October 2022 Office Technology

Switch to Miracle Service and cut your costs by 50%!

Miracle Service dealer management software is everything our competitors are not: flexible, responsive and fairly priced.

Start with only the features that make your business more efficient today and simply add on as your demands change.

Switch to Miracle Service and you could also save 50%* or more compared to what you’re paying now.

estimate

will

CONTENTS

FEATURE ARTICLES

10

Vertical Markets Are they the key to long-term survival?

by Brent Hoskins

Office Technology Magazine

The parity of today’s imaging de vices and the desire to avoid com peting on price are among the compelling reasons for office technology dealerships to distinguish themselves from the competition. For many, the answer lies in targeting several key vertical markets.

16

Capture the Magic BTA West hosts event in Las Vegas

by Elizabeth Marvel

Office Technology Magazine

The 2022 Capture the Magic event, hosted by BTA West, was held Sept. 14-15 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event featured: a keynote workshop; three additional educa tional sessions; two dealer panels; a welcoming recep tion; and a Cirque du Soleil “O” performance.

18

Free Internet Resources Use these websites for prospecting & branding

by Kate Kingston

Kingston Training Group

There are many free websites avail able that will reduce the time it takes for a sales executive to identify a prospect and the size of the company he (or she) would like to sit down with to conduct a meeting to determine demos, assessments, proposals and closes.

Q&A: Caty Di Maggio

Brother vice president addresses dealer questions

Compiled by Brent Hoskins

Office Technology Magazine

On Sept. 22, Office Technology mag azine interviewed Caty Di Maggio, vice president of commercial sales at Brother Inter national. The questions she addressed were requested from and submitted by Brother-authorized BTA mem ber dealers.

COURTS & CAPITOLS

25

A Cloud Solution Is it the best option for your ERP software?

by Robert C. Goldberg

BTA General Counsel

Many software solutions that are presented to dealers are cloud based. This is clearly the trend for many reasons, but are they the best so lutions? Cloud-based solutions are more profitable to the provider. There are also fewer variables to ad dress, such as hardware and on-premise support.

DEALERS HELPING DEALERS

27

Compensation for Reps

How to motivate them in this changing landscape

Compiled by Brent Hoskins

Office Technology Magazine

This article includes a question sub mitted by a dealer member as part of BTA’s Dealers Helping Dealers resource, and several of the an swers received. These answers and many others can be found in the members-only section of the BTA website at www.bta.org/DealersHelpingDealers.

SELLING SOLUTIONS

28

Return to Cold Calling Let’s get back into the people business

by Derek Shebby

Modern Sales Training

Our dealerships were built on hu man connection — connection with our employees, with our customer bases and with those we serve inside our local communities. Our legacies were built on people. Those days feel like they were a life time ago.

DEPARTMENTS

26 Business Technology Association

• BTA Highlights

Executive Director’s Page

BTA President’s Message

1 WF-C21000 as compared to similarly featured color multifunction printers with speeds of 45 ppm or greater based on industry available data as of December 2020. Actual power savings will vary depending on usage. | 2 Compared to similarly featured color multifunction printers with speeds of 45 ppm or greater based on industry available data, December 2020. Actual print times will vary based on system configuration, software, and page complexity. For more information, visit www.epson.com/printspeed

of

BTA Benefits Serving You, by the Numbers

You will see that the BTA President’s Message in this issue of Office Technol ogy highlights some BTA member benefits you may not be taking ad vantage of but may want to use. I’ll do the same. However, in my case, I’ll draw on the lessons of Count von Count — better known as “The Count” — from Sesame Street. Remember him? I like to keep track of the history of BTA’s programs and initiatives. In doing so, I often keep count. I encourage you to take a closer look at the following BTA member benefits, by the numbers.

n BTA Building My Business Webinar Series — In 2008, BTA launched its Build ing My Business Webinar Series. The goal of the webinars is simple: To help dealers im prove the management of their companies, take full advantage of market opportuni ties and, ultimately, improve the bottom line. The first webinar took place on Jan. 28, 2008; the most recent webinar — our 195th — took place on Sept. 22 of this year. To date, we have had 11,647 attendees. On the BTA website, you can access recordings of 179 of the past webinars. The total number of views of those webinar recordings: 4,933. You can access the recordings and register for the next webinar at www.bta.org/BMB.

n BTA Events — As I write this, we are less than two weeks out from the Oct. 13-14 Fall Colors Retreat in Asheville, North Caro lina. Have you attended one or more of our district-hosted educational and networking events? They are an excellent way to hear from industry leaders, network with your fel low dealers, and see the latest products and services from BTA’s vendor members. Since 2011, BTA has hosted 52 events. The total at tendance: 4,294. Watch for announcements

soon regarding our 2023 event dates. Visit www.bta.org/BTAEvents.

n BTA Scholarship Foundation — One of my favorite tasks each year is to sign and mail checks to the students selected to win BTA scholarships. The recipients are the sons and daughters of full-time employees of cur rent BTA member dealerships, selected by an independent, impartial evaluator. Each year, we award one $3,000, one $2,000 and a num ber of $1,500 and $1,000 scholarships. Since the 1984-85 school year, BTA has awarded 1,537 scholarships totaling $1.75 million. You can learn more about BTA scholarships at www.bta.org/Scholarships. The application for the 2022-23 school year will be available on the website in December. Applications must be postmarked by May 1, 2023.

n Dealers Helping Dealers Discussion Groups — I started writing this column just prior to a Zoom meeting of the BTA Dealers Helping Dealers Discussion Group One. I am now finishing up after the conclusion of to day’s call. We had 19 dealers in attendance. Like all of the group’s calls, we spent an hour addressing the industry questions and topics the members submitted when registering for the meeting. This is one of three BTA discus sion groups for owners and senior managers. There is also a BTA discussion group for ser vice managers and one for sales managers. Collectively, these five groups have met a to tal of 158 times via Zoom since May 7, 2020. Currently, there is a total of 143 BTA members in these groups. The total attendees for all the groups’ calls to date: 2,331. If you are not a part of one of these groups, you are missing out. For more information, visit www.bta. org/DHD or email me at brent@bta.org.

I encourage you to take a look at each of these benefits, as well as those highlighted in the BTA President’s Message. Collective ly, they reveal that you can count on BTA. 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

Bob Goldberg, General Counsel Business Technology Association

Kate Kingston, Kingston Training Group www.kingstontraining.com

Derek Shebby, Modern Sales Training www.modernsalestraining.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. ©2022 by the Business Tech nology 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 48 years ago this month — the NOMDA Spokesman, October 1974.

EMPOWERING THE ART OF PERSONALIZATION

Every industry has its own unique way of doing things. Now they can have a copier that follows suit. With Elevate from Toshiba, this easy-to-use, highly efficient user interface can be customized to the way any business does business. Tasks used most often can be prioritized and simplified from multiple steps down to a single touch to save time, frustration and money. Learn how to help your customers express themselves with Elevate at business.toshiba.com

Are You Using Your Member Benefits?

