat

If you are looking for a relaxing way to get some great education on our industry and network with your peers, the Business Technology Association’s (BTA’s) 2023 Fall Colors Retreat, hosted by BTA Southeast, is a great way to do so. BTA’s longest-running district-hosted event is held each year in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. This year, the retreat will be held Oct. 12-13 at the Omni Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina. The Fall Colors Retreat will feature a keynote address, a panel on how dealers are diversifying for success, an additional educational session, round-table discussions with exhibitors and plenty of networking time.

The event will kick off at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 12, with lunch, followed by opening comments and the keynote address, “Five Components of Extraordinary Teams.” During the keynote, Lee Rubin, former captain of the Penn State football team and a corporate HR executive, will discuss how individuals must make sacrifices to achieve their team’s common goal; how open and honest communication is the foundation for trust; and how daily, focused discipline is the key to consistency.

After the keynote, there will be time to visit with exhibiting sponsors and your peers, followed by exhibitor round-table discussions. These round tables will give attendees extra time to learn about the vendors’ offerings and ask questions. Another break will follow the round tables.

After the break, the first day of education will wrap up with the dealer panel, “Diversifying for Success: The Next Generation’s Path to a Thriving Future,” where five dealership representatives from the next generation will share their thoughts on the

future of the industry, harnessing the potential of emerging technologies, adapting to evolving customer demands and identifying new revenue streams.

The panel will be moderated by John Eckstrom, president of Carolina Business Equipment, a Novatech company, Columbia, South Carolina. The panelists will include: Richie Creech, CopyPro Inc., Greenville, North Carolina; Harris Eckstrom, Carolina Business Equipment, a Novatech company; Austin Gregory, Advanced Business Solutions LLC, St. Augustine, Florida; and Blake Renegar and Brice Renegar, Kelly Office Solutions, Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The first day of the event will wrap up from 6 to 9:30 p.m. when attendees will enjoy cocktails and a sunset dinner at the Grove Park Inn’s Seely Pavilion, which offers breathtaking views of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

The second day of the Fall Colors Retreat will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 13, with breakfast, followed by opening comments, exhibitor round-table discussions and breaks. At 10:45 a.m., Andy Slawetsky of Industry Analysts Inc. will present “What’s Happenin’ in the Imaging Industry.” During this session, he will review 2023 and look ahead to 2024, and discuss OEM news, industry trends, supply chain updates and more. After Slawetsky’s session, the retreat will wrap up with closing comments and prize drawings.

BTA member dealers receive two-forone registration for only $199. Registration includes the Thursday and Friday educational sessions, Thursday lunch and dinner, and Friday breakfast. The hotel discount deadline is Sept. 11, so register and reserve your room today. To learn more about the event, see page two or visit www.bta.org/ BTAAsheville. I look forward to seeing you in October. n

— Don Risser

2023-2024 Board of Directors

President

Don Risser DCS Technologies Corp. Franklin, Ohio don.risser@dcs-tech.com

President-Elect

Adam Gregory Advanced Business Solutions LLC St. Augustine, Florida adam@goabsinc.com

Vice President Debra Dennis CopyPro Inc. Greenville, North Carolina ddennis@copypro.net

Immediate Past President David Polimeni RITE Technology Sarasota, Florida dpolimeni@ritefl.com

BTA East Mike Boyle BASE Technologies Inc. Bethel, Connecticut mboyle@baseinc.com

Joe Dellaposta Doing Better Business Hagerstown, Maryland jvd@doingbetterbusiness.com

BTA Mid-America

Brantly Fowler Zeno Office Solutions Inc. Midland, Texas bfowler@zenotx.com

Greg Quirk JQ Office Equipment Omaha, Nebraska gquirk@jqoffice.com

BTA Southeast Jim Buck Carolina Business Equipment Inc. Columbia, South Carolina jimb@cbesc.com

Mike Hicks Electronic Business Machines Inc. Lexington, Kentucky mhicks@ebmky.com

BTA West Mike McGuirk ProCopy Office Solutions Inc. Mesa, Arizona mmcguirk@procopyoffice.com

Kevin Marshall Copy Link Inc. Chula Vista, California kevin@copylink.net

Ex-Officio/General Counsel

Robert C. Goldberg Schoenberg Finkel Beederman Bell & Glazer LLC Chicago, Illinois robert.goldberg@sfbbg.com

Vertical Markets

Dealers share insight into the range of opportunities

by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

How deeply have you dived into the various vertical markets in your sales territory? Or are you content with just dipping your toe in the water? Perhaps the pursuit of a vertical strategy warrants another look. Certainly, there are many markets to pursue.

Below are profiles of three dealerships focused on their successes within key vertical markets. The insight and wisdom they share may provide the push you need for your dealership as you consider the range of opportunities.

Datamax Inc.

Datamax Inc., a Canon, Konica Minolta, Lexmark and Kyocera dealership, markets its solutions primarily in Arkansas and Texas. Both states have five strategic offices, with hubs in Little Rock and Dallas/Fort Worth. The dealership pursues vertical markets in a big way. One only needs to look at the dealership’s website to see the importance of the market opportunities. Under its “goVertical” branding, 15 key verticals are listed: accounting, architecture, churches, education, energy, finance, government, health care, hospitality, insurance, legal, manufacturing, nonprofit, real estate and transportation/logistics.

From there, visitors to the site can select a specific vertical outlining how Datamax can assist with addressing common challenges, download the relevant goVertical brochure and read through testimonials from satisfied customers. “We’re just trying to put our best foot forward,” says Barry Simon, president. “Our people feel good about having this information on our site because they don’t see this kind of resource anywhere else. They feel confident that we are doing the right thing. Not too many companies have invested in this as we have; it is an investment.”

Fifteen verticals, so 15 teams of vertical experts, right? No, that is not the case at Datamax. “We work geographically, except in our major accounts,” Simon says. “So, we want all of our sales reps to understand the verticals. You can’t have somebody driving two hours to go on a call when another rep works at a branch close to the customer. We try to make each sales

rep as much of an expert in the various verticals as possible.”

Sure, Simon acknowledges, there are reps who have developed more expertise in some verticals than others who can be called up for assistance by fellow Datamax reps as needed. “I would say that all of our reps know that they can bring those people in,” he says. “For example, we have one manager who does a great job with schools. The reps know they can pick up the phone and call him and ask: ‘Hey, what do you think of this or that?’”

That sort of vertical acumen was the initial catalyst for the growth of the dealership’s pursuit of such opportunities. “It evolved over time,” Simon says. “Early on, we had a sales rep who was very, very good working with attorneys, and we ended up with a lot of attorneys as customers. We thought, ‘This is pretty good. Let’s capitalize on this.’ The same thing happened with education and we started getting a lot of customers in the education market. We had figured it out.”

Since then, thanks, in part, to the development of marketing efforts such as lunch and learns, targeted LinkedIn posts, etc., as well as effective training, the Datamax sales team and the dealership’s vertical focus have come a long way. Simon is quick to offer praise to Kate Kingston of the Kingston Training Group. “We brought in Kate quite a while back,” he says. “She came in and met with all of our reps. She has helped us understand how to market to verticals. I would advise others to get Kate involved. She will be able to help you, at a reasonable price, understand the verticals and what good looks like.”

Simon shares some insight into how Datamax has selected the key vertical markets that it pursues. “We live and die by the aftermarket or some recurring revenue,” he says. “So, we only look at verticals that are going to give us recurring revenue. As long as that revenue stream is there, we’ll go after anything where we feel we can be a resource and a dominant player. We also want to see that the vertical is going to provide an opportunity to incorporate our managed services, VoIP, etc.”

