December 2015 Office Technology

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CONTENTS Volume 22 • No. 6

FEATURE ARTICLES 10

2016 Industry Forecast Manufacturers look to the year ahead

P R I N C I PA L I S S U E S Success in Hiring Recruiting strategies for today’s job market

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by Paul Schwartz Copier Careers

Compiled by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

If you are a dealership principal or a hiring manager, you are probably aware that one of the biggest factors restricting your growth today is the low availability of qualified candidates. But even in this historically tight hiring market, it is still possible to recruit qualified, experienced staff.

What will be the greatest opportunities in the new year? To find the answers, Office Technology magazine asked 11 MFP and printer manufacturers to share their expectations for 2016. Perhaps the insight shared will better position your dealership for a bright future.

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Fall Colors Retreat BTA Southeast hosts district event in Asheville

Our Everyday Heroes Consider how your employees relate to customers

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by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

by Rock Janecek Burtronics Business Systems Inc.

Encouraging dealers to fully embrace managed print services (MPS), BTA Southeast hosted its annual Fall Colors Retreat Oct. 23-24 in Asheville, North Carolina. The event featured three educational sessions geared toward MPS, exhibitor round-table sessions and networking events.

The quality of service your dealership provides to your customers can make or break your business. All employees who have face-to-face relationships with your customers need to be professional, efficient individuals who properly represent your company’s values.

COURTS & CAPITOLS 31

Corporate Culture Establish one that raises your company’s standards

by Robert C. Goldberg BTA General Counsel

SELLING SOLUTIONS The Business Card Far more important than any company brochure

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by Troy Harrison Troy Harrison & Associates

Every business has its own culture, but is it the culture that is best for success? Corporate culture is not always defined, but develops over time through employee recognition and commitment. The strategies management follows will define the corporate culture.

All the brochures, sell sheets and presentations in the world are, at best, a distant third compared to the number-one sales tool — you. That said, I would like to address the numbertwo sales tool: the lowly business card — which I believe is still important.

P R I N C I PA L I S S U E S 32

Q&A: ECi’s Ron Books Software vendor hosts Connect Conference Nov. 9-11

by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

ECi Software Solutions hosted its Connect Conference 2015 on Nov. 9-11 at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort in Orlando, Florida. Onsite at the conference, Office Technology magazine had the opportunity to interview ECi Software Solutions President and CEO Ron Books.

D E PA R T M E N T S Business Technology Association

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• BTA Highlights

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Executive Director’s Page

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BTA President’s Message

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Advertiser Index

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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S PAGE

Our Industry’s Future Remains Very Bright

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ith BTA about to celebrate its 90th anniversary in 2016 and the current rate of change in our industry accelerating at a faster pace than ever, I have been thinking a lot lately about the office technology industry’s past and future.

It has a rich history packed with impressive innovation, enthusiastic entrepreneurs and omnipresent opportunity. Those characteristics will always remain.

Anytime I hear any concern about the future of the industry — given the decline of printed pages — I go back to 1926. That’s the year a group of dealers met to form what is today BTA. They were selling the technology of the day — typewriters. However, just like the office technology dealers of today, they had their eye on one thing — serving the needs of their customers.

What’s my point? It’s simple. The dealer channel has not long endured by simply focusing on technology, but rather on serving the needs of end users in the workplace.

Technologies will come and go, but the need to create, share, store, retrieve and manage information and documents in a business environment will not go away. The maturity of today’s MFPs can, perhaps, be viewed as an indicator of a new beginning on the horizon — the next technologies (or new iterations of current technologies) that lie in store for us. However, with their arrival and the dealer community’s development of expertise in future technologies, it will simply be the next chapter in each dealership’s ongoing role as the trusted advisor to its customers, just as it has been since the dealer channel’s inception.

I’m not suggesting the end of imaging devices. I believe the imaging industry will

persist well into the future. However, to me, the messages shared in this issue’s 2016 Industry Forecast make it clear that in order to remain as trusted advisors, dealers must embrace the full scope of the technology of the day. Yes, printing will continue to be a way to serve customers’ needs, but the need to diversify and look at other technologies and services — in order to ensure ongoing success and best meet the changing needs of today’s end users — is paramount. Think about that accelerated rate of change I referenced earlier. Remember when any thought of accessing business information via a hand-held mobile device seemed futuristic? It wasn’t that long ago. Do you have a mobile device strategy as part of your business plan? Are you fully embracing the workplace needs of millennials?

Within the forecasts, note the use of words like “cloud,” “mobile,” “BYOD” and “the Internet of Things.” Likewise, take note of comments such as: “Gone are the days of a static workforce. More and more, the workplace is mobile and remote”; “In 2016, it is not just about being service-minded, but actually having additional services to offer”; and “Today, R&D is also about finding new and better solutions to the real-world needs of customers.” In addition, notice the various acknowledgements of the importance of the dealer community, such as: “Independent dealers have spent decades building their brands in their respective markets and have worked tirelessly to become true business partners to their clients.”

Where are we headed next? How will dealers be addressing customer needs in the workplace in the future? Time will tell.

For now, I encourage you to read through the manufacturers’ forecasts. They reveal an enlightening, encouraging and exciting future for all of us. 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 Robert C. Goldberg, General Counsel Business Technology Association Troy Harrison, Troy Harrison & Associates www.troyharrison.com Rock Janecek, Burtronics Business Systems Inc. www.burtronics.com Paul Schwartz, Copier Careers www.copiercareers.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: (800) 869-6688 Valerie Briseno Membership Marketing Manager valerie@bta.org Mary Hopkins Database Administrator mary@bta.org Teresa Leerar Bookkeeper teresa@bta.org Brian Smith Membership Sales Representative brian@bta.org Photo Credits: Bigstockphoto. Cover created by Bruce Quade, Brand X Studio. ©2015 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.

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BTA PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE 2015-2016 Board of Directors

Mark Your Calendar for Our 2016 Events

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f you were not among the attendees at any of the 2015 BTA district events, you missed out on great opportunities to learn from industry experts and network with your fellow dealers.

I had the privilege to attend each of these events, organized and hosted by members of the association’s district dealer volunteer leadership teams.

Since 2008, BTA has held district events in our current format. Specifically, attendees have the opportunity to benefit from the wisdom and guidance of the event speakers and visit with exhibiting sponsors and other dealers between sessions — in the same room. We have found that keeping all attendees and exhibitors in a single setting for the educational portion of the event optimizes the exchange of ideas and information.

Each event’s agenda also includes a group activity that is not only ideal for networking, but is very enjoyable and, sometimes, a “bucket list” goal. At the 2016 Grand Slam event in Boston, for example, we have secured dinner and tickets for a New York Yankees versus Boston Red Sox game at the iconic Fenway Park. Whether you are a passionate baseball enthusiast or just a casual fan, it doesn’t get much better than that.

We are also particularly excited about the 2016 district event hosted by BTA MidAmerica, to take place in the location of the association’s establishment in 1926 and its home today — Kansas City, Missouri. The expanded agenda will make this a “must-attend” event. Plus, the event will conclude with an unforgettable evening at Kansas City’s historic and beautifully restored Union Station, where we will celebrate BTA’s 90th anniversary.

Here are dates and locations for each of the 2016 BTA district events: n March 18-19: Spring Break, hosted by BTA Southeast, New Orleans, Louisiana n June 8-10: Event hosted by BTA MidAmerica/BTA National 90th Anniversary, Kansas City, Missouri n Aug. 4-5: Capture the Magic, hosted

by BTA West, Las Vegas, Nevada n Sept. 15-16: Grand Slam, hosted by BTA East, Boston, Massachusetts n Oct. 21-22: Fall Colors Retreat, hosted

by BTA Southeast, Asheville, North Carolina Comments received from attendees at 2015 BTA district events reveal the quality and value you can expect from the association’s 2016 events: n Winter Break, BTA Southeast: “This is my favorite event of the year. I take more notes and hear more best practices that I actually implement than at any other show or conference I attend.” — Jeffrey Glass, TPM Inc., Greenville, South Carolina n Cruise to Success, BTA Mid-America: “This was my first time attending a BTA event. A number of presentations exceeded my expectations and I enjoyed getting to network with other dealers and vendors.

The dealer panel was excellent!” — John Ross, Laser Logic Inc., Lawrence, Kansas n Grand Slam, BTA East: “Great job with event management. It was a good location and venue. The event was worth our time, which is saying a lot these days.

Great job.” — Chris Parisi, Innovex, Lincoln, Rhode Island Watch www.bta.org/DistrictEvents for more information on each of the 2016 events as details are finalized. In the meantime, I encourage you to “save the dates” on your calendar for the BTA district events you plan to attend. I hope to see you in 2016. n — Dave Quint

President Dave Quint Advanced Systems Inc. 2945 Airport Blvd.

P.O. Box 57 Waterloo, IA 50704 dquint@asiowa.com President-Elect Rob Richardson Allied Document Solutions & Services Inc. 200 Church St. Swedesboro, NJ 08085 robr@ads-s.com Vice President Dan Castaneda International Copy Machine Center 1515 Lee Trevino, Ste. EE El Paso, TX 79936 dan@icmc-elp.com BTA East Greg Gondek ACT Group 20 Commerce Drive Cromwell, CT 06416 greg@advancedcopy.com BTA Mid-America Bob Evans DigiTec Office Solutions Inc. 12560 Reed Road, Ste. 200 Sugar Land, TX 77478 bobevans@digiteconline.com BTA Southeast John Eckstrom Carolina Business Equipment Inc. 5123 Bush River Road Columbia, SC 29212 johne@cbesc.com BTA West Cathy Dimon Northern Business Systems 3526 International Fairbanks, AK 99701 cdimon@acsalaska.net Immediate Past President Ron Hulett U.S. Business Systems Inc. 3221 Southview Drive Elkhart, IN 46514 ron.hulett@usbus.com Ex-Officio/General Counsel Robert C. Goldberg Schoenberg Finkel Newman & Rosenberg LLC 222 S. Riverside Plaza, Ste. 2100 Chicago, IL 60606 robert.goldberg@sfnr.com

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2016 Industry Forecast Manufacturers look to the year ahead Compiled by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

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hat will be the greatest opportunities in the new year? To find the answers, Office Technology magazine asked 11 MFP and printer manufac­turers to share their expectations for 2016.