Are you taking advantage of all that your Busi ness Technology Asso ciation (BTA) member ship includes? With the variety of benefits BTA offers, you may not know about some of them. This month, I’d like to give you an overview of some benefits you might not know about and may want to use. To learn more about the fol lowing (and many other) BTA member ben efits, visit www.bta.org/MemberBenefits:

n B2B Contact Data — Backed by a comprehensive B2B database, the Zoom Info platform puts sales and marketing professionals in a position to identify, con nect and engage with qualified prospects. On top of the most accurate B2B contact data in the marketplace, ZoomInfo profiles provide details about job responsibilities, professional certifications and accolades, work experience, education, web mentions and links to social media profiles. BTA members receive a 10% discount.

n Background Checks — AssociationBackgroundChecks provides the following to BTA members at up to 46% off: a free, cloud-based preemployment background check account; a free background check; a policy and procedure review; the ability to locate applicants’ current and past address histories; the ability to scan more than 1,000 nationwide/international databases (includ ing the national sex offender database) and search more than 500 million criminal re cords for adverse information; validate ap plicants’ Social Security numbers; and more.

n BTA Disaster Grant Program — The BTA Disaster Grant Program provides emer gency financial support to BTA dealer mem bers who have suffered losses due to natu ral disasters. Relief offered by the program

is considered a grant and does not require repayment to the association. Awards vary based on the balance in the fund and are de termined by the BTA national officers.

n Collection Services — C2C Resourc es offers Profit Maximizer, InfoMax Collec tion System and Legal Forwarding Edge to help your company be more effective with your in-house collecting and maximize re covery of accounts turned over for collec tion. BTA members receive a discounted rate on C2C Resources’ services.

n Insurance Programs — BTA mem bers can enroll in a number of insurance programs specialized to fit the needs of office technology dealers. American Fidel ity offers Section 125, long- and short-term disability, cancer and accidental death policies. BTA members can also obtain a free, no-obligation quote for health, group life, dental and vision plans through Mass Marketing Insurance Consultants Inc.

n IT University Online — IT University Online provides the Lifetime Library of on line IT training courses. These courses are always up to date and never expire. BTA members receive a 65% discount on the Lifetime Library.

n Shipping & Freight Discounts — As a BTA member, you are eligible to receive exclusive discounts and preferred pricing with the leading transportation providers in the industry — UPS and YRC.

I also encourage you to join BTA staff members at 2 p.m. Central on the first Wednesday of every month for a dealer member orientation call. These calls will give you a chance to learn more about your member benefits, teach you how to navigate the BTA website and have your questions answered. Check the top of your weekly BTA Hotline e-newsletter for the link to reg ister for the next orientation call. 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

This is how work now works

Your customers’ needs have changed – less printing, more digital-and-paper workflows, more employees working remotely, and new document security concerns.

Brother printers and all-in-ones are built for how work now works, scalable to the unique demands of each workgroup. With pre- and post-sales specialists and some of the industry’s most attractive partner programs, Brother can help you serve companies more effectively, and more profitably.

Your customers are re-thinking their approach to document technology. Are you?

Learn more about how work now works @ workwithbrother.com.

Vertical Markets

Are they the key to long-term survival?

by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

Theparity of today’s imaging devices and the desire to avoid competing on price are among the compelling reasons for office technology dealerships to distinguish themselves from the compe tition. For many, the answer lies in target ing several key vertical markets, position ing themselves as trusted advisors.

Following are brief profiles of three manufacturers focused on their pursuit of vertical markets. Perhaps they will in spire you to take another look at the wide range of opportunities.

Canon U.S.A. Inc.

In terms of vertical selling, Canon U.S.A. Inc. has focused on several key markets for at least 20 years, says Madhu Bhawnani-Dutta, marketing advisor at Canon. “While that focus has varied over the years depending on dealer inter est, there is a renewed energy around selling Canon into ver tical spaces because of our unique approach.”

Today, Canon focuses on four key verticals — education, government, legal and health care. “Each one of these verti cals is going through a digital transformation right now, so there is certainly a market opportunity for them,” Bhawn ani-Dutta says. “We have a strong customer base in each of these verticals and a flexible product mix to meet the chal lenges that these verticals are facing right now.”

Focusing on verticals is a “smart business strategy for sales,” Bhawnani-Dutta says. “Successful dealerships can use their vertical market knowledge base and expertise — with the help of their suppliers — to differentiate them selves from the competition. Canon’s approach appeals to dealerships because we are focused on identifying the spe cific challenges that these industries are facing today and aligning our products to the issues that matter most to technology decision makers. In turn, dealerships are dem onstrating that they are willing to invest time to increase their sales forces’ knowledge and take a longer view of the

sales cycle in order to build deep, strong relationships with vertical customers.”

Canon has looked closely at the oppor tunities within its four targeted verticals. “We’ve done studies on where the oppor tunities are in the print space and feel these four — particularly health care, ed ucation and legal — have the most upside right now,” Bhawnani-Dutta says, noting that only a portion of the government vertical is pursued by dealers. “There are two layers — state and local — where our dealers focus; Canon has a direct federal government sales team.”

As noted, vertical market sales gener ally require longer selling cycles. “The vertical-oriented sales cycle doesn’t mesh well with the industry’s traditional 30day turnaround time,” Bhawnani-Dutta says. “It takes more time to understand customer needs. So, the dealership, in some respects, has to be willing to adjust that quick 30-day sales cycle. However, there is more upside on the back end — a deeper relationship with more opportunities for growth.”

That deeper relationship is the result of the transforma tion of the sales rep’s role, says Bhawnani-Dutta. “When you’re just selling products, you can be sidelined by a cus tomer looking at another shiny, new widget,” she says. “However, when you position yourself as a trusted advisor — as a consultant who understands someone’s industry and the unique challenges they’re experiencing — then you become sticky, which naturally increases profitability. So, we’re helping our dealers move their sales force members from being salespeople to consultants.”

As Bhawnani-Dutta notes, Canon is there to help its deal ers with their vertical market pursuits. “We offer meaningful training, including our road shows, which now have a verti cal component,” she says. “We also offer boot camps; sessions that are more in-depth where we guide dealers through iden tifying what they should be talking about with vertical mar ket prospects. Plus, we’ve revamped our training material

library so that they have more in-depth information about each of these industries.”

Bhawnani-Dutta acknowl edges that vertical sales can be intimidating, but says the key is looking at verticals through a different lens, cit ing the health-care vertical to explain the strategy. “The fact of the matter is, health care is a business, just like any other vertical,” she says. “So, we work to help dealers and their reps understand the ‘business’ of health care, encouraging them to have conversations that are not necessarily focused on EHRs [electronic health records], but instead on how to help that business grow and transform digitally.”

Lexmark International

For the past 25 years, Lexmark International has had a significant focus on vertical markets. Today, seven markets are the primary targets: banking, government, health care, insurance, education, manufacturing and retail. All share a key characteristic, says Larry Early, director of software and industry marketing: “They represent the industries that have the most complex requirements.”

How so? “I differentiate the verticals from ‘back-office printer environments,’ such as a building with 10 floors and 200 people on every floor, which is a much easier problem to solve,” Early says. “If you think about the seven verticals, they have requirements where a lot of the devices are out in the field. There are often no IT employees near the devices, so it’s a much more complicated problem. By solving those problems, we help generate more value for these verticals.”

Early shares two other common characteristics of the verticals pursued by Lexmark. “They are highly distribut ed,” he says, citing the retail vertical to illustrate, but ac knowledging that the vertical is far less pursued by dealers than such verticals as health care, education, and state and local government. “A large home improvement retailer, for example, may have its headquarters building in a large city but it will have stores across the country. Each store prob ably has seven to 10 devices without a single IT person in the store. So, the distributed fleets have to be able to get tech support quickly.”

The final characteristic Early shares: A preponderance of transactional print. “When a patient checks out of a hospi tal, you need to give that person discharge instructions; this is still a process most comfortably done with paper today,” he says. “In all of these industries, you will see that there is a

printed transactional docu ment that guarantees and protects our pages.”

