January 2023 Office Technology

FEATURE ARTICLES

10

A Maze of Opportunities

Dealers share their strategies for 2023

Compiled by Brent Hoskins

Office Technology Magazine

What do you believe will be the greatest opportunities for office technology dealers in 2023? What do you believe will be the best strategies for success in pursuing those opportunities? Recently, Office Technology magazine asked these questions of dealers in an email survey. This article includes a number of the responses received. Perhaps comments shared by your fellow dealers will provide some guidance to help you in the year ahead.

20

The Changing Workforce How to manage & lead a remote (or hybrid) team by Dale Stein

Technology Assurance Group (TAG)

Every manager, CEO or boss fears what might happen if he (or she) embraces a remote or hybrid workforce. He fears he will be unfairly taken advantage of and will overpay for a bunch of lazy employees who are falling asleep on their couches while simultaneously appearing to be working. This article explains how to eliminate this dynamic within your organization while laying the foundation for a more productive, collaborative, thriving business as the remote/hybrid workforce grows in popularity.

COURTS & CAPITOLS

25

Employee Reviews

Establish policies & procedures to build a stronger team by Robert C. Goldberg

BTA General Counsel

Communication, mentoring, training and feedback allow employees to recognize their strengths and weaknesses while improving everyday performance. Establishing definite policies and procedures for employee reviews will help create the positive environment dealers are seeking. Employee reviews are often scheduled prior to the busy end of the year. Both managers and employees can be stressed by pending reviews — which should not be viewed as corporate necessity but, rather, as an opportunity.

PRINCIPAL ISSUES

26

Get Marketing Running

Three pillars you should consider to get started by Scott Flaherty

Altek Business Systems

When it comes to marketing, you can ask 100 business owners what marketing is and receive 100 unique answers — and each of them would be correct in its own way. If marketing has been a struggle for you, I encourage you to take a look at the three main pillars of marketing.

Konica Minolta’s Priorities

28

Manufacturer hosts virtual press briefing by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

On Dec. 13, in a virtual briefing for office technology industry editors and analysts, Sam Errigo, president and CEO of Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. Inc. (Konica Minolta), shared the company’s five strategic priorities.

SELLING SOLUTIONS

29

Creating Better Salespeople

Try this quick & easy training exercise by Troy Harrison

Troy Harrison & Associates

When should you stop training your salespeople? If you answered “never,” you got the right answer. Effective training for your salespeople should cover your products, your services and sales technique, and it should be ongoing. I recommend at least one training exercise weekly.

Technology Association

What Opportunities Are You Exploring?

What do you believe will be the areas of greatest opportunity for office technology dealers in 2023? What do you believe will be the best strategies for pursuing those opportunities? Office Technology magazine recently asked these questions of dealers via an email survey. Responses from seven dealers appear below. For additional responses, see page 10.

Opportunities: Production print and document management/workflow.

Strategies: Specialists who are salespeople to assist with sales and a technical team that can do presses and post-sales.

— Richard Van Dyke, president, Advanced Office, Irvine, California

Opportunities: We have seen an uptick in print management software sales (PaperCut, Printix) in 2022 and believe that will continue into 2023. Additionally, we have had increased sales in e-fax solutions (eGoldFax and OpenText, which used to be XMedius).

Strategies: Engaging with the proper individuals and conducting efficient, effective first-appointment assessments; sales 101.

— Dan Bowie, vice president of sales, Corporate Business Systems, Madison, Wisconsin

Opportunities: Automation software intended to reduce paper and improve productivity. This not only adds extra revenue, but secures our traditional revenues.

Strategies: Dedicated personnel [specialists] who work with the sales reps to educate them on the products and prospect for them. Once identified, the prospect is turned over to the specialist.

— Nick Lioce, president, The Lioce Group, Huntsville, Alabama

Opportunities: Well, let’s go with the favorite in the room and say managed services.

Then, somehow, our industry has to figure out a way to standardize the next wave — digital conversion. We are focused on the big picture of just that — being the center of document creation, conversion and destruction.

Strategies: Proper marketing and execution of call-to-action.

— Jerry Jehn, president, Waltz Business Solutions, Crestview Hills, Kentucky

Opportunities: I believe MPS will be key in 2023. There is no doubt with the COVID-19 pandemic, hybrid workforces, etc., that traditional volume will be going down. Finding a way to keep that volume will be critical moving forward.

Strategies: Account reviews, strategic business discussions versus hardware discussions, and planning based on low COVID-19 volumes and unstable traditional volumes.

— Dave Mueller, vice president of sales, Modern Office Methods, Cincinnati, Ohio

Opportunities: I believe a lot of dealers have lost their way when it comes to MPS. We focus on everything office: MPS, DocuWare, mail, scanning, monitors, VoIP phones, MFPs and PaperCut.

Strategies: We focus on appointment setting for net-new opportunities and deliver our capabilities document. We usually find an immediate opportunity. We use software to evaluate print and document workflows.

— Wade Timmermann, president, AAA Business Systems Inc., North Little Rock, Arkansas

Opportunities: We see increasing opportunity in solutions — especially document management.

Strategies: We have had success with having a document management specialist for this role as our go-to-market strategy. We have also added a mailing system line to our product offerings.

— Peter Napolitano, sales manager, United Business Systems, Buffalo, New York 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

Scott Flaherty, Altek Business Systems www.altekimaging.com

Bob Goldberg, General Counsel Business Technology Association

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

Dale Stein, Technology Assurance Group (TAG) www.tagnational.com

Business Technology Association

12411 Wornall Road Kansas City, MO 64145 (816) 941-3100 www.bta.org

Member Services: (800) 505-2821 BTA Legal Hotline: (312) 648-2300

Valerie Briseno Marketing Director valerie@bta.org

Brian Smith Membership Sales Representative brian@bta.org

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

FLASHBACK

The association’s magazine cover 65 years ago this month — the NOMDA Spokesman, January 1958.

BTA PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Plan to Attend BTA’s Spring Break Event

The new year is upon us and the Business Technology Association (BTA) is preparing its 2023 event schedule. BTA will hold four events this year, kicking off with Spring Break, to be held March 17-18, 2023, at Disney’s Beach Club Resort in Orlando, Florida. Hosted by BTA Southeast, the event will feature a special keynote address by television news personality, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives and former federal prosecutor Trey Gowdy. There will also be three additional educational sessions led by industry leaders; seven vendor showcase breakout sessions allowing dealers to learn about new products and services; time to network with peers and exhibitors during breaks and a welcoming reception; and a ticket to a Walt Disney World theme park to use the afternoon of March 18.

Spring Break will begin at 9 a.m. on Friday, March 17, with opening comments, followed by exhibit time and vendor showcase breakout sessions where dealers can choose one of three presentations to attend. Exhibits will also be open during this time. A break will follow the vendor showcase breakouts, giving attendees time to visit with peers and exhibiting sponsors. At 11 a.m., Gowdy will present the keynote address, “Unity Leads to Change: The Amazing Power of a Common Purpose.” The unity created by a shared idea is a powerful tool to advance an organization, team or movement. Great causes unite individuals of differing backgrounds and views to achieve a goal beyond the grasp of one person. During the keynote, Gowdy aims to encourage attendees to pursue purpose — together.