Perhaps the insight shared will help you better position your dealership for a bright future.

Each of the contributors was asked to address the following ques­ tions in essay form: What do you believe will be the greatest market and prod­uct opportunities for deal­ ers in 2016? What are the best sales and marketing strategies for dealer­ ships in pursuing these opportuni­ ties? What will be the most significant challenges dealers will face in 2016 and how can they best address them? What notable changes in demand/needs/expectations do you an­ ticipate from end users in 2016? What do you see as the char­ acteristics of the office technology dealership that is best po­ sitioned for success in 2016? Following are their responses.

Canon U.S.A. Inc. Hiro Imamura, Vice President & General Manager, Business Imaging Solutions Group Marketing In a sea of market competition, resources can determine whether a business sinks or swims, and dealers play an instrumental role in helping businesses not only stay afloat, but also succeed. It goes without saying that customer business decisions drive the trends in our industry and the coming year will be no different. While trends such as bring-yourown-device (BYOD) and the Internet of Things (IoT) have transformed the business landscape in the last year, one pattern shows sustained longevity — dealerships that take

a customer-centric approach will be well-positioned in 2016.

The enterprise industry has un­ dergone a technological revolution.

In recent years we have witnessed a dramatic shift away from the tra­ ditional hardware-centric business model to one that is characterized by the delivery of solutions and services.

Customers are craving a one-stopshop approach and those dealers who position themselves to be capa­ ble of that support will reap the ben­ efits. If dealers align their objectives closely with customer desires for in­ tegrated platforms, the new year will bring many opportunities for dealer success by offering the necessary resources for businesses to form well-rounded document management systems.

In the bigger picture, the overall market will continue to see three major trends in information and communications tech­ nology: cloud, social and mobile. The increasing demand for mobile features will drive dealers to invest in these technolo­ gies in order to remain competitive. As seen in the past year, dealerships that are able to offer comprehensive portfolios, in­ cluding on-premise and cloud-based options, combined with the expertise to effectively consult with customers in identify­ ing their needs, will position themselves for continued success.

As companies have embraced these convenient trends, they have also begun to realize that convenience often re­ quires additional security provisions. In anticipation of in­ creased demand for cloud-based compatibility and mobile integration, dealers should strongly consider offering en­ hanced document protection with solutions that offer user authentication or content auditing. Doing so will provide customers with the tools to better monitor, control and pro­ tect overall information management.

As the volume of available data continues to grow, end us­ ers will look to dealers to help manage that information. This

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growth is a major revenue-generating In line with that approach, we see a In many ways, opportunity for dealers, offering them dramatic increase in the number of dealthe chance to hear directly from customers who are successfully building mandealers are the eyes ers regarding their needs. It is recomaged IT services portfolios. A good porand ears of the mended that companies position themtion of a typical dealer’s customer base industry, informing selves with the technology tools that can would be categorized as SMB. These suppliers of the detect workflow bottlenecks and address customers all have the need for IT sersolutions customers these pain points, particularly in regard vices, whether they need help managto document workflow, print manageing their email servers or deploying are requesting ... ment and content management. their apps in a secure cloud environLastly, dealers should maintain close ment. Dealers who deliver these servicrelationships with their vendors and take advantage of es not only expand their business domains, but build whole the tools and systems they have in place to be prepared to new lines of monthly recurring revenue to augment their provide technical assistance and resolve issues with fast traditional print business. We see this trend continuing, response times to the end user. In many ways, dealers are as there are not many SMB IT services providers with the the eyes and ears of the industry, informing suppliers of the financial stability and strong service infrastructure of the solutions customers are requesting and delivering messag- typical dealership. es to vendors about the needs of the market. We have seen Building on this intelligent document theme, we see the enterprise industry undergo a rapid transformation the strong growth in the electronic content management (ECM) last few years, favoring holistic systems, mobile and cloud market. Over the past few years, we have built a large pracintegration, and solutions. With these trends expected to tice in this segment and find very strong demand for these pick up steam in 2016, maintaining effective communica- services. The dealer community has also been quite active in tion between dealer and vendor will ensure both parties are this market and we anticipate the growth of ECM will only successful, allowing the vendor to continue supplying the accelerate in the dealer community. The ECM business is a dealer with relevant business solutions and helping to en- logical expansion of our business domain that is documentsure that the customer’s needs continue to be met. centric, and we are finding that even a typical MFP rep can understand and prospect for this type of opportunity with Konica Minolta Business some basic education.

Solutions U.S.A. Inc. Production print continues to be a growing segment as Kevin Kern, Senior Vice President, more and more volume is transferring from offset to digital Marketing to take advantage of variable data and personalized marAs we look to the future of our keting. We will see the productivity and quality of traditionbusiness and the dealer community al electrophotography (EP)-based digital presses continue as a whole, we continue to see op- to improve (see our MGI JETVARNISH 3DS) and open up portunity in our traditional business more of the market for digital value-added finishing and aland areas in which we can extend our low dealers to introduce new ways to provide value-added business model. The theme of our dealer meeting earlier in print, increasing their profitability. Inkjet presses like our 2015 was “The Art of Disruption.” The thinking behind that KM-1 B2 cut-sheet press, coming in the first half of 2016, will revolved around both looking at new ways to grow our busi- expand the market for digital presses and allow dealers to ness, as well as new business domains. capture even more page volume from offset devices. In parAs we look into 2016, we still see opportunity in the core allel to the commercial print market, we see a new market business of print. Although the market is relatively mature, in the area of industrial print and packaging. This market savvy dealers are gaining share within customers by mov- has a great need for technologies that allow for short-run ing beyond the traditional managed print services (MPS) packaging and customization. approach into an intelligent services approach focusing on While it is still an immature market, 3D is key and we are the entire life cycle of the document. In a time when securi- highly committed to that marketplace. You are going to see ty, retention policy and workflow efficiency are paramount, new products and capabilities in the future in markets that becoming the customer’s trusted advisor opens the door to have great demand, such as health care. It is typical to have not only gaining all of the page volume, but also providing a learning curve for manufacturers, dealers and, of course, ancillary services that deepen the customer relationship ourselves, but we see 3D printing as a sustainable long-term and generate services and solutions revenue. and potentially high-growth opportunity. 3D professional 12 | ­w w w. o f f ic et ec hno lo g y m a g.c om | De c e m b e r 2 0 1 5

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Document imaging technology conservices in the 3D manufacturing space The key thing from a tinues to progress more quickly than will continue to develop and allow comever. At KYOCERA Document Solutions panies to explore the return on investpositioning standpoint America, we see several key industry ment 3D printing offers today and can is about how you trends continuing and a new industry provide in the future. change the conversation dynamic evolving.

In all, we see a world of opportunity with your customers End users are increasingly knowlahead for the dealer community. In the and become that edgeable and have greater expectations end, success will be all about how well about document workflow needs that you know your customers and the relatrusted advisor. are more complex. Engaging those custionships you have with them. The dealtomers is more involved than ever, reers we see succeeding are expanding their domains to be able to offer new value to their custom- quiring a deeper understanding of their businesses, stroners. The key thing from a positioning ger relationships and potentially longer sales cycles. And, as standpoint is about how you change all of you know, pressure on dealer principals to manage it the conversation with your custom- all has never been more intense.

In response to these trends, an industry dynamic is evolvers and become that trusted advisor. ing: a stronger, more collaborative relationship between KYOCERA Document Solutions dealer and manufacturer.

End users need more from their dealers and, in turn, dealers America Inc. need more from their manufacturers — more support, flexDanielle Wolowitz, Vice President, ibility and frequent innovations, and more ways to help their Corporate Marketing Group

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customers’ businesses (and their own business applications in direct response The explosion of digital businesses) run more productively, effito evolving workflow requirements. ciently and, ultimately, more profitably.

Even our company name change, advertising and social In our view, manufacturers are rewhich took effect in 2012, further supmedia ... has created sponding in three major ways: (1) By proports these evolving trends, recognizing new, cost-effective viding expert resources to assist dealers; that everything we do is in support of opportunities for (2) Through market-driven technological delivering total document solutions to reaching key innovations, especially software; and (3) the real-world problems faced by comBy offering dealers new, additional suppanies across the country and around customer audiences. port through aggressive training and comthe world. We recognize that our dealprehensive digital marketing initiatives. ers are on the front lines of this rapidly (1) Our industry is about understanding how businesses changing, increasingly complex industry, and that it is our run, how documents and information move, and how to job to help them succeed in every way possible. accomplish it efficiently. It is about workflows — and it is requiring new expertise from and creating new challenges Lexmark International Inc. for dealers.

Phil Boatman, Business Alliance In support of their dealers, manufacturers are serving Manager as important sources of this expertise. Manufacturers are Lexmark would like to thank our providing new and innovative training — not only for sales authorized Business Solutions Dealand technical staff, but also for pre- and post-sales support ers for a solid 2015. Through dealer staff. They are even helping dealers within specific sales encollaboration and strong partnergagements, as well as guiding them on the infrastructure ships, we have continued to redefine needed within their dealerships to support these changing the blueprint for a successful dealend-user demands. ership business model.