As Early noted, the pri mary opportunity within the verticals lies in gener ating more value. Likewise citing the health-care ver tical as an example, Clark Bugg, director of North America channel sales at Lexmark, illustrates the value add. “It’s about chang ing the game when you are in a line-of-business conversation,” he says. “Rather than just talking with IT and procurement, you are talking to the director of nursing, for example, about addressing how a de vice or process could help with a staffing challenge. Those types of conversations result in a greater financial reward because value usually equals added margin.”

Bugg emphasizes that Lexmark is poised to help its dealers with optimizing their successes in pursuing vertical markets — and that its dealers are very receptive to that support and guidance. “For example, Larry and his team host verticalmarketing webinars for our partner dealers each quarter as part of our Lexmark Industry Advantage Program,” he says. “They are the most widely attended webinars that we offer.”

Beyond the webinars and other means to “transfer knowl edge” regarding vertical markets to its dealers, Bugg notes that Lexmark personnel also assist dealers in the field, when needed. “We’re able to teach our partners how to ‘fish on their own,’ but when they ‘get a whale on the line’ — where, for ex ample, there are very specific questions from the customer about, ‘Where have you handled this or that in other places?’ — we’ve got the resources to help. Our enablement and en gagement have been really important in those situations.”

Noting that those dealers who are “evolving their busi ness models and continually working to differentiate and add value” are the dealers “doing the best” with vertical markets, Early says more dealers need to target vertical markets. “That’s going to be the key for long-term survival as the big and small fight it out.”

Toshiba America Business Solutions Inc.

Selling into vertical markets is about solution selling, says Jason Jarrett, director of solution sales at Toshiba America Business Solutions Inc. “It’s fundamentally important that dealers diversify — understanding the requirements of dif ferent organizations, solving their problems and providing business outcomes,” he says. “When you start to sell into VMs [vertical markets], you organically start to become

“The vertical-oriented sales cycle doesn’t mesh well with the industry’s traditional 30-day turnaround ... So, the dealership ... has to be willing to adjust ... There is more upside on the back end — a deeper relationship ... ”

— Madhu Bhawnani-Dutta

Canon U.S.A. Inc.

When I.T. works, you’re winning as a team

WELCOME TO THE INTELLIGENT CONNECTED WORKPLACE

Where you’ve got the confidence to run business your way. Secure. Connected. Empowered. With a digital solutions partner who tailors services to care of your business, you can scale up and stand tall. When I.T. works, WORK IT Visit RethinkWork.com

solutions focused; and when I say ‘solutions,’ I’m not nec essarily meaning software. I’m meaning anything — a solution to a problem.”

Focusing on verticals is an ideal competitive advantage, Jarrett says. “By selling into VMs, you are very much dif ferentiating your dealership from those that are just out to refresh a copier fleet with out really understanding the customer’s business,” he says.

“The core knowledge and skill sets that you will develop will transcend across all of the VMs. Today, while there is still very much a demand for printed output, customers are look ing for partners that understand their specific environments and all the specific business requirements related to every stage of their document life cycles.”

Toshiba is well positioned to help its dealers pursue

vertical market opportuni ties, Jarrett says, particularly in the seven key verticals the company targets — educa tion, finance, government, health care, legal, manu facturing and logistics, and retail. “The reason we focus on these verticals is our ex perience; we have a strong track record in all of them,” he says. “And while each of them has a unique set of re quirements, in one way or another, they are a very good fit with our portfolio of offer ings and services.”

Because the pursuit of verticals is not an easy task, it is “essential that dealers are aligned with an OEM partner that has a focus on selling into verticals,” Jarrett says, noting that it has “always been one of the primary areas of focus” at Toshiba. “We have built an online training program that

“If you think about the seven verticals ... There are often no IT employees near the devices, so it’s a much more complicated problem. By solving those problems, we help generate more value for these verticals.“

— Larry Early Lexmark International

— Jason Jarrett

enables our dealers to sell into the specific verticals confi dently and successfully. We also provide a large number of deliverables, such as marketing kits and presentations that help dealers speak to customers within the VMs.”

Jarrett further emphasizes the support that Toshiba pro vides its dealers. “There is a section within our partner por tal called Toshiba Exchange that goes deep into the different areas of our business,” he says. “There you will find a landing page for every vertical that we support. We have e-learnings, scheduled webinars, tests that can be taken on the vertically aligned solutions that we sell, battle cards and intro guides to selling into the verticals.”

There is a “tremendous opportunity” with all seven of the verticals that Toshiba targets, “but I would say to dealers, ‘Don’t try to boil the ocean,’” Jarrett says. “That is, don’t limit yourself to just one of these, but do start off small and build on your domain expertise.”

Jarrett says the successful dealership will need the right staff. “When you are recruiting, look for people who have ex pertise in a specific vertical,” he advises. “This may include a candidate with little to no experience in office equipment, but who has worked in information technology inside of a health-care organization, which obviously included con nected printers. That candidate could become your special ist in health care, understanding at a very high level all of the challenges, because he or she lived it.”

Beyond the seven key verticals targeted by Toshiba, Jar rett notes there are certainly other verticals that dealers can pursue. He lists hospitality, places of worship and real estate among them. “If you can tap into the requirements of any of these, identifying the pain points that they experience,” he says, “they’re going to be all ears.” 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.

“

... Look for people who have expertise in a specific vertical. This may include a candidate with little to no experience in office equipment, but who has worked ... inside of a health-care organization ... “

Toshiba America Business Solutions Inc.

Capture the Magic

BTA West hosts event in Las Vegas

The2022 Capture the Magic event, hosted by BTA West, was held Sept. 14-15 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event featured: a two-part key note workshop, “How to Disrupt,” by Armida Ascano of Trend Hunter; three additional educational sessions; two dealer panels; a welcoming reception; and a Cirque du So leil “O” performance.

The educational sessions were: “How to Establish an In valuable Link With Future Customers,” by Earl Everson, Elite Document Solutions; “Diversification, Operational Improvements & Sales Enablement,” by Randy Dazo of Keypoint Intelligence; and “The State of the U.S. Economy: What to Make of These Changing Times,” by John Beriau, Morgan Stanley. The dealer panels were: “Marketing Mat ters: Elevating Your Brand to Set Your Dealership Apart From the Competition,” moderated by Kevin Marshall of Copy Link Inc.; and “The Wow Factor: Building Loyalty Through Focused Customer Service,” moderated by Mike McGuirk of FLEX Technology Group.

The exhibiting sponsors were: ACDI, AgentDealer, Brother, CIT, ConnectWise, Cranel, Crexendo (breakfast sponsor), Distribution Management, DLL, ECI, eGoldFax, Epson, Equipment Brokers Unlimited, Evo Security, FP, GreatAmerica, Hytec, IBPI, Intermedia (reception spon sor), In Time Tec, Katun, Keypoint Intelligence, Kodak Alaris, Konica Minolta, Kyocera, LEAF, Lexmark, Mac quarie, Midwest Copier Exchange, Oberon Americas, Printerpoint, Quench, SalesChain, Sharp (keynote spon sor), Technology Assurance Group (breaks sponsor), Ti gerpaw, TonerCycle/InkCycle, Toshiba, TROY, U.S. Bank, WatchGuard, White Cup, Xerox (lunch sponsor), Y Soft and Zultys.