Lunch will be held following the keynote. After lunch, Derek Shebby of Modern Sales Training will present his educational

session, “Developing the Post-Pandemic Salesperson.” A break to visit with exhibitors, as well as another set of vendor showcase breakout sessions, will follow.

After the final break, independent consultant Mike Riordan will present the last educational session of the day, “Building a Quality Organization.” After Riordan’s session, a welcoming reception will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

The second day of Spring Break will begin at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 18, with breakfast, followed by opening comments and the final educational session. Melissa Whitaker of Melissa Whitaker International will present, “11 Core Competencies in Sales to Dominate Your Marketplace in 2023.” Exhibit time and the final vendor showcase breakout session, led by Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America, will follow. The event will wrap up from 11 to 11:30 a.m. with closing comments and exhibitor prize drawings. Attendees will spend the afternoon at the Walt Disney World theme park of their choice.

The exhibiting sponsors (with more to come) will include: AgentDealer, Brother (lunch sponsor), Cranel, FP Mailing Solutions (breaks sponsor), GreatAmerica, Hytec, Kodak Alaris (breakfast sponsor), NA Trading & Technology, Sharp (keynote sponsor), Wells Fargo, White Cup, Xerox (reception sponsor) and Zultys.

BTA dealer members receive two-for-one registration for only $199. An additional attendee from the same dealership is $99. This price includes the Friday and Saturday educational sessions; Friday breakfast, lunch and welcoming reception; Saturday breakfast; and Walt Disney World theme park ticket.

For more information or to register, visit www.bta.org/BTAOrlando. I look forward to seeing you in March. n

— David Polimeni

2022-2023 Board of Directors

President

David Polimeni

RITE Technology Sarasota, Florida dpolimeni@ritefl.com

President-Elect

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

Vice President

Adam Gregory

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

Immediate Past President

Tim Renegar

Kelly Office Solutions

Winston-Salem, North Carolina trenegar@kellyofficesolutions.com

BTA East Mike Ardry

Automated Business Solutions Warwick, Rhode Island mardry@absne.com

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

BTA Mid-America Brantly Fowler Zeno Office Solutions Inc. Midland, Texas bfowler@zenotx.com

Greg Quirk

JQ Office Equipment Omaha, Nebraska gquirk@jqoffice.com

BTA Southeast Debra Dennis CopyPro Inc. Greenville, North Carolina ddennis@copypro.net

Jim Buck

Carolina Business Equipment Inc. Columbia, South Carolina jimb@cbesc.com

BTA West Dan Bombard

Yuma Office Equipment, a Fruth Group Company Yuma, Arizona daniel@yumaofficeequipment.com

Mike McGuirk

ProCopy Office Solutions Inc. Mesa, Arizona mmcguirk@procopyoffice.com

Ex-Officio/General Counsel

Robert C. Goldberg

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

A Maze of Opportunities

Dealers share their strategies for 2023

Compiled by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

What do you believe will be the greatest opportunities for office technology dealers in 2023? What do you believe will be the best strategies for success in pursuing those opportunities? Recently, Office Technology magazine asked these questions of dealers in an email survey. Following are a number of the responses received. Perhaps comments shared by your fellow dealers will provide some guidance to help you in the year ahead.

Opportunities: I believe we will continue to see a movement away from traditional A3s, especially when more manufacturers will be adding A3-like features to their A4 lines. The hardware revenue will continue to diminish and the managed print services (MPS) value will be more commoditized. So, the software/workflow/add-ons to A3 and more robust A4s will be leading our charge to shifting revenue that will keep the lights on for my company and, I expect, most BTA dealerships.

Strategies: Utilization of the resources of several of the manufacturers to support the solutions resources required. Several of the manufacturers have staff members who will help in presale, installation and ongoing support that allow the dealer to bill the customer, maintain some margin and then pay the support charges to the manufacturer. This is one of the best programs I see that is forward-thinking (moving to annuity services) when it is getting more difficult to maintain previous margins in MPS. It also can provide the transition from traditional techs to solutions techs without having to go through a lengthy training schedule before receiving any revenue.

Ray Foster, director of sales Verity Group, Richardson, Texas

Opportunities: Managed IT services represents a very strong opportunity for office technology dealers in 2023. First, it is a service that every business needs and, second,

those of us who have been in this industry for a while continue to watch the decline in print. And even though MPS is a strong business practice within print and it is an integral part of our industry, if the print portion of the industry continues in decline, MPS alone may not be enough to sustain dealerships.

With the COVID-19 pandemic changing the way so many of us had to conduct [our businesses], we have seen some dealers looking to sell copier/MFPs and printers through e-commerce channels, especially when inperson business was at a minimum. But, without the service contracts to accompany those sales, the transactions themselves are unlikely to be strong enough for a sustainable business model.

We have found great success with managed services as one of our offerings. And it fits nicely into the hybrid work model as well, because business owners saw the value in investing in infrastructure for their remote or hybrid models.

Overall, the best opportunity for dealers in the copier/ MFP/printer dealership model is to expand with managed services. There are other areas as well, including video walls, security cameras and systems, other communications devices such as smartphones, and office products. But expansions into other areas should complement the dealership’s existing model and dealers should be sure they have the team and the infrastructure to support the expansion. With managed services, for example, there can be some overlap in the roles of a company’s technicians.

New and additional technologies will be the wave of the future in our industry.

Strategies: Salesforce education and training is a key way to pursue new opportunities. We invest a lot of time and resources in both internal and external (working with outside trainers) training for our team. We have to train our sales teams to understand the “big picture” of business and not to leave opportunities on the table. That comes with a thorough understanding of how the different parts

of a business plan fit together — and, even more importantly, understanding customers’ needs and being able to offer the solutions to make them think of your dealership as a “one-stop shop.”

Chip Miceli, CEO Pulse Technology, Schaumburg, Illinois

Opportunities: IT is an obvious choice that we are fully engaged in and have been since the 1980s, believe it or not.

For Plus Inc., we see numerous other opportunities. We are aggressively pursuing wide format, production machines and A4 printers. We partnered with Canon on wide format about one-and-a-half years ago and really went out and started selling it in 2022. We have been in the production business for many years with Konica Minolta and, for 2022, added Ricoh to the lineup for production. We have been a Konica Minolta and Ricoh dealership for many years but only added the production part to our offering in 2022. On the A4 side, it is all guns blazing. Most companies have printers and desktop MFPs everywhere. There is a huge opportunity for dealers in the A4 space and a lot of aftermarket revenue that is awesome.

Strategies: Investment! For wide format and production, you have got to have the devices in a showroom for demos. We have four wide-format models, and we have a full-blown Konica color production system and a Ricoh color production system on our showroom floor. For A4 you need to stock machines. This product is typically viewed as an “I need it today” product. So, have inventory.