(2) R&D used to be primarily about new and better hardLexmark sees tremendous opportunity for independent ware technology. Today, R&D is also about finding new dealers to take full advantage of mobility, security, and both and better solutions to the real-world needs of custom- horizontal and vertical imaging solutions in 2016. Imaging ers. Those real-world innovations include customizable solutions continue to move well beyond the printed page business applications and expanded software capabilities and will embed themselves in capture, archival and rethat directly and dramatically improve workflows: mobile trieval opportunities that solve customers’ mission-critical printing, data capture, integration with cloud-based docu- workflow challenges. ment management systems and a wide range of security Successful office equipment and solutions dealers of toand cost-control measures. morrow will realize the path to overcoming page decline Market-driven innovation has been a significant change resides in effective workflow assessments. Conducting this for our once static industry. It demonstrates the extent to assessment service for existing customers and prospects will which all of us — dealers and manufacturers — have funda- identify new opportunities for color device growth (which, in mentally transformed our approaches. turn, drives more valuable pages), along with more specific (3) The explosion of digital advertising and social media software solutions that will address universal issues such as over the last decade has created new, cost-effective opportu- accounts payable. With customers of all sizes processing hunnities for reaching key customer audiences. Manufacturers dreds and thousands of accounts payable transactions per often have a wealth of expertise to help their dealer partners year, this represents a massive selling opportunity for dealers. understand best practices, build strategic messaging pro- Offering the right capture and automation solutions in this grams and connect with end-user customers with greater significant horizontal market gives dealers the ability to win impact than ever before. customers of all sizes. Page decline does not have to signal a At Kyocera, we are doing all of this and more. We continue slowdown for the adept dealership that has a handle on creto invest heavily in dealer-focused programs, notably our Busi- ating differentiated value through information optimization. ness Services Division, whose initiatives are designed to help Information optimization broadens the scope of revenue dealers understand “what good looks like” in how they con- streams for dealers. Consider the remote office worker of tofigure their dealerships today and in the years ahead. R&D at day. The number of pages printed from mobile devices will Kyocera is market-driven and increasingly nimble. In the last be greater than ever before in 2016. Remote workers need to few years, our U.S.-led software team has developed a host of capture data with their own smart devices — phones, tablets 16 | ­w w w. o f f ic et ec hno lo g y m a g.c om | De c e m b e r 2 0 1 5

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or smart MFPs. They also need to access management and workflow solutions, data from mobile devices, creating addiproduction print, managed print serOperational excellence tional runway for dealers to ensure they vices, managed network services, water and efficiency will lead have the proper cloud solutions for these systems, 3D printing systems, digital dealers to sustainable customers. The need to capture, access displays and more. growth in 2016. This and print from mobile technology will In 2016, independent dealers will puts the emphasis on also require the dealer to have rockagain be looking to further diversify, solid security features tied to all phases and Muratec believes the industrial sales and service teams of the information/document life cycle. color label printing market can offer working together ...

The savvy end user will begin expecting the lucrative growth opportunity they these devices to be omni-channel, proare seeking. viding real continuity to their experiences.

Muratec has invested significant resources into buildDealers who become trusted advisors to their customers ing an infrastructure to enable dealers to compete in this will first seek to understand their customers’ security goals, emerging market. It is not a “flip-the-switch” solution; sellnetwork architectures and specific vulnerabilities. While ing into this market requires investment in the areas of serthis will require some subject-matter expertise, it will posi- vice, sales, marketing and logistics. Muratec has positioned tion dealers to provide a full suite of solutions, enabling both dealers to address these challenges and, so far, the results wider and deeper relationships for long-term customers. have far exceeded expectations. We are optimistic that in Operational excellence and efficiency will lead dealers to 2016 this will accelerate. sustainable growth in 2016. This puts the emphasis on sales Why? There is a fundamental shift happening when it and service teams working together, seeking proper train- comes to producing short-run prime labels. Prime labels are ing resources for both groups within the dealership and ful- defined as labels that are used on product packaging such ly leveraging manufacturer partners to address these needs. as beer and wine bottles, food packaging, candles, houseFinally, as social media platforms become part of our hold cleaning products, etc. Small producers of these types daily routine, skilled office technology dealers will lever- of goods have traditionally purchased labels from their age these tools to socially market their offerings. Creating local label converter, however they struggle with producbrand awareness and customer-led initiatives through so- tion minimums (increasing the risk of obsolete inventory), cial platforms will enable dealers to position themselves for production turnaround (the smaller the job, the longer the greater possibilities in the new year. turnaround time) and cost. If even a small change is made Lexmark has the tools and resources to assist dealers in to a label’s design, it could be weeks, or even months, beeach of these areas, and we look forward to participating in fore the new labels are ready for the production line. Howthe growth of the dealer channel in 2016 and beyond. ever, with the availability of short-run, affordable color label printers, these producers are actively pursuing the ability to Muratec America Inc. bring these in-house.

Jim D’Emidio, President Dealers are well-positioned to work with their customMuratec believes in the indepen- ers to provide in-house label printing solutions that endent office technology dealer chan- able short-run commitments, instant modifications and nel. Independent dealers have spent full finishing (lamination, die-cutting, spooling and sepdecades building their brands in their aration). For the dealership, it represents net-new hardrespective markets and have worked ware, service contracts, high-value clicks (at significant tirelessly to become true business margin) and the ability to become truly integrated into partners to their clients. That is why the customer’s actual line of business, thus becoming virMuratec is 100-percent focused on selling our products and tually irreplaceable. services through this channel.

The applications are endless. A quick review of local busiDealers understand the importance of responsive cus- nesses will expose craft beer breweries, wine producers, tomer support. They understand that a new multifunction candy makers, schools (parking stickers, bumper stickers, imaging device to a customer is more than just a product etc.), promotional product specialists and more. Many dealplacement — it is a business-critical decision that requires ers have even deployed the solution in their own businesses thorough collaboration. It is this mindset that has enabled to produce labels for local companies that do not wish to dealers to successfully transition beyond the hardcopy produce them on their own, thus creating another revenue space and diversify their portfolios to include document stream while becoming well-versed on the product.

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more that dealers are able to establish OKI Data Therefore, the more themselves as single-source providers, Americas the better they will position themselves Dan Murphy, that dealers are able to for long-term success. Being a one-stop Senior Vice establish themselves as shop extends beyond sales to include President of single-source providers, service. By servicing the customer diMarketing the better they will rectly, dealers can provide an experiAs technology position themselves ence greater than their competition and the workplace — and that sticks in the minds of cuscontinue to evolve, for long-term success. tomers. By becoming trusted advisors so will the way in which we conduct our and service providers, BTA dealers have daily business. Gone are the days of a static workforce. More and more, the workplace is mobile the opportunity to identify their customers’ current and and remote. We are working in — and sharing data among — emerging needs. The ability to meet those needs will allow multiple locations and doing so via the wireless devices we dealers to maintain and grow existing accounts, and secure use each day, including laptops, tablets and smartphones. new accounts — and new revenue-generating opportunities.

Office technology is going to follow in the footsteps of the So, with the continued integration of this technology into our daily business and the increased need to share informa- evolving workplace and mobile workforce. Just as our mobile tion — documents and data — in an increasingly mobile phones now serve as our alarm clocks, our address books and environment, there comes opportunity for office technol- our calendars (among so many other things) in addition to ogy dealers to serve as the providers of valuable solutions a means of communication, MFPs with integrated solutions to meet the needs of this evolving workplace and workforce. help streamline everyday work processes and make us more With mobility being the key industry trend, the greatest efficient. These enhanced capabilities — like those in the opportunity for dealers to grow and ensure a prosperous OKI’s suite of smart MFPs — provide increased options and future includes identifying opportunities to diversify their improved functionality, delivering customers greater value.

The office technology dealer who will be best-positioned product offerings. No longer can they rely solely on their primary copier/MFP-based hardware line. Dealers must for success in 2016 is the one who adapts in order to provide expand to support mobile strategies. By filling the product the greatest and most valuable suite of solutions to meet gaps with A4 MFPs and other smart-enabled devices, in ad- customer demands. dition to more professional-grade digital printing solutions Ricoh Americas Corp.

— including wide-format devices, for example — dealers can Jim Coriddi, Vice President, Dealer secure increased share of market and establish themselves Division as single-source providers to their existing and emerging As we look toward another proscustomer bases. Diversification is key to this evolution, and perous year for our dealers, we see dealers need to find new revenue-generating opportunities two key areas that can truly help our to ensure long-term growth and profitability. One way dealdealer partners grow their portfolios ers can further distinguish themselves from their competiand expand their businesses. This tors is to provide exceptional levels of customer service. This comes down to adding services and includes maintaining a team of talented and experienced expanding their lines into the production print space. These sales professionals.

Transformation goes hand-in-hand with customer service, two areas require both dedication from dealers to successas it establishes your dealership as a go-to provider of evolved fully deliver such offerings, and a commitment to develop office solutions. By building an expanded product portfolio, or enhance skill sets that can be leveraged to help their end including supplementing your primary line of copier/MFP- customers reap the benefits of such offerings.

We believe 2016 will be the year for dealers who have not based devices with a broad secondary line of complementary printing and document management solutions, you are offer- yet dipped a toe into production print to add this capability to their portfolios. There are three primary benefits for dealing greater value to both current and future customers.