Dealers should avoid any verticals that do not provide that coveted revenue stream, Simon says. “Be careful not to get caught in something that is going to be short-lived,” he says. He also emphasizes Datamax’s practice of remaining focused on its skill set and advises others to do the same. “We know what we’re good at; we stay in our lane. Anytime you waver from that, you seem to fail.”

Imagine Technology Group

At Imagine Technology Group (ITG), based in Chandler, Arizona (a Phoenix suburb), with additional locations in Tucson and Flagstaff, success within verticals has come organically, rather than through any focused strategy. “We don’t specifically target verticals, it just sort of happens,” says Chad Schwartz, president of the dealership. “We do really well in health care, legal and financial services, and we do exceptionally well in large, national non-government accounts.”

Schwartz founded the dealership in 2011 with no customers. Fortunately, he says, a few customers from his previous position “switched their service over to us fairly quickly.” Today, ITG, offering imaging devices from Sharp, Toshiba, Xerox, Epson, Brother, HP and Lexmark, has approximately 55 employees.

“Some of the sales reps I hired were going up and down the street and losing most deals on price,” Schwartz says, recalling his observation early on at ITG. “I started looking back and saw that in deals that were $100,000 or more, we were winning at an 80% clip. However, in deals that were only about $30,000 to $40,000, we were losing about 80% of the time. So, we started concentrating on winning bigger accounts.”

That changed everything. “There was a point in time when we billed more in out-of-state service than we did instate; it was like 60% out-of-state, 40% in-state,” Schwartz says, illustrating the result of the focus on large, national accounts. “Today, we’re still billing a significant amount, probably 40%, out-of-state. Some dealers say, ‘That’s crazy,’ but we have found ways to make money that way.”

One of those ways is through a high level of customer service. “We give the red-carpet treatment,” Schwartz says. “Think about going to Ross to buy a pair of shoes as compared to going to Neiman Marcus to get fitted for a suit. In both places you are buying clothes, but they are two totally different experiences. With big accounts, that works.”

Part of that red-carpet treatment is customer events. “For most of our big clients — anybody spending $10,000 a month

or so — we do golf events, barbecues, etc.,” Schwartz says. “Those golf events cost tens of thousands of dollars every time we put one on, but we get $5 back for every dollar we spend.”

Schwartz cites an example of ITG’s level of customer service in terms of providing solutions to customers’ pain points. “We have two of the largest construction companies in Arizona and several smaller ones,” he says. “When we started working with one of them, the company had 50 to 100 job sites; we came up with a creative solution where they no longer have to keep renting copiers. They bought 40 to 50 copiers, we store them and move them all around the country to job sites. When a job is done, the copier comes back to us, we clean it up, make it like new and ship it to the next job site.”

Offering another perspective on ITG’s high level of customer service, Schwartz shares the example of one of the dealership’s top reps who specializes in the medical vertical. “It began when he landed a very large hospital with various clinics,” he says. “It was a complicated bid and he had to learn a lot about the industry. As they continued to expand and grow, he felt the best way for him to have a solid hold on the business was to become an expert on everything they needed in terms of what we can offer. Today, they come to him for so many things. At one point, they even asked if he could help them buy a fleet of vehicles. He had to say no, but it shows how much they trust him.”

Schwartz notes that landing large accounts has led to continued growth within key verticals at ITG, due, in part, to executives moving from company to company. “That’s how the vertical market often works,” he says, advising other dealers. “A CEO or director will leave a company but stay within the industry. If you have done a really good job, that person will recommend you to the new employer and they’re like, ‘That sounds great,’ and you get in there. That’s happened to us.”

The Swenson Group

The Swenson Group (TSG), a single-line Konica Minolta dealership based in Livermore, California, and serving the five counties of the San Francisco Bay area, has a long history with selling to verticals. The dealership markets to eight leading verticals — education, nonprofits, financial, government, health care, legal, manufacturing and retail — providing, via its website, a list of common challenges and TSG solutions, along with promotional videos, for each one.

“

... We only look at verticals that are going to give us recurring revenue. As long as that revenue stream is there, we’ll go after anything where we feel we can be a resource and a dominant player.“

— Barry Simon Datamax Inc.

Which verticals lead the pack for TSG? “The two that make up the majority of our client base percentagewise are nonprofits and health care,” says Dean Swenson, president of TSG. “With nonprofits, it wasn’t marketing genius. We just fell into it. When you work with the ex ecutive director of a nonprof it that has a mission and pur pose to feed kids, protect the elderly or whatever, we have found that our value proposition as a local family business resonates more than it does with a big company.”

TSG’s “core values” and “business philosophies” are in alignment with nonprofits, Swenson continues. “We have built some wonderful relationships with executive directors,” he says. “What I didn’t foresee happening is executive direc tors of nonprofits often sit on the boards of other nonprofits.

So, as we’ve made their lives easier and delivered on our promises to them, they’ve become proof sources and referral partners of ours.”

Nonprofits that are “hand to mouth with no money” are not the targets for TSG,

“A CEO or director will leave a company but stay within the industry. If you have done a really good job, that person will recommend

of bigger organizations that might not even be in our area. Where we’ve found a nice niche is clinics; some of them are federally funded clinics with multiple offices.

“If we earn the business from an MFP standpoint, we have had a number of these clients that have provided case studies and are references for us as we’ve gone deeper and wider with print management and then, certainly, compliance comes into play — HIPPA, PHI and patient data,” Swenson continues. “We have a number of solutions to help them from a compliance standpoint and to protect that data.”

Describing health-care organizations as “great partners of ours,” with a number of them securing both TSG’s MFPs and network services, Swenson says the health-care vertical pursuit has been purposeful and with intent because “health care has money.” He notes that while the parking lots of many buildings in the San Francisco Bay area remain empty post COVID-19, “if you look at health-care organizations, they’re booming and their parking lots are full.”

Swenson shares praise for Konica Minolta — and especially its All Covered IT services subsidiary — for its role in helping to ensure the dealership’s success in pursuing nonprofits, health care and the other verticals. “All Covered has built out vertical practices,” he says, citing some examples. “They have a legal practice; they have a health-care practice. We are fortunate to have access to that type of expertise.”

What is Swenson’s advice to other dealers who may have little or no focus on any particular vertical? “If you have expertise — or even the perception of expertise — a prospect will gravitate to you more than a generalist,” Swenson says. “Whenever prospects meet with two different vendors, I believe the one that comes across as a specialist with references and case studies is going to have the higher win rate.” n

Brent Hoskins, executive director of the Business Technology Association, is editor of Office Technology magazine. He can be reached at (816) 303-4040 or brent@bta.org.

“ ... Certain nonprofits realize they need technology, that they need support ... So, they’re looking for business partners to help them go to the next level and stay sustainable as organizations.“

— Dean Swenson The Swenson Group

Onboarding Salespeople

Transforming unproductive reps into top performers

by: Dale Stein, Technology Assurance Group (TAG)

It’s happened again. You are sitting at your desk, reviewing your sales team members’ pipeline reports and you start shaking your head in disbelief. One particular sales rep still hasn’t closed anything. You don’t know whether to laugh or scream, but all you can muster is to slump yourself over your desk, lean onto your palm that is barely propping up the weight of your chin and stare off into space blankly.

You do not want to fire another salesperson, but you also know you cannot keep tolerating lackluster results. You remind yourself that you are running a business, not a charity, and it is not fair to the rest of the team to keep an underperformer who is dragging everyone else down.