Also, we focus 100% on Konica and Ricoh A4. While each manufacturer has a few holes in its offering, they complement each other and our offering between the two lines covers every opportunity we run into. Focusing on these manufacturers also gives us a lot better stickiness on the aftermarket and service.

IT is the same thing. You have to invest in it and offer the recurring revenue in monthly contracts, Microsoft 365, offsite backup, remote access software, antivirus, firewalls, etc. We also sell lots of desktops and laptops. We try and be a one-source provider.

Now, all of this said, you really have to be dedicated to the offerings and invest in them fully. Do not play around or dabble in them or you won’t make anything — period.

David Carson, president Plus Inc., Greenville, South Carolina

Opportunities: Software integration with hardware in the form of applications like Xerox ConnectKey will be essential for all businesses. Giving each device easy access to all

files will give more resources to employees, thus allowing for more printing.

Another important product will be improving IT support for customers, as many are not getting the support they need from larger IT companies.

Strategies: Dealer feedback and requests to the direct market are very important. If we do not come together and ask for what the market needs, Ricoh, Canon, Xerox, etc., will continue to move forward with what they believe are the next best things.

Ian Nash, vice president of technology

A.F. Smith Trading Co. Ltd., Hamilton, Bermuda

Opportunities: There is no question about the enormous opportunity the world of IT has, which is right in our laps as business-to-business marketing companies. The industry publications have been full of this talk for some time now. Many BTA dealers have adopted this strategy and many others still do not desire to enter the IT market, which is fine. In my opinion, it also depends on where your dealership is geographically. I do think that whether or not you adopt or enter the IT field, you must find ways to wrap recurring services into your marketing model any way you can to ensure a growing services model. Hardware is hardware and we all have loved and enjoyed this — and, God willing, we all can continue to enjoy hardware. Strengthening your business with recurring revenue has staying power though — more than simply hardware sales.

Strategies: There are still ways for the dealer to increase services even without entering the IT field. I think wrapping services within your leasing program is one way. For example, for any add-on solution to your MFP, you can add a services component like a warranty, which you, the dealer, would parcel out of the monthly amount as a recurring service. That is just one example. For several years now we have been adding a nice service component to all of our phone sales so we have service coming from a product that most manufacturers do not even have a service component for. The bottom line is we all need to find ways to be creative in positioning our add-on services. This also makes our services and existence much more sticky than without any services.

Mark Watson, president

CDS Office Technologies, Springfield, Illinois

Opportunities: I am extremely bullish on managed network services (MNS). The math is simple. In markets like mine here in Phoenix, Arizona, there is more money being spent by small to mid-market companies on MNS

“There is no question about the enormous opportunity the world of IT has, which is right in our laps as businessto-business marketing companies.“

contracts than office equipment contracts. For example, a small business with 50 employees may have a handful of printers and MFPs, paying us $1,500 a month in service, but an MNS deal in that same company could net anywhere from $6,000 to $10,000 a month depending on the MNS package and services it requires.

Strategies: I still believe it is about building a good story for your reps to use about your services, why you are different and sharing current-client experiences with prospective clients. I do not currently see a shortcut to hitting the streets and finding the opportunities.

Chad Schwartz, president, owner & founder Imagine Technology Group, Chandler, Arizona

Opportunities: I believe the greatest opportunities in 2023 will be in the IT space, with a high emphasis on cybersecurity. I also believe that we will be able to achieve monumental goals in the MPS arena. I would expect the supply chain to be almost back to normal and that should provide a great opportunity to upgrade all of our current customers and those of our competitors. At Donnellon McCarthy Enterprises, we have plans in place for a prosperous 2023 that each division has been working on.

Strategies: We will invest in our sales teams in 2023 with training and development geared toward IT services, cybersecurity and managed print. Take care of your customers and prospects and it will be a great 2023. Ensure that we nurture the relationships we have and that will open doors for us to deliver powerful solutions that meet the demands that we will face in 2023. We will continue to invest in our company and all associates.

We are excited to see where the new year takes us.

Casey Lowery, COO Applied Innovation Grand Rapids, Michigan

Opportunities: I believe that managed services will be our number-one growth opportunity in 2023. We have looked long and far to put the right person in charge of our IT department. We have been adding new and current customers to our recurring revenue stream. With the end of support coming for Windows 10, there will be vast opportunity to supply current and supported machines for the next generation of Windows to those with aging machines and services, along with offering support for greater security and backup when these changes take place.

Strategies: We are counting on being the provider that offers solutions proactively rather than reactively, along with providing a constant flow of information and resources online to be an authority in our area for solutions. We must assure our customers that they are investing with the right company for their futures — one that can not only provide a solution, but can resolve concerns in all areas of IT, digital communications, printing, scanning and faxing.

Jeff Eaves, president

Appalachia Business Communications of Kingsport Inc. Gray, Tennessee

Jim

George, president Donnellon McCarthy Enterprises, Cincinnati, Ohio

Opportunities: We still believe there is a big upside in managed print. I know it is cliche, but our base still has a great opportunity for cross-sell with MPS. We think we have captured 100% of printed pages in less than half of our customer base. We need to increase the cross-sell from our account managers.

Strategies: Our strategy has not necessarily changed in the past couple of years. Last year was our most successful year in MPS. For Applied, it has been successful to run additional incentives and we plan to double down in the upcoming year. In addition to that, a recent partnership with Intermedia is showing early signs of big growth. It has been a great partner that really seems to understand our channel.

Opportunities: In speaking with other business leaders, many of them think there has been a noticeable drop in customer service quality across the board in our day-to-day business and personal lives these last few years. Whether you are trying to get some repairs scheduled around your home, shopping at a convenience store or sitting on hold with an individual at a call center trying to correct an issue, having a customer service experience we would consider excellent is not as common as it used to be. There may be many reasons for this — staffing shortages, lack of customer-service training, supply-chain issues, etc. However, when companies in any industry are still able to offer that top-notch experience, accomplishing what they promise the customer and acting as that trusted partner, there is still great potential for company growth.

For the traditional office equipment segment of our business, we know clicks are dropping. We see it in our own existing customer base and, of course, read and hear about that drop throughout the industry’s resources. That said, with so much industry consolidation and the perceived drop in customer service, there is still an opportunity for

“We must assure our customers that they are investing with the right company for their futures — one that can not only provide a solution, but can resolve concerns ... ”

Marvin Salganov msalganov@quenchwater.com purewatertech.com

those dealers who excel at service to continue to grow their traditional customer bases. Wisconsin Document Imaging (WDI) is taking full advantage of that opportunity right now with our experienced team, fast response times and world-class technology offerings.

Strategies: For WDI, our strategy is to continue to gain market share in our traditional office equipment offerings while we grow our offerings in the areas of managed IT, VoIP and software solutions. This is nothing new in 2023 versus what we had planned in 2022 coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the strategy has been extremely successful for us in 2021 and 2022.