With regard to challenges, the most significant one that ers from this portfolio expansion: (1) Broadening the cusdealers will likely face in 2016 is change. With shrinking mar- tomer set that they can approach; (2) Increasing volumes; kets and declining average monthly print volumes (AMPVs), and (3) Keeping competition out of the accounts that may dealers cannot remain static or resist change. Customers be present in the in-plant production facility and trying to want increased service from fewer suppliers. Therefore, the expand into the fleet. In an industry where overall volume 20 | ­w w w. o f f ic et ec hno lo g ym a g.c om | De c e m b e r 2 0 1 5

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is decreasing, production print provides professionals are working outside the ofThe 2016 office an entry into a space where volumes can fice and looking for technology that supbe increased. Overall, it is an expansion ports this everyday work environment. technology dealer of what your dealership provides within Mobile printing needs will only further who will be best a single enterprise. We realize this regrow as a result of a rise in the number positioned for success quires a true commitment from dealers of smartphones and the spread of BYOD. will be ... willing to and a proven skill set — which is why As such, providing easy, convenient moinvest in expanding Ricoh is determined to help educate our bile printing solutions is key for success partners on the value production print in this market. Samsung is a mobile-first his offerings ... can bring to their portfolios and how to printing company, offering capabilities best engage with their customers. that support printing needs where today’s Second is to incorporate services that reside near the box business users are, whether that’s in the office or on the road. (e.g., production services and software enablers), as well as An example can be seen when Samsung launched its MoIT services, into customer offerings. As noted in years past, bile Print App in 2012, which provides fast and easy printing it is about taking a deeper dive into customers’ businesses and scanning directly from mobile devices, including the and understanding how we can help them expand what they ability to send faxes directly from the app and print from can do. In 2016, it is not just about being service-minded, the cloud with Google Drive. In addition, Samsung launched but actually having additional services to offer. the world’s first NFC printer in 2013, offering users an easy At the end of the day, dealers are on the lookout for ways to mobile printing experience. In 2014, Samsung introduced be competitive. Adding production print portfolio capabili- the first Android operating system released for printing ties (both monochrome and color) and services offerings are technology with its Smart UX Center. The MX7, Samsung’s routes for many dealers to open up new market opportunities latest flagship device, leverages this Smart UX Center. and level the playing field. Of course, that does require an inThe Smart UX platform provides dealers with a simple, yet vestment on both the equipment and staffing sides. After all, elegant way to introduce new solutions and applications. For production print requires an entirely different set of person- example, Samsung has an opportunity to enhance value for nel who understand the nuances of the production business. dealers and boost their strategies through printing solutions So, how do dealers find ways to help ensure their expense with Samsung’s Smart UX Software Developer Kit (SDK) and realizes the ROI they need? One way is to find a trusted part- Smart App Center. Samsung has a diverse product portfolio ner to provide a full array of technology and services to your of solutions with the advanced technology needed to meet the customers. Working with a partner that, in addition to pro- changing needs of new developments. Samsung unveiled the viding the equipment, can help with the services side of the Smart UX Software Developer Kit to open up Android’s feaequation, can minimize the time training your own staff and tures on our new MFP lines. This will enable in-house develalso keep your costs for setting up services to a minimum. opers, ISVs, SIs and VARs to develop Android applications for The 2016 office technology dealer who will be best posi- Samsung MFPs, bringing their own ideas in as an extension tioned for success will be open-minded in his (or her) port- of printer functions. Organizations are empowered to further folio offerings and willing to invest in expanding his offer- extend printer functions according to their own needs. Office ings beyond the traditional office equipment solutions into workflows can be optimized through the installation of apps production print, services and more. Doing this can give a that are tailored to the specific requirements of each business. dealer a bit more leverage, allowing him to enter into new The printing industry is evolving from offering documentmarkets and provide not just the equipment, but also the printing-centered services to offering specialized solutions support and software, becoming a one-stop vendor for all. to meet the particular needs of businesses and to improve workflows. It is no longer sufficient to differentiate with Samsung Electronics hardware technology alone, so dealers will need to work with America Inc. vendors to adapt to these changing business requirements.

Eddie Castillo, Director of Sales For example, businesses in financial services require seMarketing, Printer & Imaging cure mobile printing that also allows for digital document Solutions handling. In education, printers are starting to be used as With the growth of mobile device digital hubs, promoting collaboration and document sharuse and the increase in demand for mo- ing. Teachers and students can easily share, scan and print bile printing, Samsung is leveraging from any mobile device with no connection to a PC. In its expertise for mobile workers. More health care, providers and staff need the flexibility to print 22 | ­w w w. o f f ic et ec hno lo gy m a g.c om | De c e m b e r 2 0 1 5

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from their mobile devices while maincompanies are similarly dependent on One of the biggest taining secure authentication and prothe existing solutions they have in place tecting patient data. to run their businesses. Through an opportunities for dealers In addition to looking at vertical marunderstanding of each customer’s curin 2016 will be to adopt ket opportunities, dealers and their end rent infrastructure and line-of-business a software/hardware users will be looking for additional revetechnologies, dealers can provide a sohybrid model that better nue streams and approaches to augment lution that supports and enhances their integrates into ... existing their businesses outside of the core print workflows, rather than replaces them. business. Samsung has a substantial anThe independent copier/MFP dealer customer infrastructures. nual R&D investment and is a consistent is uniquely positioned to support custop-three vendor for U.S. patents along tomers at a higher level. These dealers with a strong brand in a number of product categories. For can enhance their existing customer relationships through example, Samsung’s digital signage offering can help pro- various touchpoints and interactions. For example, monthly vide a more complete environment from a portfolio per- billing services and service visits allow dealers to develop spective and one that dealers can consider as an adjacent relationships with employees throughout the business. market opportunity.

These dealers not only get to know various people within Looking ahead, dealers best positioned for success will be the organization, but also get to thoroughly understand the those who look for opportunity in bringing together tech- culture of the company. This understanding can fuel more nologies. Customers are looking for a solution to ensure that personalized solutions and customer attention. technologies such as those in mobility and print work toThe challenge will be to take the relationships in these gether seamlessly. As the office environment evolves and mo- businesses to the next level. In order to do this, dealers will bile devices play an even greater role in day-to-day business need to develop and cultivate three key ingredients: a supactivities, employees need new printing solutions to match. portive infrastructure that will be available to support the customer throughout the relationship; the trust of the cusSharp Imaging and tomer; and an understanding of technology outside of the Information Company document solutions world. If the first two are already in of America place, it will simply need the dealer’s focus and culture to Mike Marusic, Senior Vice President, drive it further using the expansion of product offerings.

Marketing & Operations Group During the coming year, Sharp will be working closely Entering 2016, Sharp Electronics is with its dealers to help them navigate the new product ofuniquely positioned to help our dealers ferings and new ways to grow interactions with customers. grow their businesses. Over the past While many dealers have already moved into managed netyear, we have continued to enhance work services (MNS), few have taken steps to exclude VAR our R&D, and over the next few months, we will introduce and IT companies from their customers by offering addi13 new hardware products, complemented by a host of new tional IT products and services to drive more revenue and software offerings, to the dealer community. We hope to drive profits. By doing so, dealers can eliminate competition in Sharp’s continued growth and expansion into new markets the marketplace. This is the next great growth opportunity. with these offerings and challenge our dealers to do the same.

All of these market dynamics and change make 2016 an One of the biggest opportunities for dealers in 2016 will exciting year for dealers to grow their businesses and exbe to adopt a software/hardware hybrid model that better pand their capabilities. The Sharp team looks forward to integrates into their existing customer infrastructures. In expanding our relationship with the dealer community by order to make this shift, dealers will need to change their upping our game in order to support our dealers’ efforts. approach from one that focuses on adding hardware to a network to one that focuses on workflow and solutions beToshiba America Business coming part of an existing network.

Solutions Inc. For instance, our daily lives involve constant interacScott Maccabe, President & CEO tion with software and solutions across our various de2015 was another successful year vices — smartphones, tablets and personal computers. The for Toshiba. Our dealers not only distinction between software functionality and hardware continue to increase their MFP sales, functionality has almost disappeared. Individuals are more but they are also growing revenue dependent on their personal devices than ever before and through an expanding portfolio of 24 | ­w w w. o f f ic et ec hno lo g ym a g.c om | De c e m b e r 2 0 1 5

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service offerings. As we move into 2016, Xerox Corp.