Despite the warning signs, you promised yourself you would give the rep “just one more month” to finally get his (or her) act together. After all, he has the experience, a winning personality and prior successes — and he sincerely appears to be hustling. However, no matter how much you resist it, you are slowly coming face to face with the painful, all-too-familiar truth that you are going to have to fire this underperforming rep and start all over again.

While the frustration mounts, you wonder: “Why does this keep happening to me? Where did all the good salespeople go? Does anyone in this generation actually want to work?” Blaming them soothes the burn for a moment, but, this time, instead of chalking your fate up to bad luck, you recall that this is the umpteenth salesperson you have had to fire at the end of a three-month trial period. Even though you sincerely believed that this one would be different, it is the same story — repeated with different faces — over and over again. It almost makes you wish you could clone yourself.

Finally, a strange thought creeps into your head: “Maybe it’s me? Maybe I’m doing something wrong. Could all of these underperforming new hires somehow be my fault?” After 40 years of founding companies, building sales teams and scaling them to acquisition, I must lovingly remind you that yes, of course it is your fault. But if it is your fault, that

also means you have the power to completely change your circumstances, too. By the time you finish reading this article, you are going to have our proven 90-day salesperson onboarding framework that we have shared privately with hundreds of other managed IT, managed print and voice business owners we have coached who have dealt with this exact problem.

An Expensive Mistake

The most expensive thing you will ever do is hire an unproductive salesperson. Before you beat yourself up too badly, know that everyone has been here. It is part of the growing pains associated with transforming any small business into a larger enterprise. The only entrepreneurs who haven’t faced this particular challenge are the ones who are playing way too small. This is why it is so critical to nail this onboarding formula (especially for salespeople in particular) because there are very high costs associated with it:

n Your time investment

n Your financial investment (This cannot be recovered if you have to fire a salesperson and start over.)

n Your emotional investment

n How the salesperson’s poor performance can demotivate other salespeople

n How the salesperson’s poor performance can affect company morale as a whole

There are so many problems that crop up for business owners every day, but billionaire Mark Cuban reminds us why our salespeople’s performance matters so much: “Sales cures all.” Salespeople can literally dictate the momentum of an organization, their high performance can create the “budget” to fix every other department’s problems and they are the foundation behind any organization. That is why it is so vital to properly dial in your onboarding process.

Once you can onboard salespeople so most of them become high performers by the end of your 90-day ramp-up, you will finally be able to shift your focus back to the larger, more

strategic vision for the company. But you cannot expect that to happen out of thin air. There is a formula that does require time and hard work, but the returns are phenomenal if you get it right.

Following is our process for you to copy and paste into your organization.

Step 1: The Interview Process — During the interview process, we want to model what is proven. We can achieve that by replicating what Fortune 100 companies are doing. Those companies are certainly not hiring people who merely have phones, résumés and pulses. Instead, they are utilizing sophisticated hiring tools, psychological assessments and personality reports to ensure that candidates: have communication styles that fit their roles; their natural talents will be utilized; their personal values align with company culture; and they possess the mental acuity necessary to perform at the high level you expect. Here are three interview assessments we recommend you utilize:

(1) DiSC Assessment — This assessment will reveal a candidate’s natural communication style and will help you place him in a role that suits his natural strengths instead of forcing him to overcome his personal weaknesses.

(2) An aptitude assessment — In addition to an individual’s personality and cognitive skills, a position may require a certain attitude and knowledge beyond basic job fit. Aptitude assessments measure a candidate’s specific knowledge, experience and attitude with respect to leadership, sales or customer service. We recommend this test: https:// www.hrlvl.com/assessments/selection.

(3) Background checks — This almost goes without saying, but you would be surprised how many companies still skip this step. There are plenty of providers, but we are big fans of this one: https://www.hrlvl.com.

Step 2: Preordered Preparations (Before the rep arrives) — When someone joins the team, we want him to hit the ground running so he doesn’t lose two weeks of productivity while he struggles to figure out how to get his email set up and find the bathrooms. Before your new salesperson shows up on his first day, your administrative/technical team needs to make sure the following items are completed ahead of time:

n Set up his phone (with the ability to record calls)

n Set up his laptop/desktop

n Set up his email account

n Preorder his business cards (or vCard)

n Redesign his LinkedIn/social media profile

n Write a press release announcing his arrival to send out to local business journals, publications, etc.

After you make the offer, you should get your team on

this immediately, so the new hire can get straight into the “meat and potatoes” of sales.

Step 3: The First Day — On the new hire’s first day, the following is what we do; I encourage you to do something similar. We spend a full day teaching him our entire “11-Step Sales Process,” which turns sales from a distant, desperate hope into the “next logical step” as a conclusion to a well-thought-out series of touchpoints.

It is a bit too much to share all of that here, but if you would like the full explanation, email me at dales@tag national.com. We also offer training across the nation/online and, even if you are not a paying Technology Assurance Group (TAG) member, you can request an invitation to one free training, including sales and sales management training. Here is our event calendar for perusal: https://www.tag national.com/event-calendar.

After that core training, we deliver a series of training programs that include topics like:

n “The Seven Attributes of Successful People”: This program demystifies why some people find success in life, regardless of the industry, and why others never do. There are seven key attributes that successful people embody and after training more than 10,000 people, we have found the patterns.

n “How to Prospect” (above the line and below the line): In this program, we explain the principles of bird-dog lead generation, elite group lead generation, how to recruit, and how to train and incentivize referral partners. We also explain “cold approaches” through activities such as door knocking, cold calling and cold emailing.

n “How to Set the Appointment”: In this program, we teach salespeople how to overcome gatekeepers (on the phone, online, in-person, etc.) in order to reach decisionmakers so they can get to a “yes” or a “no” without spending years in sales purgatory.

We then assign mandatory reading. The first book we give everyone is “Psycho-Cybernetics” by Maxwell Maltz. We also especially like the time management techniques from Alan Lakein’s productivity classic, “How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life.”

Step 4: Mentoring Ramp-up (Days two through 10; varies on individual needs) — At this point, your new hire has plenty of information, training and guidance to become successful. However, there is a huge gap between knowledge and actually applying that knowledge. So, ultimately, if we want to ensure his success, we have to invest our personal time, too. This is the key that separates a discreetly floundering salesperson from one who gains real, immediate momentum.

At this point we recommend you invest one hour a day

During the interview process, we want to model what is proven. We can achieve that by replicating what Fortune 100 companies are doing.

going through each of the subsequent training areas in progressive detail. So, pick one topic and “deep dive” with the new hire. For example, if you are training him on cold calling, take turns demonstrating how it is done. If you are teaching him about how to establish his bird-dog group (i.e., referral group), invite him to attend your next birddog meeting so he experiences what it should feel like. This time is intended to work out the kinks and ensure that the training you delivered actually “sticks” so problems are immediately rectified instead of buried until they rear their ugly heads in sales/ lead reports.

Even though this level of attention may seem redundant to you (“But he should already know what to do!”), remember: By investing in your new hire, you empower him to glean insights from you. Often what is obvious to you is revolutionary to him, and unless you take this step, neither of you will know. Even though these insights may be so obvious to you that they feel unnecessary to point out, they might become huge breakthroughs for the new rep. And if you truly do not have the time to train your new rep, do not hire him in the first place.

Step 5: Prospect & Propose (Days 10 through 30) — By now your new hire is well-trained, mentored and empowered. He has had several opportunities to iron out the details with you and to address concerns, problem areas, confusion, etc., before those gaps show up later in his metrics. Now he can implement the training you gave him to generate appointments, leads and conversions.