We continue to expand our role as a trusted technology partner by offering managed IT and VoIP services to our traditional customer base. Our customers have relied on us to take technology headaches off of their plates, improve workflows and keep their information secure. Offering document management solutions and managed IT is simply an extension of the services we have traditionally offered, and we are finding our customers love having one vendor to work with across these areas. In the areas of managed IT and VoIP, our focus has been on partnering with companies for solutions that our customers can trust. Working with an organization like TAG [Technology Assurance Group] has helped us a great deal in vetting solution partners that our customers can leverage, which saves our team time.

Finally, and most important, as always: To be successful in any segment of our business, we need a quality team to get the job done. If you are not focused on keeping your team engaged, working together and providing a great customer experience from one employee to another, odds are other areas of the company will not be executing like you want. So in 2023, more than ever, we are going to keep team members top of mind in every decision WDI makes. We have had great success in recruitment and retention at WDI the last several years and, without question, having that high-quality team with minimal turnover is the driving force behind our strong growth.

Cory Spice, president Wisconsin Document Imaging, Green Bay, Wisconsin

Opportunities: Being able to obtain A4 products will be key in 2023. There is pent-up energy for these products and so many back orders. It will be nice to be able to fill orders consistently.

Also, great customer service in general will separate the ordinary dealers from the exceptional. Think about the interactions you have on a daily basis. Most are totally lacking in empathy, real solutions for the customer or any honest

feedback. Dealers who can continue to provide local support, billing, service and quick, honest solutions will exceed all expectations in 2023.

Strategies: Hiring to fill voids in sales and service teams — but hiring for quality, not just placeholders. Finding individuals who want to succeed and be advocates for customers while generating new business will make all the difference at the end of 2023.

People are tired of people. Just look around. This climate of complacency has permeated every aspect of our lives. The time is now to step up and provide exceptional customer service before, during and after every sale. There is no magic formula; just common-sense solutions in a timely manner.

Brian Bence, executive director of sales Shenandoah Valley Office Equipment (SVOE)

Verona, Virginia

Opportunities: The greatest opportunity we see is network security. There are opportunities to harden printers and copiers and assess any vulnerabilities. In addition, network security — including penetration testing, security awareness testing and training — and managed networks will continue to have a lot of growth opportunities. Products like VoIP and electronic workflow will also continue to be important to our customers.

Strategies: First, make sure the sales team is educated on the products. Having an SME [subject-matter expert] for each area is also very helpful. Maintain a clear and focused strategy of using the current customer list, make sure you have each end date for every contract that would be relevant and then understand the needs of the customer for each subject area. Finally, it is important that everyone who has involvement has both a quota for each product, as well as financial incentive for success.

Dawn Abbuhl, president

Repeat Business Systems, Albany, New York

Opportunities: I can provide you with the usual answers: IT services, wide format and A4 placements, but these have become givens in our industry, repeated year after year in answer to these questions. Important things that we can focus on to increase the bottom line are more intangible than products, but are equally important. We will always have our core products — print devices. How we bring them to market and how we operate our businesses are what I think we need to focus on.

There are two ways to increase the bottom line: increase sales and, hopefully, gross profit, and/or reduce costs.

“Dealers who can continue to provide local support, billing, service and quick, honest solutions will exceed all expectations in 2023.”

Make Electronics Recycling part of your service offerings and you’ll bring big benefits to your clients, the environment, and your business. In providing this added value, you enrich your partnerships with clients and eliminate the need for them to seek this ser vice elsewhere.

HOW YOU CAN LEVERAGE ARCOA:

Making the Sale

During the proposal phase, we can provide a valuation for existing equipment. This can then be offered in the form of a discount or credit in the proposal.

Retaining Businesses

If a customer has a staggered refresh cycle, the value of the equipment can be issued in the form of credit growing over time and thereby increasing the likelihood of repeat business.

Expanding Services

We expand your range of services to complete the IT asset lifecycle loop, further distinguishing you as a total solutions provider.

Increasing Value

By identifying assets that are usually passed over and often have significant value—such as unused, sealed toner cartridges and bottles—we provide needed expertise.

Protecting the Environment

We can generate Environmental Impact Reports at no charge. Your customers can use them to demonstrate their commitment to environmental sustainability.

Often, companies think adding sales at all costs will achieve this, but there is a point of diminishing returns where it costs more to add on incremental business than the revenue it brings in. As a small dealer in a very mature and very saturated market — and with every manufacturer having direct sales in our territory — we find many challenges beyond what products we bring to market. Serving our customers by maintaining the best possible service in all aspects of our business is very important.

Strategies: Sales reps must build strong relationships, which is becoming more difficult as the workforce changes. Being aware of upcoming personnel changes and building new relationships is equally important as nurturing current ones. Two of our guiding tenets are: never burn bridges and never go over the purchaser’s head.

The interruption of product supply required nimble actions. Finding a solid source of previously used — but pristine — equipment became paramount in being able to supply our customers. We were fortunate in having leasing company relationships that funded these types of sales or funded the deals knowing we were going to replace the ones we temporarily put out with new products as they became available.

Base allotments are still paramount. It was what got us through the turmoil of the COVID-19 pandemic. Reps need to be open to helping customers restructure leases and CPC rates rather than holding them hostage to their current contracts. Trying to urge the customer into terming early and buying new equipment is paramount to a sales rep, but can backfire. By alerting reps in advance to possible issues such as customers continuously and vastly making fewer prints than base allotments, we can proactively respond to our customers’ situations.

Bundling off-lease A4s and making sure those devices are online to be monitored have been helpful techniques to fill the gap for work-at-home employees. Many of our customers have lost track of their leased A4s when employees take them home. We lose track of their prints. It can be very costly to a customer that cannot find its devices when it is time to return them to the leasing company. For very good customers, we will offer to negotiate with the leasing company for a like-for-like exchange on lost equipment. But by keeping them online, we keep track of equipment and meter reads.

Marketing has changed drastically. The easiest canvass is visiting a customer in a high rise, then going door to door — at least it used to be. Now reps are met with empty floors or one or two employees in each office. Identifying the markets that continue to do well is important. This is easier said

than done, but reps must be encouraged to look for these opportunities.

As an example, keeping an eye on local real-estate markets shows that the lease and sales price per square foot of warehouse, assembly manufacturing and industrial building spaces are outpacing those of office spaces. Identifying the types of markets that use these types of buildings is the first step in reestablishing new customers and vertical markets.

I try to keep track of all economic forces and analyze their effect on our industry. For instance, many of our major customers are leaving California. Knowing what our customers’ future plans are can help us plan our own. Conversely, exacerbating this emigration effect is the influx of out-of-state, large and megadealerships coming into California. We are now also losing customers to the competition of these immigrating dealerships. It is no secret they somehow manage to sell devices to our customers below our costs. But not only do they erode our customer base, they also erode the pool of potential employees.

Probably our biggest challenge is finding salespeople. I have heard this repeatedly from many dealers. We are dealing with new generations of workers who have different values and motivations. Add to that the vaster resources of large companies and we find it difficult to compete for qualified employees.