We see great promise dealers must continue this trend of sellJohn Corley, ing services and collaborating with President, for our dealers in their clients to truly improve business Channel Partner 2016. As technology processes. This concept is the core of Operations continues to rapidly what Toshiba calls “Together InformaAs we look change, cloud, tion” — an ongoing collaboration with ahead to 2016, we mobility and big data clients to provide custom-designed see several marsolutions that provide optimal perforket and product remain important. mance, maximized cost savings and the opportunities for dealers looking to grow utmost security. It is more important their businesses. Recurring revenue and than ever that dealers offer a comprehensive product and profit is the lifeblood of any well-run dealership. There is treservices portfolio that encompasses MFPs, while also offer- mendous opportunity for dealers to grow through managed ing services and solutions that improve business processes print services (MPS), color page volumes (specifically light and security. production color) and customized applications. Recent inFor years, Toshiba has encouraged its dealers to embrace dustry market growth projections show 10-percent growth in the concept of “Beyond Print.” This does not mean abandon- MPS for small and mid-sized businesses and 5-percent maring MFP sales, but rather to build off of those clients and ket growth in entry-level light production color. MPS and colwork to manage all of their content needs — be it in print, or printing pack a great one-two punch with the opportunity electronically or digitally displayed on a screen. Our suc- to cement long-term recurring revenue and good margins cess with customers such as STAPLES Center, the San Di- and, as a bonus, high customer demand. Customized applicaego Chargers and Brookstone, among others, affirms that tions also present a huge opportunity for differentiation, enclients value a provider that has long-term vision and can abling dealers to go way beyond being copier/MFP suppliers. provide solutions to solve multiple needs. To do this, dealers For most dealers, MPS is well under 10 percent of their will need to invest in the right personnel who can manage equipment revenue. The increase in customer demand crethe complex sale of services. Nurture your clients and work ates a huge opportunity for dealers to reduce sales turnover, tirelessly to understand their challenges so that you can tai- locking in existing accounts and capturing new business lor solutions specifically to them. Not only will you uncover from competitors. Ignoring MPS in favor of the old tried and new revenue paths, but you will have committed and satis- true risks serious erosion inside existing accounts. Competfied clients. itors are eyeing your base and looking for a way in. More and In 2016, dealers will also need to further their exper- more often, MPS is making that possible. tise in key vertical markets by understanding the pain We have seen that those dealers who are prepared and depoints of those industries and being able to solve specific vote time to understand and address their customers’ chalbusiness issues for them. Toshiba’s breadth of offerings lenges are the most successful. MPS also requires a proven — including MFPs, thermal barcode printers, software system to manage the devices, page count, billing, etc. Dealsolutions and digital signage — gives dealers an advan- ers can choose to do it themselves or have the manufacturer tage. To support them even further, we will launch an ar- handle supply fulfillment, service and more. This can shift ray of new product features designed solely to support some of the burden of MPS management to the vendor, enkey industries. abling the dealer to manage the customer relationship.

We see great promise for our dealers in 2016. As techWe all know color printing delivers higher revenue and nology continues to rapidly change, cloud, mobility and profit margins, and most dealers have been successful in big data remain important. As a manufacturer, Toshiba is shifting black-and-white over to color-capable printers and committed to addressing these trends by developing indus- MFPs. There is still a great deal more to do here and one of try-leading products and solutions such as our e-BRIDGE the bright spots is light production color. It is a fast-growing CloudConnect — a clear differentiator in the market. We market that delivers real staying power for recurring revwill work to ensure our dealers’ continued success by pro- enue, but has to be nurtured for future growth. Dealers who viding top-notch educational programs to build their ex- can show their customers how to leverage the power of color pertise in specific industries. And, we will continue to de- will be the most successful. liver award-winning end-user events to provide a greater The power of color really depends on making the applicasales opportunity. Together, we will tackle 2016 and make tions stand out. Anyone can print on paper, so how can a it a great year. dealer stand out? Dealers can use color technology to create 26 | ­w w w. o f f ic et ec hno lo g y m a g.c om | De c e m b e r 2 0 1 5

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and easily create customized document new demand. Our most successful dealWhen a dealership workflow apps right on the ConnectKey ers have used Xerox technology to dedevice and deploy them. liver outstanding image quality on mabecomes part of its While we are excited by the opportuterials as diverse as magnets, linen and customers’ ... workflows nities in 2016, we do see one significant tear-proof, fade-proof and waterproof and operations, the challenge for our dealers. Technology polyester media. This has helped many more likely it is to has driven a completely new way to secure new business and expand profitbecome the go-to source interface with customers. Most everyable page counts. thing is online and now mobile. It is Customized applications present a and trusted advisor. clear that most acquisition decisions huge opportunity for dealers to become are practically made before a customer indispensable to their customers. It is all about delivering real-world apps and solutions to simplify ever talks to a sales representative. This makes it crucial their information workflows with something built just for for dealers to stay in front of them on the Web and through them. When a dealership becomes part of its customers’ dai- social media. LinkedIn is especially good for B2B contact, ly workflows and operations, the more likely it is to become and virtually every customer and potential customer is althe go-to source and trusted advisor. Dealers can shift from ready there.

More and more customers are looking for help in elimiselling boxes to selling solutions while adding a nice stream of recurring revenues they were not tapping into before. To nating painful processes and our dealers can help in imporhelp our dealers capitalize on this, we have built technol- tant ways, including eliminating the headache of managing ogy into our Xerox ConnectKey product line that enables a fleet of print devices and improving their daily workflows partners to perform an “X-ray” of the customer’s workflow with customized document workflow apps. Customers are eager to offload the chore of managing a network of print devices and MPS is a great way for dealers to make this a reality. Once deployed, dealers can present periodic reports to remind their customers of just how much time and money they have saved them, leading to great long-term relationships. But what really separates the good from the great is the ability to analyze a customer’s daily workflow and put solutions in place to make it less painful. In almost every case, a dealer’s time is well spent uncovering bottlenecks and using document management to streamline their processes.

There is no perfect formula for success, but we have seen that our most successful dealers share the same attributes.

The desire to continuously improve is earning dividends in customer loyalty. These partners look at their businesses and target specific areas such as employee training, service profitability, expense control and more. They also look at new areas such as how to connect with their customers using the Web and social media deployed over mobile devices.

Also, before investing in new business areas, many successful dealers put their financial houses in order. The use of the BTA benchmarking model is a great way to assess their financial health and plan for improvement. Once dealers have a solid financial foundation, they plan out which new business areas they will pursue. There is a lot to look forward to in the coming year and those of us at Xerox look forward to supporting our partners with products and the infrastructure to help fuel their success. 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. www.offi cetechnol ogymag.com | De c e mb e r 2015 | 27

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Fall Colors Retreat BTA Southeast hosts district event in Asheville by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

W

ith a focus on encouraging dealers to fully embrace managed print services (MPS), BTA Southeast hosted its annual Fall Colors Retreat Oct. 23-24 at the Doubletree by Hilton Asheville-Biltmore in Asheville, North Carolina. The event featured three educational sessions geared toward MPS, exhibitor roundtable sessions and networking events.

The educational sessions: “MPS: It’s Changing. Are You?,” led by Mike Lecak, founder and president of Collaborative Consultant Group LLC; “Six MPS Mistakes Most Dealers Make,” led by Frank Topinka, president of National Printer Repair Network; and “An A4 Complementary Strategy for Today’s MPS Contracts,” led by Jim Buck, regional sales manager for Impression Solutions Inc. The Fall Colors Retreat also included time to network with peers and exhibitors, a welcoming reception and dinner on Friday evening, and a tour and dinner at the historic Grove Park Inn on Saturday evening.

Retreat feedback was positive. “The event was very educational and the venue was great,” said Linda Hayes, Purcell’s Business Products, Campbellsville, Kentucky. “It was well worth the investment and the scenery wasn’t bad either.”

The exhibiting sponsors: Balboa Capital, BLI, Brother, Carolina Wholesale, Depot International, Digitek, Epson, ESP/SurgeX, GreatAmerica Financial Services, HP (Oct. 23-24 breaks sponsor), LMI Solutions, Muratec, OKI Data Americas, PHSI, Print Audit, Smart Power Systems, SYNNEX, Wells Fargo and Xerox (Oct. 24 breakfast sponsor).

BTA’s next district event, Spring Break, will be held March 18-19 at the InterContinental New Orleans in New Orleans, Louisiana. The event will feature educational sessions led by industry leaders, a dealer panel, time to network with peers and exhibiting sponsors, a welcoming reception, a tour of the National World War II museum and dinner at the museum’s restaurant. For more information or to register, visit www.bta.org/BTASoutheastEvent. 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.

Clockwise from top: Fall Colors attendees listen to Lecak’s educational session; (left to right) David, John and Duncan Perry of Integrity Business Machines, Conway, South Carolina, visit with Matthew McGuire, director of solution sales at Digitek Computer Products, during the round-table sessions; attendees have dinner Saturday evening; and BTA Southeast President Brian Snow served as the event’s emcee.

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The Right Strategy J

Clockwise from top: Attendees take in the view of Asheville and the surrounding area from the Grove Park Inn; attendees tour the historic Inn; the rear facade of the Inn, built by Edwin Grove, the “father of modern Asheville,” in 1913.

Top row: The Fall Colors Retreat educational session presenters were (left to right) Mike Lecak, Frank Topinka and Jim Buck.

Bottom row, left to right: Jack Killian (center), area sales manager at Muratec America Inc., visits with Vince McHenry (left) of Laser Lab Inc., Ephrata, Pennsylvania, and other attendees during the round-table sessions; Jarrod McCarthy (right), East director at OKI Data Americas, shows the inner workings of an OKI MFP to Michele McHenry (left), Laser Lab Inc., Ephrata, Pennsylvania, and Marcus Edwards, Bristol Office Supply, Bristol, Virginia, during the round-table sessions.

im Buck, regional sales manager for Impression Solutions Inc., emphasized the importance of right-fitting customer MFP fleets and selling “output management” in his Fall Colors Retreat presentation, “An A4 Complementary Strategy for Today’s MPS Contracts.” He shared success stories from his own selling experiences, encouraging dealers to ramp up their A4 MFP placements while not walking past single-function printer opportunities.

“If you look at the growth in our market, we are in a mature industry,” Buck said, as he shared a comparison of the A3 versus A4 markets from IDC, the market research firm. IDC reports that for the 2006-2018 time frame (actual for 2006-2013; projected for 2014-2018), the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for A3 U.S. shipments of color MFPs in the 21-69 pages-per-minute (ppm) range and monochrome MFPs in the 31-69 ppm range is 3.34 percent, while the A4 MFPs’ CAGR is 26.78 percent.

“Today, typically, when you win business, you take market share from somebody else. The [greatest opportunity for] new growth is in the A4 MFP space.”