BTA’s 2023 events are currently being scheduled. For more information on next year’s events as it becomes available, visit www.bta.org/BTAEvents. n Elizabeth Marvel is associate editor of Office Technology magazine. She can be reached at elizabeth@bta.org or (816) 303-4060.

Top: The conference featured a keynote workshop, three ad ditional educational sessions, two panel discussions, time to network with peers and exhibitors, a welcoming reception and a Cirque du Soleil “O” performance. Bottom photos, left to right: BTA General Counsel Bob Goldberg serves as the event emcee; and Ascano presents the keynote workshop.

by: Elizabeth Marvel, Office Technology Magazine

Above left (left to right): Brett Beckham of All Copy LLC, Abilene, Texas, visits with Boris Najac and Bill Schuman of Cranel Inc. during a break between sessions. Above right: At tendees brainstorm ideas during the keynote workshop.

A Link With Customers

During the Capture the Magic event, Earl Everson, president of BTA member dealership Elite Document Solutions in Schaumburg, Illinois, presented “How to Establish an Invaluable Link With Future Customers.” During the session, he focused on using LinkedIn to do three things: build your brand, establish a solid network and close more net-new business. “What is the best thing I’ve ever done for my business?” Everson asked the audience in his introductory comments. “The best thing by far is posting content on LinkedIn ... I don’t care what size dealership you are, you truly have to embrace it [social media]. People are so afraid of social media, asking, “How do I do it? How do I get started?” Well, I was forced to do it and then I embraced it. And, now, this is the only way to do it for me. It’s been unbelievable.”

Everson shared some of his results with attendees. “In the past three or four years I have closed business so much quicker,” he said. “Social media has built so much trust in my customer base ... Now my questions are so different. When they call me, I ask, ‘How long have you been dealing with this problem? How soon do you want to solve the problem?’ I’m not talking about who I am; they already know me [from my LinkedIn profile and posts]. It’s amazing.

“I never talk price ... because they know I’m worth the price to solve their problems,” he continued. “I’m not some new rep. I’m the expert, just like everyone in here. You are all the experts in your marketplaces. You have so much to share. You just have to understand how to communicate to your customers. How can we help customers do it better? Solve their problems.”

It is imperative to be specific about what you do on your LinkedIn profile to attract the buyers and customers you are looking for. “Ninety-five percent of profiles aren’t clear about what these people do exactly,” Everson said. “When I don’t know what [someone does] ... they lose me in the beginning. I don’t want to lose people. I want them to stay on my page ... And that’s why I promote myself and my website as well.” He also suggested updating your profile every 60 days, as well as optimizing it with the right people to grow your network organically.

Noting that 62% of people now use LinkedIn as their numberone social media platform, Everson said he posts on the site multiple times a day because he “wants to keep replaying in your feed. Every time you open up LinkedIn, I want to be at the top of your feed.” As for when to post, Everson shared that LinkedIn suggests Tuesdays through Thursdays from 9 a.m. to noon as the best days and times to post, with Friday being the worst day. Everson also advised adding at least three hashtags to each post so customers find those posts when they search.

Everson laid out the three kinds of posts he makes on LinkedIn, as well as the different types of content he posts. His posts are educational, inspirational or entertaining, and are written posts (50 words or less), polls (with three to four options), photos or videos (a minute or less). He aims for one written post per day, one poll a week, one photo post per day and two short videos a week for maximum impact.

He advises being yourself in your posts, getting attention with a captivating header or introductory sentence, and talking about what you know. “Whatever you talk about [to your customers] on a daily basis when selling your company and your products, talk about it on social media as well,” Everson said. “ ... You have to get attention, but more importantly, you have to be compelling." n — Elizabeth Marvel

Top photos (left to right): Everson; Dazo; and Beriau. Bottom photo (left to right): Kevin Marshall of Copy Link Inc., Chula Vista, California, moderates the “Marketing Matters” dealer panel with panelists Scot Olson, Les Olson Company, Salt Lake City, Utah; Haley Grigsby, Fisher’s Technology, Boise, Idaho; and Andy Smalley, FlexPrint Inc., Mesa, Arizona.

Top photo (left to right): Mike McGuirk, FLEX Technology Group, Mesa, Arizona, moderates “The Wow Factor” dealer panel with panelists Scott Schnabel, Frontier Business Prod ucts, Aurora, Colorado; Joe Reeves, Smile Business Products, Sacramento, California; and Scott Reynolds, Imagine Technol ogy Group LLC, Chandler, Arizona. Bottom left photo (left to right): Chip Gautreaux of Bayou Office Machines LLC, Larose, Louisiana, visits with Johnson Tran and Michael Roth of Evo Security during a break. Bottom right photo (left to right): JonMichael Chieffo and Ryan Wheeler of DLL Financial Solutions visit with Kevin Jaundoo, Document Technologies Inc., Bedford, Massachusetts, during a break.

Free Internet Resources

Use these websites for prospecting & branding

by: Kate Kingston, Kingston Training Group

Itis always interesting when office technology sales executives say they sell technology, but then do not use it in their everyday work lives to reduce the time it takes to conduct prospecting re search or level up their brands. There are many free websites available that will re duce the time it takes for a sales executive to identify a prospect and the size of the company he (or she) would like to sit down with to conduct a meeting to determine demos, assessments, proposals and closes. Many of these free resources focus on identifying nonprofit prospects, which makes sense in the fall because of encumbered funds. “Encumbered funds” is an ac counting term for “allocated for funds” and many nonprofits that have their fiscal years aligned with the calendar year may have leftover dollars they need to use before the end of 2022. So, they make sense to put into your prospecting list this fall. The following are some great free resources.

n Melissa Lookups (www.melissa.com/lookups) — This free resource allows you to look up all the nonprofits (in its database) by ZIP code and reveals pertinent informa tion about each organization. Scroll through the website to “Nonprofit Organizations,” click and you will be asked to en ter a ZIP code. The website will then provide you a list of all nonprofits located in that ZIP code.

n GuideStar (www.guidestar.org) — Also free, GuideStar shares detailed information about nonprofits, including how much money they have in their programs, the executive direc tor’s name and more. You do have to sign up for GuideStar, but they do not ask for a credit card, so it is a free resource.

Once you have created an account on the GuideStar web site, you can type in the name of your nonprofit with the city and state in the search bar and it will locate information for your review. You can identify the address and the executive director’s name. You also can click on tabs (like finances) to get more detailed information about its financial assets so you can ascertain whether or not it is a large enough non profit for you to add to your prospecting list.

n Google Alerts (www.google.com/ alerts) — This service sends emails to the user when it finds new results — such as websites, newspaper articles, blogs or scien tific research — that match the user’s search term from the internet. Google Alerts can be used for any industry, not just nonprofits.

To create an alert, go to Google Alerts. In the box at the top, enter a company or person you want to follow. This website will search through anything happening on the internet: websites, newspaper articles, blogs, scientific research, etc., and will find anything that matches your search criteria. It will send you that information in an email with the con tent attached as links so you can open the articles, press releases, etc.

You want to ensure that it is searching just the company you want. Make sure that you put the name of the company in quotation marks. For example, Blue Technologies is a suc cessful office technology dealership in Ohio; but if you just write Blue Technologies without putting quotes around the company name, Google will search for anything with the word “blue” or “technologies” in it. Put the initials for the state afterward to narrow the search. Using the Blue Tech nologies example, you would enter “Blue Technologies” OH.

Once you have your search narrowed down, click “Create Alert” and you will get email alerts whenever Google finds matching search results.