Gilbert Gastelum, vice president of managed services

Coast to Coast Business Equipment, Irvine, California

Opportunities: For TDSiT, we have to stay focused on print with bigger, stronger A4 units and A3 inkjets. We must still dominate this conversation with current clients, as well as find an e-commerce solution for larger clients. I do not want to offer e-commerce carte blanche initially until we have mastered it with our focused accounts. We will continue to grow the IT side via TAG [Technology Assurance Group] strategies ... My big messaging to our clients and non-clients is that TDSiT is not your grandpa’s copier company. That message seems to resonate when I share with them [our strategic resources] guide.

Strategies: I think it is as simple as me, the owner, and my top leaders going into our current clients and sharing our vision of what TDSiT can do for them.

Tim Stanley, founder & owner TDSiT, Lowell, Arkansas 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.

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The Changing Workforce

How to manage & lead a remote (or hybrid) team

by: Dale Stein, Technology Assurance Group (TAG)

On the hit 1990s TV sitcom, “Seinfeld,” Jerry Seinfeld’s best friend, George Costanza, is an irritable, cheap coward who somehow remains likable throughout their misadventures in New York City. He spends nearly every episode devising a new scheme to appear hardworking, noble and selfless in the eyes of others. Meanwhile, his moronic plans always go awry and put him in embarrassing situations. Unsurprisingly, he remains unemployed for the majority of the show, until he is just as shocked as his friends to discover that, miraculously, he lands his dream job working for the iconic New York Yankees.

For the first time in his life, he is thrilled to be part of an organization he truly believes in, working somewhere he can be proud of. However, despite this golden opportunity to rise to the occasion, George cannot help himself and returns to his old ways. Within a short time, he is already back to his old habits of chronically underperforming, “acting” productive and taking credit for others’ contributions.

One day, Jerry is perplexed to hear that George’s antics have somehow gotten him a promotion, so he asks how George pulls off “not doing very much” at work. And with glee in his eyes, George explains: “When you look annoyed all the time, people think you’re busy.” He then acts it out by letting out an exasperated sigh, burying his forehead in his palms. His friends agree: “Wow! You do look busy!”

Deep down this is what every manager, CEO or boss fears might happen if he (or she) embraces a remote or hybrid workforce. He fears he will be unfairly taken advantage of and will overpay for a bunch of lazy “George Costanzas” who are falling asleep on their couches and wiping Cheetos dust on their dirty sweatpants while simultaneously appearing to be working. This article will explain how to eliminate this dynamic within your organization while simultaneously laying the foundation for a more productive, collaborative, thriving business as the remote/hybrid workforce grows in popularity.

The most ironic part about this managerial nightmare is

that everyone fears a remote/hybrid workforce will create these “George Costanzas.” However, when managed correctly, the remote/hybrid workplace reveals how many “George Costanzas” already exist in our companies.

It Is Here to Stay

It is no secret that the remote/hybrid workplace is here to stay. Even though some companies are demanding people return to the office, a report by the ADP Research Institute, “People at Work 2022: A Global Workforce View,” surveyed more than 32,000 workers and revealed that “two-thirds of the global workforce (64%) said that they have already, or would consider, looking for a new job if their employer wanted them back in the office full time.”

While those numbers may seem a bit inflated, Elon Musk made waves when he acquired Twitter and gave his staff members the ultimatum to work “long hours at high intensity” or leave. Reuters reported on this transition and revealed that in response to a discreet poll on the workplace app Blind, which verifies employees through their work email addresses and allows them to share information anonymously, 42% of 180 respondents opted for “Taking exit option, I’m free!,” a quarter (25%) said they had chosen to “stay reluctantly,” and only 7% of the poll participants clicked yes to “stay, I’m hardcore.” So, while the 64% may seem high, the Twitter example proves those numbers to actually be quite realistic.

Nevertheless, many companies will resist the future. However, they will face an uphill battle. As the majority of the workforce is expecting some element of remote/hybrid work, those who resist will have an even smaller employee pool to find talented individuals (Have you heard any other business owners complaining that “No one wants to work anymore”?). Not to mention they will probably attract lower-quality employees with shorter-term outlooks (i.e., “reluctantly”).

This is understandable because when a company refuses

to embrace the future, it is essentially advertising to everyone: “We do not believe in your freedom. We do not trust you. We do not believe you are even capable of being responsible. In fact, since we expect you to lie, cheat and steal, we must tighten our control on you even more, instead of innovating a new, creative solution that is actually a win-win.” So, even if resistant companies can survive in the short-term, the long-term negative effects may ultimately hurt them.

Interestingly, the problem is not the remote/hybrid workforce. In fact, it never was. The real problem is when we inadvertently create a culture that incentivizes the “George Costanza” style of “performative productivity” instead of results. Instead of pushing your employees to come back to the office against their will, what if there was a proven road map for responsibly transitioning to a remote/hybrid workplace that creates an atmosphere where every worker is incentivized to be as efficient as possible?

If you become known for leading others to a better future, what caliber of employees might you attract? At Technology Assurance Group (TAG), we were telling our private members to move to remote/hybrid more than 10 years ago, as long as they had the proper technology and best practices in place before doing so.

Since this messaging was prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and the early adopters were seen as brave innovators, guess which group of companies inevitably wound up winning all of the profitability growth awards at our annual conventions? Not only did many of these companies grow, but a handful exploded into a whole new stratosphere, achieving more than 30% EBITDA in incredibly competitive markets. This did not happen on accident. It was the result of combining the best practices for both remote worker management and remote worker technology tools.

The Best People & Technology Practices

If you want to make remote/hybrid work, you cannot just snap your fingers and expect everything to run smoothly without any supporting systems. You need to devise both managerial and technological systems that are inhospitable to the “George Costanzas” of the world, which obviously requires managerial clarity and modern tools.

n Best Practice #1: Put less emphasis on the number of hours worked and more emphasis on the quality/quantity of outcomes. Why did we assume that just because someone is

... We were telling our private members to move to remote/hybrid more than 10 years ago, as long as they had the proper technology ... in place before doing so.

sitting behind his desk at the office, this means he is being productive? In order to start managing by objective instead of by observation, it requires management to more clearly define which key performance indicators (KPIs) actually reflect productivity that matters.

For example, as a business owner, which would you prefer to see: (1) Your employees running around the office chaotically, shuffling papers and being stressed out or (2) receiving 50 more five-star reviews each month over the next 12 months? What if you gave your employees the chance to take full ownership of projects and let them propose innovative solutions to you on how they could solve problems, while interweaving a really strong personal motivation into the success? Even if they stumbled at the beginning, do you think they would be more or less engaged with the company’s mission?