Buck noted that 11-by-17-inch paper only accounts for 2 percent of A3 MFP output. To illustrate the significance of the statistic, he challenged attendees to consider how many school districts require 11-by-17-inch output in their RFPs, although a “walk-through and due diligence” would likely reveal that only a miniscule number of pages are on 11-by-17-inch paper, even though “the whole bid is spec’d to A3.” Reps need to “really understand what is going on” in such accounts, he said, given that “the A4 device only costs a little bit more than half of the A3.”

Leveraging lower-cost A4 MFPs, whether in a large setting like a school district or a small office, Buck advised dealers to concentrate on right-fitting customer MFP fleets, replacing, for example, a single higher-speed centralized A3 MFP in a customer location with a combination of several lower-speed A3s and A4s. “If you right-fit customers, they are going to be stickier,” he said. “If you don’t right-fit them, they are going to be exposed, because somebody else out there is going to right-fit them.”

Regarding the single-function printer space, Buck noted that dealers should recognize the revenue potential a customer’s printer fleet can provide. “Printers are a huge commodity, but when sold correctly, you can make a whole lot of money,” he said. “You don’t say, ‘Oh, by the way, we sell printers.’ You say, ‘Mr. Customer, we sell output management. You are already using our copier/MFPs. We would love to take a look at the rest of your output.’”

Buck told of a past experience responding to an RFP from a college campus, which had a 200,000-page volume each month on its MFP fleet. “I told them, ‘I see your RFP and I’m going to respond, but is anyone looking at your printers?’” he explained. “They said, ‘No, not really, each department orders its own printers.’”

Ultimately, it was determined that single-function printers were generating an additional 3.6 million pages annually beyond the 2.4 million generated by MFPs, Buck said. He was able to win the deal by providing a plan to save the campus money on its full annual volume. “This is going on in every one of your accounts,” he said, encouraging dealers to not overlook printer page volume. “We are in a mature, but not dying, industry. We have to evolve. We have to pull the volume from printers into our contracts. We need to take ownership of this.” n —Brent Hoskins www.offi cetechnol ogymag.com | De c e mb e r 2015 | 29

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

Dealer Members National Office Store, Lillington, NC Copier Headquarters, Woodland Hills, CA OneDOC Managed Print Services, Oklahoma City, OK Elliott Data, Chesterfield, MO Service Associate Member A. Mullen Consulting Group, North Haven, CT Vendor Associate Member Panasonic, Newark, NJ For full contact information of these new members, visit www.bta.org.

CompTIA Discounts & Resources CompTIA is the voice of the world’s IT industry. As a non-profit trade association, it advances the global interests of IT professionals and organizations and enables them to be more successful with industry-leading certifications and business credentials, education, resources and the ability to connect with likeminded, leading industry experts. For example, its Managed Services Community allows for collaboration of best practices to improve the IT industry as a whole.

Don’t miss the Jan. 4 BTA Building My Business webinar, ”Quick Start Session to Transitioning to Managed Services,” presented

by CompTIA’s Ted Roller. To be held at 4 p.m.

Eastern, the webinar is free to all BTA members.

Visit www.bta.org/CompTIA for details on BTA’s partnership with CompTIA. 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 or Service Associate members in this space.

BTA Vendor Associate member Panasonic engineers reliable products and solutions for business and industry. Panasonic scanners and imaging software deliver better performance and higher reliability across the board. Whether you are scanning business cards one at a time or imaging records nonstop, Panasonic has the right scanning solution for your needs. You can count on Panasonic for unbiased software advice and ready-torun, integrated document solutions built on the company’s proven scanning technologies. www.panasonicpartnerportal.com

BTA Service Associate member A. Mullen Consulting Group specializes in ERP optimization, migration and integration specifically tailored to the office technology industry. The company provides training, workflow and best-practice guidance to help increase efficiency and maximize profits. A. Mullen’s in-depth understanding of e-automate and other industry software, combined with firsthand knowledge of the business, enables it to bridge the gap between software functionality and the unique needs of dealers in the office technology industry. A. Mullen offers BTA members a free needs assessment and a $100 credit toward any of the company’s service offerings. www.amullenconsulting.com A full list of BTA Vendor and Service Associate members can be found online at www.bta.org.

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COURTS & CAPITOLS

Corporate Culture Establish one that raises your company’s standards by: Robert C. Goldberg, general counsel for the Business Technology Association

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s we approach a new year, it is advantageous to examine our businesses and look for areas for improvement.

Every business has its own culture, but is it the culture that is best for success? Some businesses are run by a tyrant where employees have to ask the daily question: “What kind of mood is he (or she) in?” Other businesses are run by benevolent individuals who can never say “no.” Corporate culture radiates from a business’s leadership. As our work force spans more generations and different attitudes, it is essential to establish a corporate culture that grows the business with recognized standards and objectives.

Corporate culture is not always defined, but develops over time through employee recognition and commitment. The strategies management follows will define the corporate culture. It will be reflected in the dress code, business hours, office setup, employee benefits, turnover, decisions, treatment of customers, customer satisfaction and all other aspects of operations. Successful companies such as Apple have a very loose management structure, generous benefits and a great deal of employee freedom. In the most liberal of corporate cultures, offices, titles and set hours have been eliminated. You may not be ready for a freewheeling environment, but where should you aim?

Business ethics is a significant factor in developing corporate culture. There is the old story of the partner who, in counting funds received from a client, finds two $100 bills stuck together and is faced with a real dilemma. Does he tell his partner? If an owner fails to demonstrate the highest ethics and business practices, the culture of the business will be affected. Cheating the IRS, a supplier or a customer indicates unacceptable behavior that will eventually damage the business’s reputation. Establish exemplary corporate values for your company both in words and practices.

Company and individual motivation is essential to success.

Self-motivated employees, team motivation and corporate motivation all interact to establish corporate culture. Individuals who merely believe they are doing a job are not fully invested in the growth of the company. When interviewing prospective employees, open the evaluation to current employees. Existing employees can quickly gauge if a person will fit the corporate culture.

Motivation can also be created through a team approach.

Rather than individuals competing for sales, a team of employees can work together to achieve goals. Answering to fellow employees rather than management can often be more effective.

Furthermore, fellow team members will help improve an individual’s performance so the entire team succeeds.

Finally, what type of motivation does management contribute? Are proper and appropriate incentives offered? Do you applaud the successes or emphasize the failures? Are employees treated as valuable assets of the business? Have you communicated a vision for the company and are all decisions tied back to the vision or mission statement?

Errors are made in every business, but how they are addressed will define the corporate culture. Mistakes are not an opportunity to criticize, but rather to learn and train. Is it more important to determine who was wrong or how to prevent the same error from happening again? Less-than-expected performance certainly needs to be addressed, but these conversations can be handled one-on-one rather than in front of an entire group.

Recently, the BTA Legal Hotline has encountered several instances where an absence of the proper corporate culture appeared to exist. Abuse of supplier incentive programs hurts everyone in the industry. Failure to manage employees pursuant to state and federal standards gives the industry a bad reputation. Misrepresenting products, capabilities, costs or other decision-making factors make customers leery of the entire industry. A corporate culture should be established that raises your company’s standards and, therefore, the standards of the industry. Examine your company’s culture and see if there is room for improvement. n Robert C. Goldberg is general counsel for the Business Technology Association.

He can be reached at robert.goldberg@sfnr.com. www.offi cetechnol ogymag.com | De c e mb e r 2015 | 31

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PRINCIPAL ISSUES

Q&A: ECi’s Ron Books Software vendor hosts Connect Conference Nov. 9-11 by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

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Ci Software Solutions hosted its Connect Conference 2015 on Nov. 9-11 at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort in Orlando, Florida. The agenda of the training-focused conference, which drew approximately 850 attendees, featured five pre-conference “intensive” sessions, 188 advanced software training sessions and 23 business sessions. The agenda also featured the inaugural presentations of ECi’s new Everyday Hero Awards, designed to recognize individuals not only for strides in their businesses, but for their inspiring contributions to their communities.

Onsite at the conference, Office Technology magazine had the opportunity to interview ECi Software Solutions Presi- Ron Books dent and CEO Ron Books. He spoke about the dual purpose of the conference: To help end users — often key operators — better understand the capabilities and recent advancements of the various software products offered by ECi, while also providing dealership owners with business management educational opportunities. He also spoke about ECi as a company — its history, efforts to support the office technology dealer community, strides in the services it provides and the competition. Following are several of the questions posed by Office Technology during the interview and his responses.

OT: In the past, you had a number of new customers who came to you “kicking and screaming,” so to speak, when they were met with price increases as ECi acquired competitive management software companies. What can you share about how ECi has since listened to the office technology dealer community and, as a result, how adjustments have been made to the way the company does business?

Books: ECi has changed considerably — and it’s not just me, it’s our leadership team and, more importantly, our culture. Under the previous leadership, the investment thesis was to acquire companies and raise prices and dealers just had to deal with it. Today, our philosophy is about partnering with the dealer community. Our job is to communicate with dealers, understand their challenges and where their businesses are going, and then share ideas on how, as their technology

partner, we can help them achieve success. We leverage dealer advisory boards, one-on-one conversations and conferences just like this to continually engage in this type of dialogue.

OT: Building on the comments you just shared, what would you say is the compelling reason for a dealer to partner with ECi? Books: Our business philosophy is to not only deliver a point solution, but to think about all areas of the dealer’s business — areas like e-commerce, ERP, their financial package, vendor integrations, device management, mobile initiatives and so much more. So, from a competitive perspective, we try to be a single-source provider wherever possible. With technology requirements expanding so quickly, we understand that we have to have some partnerships and we are OK with that too. However, our philosophy is to provide as much of the overall solution as possible directly so our dealers don’t have to go to multiple sources, get separate invoices, adjust to disparate road maps and manage a bunch of unique integrations.