Google Alerts are particularly important because you can not only track the top prospects you want to identify, but also current information about what is happening in side those businesses. You should also be tracking your cus tomers to know when changes are made or congratulations are in order. Many sales executives will also track top Clevel prospects, as they might have an article written about them, or they might move to another company.

If one of your customers takes a job at another company, you have two opportunities that Google Alerts will help you identify. The first one is you can prospect to your customer

in his (or her) new position (at his new company) because of your successful ex isting relationship. You can also go back to your current customer’s account and approach additional point people there to ensure you keep the account even with the new hire of its IT director, fi nance executive or operations executive.

n Google Ad Grants (www.google. com/grants) — Google started its grant program to provide funding to nonprof its that are not: governmental entities or organizations; hospital or health-care organizations; or schools, academic institutions or universities. Each qualifying nonprofit has access to up to $10,000 per month in free search ads shown on Google.

When prospecting to a charitable nonprofit, you can start your pitch by stating that you were calling or writing “to be of service” to them. You can back that up by bringing the Google ad grant application to the meeting. Share with the customer that although you are not affiliated with Google,

“you know that many nonprofits have ap plied for and received these grant dollars that will help your community (and the world) understand how your organiza tion can be of service for free.”

For example, if a nonprofit like Autism Awareness applied and won a Google ad grant, it would receive free search engine optimization from keywords it chooses that would help people who are search ing for autism signs or symptoms, how to get help if a child is autistic, etc.

All of those searches would result in finding the Autism Awareness website at the top of the results, but for free to the charity. This is a great action item to bring for that first net-new meeting with a prospect, but also for any customer partnership review with a nonprofit.

n ParishesOnline (www.parishesonline.com) — For those of you who want to go after Catholic churches and schools, I came across ParishesOnline. This free website provides the dioceses by state, as well as a list of Catholic

When prospecting to a charitable nonprofit, you can start your pitch by stating that you were calling or writing “to be of service” to them.

churches and schools by ZIP code, city or area code.

To use the site, type the word “church” in the first box and then the ZIP code you want to search in the second box. Click on the orange search icon and all the Catholic churches and schools within 25 miles of the ZIP code will appear. When you click on any of these churches, it will often tell you the pastor’s name so you have your point person, along with the address, phone number and, sometimes, the mass schedule. This is an easy way to create a list of churches and private Catholic schools with a point person, address and phone number. October and November are great months to go af ter churches because it is prior to their busy season (Christ mas, Lent and Easter).

n ChurchFinder (www.churchfinder.com) — If you are looking to identify any type of church (regardless of the specific denomination), you can use ChurchFinder. This website requires you to enter a city and state and it will list all the churches in that particular city, whether they are Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, etc.

n Hunter (https://hunter.io/chrome) — Office technol ogy dealerships want to be able to utilize email as one of their prospecting delivery methods. Problems arise when they do not have the email format for the company. The Hunter for Chrome extension is the easy, free solution. It al lows you to look up 25 email addresses per month for free.

First, sign up for an account using the orange “Sign up” button at the top of the page. Hunter will then send you a confirmation email that will allow you to add Hunter as a Chrome extension. Whenever you visit any website you can now click on that extension and a drop-down box will ap pear that will show you the email format for that company.

It does not matter if you do not find the point person in the drop-down box because what you are looking for is the format for the emails (e.g., Firstname.Lastname@kingston training.com). You will know that everyone at the company uses that same format.

n Vidyard (www.vidyard.com) — They say a picture is worth 1,000 words. If that is the case, a video is worth 10,000. Office technology industry professionals must use video in their prospecting and marketing efforts, as it is where our industry is moving. This free tool is very easy to sign up for and has self-explanatory directions right on the website.

Once you have added the extension to your browser (ei ther Chrome or Microsoft Edge), select one of three types of videos to create. Vidyard provides tutorials on how to best utilize this free resource on its website. Sales executives can utilize Vidyard in their email prospecting, email thank-you

notes, email signatures, reminder meet ing emails, to explain proposals or on their LinkedIn profiles.

n LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) — A new way to make an impact (even in the free version of LinkedIn) is to add a video as your profile picture. This is a great tool because it will level up your profile and give you a chance at putting in a video el evator pitch. When prospects look you up after you have reached out to them, they will automatically see your video when they visit your profile.

Here is how to add a video as your LinkedIn profile pic ture. Note that you will have to use the LinkedIn mobile app to set this up:

(1) Open the LinkedIn app on your phone.

(2) Click on your picture to access your profile.

(3) Click on “View Profile.”

(4) Click on the + button next to your picture and an op tion to add video to your profile picture is revealed.

(5) Click on “Add profile video.”

(6) Record your video. You have about 30 seconds, so deliv er your elevator pitch. Here is one you can use: “Hi, my name is (your name) and I work at (dealership name). I work with my clients to implement cost-effective, customized technol ogy solutions to help them become more compliant, cyberse cure and profitable. Please call or email me to learn how we can do that for your company.”

(7) The app will put your video online for you. If you need to replace the video, just start the process again.

Utilizing some of these free technology resources to iden tify prospects that need you now, to track new prospects and current customers so you know what is going on inside their businesses, and using video both in your emails and your LinkedIn profile will enhance your efforts in gaining access to and scheduling meetings with the right decision makers in the right industries, allowing you to make more net-new meetings and more money. n

For the last 18 years, Kate Kingston has been exclusively educating office technology sales executives on every type of prospect across 60-plus industries and how they proprietarily use technology. She is a recognized authority on lead generation, recruiting new hires from a prospecting skill-base perspective and new business development. Sales-driven, Kingston is an energized communicator who uses humor, audience participation, proven techniques, handouts and real-time phone calls in her training sessions. She can be reached at kkingston@kingstontraining.com.

Visit www.kingstontraining.com.

Utilizing some of these free technology resources ... will enhance your efforts in gaining access to and scheduling meetings with the right decision makers ...

Business happens everywhere.

Your customers need their information no matter where they are.

Give them flexible, secure document storage and digital workflow so teams in the office, working from home or on the road never miss a beat.

Join the 80+ successful BTA dealers that are boosting services and profitability with a trusted and proven DocuWare partnership.

Contact: mary.williams@docuware.com 845-999-6743

docuware.com/partner

Q&A: Caty Di Maggio

Brother vice president addresses dealer questions

Compiled by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

OnSept. 22, Office Technology mag azine interviewed Caty Di Mag gio, vice president of commercial sales at Brother International. The ques tions she addressed were requested from and submitted by Brother-authorized BTA member dealers.

Di Maggio has more than 25 years of experience in sales and marketing for the consumer and technology industries. She has been responsible for managing busi ness units for Fortune 500 companies, achieving double-digit growth with high profitability. At Brother, she oversees a group of 60-plus salespeople responsible for supporting distributors and channel partners, including VARs/SIs, DMRs and dealers.

It was in January 2018 that Di Maggio joined Brother, first with the responsibility of leading the Latin America and Caribbean business transformation in her role as regional vice president of Latin America sales and marketing. She as sumed her current position in April 2022.

The following are some of the questions dealers submit ted to Office Technology and Di Maggio’s responses.

Dealer: Please provide an update on the status of product availability. Currently, in our case, it takes weeks, if not months, at times.

Di Maggio: Well, first, our production levels are staying more stable than before, and we are working very closely with our partners to secure the forecasting and allocations they are seeking, especially and in particular for the con tractual business. What I will say is that we are prioritiz ing production for these partners and have different teams monitoring every day, every week, every month to better understand what we need to do from a supply-chain stand point. It looks like production has stabilized. If the supply chain remains like it is today, we believe we are going to se cure more business.