What if you told them once they hit a certain goal (in addition to a handful of other appropriate ones) you outright do not care how much they work? Can you imagine how creative, resourceful and motivated they would be to get a task accomplished when they stand to benefit on a personal level, instead of receiving a pat on the back from management (in a world where career tenures are deteriorating at an almost laughable rate)? This obviously requires focused objectives and a gradual approach to build the mutual trust required to reach this sort of relationship, but the potential benefits could be staggering. Remember, “George Costanzas” cannot stand autonomy and KPIs.

n Best Practice #2: Provide the right technology tools that set employees up for success. Your team’s technology needs to address two main outcomes for the organization: (1) Make it easy for them to collaborate and (2) keep their devices secure and optimized.

Collaboration Tools: We strongly recommend that you do video calls with your remote team members so you get the necessary face time to maintain that personal connection we all know and love. Video calls allow you to discuss the intangibles and have those “watercooler” conversations, which are the hallmarks of a single physical location. We also recommend tools like Zoom, Microsoft 365 (including Teams and SharePoint), GoTo Meeting and Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) to keep everyone connected so they can collaborate effectively, no matter where they are.

Cybersecurity/Optimization Tools: A lot of companies overlook the importance of securing their networks as they transition. When you migrate to remote/hybrid, you cannot just send employees home to their unsecured home networks where they share bandwidth and computer access with their

spouses and children. You do not want the security of your customer data in the hands of your employees’ children.

A useful perspective is to think that if you have 24 remote employees, you need to start thinking that you are an enterprise with 24 different locations, all of which must be managed responsibly. We recommend:

n Running a network security assessment to find any vulnerabilities.

n Confirming your employees have good internet providers (i.e., acceptable upload/download speeds).

n Confirming they have reliable Wi-Fi coverage. Video calls will reveal this.

n Installing SD-WAN to prevent “bandwidth hogging” while intelligently distributing company bandwidth across all of your multiple locations/employees.

n Implementing malware/VPN/DNS-level protection/ multifactor authentication (MFA) to add layers of cybersecurity to fortify the network.

n Utilizing a cloud-based phone system for cost savings.

n Equipping employees with home printers and scanners.

Many managed print services (MPS) companies have recognized the opportunity afforded them by this great transition to remote/hybrid and are expanding their product/ services portfolios to include these additional services to gain access to these streams of highly profitable, recurring revenue. With virtually every business owner trying to figure out how to navigate this brave new world, we can take a leadership position and profit from expanding our authority as trusted advisors for everything a client company may need to purchase to keep its office running.

Utilize the Savings

Over the years, we have found that every company should at least be able to immediately have 25% of their team working from home. With that in mind, you can cover your remote/hybrid expenses by reducing your square footage by 25%. When done properly, running a remote/hybrid team should increase your profits immediately.

By reducing the size of your remaining physical location, you can offset the costs incurred by adding new technology systems to support the success of your remote workforce. As an example, if you have a 10,000-square-foot location, we recommend reducing your square footage by the same 25% (so, look for a 7,500-square-foot location) to cost justify all of the technology necessary to support your remote team.

When you have a budget, a vision and road map to make it to remote/hybrid, it starts to become a concrete reality you can drive toward.

Can you imagine how creative, resourceful and motivated they would be to get a task accomplished when they stand to benefit on a personal level ... ?

Tying it All Together

While it is easy to point fingers at the “George Costanzas” of the world for their character flaws, dubious integrity and self-serving nature, Gary Vaynerchuk, a pop-business icon who rose to fame by scaling his father’s wine business from $3 million to $60 million before launching his own digital agency, which now produces more than $100 million per year in revenue, has a different opinion on the matter.

In a YouTube clip, with excerpts from a few of his interviews, Vaynerchuk comments on how much the entitlement of small business owners and managers annoys him when he explains: “You have people who own companies who are like, ‘I expect my people to work the way I work.’ Are you giving them the same money? What are you talking about?” He later continues: “They work for me, I work for them, but I’m getting different economics ... The biggest mistake people make and why they can’t build scalable business is because they have selfish expectations of their employees.”

The “George Costanza” work culture is a response to a workplace that rewards others arbitrarily, through mere observation, impulsive decisions or seniority instead of rewarding them when they consistently provide quantifiable contributions to the organization. While it might be normal to try to inspire others’ hard work through our example, isn’t George’s plight one of the main reasons you became an entrepreneur in the first place? Didn’t you have a strong desire to actually do the things that would matter? Things that would actually move the needle to directly impact your future — and to be compensated accordingly?

Maybe the remote/hybrid workplace transition is not something to fight, but rather a movement we can leverage for everyone’s benefit to differentiate ourselves from our competitors so we attract brighter minds, more creative employees and a more exciting vision for our future than we previously imagined.

Revamping our organizations so we thrive in the remote/ hybrid work world does require that we push for clearer objectives, that we reward results, nurture innovation, incentivize creativity and take responsibility for providing a pathway for others’ lives to improve through their engagement with us. If we want a team that is fully engaged, inspired and motivated to make a significant impact on our company, we need to structure our employees’ incentives properly, so that when each employee wins on the collective level, each employee wins on the individual level, too.

If we are educated and prepared, the great migration to a remote/hybrid workplace is a tremendous opportunity to

transform our organizations from within so we attract higher-quality employees, increase employee retention (without losing engagement), increase productivity and improve the quality of life for everyone involved. n

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

Maybe the remote/ hybrid workplace transition is not something to fight, but rather a movement we can leverage for everyone’s benefit ...

BTA HIGHLIGHTS

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

Dealer Member

Sharp Business Innovations, Longmont, CO

For full contact information of this new member, visit www.bta.org.

BTA Scholarship Program

On Feb. 23, 1968, the Dorothy R. Ames Scholarship Fund was announced in honor of Ames at her retirement dinner for her many contributions to the industry. Ultimately, the fund became the BTA Scholarship Foundation, benefiting the employees — and sons and daughters of employees — of BTA member dealerships nationwide.

Each year, BTA awards one $3,000, one $2,000, and a number of $1,500 and $1,000 scholarships to qualifying applicants. To qualify, applicants must be (at the time of the evaluation and the award): A full-time employee, or the son or daughter of a full-time employee, of a current BTA member dealership AND a fulltime student maintaining a class schedule of at least 12 hours (nine hours for graduate students) of college credits throughout the school year covered by the scholarship.

Scholarship applications must be postmarked by May 1, 2023. Download an application at www.bta.org/Scholarships.

For more information, visit www.bta.org/FeaturedBenefit.

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

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

Prism Software provides a range of applications for the processing and management of documents and data. These affordable applications empower organizations to do more, enabling companies of all sizes to greatly reduce their costs and significantly increase their efficiencies. Prism’s solutions range from enterprise content management to work process automation to e-forms and data collection — and more. Its solutions are used by leading organizations in health care, government, finance, insurance, defense and education worldwide. www.prismsoftware.com

TD SYNNEX brings the most relevant technology solutions to the IT and consumer electronics markets to help its partners sustainably grow their businesses. It distributes more than 30,000 technology products from more than 500 of the world’s leading and emerging manufacturers, and provides complete solutions to more than 20,000 resellers and retail customers in the United States, Canada and Japan. As part of its value-added services, TD SYNNEX provides a variety of professional and marketing services, including demand generation; education and training; pre- and post-sales support; and more.

www.tdsynnex.com

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

For more information, visit www.bta.org.