This is when he gets busy implementing all of the abovethe-line methods (bird-dog group, elite group referrals, etc.) and the below-the-line methods (building an email list via ZoomInfo, direct mailers, door-knocking, cold emailing, joining the chamber of commerce’s recruitment committee, etc.). This will be intense, but as a sales manager or business owner, it is critical that you join him in the field and participate in his education.

When cold calling, calls should be recorded so you two can review his performance and you can offer advice, objection handling, etc. You need to accelerate his feedback loop. You do not record his calls to bully him. You record his calls so he can mentor himself to learn more quickly than someone who never listens to himself on the phone.

During this period of time, your main role is to help him gain momentum. This is best accomplished by ensuring he is filling his calendar with the two main revenue-generating activities — prospecting and proposing. This is so important it bears repeating. Everything must be oriented around

prospecting and proposing. If you do not see these two activities on his calendar, you can expect underperformance.

However, if he has been through the right sales training programs, he will already be well aware of your expectations and should instead only be coming to you when he needs a sounding board or he needs ideas on how to refine his techniques. This framework prevents him from wandering around aimlessly and pretending that being busy means he’s productive. It focuses his efforts and eliminates “aimless accomplishments.”

Step 6: Momentum (Days 30 through 90) — During this period, you will finally get to take your foot off the throttle a bit. This depends on how successfully you have instilled the proper habits, of course, but if done right, your new sales rep will have sales inertia by now. Remember, inertia causes a moving object to stay in motion unless an opposing force acts on it to change its speed or direction.

This means that as long as your organization maintains the structure, consistency and feedback loops necessary for your sales rep to keep learning, there is a very high likelihood he will flourish. Plus, when he thrives, he helps your business thrive.

Avoid Being Laissez-Faire

Now that you have learned our 90-day salesperson onboarding framework, do you understand why we gasp and clutch for our chests when we hear a business owner say something like: “I just found this hot-shot salesperson who has been amazing in (insert industry here). I’m just going to hire him and see how he does?” It is not about finding fault; it is about recognizing opportunity. n

Dale Stein is co-founder of Technology Assurance Group (TAG), an organization of managed technology service providers (MTSPs). Collectively, TAG’s members do $800 million per year in IT, cybersecurity, telecommunications and video surveillance. They are located in 148 cities across the United States and Canada, and are presently serving more than 780,000 SMBs. He is responsible for developing TAG’s strategic planning and guiding its business development. In addition, Stein is the managing partner for TAG’s MTSP, i-NETT. He is responsible for i-NETT’s daily operations and serves as its president. Stein also founded Westec Security Corp. and served as its CEO. He can be reached at dales@tagnational.com. Visit www.tagnational.com.

Everything must be oriented around prospecting and proposing. If you do not see these ... activities on his calendar, you can expect underperformance.

Leasing Reforms

They are long overdue in our industry

by: Paul Archer, Automated Business Technologies

As office technology dealers, we face a number of challenges in our industry. One of them is navigating through the questionable practices leasing companies employ when it comes to returning equipment before the end of its lease.

Logic would dictate that returning a copier/MFP or printer before its lease expiration date should be a simple matter of paying off the balance and arranging for its return in a relatively short period of time. The process should be that simple. That is how it is in many industries — but not ours, unfortunately. And exactly where does the problem lie? In my view — and the view of many fellow dealers — it is the practices of leasing companies that are at fault.

Consider this scenario. When a dealer wins a new piece of business from a client who has an existing lease agreement in place (facilitated by another dealer) and wants to upgrade from his (or her) present piece of equipment to a new one, the joy can be short-lived, as both the new dealer and the customer often encounter a major challenge — returning the no-longer-wanted equipment to the leasing company.

The first hurdle is determining the remaining balance on the lease of the original equipment. Usually, neither the “losing” dealer nor the leasing company provide accurate payoff numbers to the customer. Often they will defer to the originating dealer (the dealer who lost the sale) and not provide any information to the customer. Thus, the winning dealer and the customer have to work around this by estimating payments based on the remaining months on the lease. But even if the leasing company receives the balance due on the lease (as close as it can be figured), most will not accept the equipment back at their facilities until the term of the lease has concluded.

Many leases contain autorenew provisions, meaning that leases not cancelled within the window of time that cancellation is allowed are automatically renewed for a full year. The process is made more complex because the window of time to cancel the lease is usually somewhere between 90 and 180 days prior to the expiration of the lease. Also, it is rare that

leasing companies send notifications of the impending lease expiration. In other industries — the auto industry as one example — there are many notifications that a lease is about to expire. In our industry there are many autorenews that customers do not want. Most customers do not know or remember when the lease is set to expire. This questionable practice creates multiple headaches for a dealer. For example, a dealer picks up a machine from a customer that originated from a competitor and ends up storing it in his warehouse. That is a big problem. Since the leasing companies will not take the equipment back except at or after lease expiration, the new dealer generally needs to store this piece of equipment for many months. It is not uncommon for a dealer to have half of his warehouse space dedicated to competitive lease takeaways — and some have even hired outside assistance to track all of the machines.

Another headache for the dealer is this: Even though returning the old equipment is the customer’s problem, under these conditions it can also become the new dealer’s problem. The customer may expect the new dealer to remind them of the lease expiration date and manage the whole process. No matter how carefully a dealer might explain the process, if the customer fails to cancel within the window of time and the lease autorenews, there can then be a disagreement between the customer and the new dealer (whose equipment it wasn’t in the first place) over who is morally obliged to pay the lease. There is a significant amount of tracking and record-keeping for what should be a simple process — pay the lease balance and have the leasing company take the equipment back.

In order to accommodate new customers, the “winning” dealer allocates significant warehouse space to store these competitive upgrade machines waiting for their leases to expire. In our case, about half of our total warehouse space is filled with such machines. A small dealership is likely storing dozens of copier/MFPs, each with a different return date. Larger dealerships are storing hundreds of displaced

machines. As a service to new customers, dealers end up monitoring the return date of each individual piece of equipment and then fulfilling the specific return requirements. It is a timeintensive and costly “workaround” for a problem that should not exist.

Think of the implications of this practice. There could be between 12 and 18 months remaining on the leases of the no-longer-wanted pieces of equipment before the leasing companies will take them back. In addition to the inconvenience of storage, consider that the equipment is losing resale value by being off the market for this period of time.

No other industry I can think of has these kinds of practices in place. So why do they continue? Leasing companies will justify the practices for the following reasons:

(1) They will argue that the means by which leases are securitized (financed) by leasing companies do not allow for early lease cancellations and equipment returns. However, a majority of early lease upgrades are probably the lease-originating

vendor (dealer) upgrading its own customers early. Every leasing company allows for this, hence this argument against early lease cancellations does not hold.

(2) Leasing companies may argue that dealers do not want them to allow for early return of equipment on leases lost to competitors. Again, this is not correct. The overwhelming majority of dealers I have talked to support this business practice change when they understand that, in exchange for their former customers being able to return leased equipment when remaining financing payment obligations are met, they can empty their warehouses of competitively upgraded leased equipment. So far, more than 220 members of the Business Technology Association (BTA) have signed a petition asking leasing companies to change this practice. To sign the petition, visit www.bta. org/leasingreturn.

(3) What the leasing companies may not admit (but which could be a key reason for continuing this troublesome practice) is that a significant percentage of competitively upgraded leases are not canceled on time and go into renewal payments. This is likely a significant, if ill-gotten, source of revenue for leasing companies.

This is a problem begging for a solution. And it is potentially a widespread problem, given that 90% of the equipment in the MPS space is leased. Again, no other industry that I can think of — the auto or mortgage industries, for example — has practices like these. In some industries, leasing is regulated by Congress, but not ours.