Dealer: Brother has achieved a lot of market share due to the pandemic. The company has managed its inventory very well. As the other manufacturers start getting product, how is Brother going to maintain its added market share and take advantage of the situation?

Di Maggio: Well, our value proposi tion to the dealer community did not just start from the past two years. It be gan back in 2015. So, I think it is a result of seven years of constant work, but yes, I think the situation helps us, but the way that we are keeping the dealer commu nity engaged is aligned with our model. Our value proposition is based on three pillars: we have our portfolio of products and solutions; we have our pro grams that are well established for the dealer partners; and we also have our people. What we are doing to be very close to the dealer community is listening to what they need, providing what they need and now showing that we are here to stay. We are going to keep having them engaged in the future.

Dealer: Brother’s dealer relations are much better than the industry’s full-line manufacturers. How has that level of dealer relations helped the company win business?

Di Maggio: It goes back again to the people — show ing the transparency and honesty in our conversations, programs and everything we do along these lines. I think key dealers are helping us to secure more business be cause, again, they are the proof that what we are doing is good business for them; we have the programs that are reliable; we are agile to adjust if we need to; we are a lean organization; and we can do things quickly. We have that combination of agility, listening and accommodating that I think is well perceived within the dealer community.

We are so grateful for the dealers who are spreading the word and support ing Brother, because they are securing other dealers’ trust that we can sup port their businesses.

Dealer: I have a concern about Brother’s published retail being too low. It is good when our cost is low, but when moving toward the growth of A4 devices, especially in the MPS environment, we need a higher retail when working with MPS and leasing. Please comment.

Di Maggio: I think it goes back to what I mentioned be fore about being very close to the business. As we evolve, our pricing strategy is evolving as well. But it is not only the pricing. It involves everything around what we offer; what is the value proposition? What we are doing is checking the input — checking with the dealer partners and seeing what new business models they need to address; not only look ing at the pricing factor, but the service and the solutions that they are providing so they can secure business for a long time.

Dealer: We can sell Brother through its relationship with Toshiba America Business Solutions. We do not sell many Brother products, but we do see them in a lot of our commercial clients’ printer fleets. I would be interested in any selling strategies Brother can share. What is the range of products it has now?

Di Maggio: The Toshiba dealer partnership has accel erated enormously in the last three years and, of course, there is a Workhorse Series protected model that Toshiba dealers, like our dealer partners, have access to, but they also have access to the rest of the lineup. There is an op portunity to ask the dealer community to engage with our sales representatives and ask them to reach out more, to be more clear in understanding the lineup that we are offering and the opportunities that they have through this partnership.

Dealer: Will Brother be expanding its existing product line in the A4 space with products that are faster, offer higher volume capability and are more robust in any way? Will there be an expansion to the Workhorse Series? Currently, there is a pretty limited model selection.

Di Maggio: We have been expanding our portfolio lineup in the last 10 years and we have not stopped. This is not only

related to the hardware, but also based on the solutions that we are compatible with, listening to our dealers on what they need for their particular businesses. In November, we are going to be hosting a dealer meeting where they will learn more about what is coming from Brother. [See the final question for more details.]

Dealer: When are Brother’s control panels going to become more in line with other brands?

Di Maggio: When developing new products and the de sign of the panels, we have the end-user experience, func tionality, the overall design and, also, cost, in mind. So, ev erything is taken into consideration when we are designing a product, including the control panel. I think our products fit end-user needs and they are happy.

Dealer: Brother currently uses distributors for consumables (toner cartridges). As a dealer, we have to pick one of the distributors and order only through them. Can Brother allow dealers to order through any of its authorized distributors and still get the purchase credits?

Di Maggio: We do not require our dealers to go to a sin gle distributor for transactional business, but we strongly recommend they secure one distributor for the contractual business. This is because of the way our programs work, especially if there is special pricing involved for contrac tual business. But, at the same time, if there is any situa tion where a dealer needs our support, we are here to listen about that situation and adapt as needed. As I mentioned, we are agile to support any situation, but in this case, it is more about the difference between contractual and trans actional business. If the purchase credit is related to special programs, it should be the same distributor that they pick for the special pricing, so they can secure the credit.

Dealer: Is there better pricing for certain vertical markets like government or education? It seems like it is the same pricing no matter who the customer is.

Di Maggio: Our pricing is not specific by verticals. Our pricing is based on volume, depending on the contractual business that they are getting. We work with our channel partners (in this case, the dealers) on that, but from us, it is based on volume.

Dealer: I would like to know what Brother’s supply forecasting looks like and whether the

As we evolve, our pricing strategy is evolving as well. But it is not only the pricing. It involves everything around what we offer; what is the value proposition?

company will have large dumps of products at one time or if it will keep a steady, smaller supply coming in over time.

Di Maggio: I think because the pro duction is stabilizing, especially on con sumables, we are in a much better posi tion than months ago. We have steady forecasting that we are receiving from our partners and the sales force is validat ing. So, by receiving the information and the visibility of what the market is requesting, we can secure future forecasts. It requires planning, but the way we work, when we have visibility of the opportunities that they are working on, we can secure the special pricing or programs that we are giving and establish a plan for that. I would en courage partners to come to us so that we can have these discussions about inventory visibility for consumables.

Dealer: Is there any leniency for orders that were placed before price changes and then take

three-plus months to arrive with new prices? With the extended lead times, our quoted price and cost at the time of ordering may differ from the cost at the time Brother delivers the goods to us. In many cases, it is a tough conversation to have with the customer. Also, in some cases, the customer’s purchase order may not be able to be changed.

Di Maggio: Well, I think we are all living the complexity of managing a business through supply-chain constraints and price increases. It is unfortunate to hear this happened to one or to some of the dealers. We do notify them about our price increases well in advance because we want our partners to have the time and the transparency to go back to the end customer and have this conversation. Then, we have orders placed before price increases. What we commit to is the pricing for the contractual business. For the other pricing, where maybe this happened to some of the dealers, we encourage them to come to us, talk to their representa tives so that we can understand, specifically, if something is creating disruption with our end customers that we can help solve.

Dealer: I understand that Brother is holding a national dealer meeting in November. What information can you share?

Di Maggio: Yes, as I noted, we are hosting an in-person event for our dealer partners in November. The theme of this event is “Bigger Bolder Brother” and it will be the first time that we are hosting an event with so many dealers. We are going to showcase what we have been doing in the last few years, but also share what is coming in the future in terms of our sales force, our business, solutions and products. It will be a great opportunity to have them there so we can interact and connect.

A dealer council meeting will also take place the day before the event. We really trust our council members for feedback. We conduct surveys and ask them specific ques tions. We want them to be the voice of the channel and have that proximity to what is happening in the marketplace. I think it is going to be a great opportunity for us, again, to engage, connect, listen, interact and show who we are, like the “Bigger Bolder Brother” that we are showing with our business growth.

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.

I think because the production is stabilizing, especially on consumables, we are in a much better position than months ago.

COURTS & CAPITOLS

A Cloud Solution

Is it the best option for your ERP software?

by: Robert C. Goldberg, BTA General Counsel

Manysoftware solutions that are presented to deal ers (and also presented to end users by dealers) are cloud based. This is clearly the trend for many rea sons, but are they the best solutions? Cloud-based solutions are more profitable to the provider. There are also fewer vari ables to address, such as hardware and on-premise support, making the sale simpler.