Employee Reviews

Establish policies & procedures; build a stronger team

by: Robert C. Goldberg, BTA General Counsel

Creating a positive and motivated team of employees requires many factors. Communication, mentoring, training and feedback allow employees to recognize their strengths and weaknesses while improving everyday performance. Establishing definite policies and procedures for employee reviews will help create the positive environment dealers are seeking. Employee reviews are often scheduled prior to the busy end of the year. Both managers and employees can be stressed by pending reviews — which should not be viewed as corporate necessity but, rather, as an opportunity to build your team. There are several best practices to consider.

Reviewers should be trained on how to be objective, clear, honest and timely when conducting employee performance reviews. Reviewers must learn how to: communicate the employer’s goals and expectations; answer questions commonly raised by employees on topics like compensation, training, promotions, attendance, job duties and responsibilities; and ensure objectivity and consistency during the evaluation process. An employee may be overly emotional, stressed, sarcastic, disrespectful or inappropriate during a performance review meeting and reviewers should be trained on how to properly respond. By training reviewers to be sensitive to these issues, dealers can ward off litigation down the road.

Even with the trend toward remote workers, performance reviews should be conducted in person. An employee’s performance review should be based on objective performance indicators or metrics that can be reduced to writing in a uniform document. If there is room for improvement or deficiencies noted, the reviewer should include the path to success, including additional training or specifically defined expectations.

Performance review meetings should be attended by two individuals in addition to the employee. The supervising manager and another executive would be appropriate. The second individual may also serve as a note taker, allowing the manager to maintain a conversation-like discussion with the employee.

It is important to conduct reviews on a consistent schedule (biannually or annually), and adhere to any written policies and/or practices addressing the schedule for employee performance reviews. Conducting late, untimely or incomplete reviews may give the perception that a dealer does not take performance reviews seriously or that they are pretextual.

The reviewer should also provide an opportunity for the employee to provide any comments or feedback. This is a key opportunity to address any problems or concerns the employee may have about his (or her) performance and overall feelings about his job. If an employee refuses to sign his performance review, the reviewer should note the date the review was issued on the form and that the employee refused to sign the document.

All performance review forms, notes and any other supporting documentation should be preserved in the employee’s personnel file. Reviewers should promptly report complaints of unfair treatment, discrimination, harassment, retaliation or other workplace grievances aired during the performance review.

Compensation is always an issue that employees wish to discuss. Do not avoid a compensation discussion and be prepared to explain any adjustments, goals for adjustments and disappointments.

Employee performance reviews serve a vital role in the employer/employee relationship. They provide an opportunity for managers to address performance issues or praise an employee for his work, and discuss promotions, training, and other opportunities for professional growth. Establish set policies and procedures for employee reviews and build a stronger team. n

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

PRINCIPAL ISSUES

Get Marketing Running

Three pillars you should consider to get started

by: Scott Flaherty, Altek Business Systems

When it comes to marketing, you can ask 100 business owners what marketing is and receive 100 unique answers — and each of them would be correct in its own way. Marketing is not something that is easy to define, which means it is even harder to be successful at doing. For dealers who may not be able to have dedicated full-time marketing employees, it becomes difficult to justify spending the money or time on it. If marketing has been a struggle for you and your business, then I encourage you to take a look at the three main pillars of marketing.

The three pillars of marketing mentioned in this article are possible for a business of any size, but the first decision any company should make is in regard to the marketing budget. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, small businesses should allocate between 7% to 8% of total revenue to marketing. This can be a scary amount, which is why the first pillar may be the most important.

The first pillar of marketing is to find a marketing advocate for your company. Look for someone who has a background in design — someone who can work on the “look” of your brand more than acquiring leads or sales. Do not worry if you think you cannot afford to hire someone full time, but treat it as though you are hiring someone. There are numerous amazing freelance marketing entrepreneurs who would be willing to do monthly plans with as few as 10 hours per month. The important factor to look for is that the person you hire understands and agrees to your vision of how you want to market your business — the look, the feel and the message that you want to get through to your audience.

Once you have found your marketing advocate, the next pillar is to create a brand guideline. Many businesses skip this step and, while you may find success early on without one, a brand guideline will allow you to scale your marketing down the road. A brand guideline, which your marketing advocate will help you create, will define how to create the look, feel and messaging consistently, no matter who is creating your ad. Consistency in marketing is a key to long-term success. Consistent branding and marketing allow you to be more recognizable, which means each campaign will subsequently be more and more successful.

Your third pillar is a trackable campaign with an easily calculated ROI. This is where you start seeing your marketing

make you money, but you want to make sure you do this in a way that you can accurately track what you are spending. Think about how you can know exactly how much you are spending, but also how to track the leads that are generated. Something like website leads, Google Ad Words, direct mailings and other easily trackable campaigns are a great way to start. There are many dealers who invest in six-month marketing campaigns, but have no idea if they should renew or not at the end of the six months. Renewing your first marketing campaign should be a black-and-white decision. Are you making money or not?

Are these the keys to success in marketing? Absolutely not. Many dealers have successfully accomplished complex marketing campaigns without any of this, but they are exceptions. As a small dealership, we have followed these pillars and have gone from a nonexistent marketing campaign to a marketing investment that clearly shows an ROI and allows us to grow, add new business and prospect around the campaign. Once you establish these pillars, you can start expanding, growing and taking more chances with marketing. That is when marketing becomes fun. n

Scott Flaherty is the COO of Altek Business Systems, an MSP and document management company based in Telford, Pennsylvania. Prior to working for Altek, he spent seven years in the automotive industry managing luxury dealership groups, with a focus on marketing, customer acquisition and business development. Flaherty holds certifications in digital marketing, SEO, Google Ads, Google Analytics and email marketing. He can be reached at (215) 721-9355 or sflaherty@altekimaging.com. Visit www.altekimaging.com.

PRINCIPAL ISSUES

Konica Minolta’s Priorities

Manufacturer hosts virtual press briefing

by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

On Dec. 13, in a virtual briefing for office technology industry editors and analysts, Sam Errigo, president and CEO of Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. Inc. (Konica Minolta), shared the company’s five strategic priorities. The briefing also featured presentations on such topics as operations strategies, dealer programs, e-commerce and the supply chain.

In his presentation, Errigo began with Konica Minolta’s “growth strategy,” the first of the five strategic priorities. “I’ve talked a lot about the dual transformation strategy; in concert, we have to do two things,” he said. “[We have to] grow our core business and, in parallel, we have to continue to transform, which means moving quicker into this managed IT sector of the business, IIM [intelligent information management] — our document management area — and then also [into] software solutions and video services. [These] make up some of the new areas for growth in long-term profitability.”