So, it follows that the solution to this must come from us and the leasing companies. It should not be a difficult “fix.” It is as simple as this:

(1) Leasing companies should agree to freely provide the accurate payoff amount to the lessees and make it easy for them to return equipment.

(2) Once the leasing company is paid in full for the equipment, it should take the equipment back right away.

What can you do as an office technology dealer? Let your feelings be known by contacting any of the leasing companies you work with and tell them that you want this problem fixed — that you believe they should provide payoff data as requested and agree to take early returns on equipment when leases are paid in full. And if they do not or will not, move your leasing business to a company that will play reasonably. n

Paul Archer is owner of Automated Business Technologies, based in Denver, Colorado. He can be reached at parcher@abpcopy.com. Visit www.yourabt.com.

This is a problem begging for a solution. And it is potentially a widespread problem, given that 90% of the equipment in the MPS space is leased.

Thinking of Selling?

How to identify the right acquisition partner

by: Brad Knepper, All Copy Products

If and when the day comes that you are considering selling your office technology dealership, one of the critical factors is finding the right acquirer. In order to provide you with insight into what to look for in an acquisition partner (or insight into how to step up your game plan as the acquiring company), this article will explore the strategy that my company, All Copy Products (ACP), based in Denver, Colorado, uses to select dealerships, structure deals, manage valuations and expectations, and ensure successful transitions.

To date, ACP has successfully integrated 26 acquisitions while maintaining its commitment to quality products and services. You can scan the QR code on this page to download a document we have created to help you identify important aspects to consider when selling your dealership.

Choosing the Right Acquisition Partner

The first step is to find an acquirer that aligns with your business’s values and goals. ACP, for instance, seeks out companies that have solid reputations, diverse revenue streams and compatible cultures. While financial health is important, ACP does not necessarily require a company to be highly profitable for it to be an attractive acquisition prospect. Instead, it prioritizes the quality of customer relationships, which often provides a steadier revenue stream and promotes growth and expansion.

ACP also pays close attention to a dealership’s standing within its market, as well as its history of acquisitions. Looking for compatibility in culture and service standards ensures a smooth transition post-acquisition, while diverse income sources suggest resilience against market fluctuations and the ability to cross-sell the current customer base into new technology offerings.

Flexible Deal Structures

A reputable acquirer will understand that there are multiple ways to structure deals, each with its own advantages and potential challenges. Whether it is an asset acquisition or a merger, at ACP, our approach is careful and strategic. We understand the importance of owner flexibility, offering

options for the previous owner to continue contributing to the business indefinitely, commit to a predetermined period before departure or leave immediately after the sale. We believe this shows a respect for the owner’s legacy and the hard work he (or she) has put into building the business.

Valuations & Expectations

One of the key aspects of selling your business is the valuation and managing expectations accordingly. We understand that valuation is influenced by numerous factors and methodologies. So, we work to meet the expectations of both parties involved.

We prioritize transparency and communication throughout the valuation process. Plus, we provide regular updates and explain our methodologies in a clear and understandable way, ensuring that those dealers whose companies we are acquiring are never left in the dark about the value of their dealerships. Taking the time to understand their businesses and their unique value propositions plays a crucial role in determining an accurate and fair valuation.

Culture Compatibility

It is crucial that the acquiring company understands the importance of culture compatibility. ACP’s method of evaluating cultural alignment includes examining values,

management styles and workforce dynamics. We conduct extensive cultural due diligence, align leadership visions, promote clear communication channels and create a road map for gradual cultural assimilation. This commitment to culture compatibility ensures a smoother integration post-acquisition.

Acquisitions are not just about consolidating resources or expanding our footprint. They are about people and culture. In every acquisition, it is vital to ensure that the cultures of both companies align well to guarantee seamless integration. At ACP, we are not just acquiring a company, we are welcoming new members into our family. Our goal is to keep all employees and make them feel valued, heard and part of ACP. Post-acquisition success lies in the successful blending of cultures, not just balance sheets.

Benefits to Dealers & Customers

The right acquirer understands the mutual benefits an acquisition brings to both dealers and customers. For dealers,

an acquisition can expand access to new customer bases and untapped territories, along with opportunities for cross-selling new products and services. Customers can benefit from a broader range of products and services — potentially at more competitive prices — supported by the superior buying power of the acquiring company.

Smooth Transition & Effective Communication

Post-merger or acquisition, a smooth transition and clear messaging are crucial. ACP’s approach involves meticulous planning and effective communication strategies, establishing open lines of communication with all parties involved. We also identify potential challenges early on and create plans to address them while maintaining customer-centricity during the transition phase. It is essential that customers hear an aligned message of unity from the previous owners and new owners to build trust during the transition process.

Concluding Thoughts

An acquisition strategy characterized by comprehensive offerings, superior service and a commitment to quality is the gold standard for what business owners should look for in an acquirer. In the ever-evolving business landscape, it is crucial to align yourself with an acquirer that not only understands your business, but also values its potential and future growth. A well-executed acquisition strategy can pave the way for a seamless transition, minimal disruption and maximum gains. It is therefore necessary to evaluate a potential acquirer based on its track record, financial strength and strategic fit. Additionally, ensure it has a clear vision and strategy for your dealership post-acquisition. Remember, the right acquirer can position your dealership for long-term success while preserving the legacy you have worked hard to build. As noted, if you are considering selling your dealership, download the document we have created via the QR code to help you identify things you should consider when selling. n

Brad Knepper, president and CEO of All Copy Products (ACP), located in Denver, Colorado, acquired the company in 1999 when it was a single location with seven employees. In the 24 years since, he has grown ACP to more than 400 employees across six states and 13 locations. An avid golfer, Knepper is the owner of Denali’s golf course and restaurant in Iowa, and earned a degree in business administration and management from Iowa State University. He can be reached at bknepper@allcopyproducts.com. Visit www.allcopyproducts.com.

An acquisition strategy characterized by comprehensive offerings, superior service and a commitment to quality is the gold standard ... in an acquirer.

Q&A: Joanne Collins Smee

Xerox executive addresses dealer questions

Compiled by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

Recently, Office Technology magazine interviewed Joanne Collins Smee, executive vice president for Xerox Holdings Corp. In June 2022, she was also named president for the Americas at Xerox Corp. All of the questions she addressed were requested from and submitted by Xerox-authorized BTA member dealers.

Collins Smee is responsible for leading all go-to-market operations across the region and enhancing the way Xerox brings its full portfolio of offerings to partners and clients of all sizes in the United States, Canada and Latin America. She joined Xerox in September 2018 as senior vice president and chief commercial officer to spearhead the development of Xerox’s software and services strategy. Her role expanded in February 2021 when she took the lead of Xerox Business Solutions, the company’s technology and services provider for small and mediumsized enterprises, U.S. channels and the company’s global IT services business. Prior to her time at Xerox, Collins Smee led technology transformation services for the U.S. federal government and spent more than 25 years at IBM in global executive roles, spanning client sales, support and delivery of technical products and services.

Below are some of the dealer questions submitted to Office Technology and Collins Smee’s responses.

Dealer: Xerox is not set up to accommodate dealers in the same way as the offshore manufacturers. What structure or process changes is Xerox implementing to better serve the dealer channel?

Collins Smee: If you think about our competitors, they do not necessarily have the same variety of go-to-market channels that we do here in Xerox. One thing that I have heard from our multibrand dealers is, “We want you to give us more things like you give your single-brand dealers or your direct salespeople.”