OT: Along this same line of thinking, what is the stated mission of ECi? In what ways can we see that mission in practice?

Books: Our mission statement is: “We are industry experts supporting the entrepreneurial spirit and profitable growth of small and medium-size businesses.” When you consider this mission, the strength of ECi is that we have a deep understanding of the industries that we serve. A lot of times, the ECi employees who are providing training, answering service calls or developing the technology have been working in this industry for years. They know how to manage equipment and track service, parts and supply costs. They are familiar with all of the key industry vendors. Most importantly, they understand the overall business flow of an office technology dealership.

Plus, we understand SMBs. We’ve seen other large software companies — like SAP, Oracle and Microsoft — try to come down market to SMBs, but they don’t understand those businesses the way ECi does. It’s a different model with different

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priorities. SMBs want ease-of-use in their We believe the convergence between technology. They want low-cost, minimal managed print and managed services is When we evaluate customization and swift implementation. going to happen. Some of our more sucthe competitive They can’t have custom development or cessful dealers have already moved in that landscape, our job professional services be hundreds of thoudirection. The ability for our dealers to get is to provide more sands of dollars and take years to implemore revenue per customer by expanding value to the dealer ment. At the end of the day, our mission their products and services will be critical. is to align our technology solutions with We also believe having this capability will community than these priorities. help them with the retention of their existour competition.

ing customers. You will hear more about OT: You have been with ECi for these initiatives in the upcoming months.

16 years in various roles. At some point along the way you became very familiar with office technolOT: Beyond managed IT services, as you look to ogy dealers. What are the traits of the dealer com- the future, what other areas are among ECi’s key munity and the office technology industry that help areas of focus? you enjoy what you do?

Books: We talk a lot about the evolution of social media Books: Our approximately 2,000 office technology dealers and the utilization of the marketing that goes along with that. are comprised mostly of local entrepreneurs who genuinely We think e-commerce and mobile are critical components of care and give back to their local communities. That was the that movement and we continue to invest heavily in those aressence of the Everyday Hero contest that we launched at this eas. We also believe software-as-a-service (SaaS) is going to conference. These business owners are doing so much more become a requirement rather than an option going forward, than just running successful businesses. Many of them make and you will hear more about our progress around that over giving back to their communities a part of their DNA. And as the next few months. Our world, and therefore our customers’ far as business traits, we continue to be amazed at their ability world, is definitely evolving and technology will continue to to adapt to change. For instance, their businesses were once play a major role in that evolution. just focused on copiers. Then the world shifted to heavier use of printers with, ultimately, a large portion of these businesses OT: What do you see as the competition? recently transitioning to managed print services. Now, many Books: To us, competition is a couple of things. We look at are successfully adapting and expanding into, for example, our customer losses in two categories: voluntary and involmanaged [IT] services. Since technology plays a major role in untary churn. Involuntary churn is when a dealer goes out of this expansion, we feel like what we do is truly a part of wheth- business or is acquired by another dealer. With today’s market er they make these transitions successfully. To know that we consolidation, this is definitely an area we are extremely focused can help these local businesses — which have often been on. Voluntary churn is when an existing customer chooses to passed down from generation to generation — succeed is what leave our solution for another product, or even as a cost-cutting makes us love what we do. And when you get to know the fam- measure. As far as actual competitors in this space, we have ilies behind the businesses, it makes it even more rewarding. several. For example, we have some OEMs that are pushing corporate solutions to their channels. There are also some smaller OT: You mentioned that ECi is now helping deal- software resellers that have entered this market. ers move into the next phase in the migration of While we take our competition seriously, we also know how their businesses — managed IT services. Are there challenging it is to care for all of the needs of our customer base any other thoughts you would like to share regard- — something ECi has been doing for more than a decade. It ing ECi’s efforts in this area? takes many years of in-depth industry knowledge and experiBooks: Yes, we have made significant investments in this ence, and significant investments — meaning millions and milspace. We recently launched DeskTech, a ticket management lions of dollars — to get to where ECi is today, and we continue system designed to help take dealers into the managed ser- to invest at a faster pace than we ever have before. When we vices business, as an add-on to their existing platforms. We evaluate the competitive landscape, our job is to provide more also recently acquired a remote monitoring and management value to the dealer community than our competition. If we concompany called Naverisk. Naverisk is based out of New Zea- tinue to do that, things should take care of themselves. n land; however, they were already starting to successfully penBrent Hoskins, executive director of the Business Technology etrate the U.S. and European markets. We are now exploring Association, is editor of Office Technology magazine. tighter integration opportunities within e-automate.

He can be reached at brent@bta.org or (816) 303-4040. www.offi cetechnol ogymag.com | De c e mb e r 2015 | 33

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PRINCIPAL ISSUES

Success in Hiring Recruiting strategies for today’s job market by: Paul Schwartz, Copier Careers

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f you are a dealership principal or a hiring manager in the copier/MFP channel, you are probably aware that one of the biggest factors restricting your growth today is the low availability of qualified candidates. In the 25-­plus years that my company, Copier Careers, has been recruiting for the independent dealer channel, I have never seen a candidate shortage as severe as the one we are facing now.

What is behind the shortage? The truth is, we are victims of our own success. Managed print services (MPS) and managed network services (MNS) have enabled strong and rapid growth within the channel, and the demand for OEM­-trained technicians and proven sales reps has outstripped supply. What’s more, copier/MFP channel employees are reporting unusually high levels of satisfaction with their current employers, which means they are changing jobs less often and are, therefore, not available to participate in the job market. That is great if these individuals are already working for you, but it is not ideal if you are hoping to hire them away from your competitors. MPS annuities have made experienced sales reps particularly difficult to recruit — a topic we explore at length on copiercareers. com in our annual salary survey of more than 10,000 industry sales professionals.

To put it succinctly, the best people working in the industry today are happy and well-compensated, which makes them immensely difficult to recruit. Though it is tough for employers to accept, the reality is that it does not matter how reputable your company is or how generous your job offer might be. If candidates are happy where they are, there is little you can say or do that will convince them to come work for you.

This may sound like a hopeless situation. It is not. Even in this historically tight hiring environment, it is still possible to recruit qualified, experienced staff. But it does require diligence on the part of the employer. It is also essential that employers recognize one essential truth: In today’s job market, new hires happen on the candidate’s timeline, not the employer’s. Once you are able to accept that candidates will come to you at unpredictable times, you can begin to deploy the following strategies that will greatly improve your ability to hire and grow in this environment.

(1) Make opportunistic hires. Despite the tight job market, great candidates do become available for a variety of reasons

(e.g., relocations, abrupt changes in compensation plans or territories, internal trouble at their current dealerships, etc.), and when they do, you have to be open to hiring them immediately, regardless of whether you have an immediate need. If you do not quickly take advantage of the opportunity, one of your competitors will.

(2) Stop hiring reactively, start hiring proactively. At Copier Careers, we are retained by most of our first­-time clients to fill an immediate need for a mission­-critical position, often because an employee has quit unexpectedly. Because we maintain relationships with (and have detailed performance metrics on) more than 76,000 copier/MFP channel technicians, sales reps, sales managers, service and operations managers, and back-office professionals, we are well­equipped to solve time-­critical problems like these. However, once the crisis is averted, we advise all of our clients to stop hiring only reactively — in response to an immediate need — and begin hiring proactively, in anticipation of future needs. In a candidate-driven hiring environment, it is essential to build “bench strength” into your ranks so the loss of one employee does not send your entire operation into turmoil.

(3) Use your business plan to identify future staffing needs. Have short­-, mid- and long­-term business plans in place and make sure that you are identifying your future staffing needs as part of those plans. Good plans will not only inform your hiring decisions and empower you to build bench strength where you need it most, but they will also allow you to make informed decisions quickly when an unexpected hiring opportunity comes along.

A fourth and final piece of advice is to apply these tactics continuously, while regularly devoting time to making new connections within the industry. Like so many other things in life, there is no secret to success in recruiting. It all comes down to hard work and persistence. n Paul Schwartz is president of Copier Careers, a recruiting firm dedicated exclusively to helping independent office technology dealers find experienced service techs, sales reps, managers, controllers, back-office staff, and MPS and MNS experts. He can be reached at paul@ copiercareers.com. Visit www.copiercareers.com.

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PRINCIPAL ISSUES

Our Everyday Heroes Consider how your employees relate to customers by: Rock Janecek, Burtronics Business Systems Inc.

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ustomer Service Week is an international event that is celebrated in the United States and more than 40 other countries throughout the world. It occurs every year during the first full week of October. Who knew? The theme for 2015’s Customer Service Week was “Everyday Heroes.”

When I learned about this, I found myself thinking about how office technology dealers should take the time to consider the value that their customer service representatives bring to their dealerships and to celebrate these everyday heroes.

A 2012 survey conducted by American Express reports that up to two-thirds of the customers responding to the survey stated they would be willing to do more business or spend more money with a company that provides excellent customer service. Customer service experiences play an important role in repeat and ongoing business. Meanwhile, a recent Customer Service Impact Report revealed that 89 percent of consumers are willing to leave a current provider if they experience a negative encounter with one of the provider’s customer service representatives.

In the office technology industry, the quality of service your dealership provides to your customers can make or break your business. Your technicians, along with your sales team members, your supply order takers — all employees who have face-to-face relationships with your customers — need to be professional, efficient individuals who properly represent your company’s values. How your customer-facing employees dress, act and interact with your customers will have a direct correlation to how your customers perceive you.