The second strategic priority is “driving innovation,” Errigo said. “We have a lot of things going on around infrastructure and using data in a much more intelligent manner to help us internally, but also to help our dealer channel and external customers to understand the data,” he said. “Also, [we need to help dealers and customers understand] the value that we can provide to them with better use of data and technologies to help them manage cost and expenses within their relative businesses.”

Konica Minolta’s third strategic priority is “increasing shareholder value” by looking at “our end-to-end process going through our business; looking at everything from how we enter and order all the way through to cash management,” Errigo said. “Our business has changed since COVID, and it’s incumbent now on us, as leaders of our company, to make sure that we look at every aspect of the business. [For example] we have an initiative in place that, over the coming years, we need to convert 15% of our staff to robotics, meaning taking those mundane processes and using RPA types of technology to improve not only how we process information through the business, but also create new roles within the company

that are much higher value to both us internally as well as to our stakeholders.”

Errigo said the fourth strategic priority is “corporate culture.” Konica Minolta is “changing as an organization; the makeup of our company is much different,” he said. “We have to have a much more inclusive and diverse culture in order for us to accelerate our business transformation. So, going outside the guidelines of who we would have traditionally hired ... Adding different types of diversity in the business with different experiences is going to help us accelerate our overall growth.

“That’s going to be very, very important as we look to our transformation strategy, as we look to how we enable our sales organization, our management team in the field, our managed IT segment of the business,” Errigo continued. “All of those are changing daily, and it’s actually a pretty exciting aspect of our business in order for us to really accelerate the future.”

The fifth and final strategic priority for Konica Minolta Errigo shared is the “customer experience.” He cited, in particular, the company’s e-commerce platform. “At times people are skeptical about, maybe, what we do or how we approach business, but this is one of those areas that I’m actually most excited about for a couple of reasons,” he said. “When you talk about business transformation, if you’re not talking about change, if you’re not talking about how the experience with your customer is going to change, then transformation is just not possible ... This is an area that we’re investing in. We do believe that there will be benefit for Konica Minolta corporate, our direct channel and for our dealer channel.”

Among the other presenters in the press briefing was Laura Blackmer, president of dealer sales, who, in part, provided an update on the company’s new Rev’d Up dealer performance program, which measures and rewards dealerships that “take the journey” into new business opportunities. “So far, it has really been a great success,” she said, noting that “a number of dealers” have already advanced to a higher level in the three-level program. “These are not our largest dealers, by the way. These are dealers who have made real progress in expanding their business opportunities into new things like production print and digital transformation. That’s what it [the program] was designed to do.” 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.

Sam Errigo

Laura Blackmer

SOLUTIONS

Creating Better Salespeople

Try this quick & easy training exercise

by: Troy Harrison, Troy Harrison & Associates

When should you stop training your salespeople? If you answered “never,” you got the right answer. Training never stops. Effective training for your salespeople should cover your products, your services and sales technique, and it should be ongoing. In fact, I recommend that you do at least a small training exercise at each weekly sales meeting. And you are doing weekly sales meetings, aren’t you?

That means that 52 times per year, your salespeople get some level of new knowledge and professional development. Since “inadequate training” is cited as the reason that salespeople change jobs about 70% of the time, good training retains salespeople. I think the reason sales managers do not do much training is that the task seems daunting — to come up with new topics every week is seen as a significant demand on the manager’s time. But it does not have to be.

Here is an exercise I have always found to be effective — and it is simple. For a given unit of time (say, eight to 10 weeks at a time), each salesperson must come into the meeting with a new question he (or she) has created. This question should be one that customers and/or prospects can be asked on every sales call. Notice that I said “new” question. The point of this exercise is to get your salespeople to think about selling, and to think about new ways to get knowledge about your customers that could benefit them in making more sales and building better relationships.

In my opinion, about 80% of a salesperson’s chance to win or lose a sale is determined by the questions he asks. So if he is asking more and better questions than his competitors, he gives himself a big edge on outselling his competition. Challenging your salespeople to be the ones to come up with new questions also involves them and engages them in their own training.

Here is how this works. On week one, tell them that for the next (number of) weeks, their focus is going to be on becoming better questioners. In fact, they are going to become the best questioners in your market. Tell them to take five minutes and come up with one potentially great question that they have never asked a customer. After five minutes, have each salesperson present his question to the group. He should explain why he thinks it is a good question and what he thinks he will accomplish by asking it.

During this time, you should instruct your team to suspend judgment on the questions — this is a criticism-free zone to try things out. Once everyone has presented their questions, then everyone on the team must ask each question on sales calls the

following week at least once (and preferably more) and then report back at the following sales meeting about how well the questions worked. Then take a vote. The good questions become part of your boilerplate questioning structure (again, you do have one of those, right?) and the ineffective ones get discarded. Repeat the exercise, except this time, each salesperson should already have a new question when he arrives at the meeting.

Do this for at least eight weeks and your team’s effectiveness at questioning and discovery will go up significantly. How significantly depends on your team members’ openness to new knowledge and their creativity in creating questions. You can also take a vote each week on which question worked the best and whoever came up with it gets some sort of a prize — a restaurant gift card, perhaps.

There are a few things to remember about this program to make it a success:

n First, no matter how badly you want to, do not supply your own questions or criticize theirs before your team members put them into real-life action. For this program to succeed, they (not you) have to be the stars of the show and they have to be the ones who are taking the risks. If you supply your own questions, then it is just the boss ramming things down their throats. Besides, given room to work, you will be amazed at the quality of questions they come up with. As my friend and fellow trainer Ed Tate likes to say: “Often, the answers are already in the room.” This is one of those times.

n Second, make sure the emphasis is on new question creation, not a regurgitation of what is already being done. As soon as a salesperson says, “Here’s one I like to ask,” thank him for the contribution but tell him that you want him to dig into his head and come up with something new. Your salespeople are smart; this respects their intelligence and creativity.

n Third, you should be doing ride-alongs as the program progresses to see that the new questions are really being asked in live sales calls. This program only works if it is being put into action and not just discussed in meetings. The whole idea is to improve your salespeople’s selling skills, not their meeting skills. So, as they say, “inspect what you expect.”

n Fourth, be prepared to discard some questions that your salespeople used to ask in favor of newer and better ones. In fact, this might be a topic for weeks six through eight. “Since we have these new and more effective questions, which ones can — or should — we jettison?”

If you do this, by the end of eight weeks, your team members’ questioning skills will have gone up exponentially, which means their sales will go up. You should repeat this exercise at least once per year to continually refine the questions and skills. Besides, market conditions may dictate that questions get modified or discarded over time.

In my next article, I will discuss a simple exercise you can do to make your salespeople more effective, on-the-spot presenters. n Troy Harrison is the author of “Sell Like You Mean It!” and “The Pocket Sales Manager,” and is a speaker, consultant and sales navigator. He helps companies build more profitable and productive sales forces.

To schedule a free 45-minute Sales Strategy Review, call (913) 645-3603 or email troy@troyharrison.com. Visit www.troyharrison.com.

... By the end of eight weeks, your team members’

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