At our recent Partner Forum [held June 21-23 in Miami, Florida] our multibrand dealers, for the first time, composed the biggest community at a Xerox national meeting. They clearly are interested in what we have to say; we are focused on making sure that we are becoming easier to do business with. We have made investments in online survey tools to have that dialogue with the dealers on a regular basis. We have also launched a dealer advisory council, which was new for us in 2023.

We are very keen on listening and acting on what we are hearing so that we are a vendor of choice — a partner of choice — for our multibrand dealers. They are an incredibly important part of our strategy. In fact, we have already made some improvements that have resulted in positive feedback from our dealers in areas like bid support and product fulfillment. We have more work to do, but we are focused on ensuring a positive experience for our dealer community.

Dealer: What can you share about Xerox’s current contract with Fuji?

Collins Smee: I get this question from a lot of partners and from the direct side. Fuji remains a strategic partner for Xerox. It is in both parties’ interest for us to cooperate and to work collaboratively where it makes business sense. Will we compete? Yes, but we are also strategic partners and we will continue to work together to satisfy our end clients. [At the Partner Forum, CEO] Steve [Bandrowczak] used the term “frenemies,” which I love.

Dealer: I have concerns that the Fuji relationship may not continue. Will Xerox be maintaining consistency in its line of products?

Collins Smee: We have the most expansive portfolio of products out there and it includes offerings that Xerox

manufactures, such as Baltoro and iGen. In addition, very importantly, we have been spending a tremendous amount of our engineering resources on software development. Whatever OEM we work with, we utilize our basic ConnectKey technology and associated software products, like FreeFlow Core and XMPie. Our software is our secret sauce.

We talk about platforms with our clients and that really resonates with them. It is not just about a device. It is the software that runs that device. That is our differentiator, and we will continue to spend a tremendous amount of our engineering investment and resources on our software portfolio, which generates the solutions that a client is seeking. We are going to continue to source some of our products from Fuji, but we believe we have the superior value proposition because of our software investments and the associated solutions.

Dealer: Will Xerox be announcing plans for new growth and differentiation after losing its exclusivity with Fuji PrimeLink, Versant and Iridesse products?

Collins Smee: We are investing and developing new value drivers, like artificial intelligence, augmented reality, automation, cybersecurity, our distributed cloud and hyperpersonalization. We see it with our clients. It is additional value and it is the area where we will continue to invest and make a difference for our clients. We will make those available to our dealers.

Dealer: Why did Xerox choose to upgrade its line of A4 devices model by model? This creates model confusion and makes it difficult when working with a major account that purchases many of the models.

Collins Smee: The team was really keen to get out new A4 models as soon as possible, and then in the midst of that we had the supply chain constraints. We had to adjust our rollout schedule, but our goal was getting these great new products out as quickly as possible. That is why it was not done in one big bang. It has been done from a model-bymodel perspective.

One of the key things, though, is all of these products can be set up using our Xerox Easy Assist app. They are all cloud connected. The different models are coming out at different times, but they are still on the same base infrastructure and using our solutions, like Workflow Central. They basically will plug and play. We are really proud of our new A4 portfolio and,

hopefully, the dealers will start to use those products and realize their value.

Dealer: With the global concerns regarding Lexmark’s ownership [by Ninestar, a Chinese company whose products are now banned in the U.S. market], how will this affect the new A4 products being introduced by Xerox?

Collins Smee: Xerox sources some of its A4 MFPs from Lexmark. We add Xerox-developed software and rebrand as Xerox A4 MFPs. We have completed a comprehensive review of our supply chain, sourcing and export strategy to ensure compliance with the designations and applicable legal requirements. We have a diverse supplier base and do not anticipate significant impact to our provision of equipment and supplies.

Dealer: With the decline in future print revenue, what other products/services will Xerox be promoting to its dealers?

Collins Smee: I am glad you asked that question because it is something we are spending much time and energy on and talking to our dealers about. One big thing is robotic process automation, RPA. We are already introducing that to our agents, piloting it with one of our agent communities and getting ready to roll that out to the dealers. We have a great offering that is easy to sell and deliver through the channel. We have been working on it for more than a year with our direct clients.

It is a tremendous offering. It basically automates workflow for specific clients. Our dealers are dealing with many of their end clients that may be digitizing work and, after the digitization occurs, the question from the end user may be: “My workflow has 20 touch points. How can we make that more efficient and make it only 10?” RPA will help them do that. We have teams of people that go in and assess the workflow and then write scripts to do that. That is something we have packaged. We have certain verticals that we are selling it into. We think this will be a great offering for our dealer community.

In addition, [leader of the North America Channel organization] Karl [Boissonneault] and the team have been working with CareAR and allowing our dealer community to actually sell CareAR. This is an augmented reality software that we use internally. We are selling it externally, but we think that it is a great software package that our dealers could also utilize and sell. n

Brent Hoskins, executive director of the Business Technology Association, is editor of Office Technology magazine. He can be reached at brent@bta.org or (816) 303-4040.

... We have been spending a tremendous amount of our engineering resources on software development ... Our software is our secret sauce.

With Immeasurable Gratitude

It is time for the new generation to take the lead

by: Robert C. Goldberg, BTA General Counsel

It was snowing on a Saturday in January 1977 in Chicago, Illinois, when I ventured to my very first meeting of the National Office Machine Dealers Association (NOMDA; now the Business Technology Association [BTA]) at the O’Hare Marriott. More than 200 office technology dealers from around the country had flown to Chicago to discuss the numerous problems they were experiencing in the field with Royal Bond Copiers. The major concern was heat buildup that resulted in fires. This was a problem in the copier industry and, in fact, Xerox had installed fire extinguishers in early copiers. The master of ceremonies (MC) at the meeting was Frank Fonteyn (of Kennedy Business Equipment in San Jose, California). Frank did an excellent job and it was not until after the meeting that I learned he was a dealer and not a professional MC.

Since this was a meeting of competitors, NOMDA had sought antitrust counsel to avoid any potential issues. Unbeknownst to me, NOMDA was looking for a new general counsel. Its general counsel at the time had outlived his effectiveness and found it difficult to render a definitive answer. Jim Ayers (of Gilson-Ayers in Troy, Michigan) rose and asked a lengthy question that concluded with: “Can we do that?” I paused, reflected and responded: “Yes.” Very unexpectedly I received a standing ovation. The recognition was for a definitive answer.

Now, 46 years later, I look back at an incredible journey, but at 75 years of age, it is time to cut back and enjoy life while it remains possible. My family missed out on much due to my devotion to clients, and I wish to spend as much time as possible with my wife of 53 years, Carol, our children and grandchildren.

As I reduce my workload, I ponder what the effect will be on BTA and its members. This had troubled me greatly until a perfect solution presented itself. As announced at this June’s Capture the Magic event in Denver, Colorado, over the next year BTA will transition general counsel responsibilities to my son, Greg Goldberg.

At the 2023 BTA National Conference, to be held Aug. 30-31 in Boston, Massachusetts (for more information or to register, visit www.bta.org/BTABoston), I will introduce you to Greg. In the meantime, here’s a bit about him. He is 43 years old and has practiced law for 18 years in the nonprofit sector, in both a small firm and a large firm. He is licensed in Illinois, Missouri and California, where he now resides. Greg is a graduate of Georgetown University and the George Mason School of Law.

I have no reservations about his capabilities and will always be available to guide him. As in the industry itself, it is time for the new generation to take the lead.

The general counsel position at BTA has rewarded me with knowledge, friends and opportunities. The members of the office technology industry are extremely generous, always reaching out to help those who are less fortunate. The industry is comprised of individuals from blue states, red states, various ethnicities, religious beliefs and misplaced allegiances to undeserving sports teams. Regardless, we all work together to improve our lives, our businesses and the lives of others.