Your service tech field team members are the face of your company. Ask yourself these questions as you think about the image of your employees: Are all of your employees projecting a professional image to your customers? Are all of your employees on board with the same commitment, the same drive and the same expectation of greatness? In this article, we will explore some areas of customer service and consider how your employees relate to your customer base. We will then determine how you may be able to maximize your team’s potential. Let’s begin with the dayto-day activities that your trusted employees perform.

The Presale Many potential customers now require a visit from your

field team before equipment is ordered. Site surveys, network scope-of-work analyses, business process reviews — all of these tasks have become commonplace in today’s equipment sales process. Dealers no longer just drop a box into place. In this era of solutions selling, the box is just an add-on item — just one piece of the complete solutions package.

Savvy dealerships have presale teams in place. At many dealerships, this is a joint effort that includes service and sales employees working together to impress the customer and determine an effective proposal. Your expert presale team members know what products, software and services you offer. They should know what solutions have already been proposed and must ensure that the customer’s environment will be compatible with your offerings.

Many times, this presale inspection will highlight multiple opportunities to upsell your offering or quote additional services and support to your customer. The opportunities are endless, but the approach to these must be treated carefully.

Take note and meet offsite to create a game plan, but focus on the initial offering for now. Be aware that any negativity put forth by your team could hurt the sale, leading the customer to have doubts about your expertise going forward. If there is www.offi cetechnol ogymag.com | De c e mb e r 2015 | 35

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insufficient space, the wrong power outlet, member of your team puts his best foot improper network cabling or any other of forward, protecting the customer’s office You can achieve the myriad challenges that a new placefrom scrapes and scratches as the equipimmense loyalty ment may encounter, instruct your team to ment comes into the office. Using protecwith your customer avoid the use of negative words. tive mats and covers shows the customer when your presale Any issues will need to be addressed, that you care. Taking all of the empty team and your but during the presale, your team’s goal is boxes and packing materials back with to reassure the personnel at the customer you in your vehicle, instead of filling the delivery team do location that they made the right choice customer’s trash cans, also shows that you an outstanding job. when choosing your company. Your team are professional. must be confident and positive throughIf your presale team members have perout the presale. Questions, requests and revisits should all be formed their jobs magnificently, you will have had your shop performed quickly and with positive energy. Record all chal- setup personnel preprogram the machines with all of the lenges and meet back at your office to discuss how to properly necessary network information, the address book, fax numdeal with the issues that were discovered in the presale sur- bers, etc. — anything that can be preset into the MFP in order vey. Treat these challenges as an opportunity to increase your to allow a simple rollout without disrupting the customer’s value to the customer, while at the same time giving you the business routine. A superior presale team may have already ability to charge more for the extra services that will satisfy preloaded the print drivers onto the customer’s workstations your customer and boost your status in his (or her) eyes. You as well, eliminating more disruption of the customer’s prenow have become a trusted advisor, making the customer’s cious time. business more efficient.

Remember the A-Team on television? I recall that the Keep in mind that any extra effort on your part is a charge- team’s leader, John “Hannibal” Smith, would often say: “I love able item to your customer. You should not provide any service it when a plan comes together.” Strive to have your deliveror hardware for free just to get the sale completed; this will ies “come together.” It is a great accomplishment when this only hurt your credibility going forward. If you cannot face the can be realized. You can achieve immense loyalty with your facts with your customer concerning his company’s current customer when your presale team and your delivery team state of affairs before you complete your sale, you will only do an outstanding job. You have put your best foot forward, create a larger conflict when these problems — problems you you have a customer who believes in you and every employee were aware of, but did not disclose to your end user — appear. interaction has been positive. You now have the customer’s And they will appear. complete attention.

But now you worry. What about your service after the sale?

The Delivery What about your supply personnel? What about other employThe simple process of getting your newly sold solution to ees in your dealership who interact with your customers every the customer’s location has changed as well. Some items will day? Watch for my article covering these areas in the January now be dropped-shipped directly from a third-party source. issue of BTA’s Office Technology magazine. n Or, like many dealers, you no longer have your own delivery Rock Janecek is the division service manager for Burtronics truck, so instead you hire a professional delivery company to Business Systems Inc., located in San Bernardino, California. deliver the hardware to the site.

He has been in the office technology industry since 1980, When you are using a source that you cannot control, it when he started his career as a technician for Saxon is important to communicate and coordinate. By working Business Products. Janecek, who holds multiple CompTIA closely with the outsourced delivery company, you are able certifications, is a working service manager who understands the to receive updated information concerning the delivery date daily trials and tribulations of leading a profitable service and time. You will be able to have someone from your office department. He focuses on machine-specific repair, there ahead of time to ensure a smooth and efficient delivery, networking, employee management, customer retention and instead of having an interrupted customer who is too preocthe importance of first-call completion. cupied to help your team determine what should be done.

Janecek served as BTA’s national president Your goal is to impress your new customer with a great soluduring the 2010-11 year. He is currently an tion that will help streamline his business’s processes; it will instructor for BTA’s FIX: Cost Management for not help if the installation of your great solution interrupts his Service 2.0 Workshop. Janecek can be reached business for half of the day or longer. at rjanecek@burtronics.com.

If your company still performs deliveries, make sure each Visit www.burtronics.com.

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SELLING SOLUTIONS

The Business Card Far more important than any company brochure by: Troy Harrison, Troy Harrison & Associates

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alespeople spend a lot of time talking about “sales tools.”

More to the point, many salespeople spend a lot of time whining and complaining about a lack of sales tools or a perceived lack of quality of the sales tools their employers provide them. When salespeople talk about sales tools, they are usually talking about brochures, pretty folders, PowerPoint presentations and other fluff they hope will sell for them.

The truth is, all the brochures, sell sheets and presentations in the world are, at best, a distant third compared to your number-one sales tool — you. That said, in this article, I would like to address the number-two sales tool: the lowly business card. Even in today’s world of business networking sites, smartphones and cloud computing, I believe the business card remains an important sales tool.

While your business card comes far behind “you” in the importance of sales tools, you should have it with you at all times. Let’s talk about how to make your business card something that really works for you.

First, let’s remind ourselves why we use business cards.

Business cards identify us and are a quick way to “place” us in the business world. On a very small piece of heavy paper, we convey who we are, what we do and for whom we do it. We also use business cards to let people know how to contact us.

Go to a networking event and you will meet a lot of people and collect a bunch of business cards. You may forget the faces, but the cards will help remind you of the people.

Salespeople love “leave-behinds” — those fancy brochures and packets that are supposed to remind our customers why they should buy from us. However, approximately four out of every five of those fancy brochures are in the trash before you make it out of the parking lot. A business card is the best and most meaningful leave-behind because it is saved. Remember: Do not attach your business card to other leave-behinds that are likely to be thrown away.

Your business card gives you credibility and establishes you as a legitimate businessperson. Your business card begins the process of establishing that you are who you say you are and can do what you say you can do. In sales, credibility is your best asset.

With all of the above, it is pretty easy to see that business cards are vital to a salesperson’s “personality,” but there are some easy ways to go right and wrong with them. Let’s talk about some ways to make a business card work for you. n Quality, quality and more quality: This speaks to

credibility. A quality business card is a good business card. A “quality” card will be made from heavy card stock, and have sharp printing and a nice layout. If you hand out cards made from a stock template that comes with Microsoft Word and printed on the cheap, perforated cards they sell at office supply stores, you will lack credibility. One thousand quality business cards from a reputable printer only cost about $100. If $100 is too much to spend to protect your image, you should get out of sales. If your company supplies you with cheap, flimsy cards, it is up to you to get quality cards. After all, it is your career. n Distinctive is good, up to a point: One sales author I like and respect strongly believes in the distinctive business card. In fact, his is a large coin. It is very distinctive and his philosophy is that people remember it (and him) and take care of it. I liked that philosophy for a long time until I lost his coin card. Since it would not fit with the rest of my business card files, it ended up as part of the “stuff” that rolls around in my top desk drawer. At some point, it apparently became part of the “stuff” that I cleaned out of my desk. The moral of the story? Distinctive is good, but remember what your customer is going to do with your card. My best advice is to make the size of your business card similar to traditional business cards. n Have an appropriate design: The design of your card should reflect what you do. For instance, a card with an elaborate design and a riot of colors would be perfect for a printer or graphic designer, but could be a disaster for a consultative www.offi cetechnol ogymag.com | De c e mb e r 2015 | 37

Harrison Dec 15.indd 1

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not? If you are worried about spam, it is too office technology sales rep. Make sure the late. You are probably getting it, regardless design of your card conveys the image you The design of your card of your business card design. want to convey. should reflect what you Whether you know it or not, your busin Include appropriate information: do. For instance, a card ness card is far more important than any Have you ever pulled out a business card with ... a riot of colors ... brochure or presentation tool. In fact, in and tried to figure out exactly what the could be a disaster for many cases, it is all you have. Make it a person (or company) does? I have. Many good one. n companies have vague or similar names a consultative office Troy Harrison is the author of “Sell Like You (which is another article for another day), technology sales rep.

Mean It!” and “The Pocket Sales Manager.” and this can make it difficult to place you He is a speaker, consultant and sales in the business world (remember, that is navigator who helps companies build more profitable and one of your objectives). If your company name is like that, inproductive sales forces with his cutting-edge clude a bullet point or tag line somewhere that says what you sales training and methodologies. do for a living.

For information on booking speaking/training n Make it easy to contact you: In a recent online poll of engagements, consulting or to sign up Kansas City Small Business Monthly readers (my market), for Harrison’s weekly e-zine, more than 60 percent of respondents indicated that email is call (913) 645-3603 or their favorite means of communication (over methods includemail troy@troyharrison.com. ing telephone and face-to-face contact). Yet about one-third of Visit www.troyharrison.com. the business cards I see have no email address on them. Why

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