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software providers have been anxious to move users to the cloud. Cloud solutions result in a continuing revenue stream that, in the long run, will cost customers more than on-premise solutions. Longer relations translate into increased profits. The ease of imple mentation, lower support costs and the reduced need for IT resources are attractive selling points in moving a dealership’s ERP software to the cloud. But the reality is that the advan tages of the cloud are exaggerated, and have substantive risks and disadvantages. While the cloud has been described as “the next generation” and “the future,” there are a number of issues to consider.

Most ERP software packages being sold as cloud platforms were not originally designed as cloud platforms. Often, the cloud-based alternative is not ready for use and often contains bugs and failures. The effect is that while users may be gain ing some more advanced technologies in the cloud, you may be giving up sophisticated functionality that was stronger in the on-premise solution. Users may also be stuck with decreased functionality because of the inability to modify or customize a cloud solution.

It is extremely important not to get caught up in the excite ment of cloud migration. Despite what a salesperson may tell you, it is not an appropriate solution for every ERP user. Close ly evaluate the costs involved in migrating to the cloud — both hard and soft costs. Hard costs can be quantified, however, soft costs (such as a change in operational procedures) may be difficult to estimate. Preestablish what procedural changes will be required with the cloud solution.

Perhaps the greatest concern is the security of your data. Unlike in the use of an on-premise solution, a dealer will no longer be in control. Clear delineation of security responsibili ties must be set forth in the provider agreement. Since the user will not be operating or controlling the cloud infrastructure, the contract must specify, in great detail, the obligations and responsibilities of each party to maintain the security of the data being stored. It is one thing if your employee forgets his

(or her) tablet with access to your ERP system on a plane; it is another thing entirely if the cloud files are breached due to lax protections or security by the software vendor. The provider must ensure the safety of the data, protect it from being cor rupted, hacked or otherwise accessed without authorization, and have experts on hand to react immediately if something goes wrong. With so many common business names in the of fice technology industry, it is possible an incorrect party could gain or be given access to your most confidential data. Estab lish what safeguards — such as multifactor authentication — are in place to prevent this.

Much like a prenuptial agreement, make certain that your agreement with a cloud provider addresses what occurs when the relationship ends. Will the provider be required to convert and transfer your data to another provider? Will there be a charge? Will the provider maintain a backup version or will all data be deleted? Always proceed with the knowledge that the data belongs exclusively to your company.

As providers push cloud solutions for your ERP system, carefully evaluate if this is the proper course for your busi ness. You are often giving up customized functionality for more generalized but sophisticated technology — and pay ing more for it over time. Understand what you are getting into and make sure you can get out of it with minimal business disruption and cost. n

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

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

Dealer Member

Alpha Numeric Inc., Modesto, CA

A M Exclusive Business Machines Inc., Glendale, NY

BMC Inc., Lake Balboa, CA

Brush Creek Trading LLC, Siler City, NC

Digicomm Document Solutions, Bridgeport, CT

Document Technologies, Albuquerque, NM

Genco Business Systems, Naples, FL

General Office Machine Co., Bakersfield, CA

Office Technologies Inc., Medford, OR

Spectrum Technologies, El Paso, TX

Tecnotronics, Salt Lake City, UT

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

HIGHLIGHTS

BTA Disaster Grant Program

The Business Technology Association (BTA) established the BTA Disaster Grant Program in 1992 at the time of Hurricane Andrew to provide emergency financial support to BTA dealer members who have suffered losses due to natural disasters.

Relief offered by the program is considered a grant and does not require repayment to the association. Awards vary based on the balance in the fund and are determined by the BTA national officers, and consideration for a grant is based on the information provided via an online grant application.

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

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 in this space.

Based in Long Beach, California, Laserfiche is a leading global provider of intel ligent content management and business pro cess automation. Laserfiche Enterprise Content Management transforms how organizations manage information, automate documentdriven business processes and make informed decisions. Using Laserfiche, organizations can innovate how documents and unstructured information are processed and analyzed to achieve business results. Laserfiche provides intuitive solutions for capture, electronic forms, workflow, case management, cloud, mobile and records management.

www.laserfiche.com

Founded in 1985 by President and CEO

Young Lee, Nuworld Business Systems has come to be known as a prime source for the largest selection of brand-name office machines. From small standalone desktop copier/MFPs and faxes to the latest in high-tech digital and connected technology, Nuworld has the right solution for any office automation application. Because Nuworld has quantity purchase agreements or blanket purchase agreements with most major manufacturers, it is able to obtain significant volume discounts to offer the most competitive prices to its customers.

www.nuworldinc.com

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

For more information, visit www.bta.org.

DEALERS HELPING DEALERS

Compensation for Reps

How to motivate them in this changing landscape

Compiled by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

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

In the changing landscape of selling a whole different suite of products, how can we best compensate reps? Do we have a “quarterback” rep who has the relationship and hands the detail work to someone else who may receive compensation? For example, if a traditional copier rep has the ability to source leads for business process automation, how can we motivate the rep to handle the lead but hand it off to the subject-matter expert to prepare the quote and close the deal?

“We set quotas for reps for each of our sales ‘factories’ (i.e., MPS, solutions, production, etc.). We also have subject-matter experts (SMEs) in each of these areas who also have quotas for their respective factories. The rep, who generally has the relationship with the client/prospect, brings in an SME and they both get paid.”

Ken Staubitz, COO

Modern Office Methods, Cincinnati, Ohio

“We are specialized with a wide format rep, a product rep and a document management rep. We have a 50/50 split when using one of the reps in a transaction.”

Peter Napolitano, sales manager

United Business Systems, Buffalo, New York

“We pay a straight finder’s fee to the individual who found the deal. We pay commission to the individual who writes and implements the deal.”

Colin Bailey, general manager

D.L. Gallivan Office Solutions, Portage, Michigan

“We educated the reps on the value of the subject-matter ex perts with real stats from past sales activity. Over time, we have found, with continued sharing of examples, the reps started to

go to the experts quickly and are happy to move into a shared commission situation. Our view of commission is shared gross prof it dollars and an individual’s contribution to the close should match his (or her) share.”

Derek Johannson, executive chairman

Carlyle Printers Service & Supplies Ltd. Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

“We have product specialists. Reps are compensated based on the size of the sale for software and MPS. They also have a gate for their quarterly bonuses around qualified leads for specialty products.”

Nick Lioce, president

The Lioce Group, Huntsville, Alabama

“Pay them both.”

Sheryne Glicksman, vice president of sales

Kelly Office Solutions, Winston-Salem, North Carolina

“We compensate the rep the same way throughout because if it generates profit, we believe he (or she) should be compensated.”

Van Seretis, managing partner

Premium Digital Office Solutions, Parsippany, New Jersey

“We are working on that now. We currently have a quarter back and pay him normal copier commissions, but he gets lead fees on scan revenue as well as MNS and phones.”

Chap Breard, president

MOEbiz, Monroe, Louisiana

“We do not use this process of a quarterback rep. The man ager does the training to grow the rep to be able to handle his (or her) own deals.”

Tony Sanchez, managing partner

C3 Tech, Santa Ana, California

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

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

SOLUTIONS

Return to Cold Calling

Let’s get back into the people business

by: Derek Shebby, Modern Sales Training

Ourdealerships were built on human connection — con nection with our employees, with our customer bases and with those we serve inside our local communities. Each salesperson was given a territory and asked to become the CEO of that territory. He (or she) was tasked to get to know the organizations within his ZIP codes, build a great reputa tion for the dealership and systematically grow market share through adding net-new business to the current customer book. Our legacies were built on people. Those days feel like they were a lifetime ago.