I wish to thank everyone in the industry for the opportunity to serve and assist. BTA is well organized and under outstanding leadership. Your association has never been stronger.

I will be working with Greg over the next year and am confident he will be a fine successor. I invite you to join us at this year’s national conference to welcome Greg and share my excitement. n

Robert C. Goldberg is general counsel for the Business Technology Association. He can be reached at robert.goldberg@sfbbg.com.

Clockwise from above left: Greg Goldberg; Bob Goldberg presents an educational session at the 2023 Spring Break event in Orlando, Florida; at BTA’s 90th anniversary celebration, Jim Dotter (right), 2016-17 Select Dealer Group (SDG) president, presents a $20,000 donation from SDG to Goldberg for the Bob Goldberg Scholarship Fund, which was established in 2015 to thank him for his many years of dedicated service to the association; and Goldberg presents at a NOMDA meeting in the 1980s.

BTA would like to welcome the following new members to the association:

Dealer Members

Advanced Copier Systems LLC, Broken Arrow, OK

BME - Business Machines & Equipment Inc., Mohawk, NY

Classic Business Products Inc., Morgan City, LA Integrated Office Technologies, Little Falls, NJ Office Systems, Victoria, TX

For full contact information of these new members, visit www.bta.org.

UVERCE E-commerce Solution

Keypoint Intelligence’s UVERCE bridges the gap between ecommerce and consultative sales engagements. Built from a market-leading product catalog builder (powered by bliQ), UVERCE enables you to transform your website into a research hub, allows your sales team to collaborate easily with customers and provides a complete e-commerce experience. B2B buyer behaviors are changing and UVERCE helps you keep pace with your customers with an easy-to-use and maintenance-free e-commerce experience. Customers can search and compare using a full comparative product catalog and you can communicate with them virtually.

BTA members receive a 10% discount on the UVERCE setup fee. For more information, visit www.bta.org/UVERCE.

For information on BTA member benefits, visit www.bta.org/MemberBenefits.

For the benefit of its dealer members, each month BTA features two of its vendor members.

Arkansas-based ACDI is the leading distributor of PaperCut software in North America. It specializes in delivering integrated software and hardware solutions through proven innovation, service and culture. Office technology dealers have trusted ACDI to provide capture, print management, remote printing and cost-recovery solutions to streamline the complete document life cycle. Since 1994, its partnerships with many leading copier/MFP manufacturers have helped ACDI establish a client list of Fortune 500 companies, universities, large health-care systems and other businesses.

https://acd-inc.com

RISO strives to create fundamentally unique new technologies in paper-based communication through an approach that emphasizes productivity, cost containment and versatility. Every product RISO manufactures delivers these benefits in a balance that offers the ideal solution to its customers. At the same time, the company carries on a tradition of caring for the world at large through its environmental and community support programs. Just as RISO is committed to delivering ideal products and service, it strives to be an ideal corporate citizen.

https://us.riso.com

A full list of BTA vendor members can be found online at www.bta.org.

For more information, visit www.bta.org.

DEALERS HELPING DEALERS

President’s Club Trips

Dealers share their favorite destinations

Compiled by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

Following is a question submitted by a dealer member as part of BTA’s Dealers Helping Dealers resource and many of the answers received. These answers and others can be found in the members-only section of the BTA website. Visit www.bta.org/DealersHelpingDealers. You will need your username and password to access this member resource.

What is the best destination for a President’s Club trip and why?

“Sarasota, Florida! We have the nicest restaurants, nicest beaches and top-of-the-line hotels.”

Mick Dean, president SaraMana Business Products, Sarasota, Florida

“We rented a ship for this year in the Caribbean. Our folks have enjoyed Florida’s LaPlaya Resort and Sea Island Resort [in Georgia].”

John Lowery, president & CEO Applied Innovation, Grand Rapids, Michigan

“Hawaii. [It is a] six-hour flight and still in the country.”

Christy Gallegos, director of sales Imagine Technology Group, Chandler, Arizona

“If you are going to a cold climate, it needs to be unique, like Quebec or Banff [Canada]. Otherwise, a warm spot in late spring works.”

Les Harris, vice president of sales UTEC, Ann Arbor, Michigan

“Mexico with all-inclusive in the off-season and college holidays. Ireland and Paris, France, in the pre-April time frame.”

Tony Sanchez, principal

C3 Tech, Santa Ana, California

“An international destination. If you are truly rewarding someone for high achievement, then it should be an amazing destination that is long remembered.”

Brian Bence, executive director of sales

Shenandoah Valley Office Equipment (SVOE), Verona, Virginia

“United States properties.”

Stephen Valenta, president/owner

Offix, Gainesville, Virginia

“Maui, Hawaii, has always been a favorite of ours. It is a direct flight from the West Coast and the weather is always perfect. We want a place where there is a big enough carrot to ensure reps are driven to achieve the trip.”

Chad Schwartz, president/founder Imagine Technology Group, Chandler, Arizona

“We are going to Punta Cana’s Hard Rock Resort. It is all-inclusive and the weather in February is great. It has more than 4,800 rooms and quite a few all-inclusive restaurants to choose from.”

Jim George, president Donnellon McCarthy Enterprises, Cincinnati, Ohio

“California. You can choose many different flavors of California. The state has great air access, the weather is perfect 99% of the time (Southern California) and the attitude of the people is great.”

Todd Deluca, owner Boston Business Technology, Plymouth, Massachusetts

“This really depends on your budget. We have had many great trips from the U.S. Virgin Islands to the coast of California to the Cayman Islands. Maui, Hawaii, has been one of our best trips. Maui provides something for everyone.”

Ken Staubitz, COO Modern Office Methods, Cincinnati, Ohio

“Hawaii. Love it there.”

Dan Castaneda, general manager International Copy Machine Center, El Paso, Texas

Do you have a question for your fellow dealers? If so, email it to brent@bta.org with the subject line: “Dealers Helping Dealers.” BTA will then share your question with the full dealer membership with a request for guidance from your fellow dealers. n

Brent Hoskins, executive director of the Business Technology Association, is editor of Office Technology magazine. He can be reached at brent@bta.org or (816) 303-4040.

U.S. Bans Ninestar Products

Companies restricted for targeting persecuted groups

by: Tricia Judge, International Imaging Technology Council

On June 9, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that Ninestar Corp. and eight of its Zhuhai, China-based subsidiaries have been added to the list of companies whose products will be restricted from entering the United States due to their involvement in business practices that target members of persecuted groups, including Uyghur minorities in China.

The embargo shocked the imaging supplies industry. Ninestar and the named subsidiaries are based largely around Zhuhai, which is located on the southeast coast of China. The Uyghur minorities and the “reeducation centers” are located in Xinjiang, an autonomous territory in northwest China. The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) was signed into law by President Joe Biden in December 2021. It prohibits goods from being imported into the United States that are either produced in Xinjiang, or by entities identified on the UFLPA Entity List, unless the importer can prove, by clear and convincing evidence, the goods were not produced with forced labor.

The inclusion of Ninestar and its subsidiaries brings the total number of Chinese companies on the UFLPA Entity List to 22. So far, no company named to the list has been removed. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) began enforcing the Ninestar ban on June 12. The eight banned subsidiaries are: Zhuhai Ninestar Information Technology Co. Ltd., Zhuhai Pantum Electronics Co. Ltd., Zhuhai Apex Microelectronics Co. Ltd., Geehy Semiconductor Co. Ltd., Zhuhai Pu-Tech Industrial Co. Ltd., Zhuhai G&G Digital Technology Co. Ltd., Zhuhai Seine Printing Technology Co. Ltd. and Zhuhai Ninestar Management Co. Ltd.

“Our department will not tolerate governments abusing human rights and will continue to restrict all goods at our ports of entry that use materials or workers from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region where the People’s Republic of China aggressively oppresses and exploits Uyghurs and other Muslim-majority communities,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas.

United Nations (U.N.) experts and rights groups estimate that more than 1 million people, mainly Uyghurs and Muslim minorities, have been detained in camps in China’s western Xinjiang region in recent years, with many saying they were subject to ideological training and abuse. China has denied all accusations of abuse.

Ninestar has several subsidiaries in the United States, including Lexmark International and Static Control Components. However, the products of these subsidiaries have not been banned.

Both Lexmark and Static Control Components have released statements stating that they have stopped shipments from Ninestar and its affected subsidiaries to the United States and will replace Ninestar as a supplier globally. Ninestar appears to be attempting to circumvent the embargo by using established subsidiaries in Hong Kong that are also not on the UFLPA and by buying a new one there. According to Actionable Intelligence, Lexmark, Static Control, Green Project and others have received printers or printer parts from these subsidiaries after the embargo. Ninestar also has established subsidiaries in the United States and elsewhere, which will make enforcement more difficult.

Several of Ninestar’s U.S.-based dealers have reported being low on or out of stock on certain popular cartridge models. Ninestar also sells its products extensively on Amazon and other e-commerce platforms. The International Imaging Technology Council (Int’l ITC) has identified at least 56 brands that it believes are manufactured by Ninestar.

Actionable Intelligence reported that Ninestar is being sued by U.S.-based ML Products for its e-commerce selling practices. ML Products alleged that Ninestar and its subsidiaries have set up an “opaque web of sham business entities” to “create the false appearance of competition among its own toner and ink brands.” Given the large number of brands and businesses that Ninestar has established in both China and the United States, CBP has its work cut out for it in enforcing this ban.

However, violating the ban on importing goods produced with forced labor carries serious consequences. Eric Choy, executive director for trade remedy law enforcement for CBP’s Office of Trade told Dow Jones that companies that knowingly import goods produced with forced labor could face criminal investigation. Choy said that “once that risk is made aware to you, the potential that [a commodity] could be made with forced labor, there could be potential civil and criminal liabilities.”

The full impact of the ban is yet to be seen and it will likely unfold over the coming months. However, with hefty criminal charges and fines attached to a violation, supplies dealers are looking to other printer and cartridge sources in the United States as the situation plays out. n

Tricia Judge, an attorney, has served as the executive director of the International Imaging Technology Council for the past 23 years. She can be reached at tricia@i-itc.org. Visit https://i-itc.org.

Make It Simple

Process does not manage; only managers do

by: Troy Harrison, Troy Harrison & Associates

In the last few years, I have seen a growing fad that I like to call “managing by process.” Regular readers of this space know that I like processes — sales processes, sales management processes, customer service processes, etc. They are all very helpful when building a great sales program.

But you can have too much of a good thing. Many of the processes I have seen recently are overwrought and overwritten to try to cover every eventuality. The companies with such processes are attempting to substitute written processes for basic management and leadership. Helpful hint: They fail to do so. The two most common areas I see these in are compensation processes and activity management systems.

The best compensation processes are simple. You have a base salary for the position. This base salary, ideally, covers basic living expenses (at a minimum) and also compensates salespeople for work they do that is not directly tied to a sale — information gathering, paperwork, customer service, etc. It also includes a commission and bonus structure for overachievement.

On top of the salary, the commission is designed to compensate for sales achievement (i.e., making sales). The compensation structure can be, and should be, designed to incent the sales we want to make. More profit, longer-term contracts, better terms, favored products or services, etc., are all factors that can and should be considered. However, it is possible to overdo this. In a commission package, I prefer simple rather than complicated. I like a salesperson to be able to count his (or her) money as he is walking out the door with the purchase order. The most simple and effective commission packages are based on profit, with the salesperson being able to know how much actual profit is in a deal.

I have seen a lot of commission processes lately that try to micromanage the sales process by having deductions for this, kickers for that, bonuses for another thing and so on. I recently dealt with a client who had a three-page commission policy in an industry where a one-paragraph policy is common. When I asked the client to explain, he said: “Well, there are some types of businesses that we don’t want, so we don’t pay much for those.”

This is a classic example of trying to substitute process and paperwork for simple management. “OK,” I said, “If you don’t want that business, why don’t you just say ‘no’?” The client looked at me open mouthed, astonished. Apparently, the idea at the company was that once the salesperson brought the deal to the table, it was sacrosanct. It is not. If you do not want

a particular piece of business, do not take it. Further, empower your salespeople to say “no” to bad business. You will be surprised at how often they do.

Turning to activity management systems, you probably also know that I am a fan of activity metrics. The reason is that activity metrics are forward-looking; meaning that we can predict the results of a salesperson by having him perform certain activities in certain amounts. Remember the basic equation of sales achievement: Quantity of activity x Quality of activity = Results.

In other words, the more you do and the better you are at it, the better your results will be. Makes sense, right? So, to build activity metrics, we work backward from a desired result, using known ratios (from our history), to build a road map to success for our salespeople. Make it simple.

n Let’s say we want one new sale per week. We know our closing ratio from proposals to sales is 2:1. Thus, we need two proposals per week.

n We know that half of our presentations request a proposal. Therefore, we need four presentations per week.

n We know that 2/3 of our discovery appointments result in a presentation, so we need six discovery appointments per week.

n And we know that it takes 10 calls to set an appointment for discovery. So, we need 60 phone calls per week.

And just like that, we have a set of activity metrics:

n 60 calls per week

n Six discovery appointments per week

n Four presentations per week

n Two proposals per week

That yields one sale per week. Bingo. We hit our target. Our

metrics are simple. They are based on historical data and reps can understand them. By the way, I should note — the numbers here are hypothetical; work within your own goals and historical ratios to get to your metrics. If you do not have historical ratios, start tracking.

“But Troy,” you’re saying, “you just spent the first half of this article telling us that processes don’t manage and now you’ve given us a process. What’s the deal?”

The deal is that this process is simple. And it is a process to manage to — it is not a process that manages for you or attempts to. Where metrics go wrong is when they become overcomplicated. For instance, of those six discovery appointments, management says that two of them have to be with customer type A, three with type B and one with type C. That is where it gets overwrought or management attempts to insert unnecessary steps. For instance, years ago I worked for a company where the regional manager discovered that we had very high close rates when prospects came in for plant tours. So, we should encourage tours, right?

Nope. The regional manager mandated tours and sales went

through the floor because it was so difficult to get every customer in for a tour. My team? We ignored the mandate and we were fine. (Yes, I ignored one of my bosses; ask me again why I am self-employed.)

The reason members of upper management put overwrought processes in place is that they lack confidence in their sales reps and sales managers. The problem is that overdone processes and procedures invariably result in higher turnover, lower job engagement and, ultimately, they do the opposite of what they are intended to do. Keep your processes simple, trust and manage your people and you will get the results you are seeking. n

Troy Harrison is the author of “Sell Like You Mean It!” and “The Pocket Sales Manager,” and is a speaker, consultant and sales navigator. He helps companies build more profitable and productive sales forces. To schedule a free 45-minute Sales Strategy Review, call (913) 645-3603 or email troy@troyharrison.com. Visit www.troyharrison.com.

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3 • Xerox

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The deal is that this process is simple. And it is a process to manage to — it is not a process that manages for you or attempts to.