The COVID-19 pandemic introduced fear into that human connection. It changed the way we run our sales organiza tions. We had to change our sales processes to find alterna tive ways around any sort of human contact. We were forced to avoid that connection with our employees and customers by moving toward a Zoom/Teams culture and implementing work-from-home environments. We changed our prospecting methods, stripping out in-person cold calling and cold calling over the phone because we were led to believe that people were no longer in the office. We started using other methods like cold emailing and looking into building our brands on social networking sites like LinkedIn. The bottom line is, the pan demic scared the heck out of us. It scared us away from people.

However, we all knew it was only a matter of time before the world would right itself again. Once the vaccines and safety measures were implemented, we could go back to what our business had always been about — people. The good news is those days are here. The bad news is our sales processes are still based on methods adopted during the pandemic, de signed to keep our people avoiding human connection. The af termath of the past couple of years has left us with salespeople who are still scared to prospect face to face.

We need to get back to our proven processes for success. To help you take giant steps toward getting back to those pro ductive days, while at the same time building on things that worked during the pandemic, I have three recommendations for your dealership.

Embrace Those Scary Prospecting Activities

“Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” — George Addair

Being in sales is not for everyone. It takes courage to be a salesperson. We interrupt people. We do what it takes to get in front of a decision maker. We take the shortest route to getting

an opportunity to meet with our ideal client. We put ourselves out there and knowingly face rejection. It is tough. That is why salespeople are among the highest-income earners in the world. Why? Because they face their fears day in and day out. There have always been other ways to prospect, but cold calling is the shortest route to your customer. Fortune has always fa vored the bold in sales. That boldness — and that fear — comes from prospecting. Prospecting is scary; or at least it was before the pandemic.

When the world shut down and we were encouraged to social distance, we ramped up using less direct prospecting strategies — the ones that did not require human-to-human contact. The passive ones. The ones that were not interrupting. The non-scary ones. And, as we expected, the results were slim to none. Here is a list of the (non-scary) pandemic methods of outreach: cold emailing; leaving voicemails; social selling (via LinkedIn, TikTok, etc.); and networking events/communities.

Cold emailing was the main method of choice. Salespeople were given hours a day to craft and send emails to prospects as part of company activity standards. These emails would even count as “prospecting touches.” Reps would spend hours craft ing the perfect emails to their clients with the hope of having each one turn into a prospect. Our salespeople would end up getting used to hiding behind their computer screens, expect ing responses for appointments and easy money flowing into their banks like some get-rich-quick schemes. The reality is most customers just sent those emails to their spam folders and

our sales forces just got used to mediocre results. Cold emailing is the furthest thing from interrupting, being bold or scary.

Cold calling is the most effective method of prospecting, but I understand why some industries would rely on cold emailing as a strategy. They blast the market en masse and hope to get a few prospects out of the campaign. That could work if your mar ket is enormous or highly targeted with an extremely relevant and highly tailored message, but we cannot forget that this is not the silver bullet in our industry. We have territories. We have ZIP codes. Our people have streets that they cover.

I was shadowing a salesperson over the phone a few weeks ago and on the first cold call, the net-new customer said he was interested in new equipment. He had asked his vendor for a quote nine months ago and never heard back. So the vendor just forgot all about it. Insane, right? How does this happen? The email must have slipped through the cracks.

What is the easiest and shortest distance toward reaching your contacts? Get out there. Introduce yourself. Show your face. Meet them. All of this can be done by cold calling (in per son or over the phone).

Cold calling in person is an extremely effective way to pros pect right now. I have multiple sales boot camps going on in this industry right now and the results speak for themselves.

Are they interrupting their customers? Yes. Is it challenging for them to face that fear that has built up during the pandem ic? Yes. When they learn the correct process of cold calling, are they seeing results? Yes.

I had one salesperson do 18 in-person cold calls in one day. He set nine net-new appointments. In one prospecting ses sion, I had a tenured salesperson cold call a school and, two weeks later, he closed a $90,000 net-new deal there. This hap pened in August 2022.

You know all about stories like this. In fact, you built your dealership on these types of stories. However, you might have started believing all the “cold-calling-is-dead” hype that went viral during the pandemic. The salespeople who are terrified to cold call may have become extra skilled in selling you why customers still are not in the office and why they cannot seem to reach any decision makers. I am telling you — none of this is true. Success stories from cold calling still exist and the busi ness is out there. What makes it better is that there are fewer salespeople going after that net new in your territories, be cause their fear is keeping them hiding behind their computer screens. It is time to get your sales team back in cold calling shape. There is a new gold rush going on right now.

Put LinkedIn In Its Rightful Place

The most popular topic among sales coaches right now is

working on your personal brand. Some of these coaches go so far as to imply that you and your salespeople should be spending time working on your personal brands on line on a daily basis. They mention using tools like LinkedIn and TikTok, regularly posting and how it will lead to more pros pects for your organization.

I acknowledge the fact that I use LinkedIn as a marketing and demand-generation tool. I post daily about sales topics and current situations that I experience with the dealerships and salespeople I support. Regular posting takes a tremendous amount of effort on my part, but it is necessary to grow my business. I do this because it gives me free access to my tar get customers.

Does that mean your salespeople should be using LinkedIn like I do? No. Absolutely not. Over the past few years, I have met quite a few salespeople in this industry who use LinkedIn on a daily basis. In fact, a few of these people have three to four times more LinkedIn followers than I do. I asked each of them to tell me how daily posting about how they could be a resource for clients in this industry has helped them with their business. All of them have told me: “Derek, I haven’t gotten one deal or even one prospect from any of my efforts.”

We cannot overlook how LinkedIn makes money. Owned by Microsoft, it has become the largest network for working professionals in the world. There are more than 800 million registered users on the platform. If you pulled up LinkedIn’s financials posted through Microsoft, you would find that it is an $11-billion company and it brings almost all of that revenue in through what it calls “talent solutions.”

What is “talent solutions”? Recruiting. Yes, LinkedIn makes almost all of that $11 billion helping companies hire other people. So as soon as your salespeople start “social selling,” posting regularly and building those personal brands, you can expect LinkedIn to send recruiters their way offering new, grass-is-greener opportunities. LinkedIn is Monster.com. LinkedIn is Indeed. Be careful how you use it.

I do agree with the sales coaches about having a digital brand. Sales team members do need to have presence online. Why? Your customers will be looking them up. They want to see photos and bios of the people who have been prospecting them and validate if they have the expertise and could help their businesses. That is very important in today’s business world. Everyone has a digital and in-person brand, and they should match.

The other benefit of LinkedIn comes from the fact that it is the most current network for business professionals on the planet. This means you can use data inside the platform to help you reach the right people. That is a fact. However, a salesperson could also find that out from the source if he

Success stories from cold calling still exist and the business is out there. What makes it better is that there are fewer salespeople going after that net new ...

physically goes to that account down the street in his territory. Why make the pro cess longer? Why aren’t they just going to see people in person? Why add unnec essary steps by making the research take longer than it needs to?

What should salespeople do with LinkedIn? I recommend two things. The first is to make sure their profiles match the types of people they want their prospects to see. They need to control that message online and control their brands when someone looks them up. The second is ensuring they understand how to use LinkedIn for prospecting purposes and research. It becomes a strong tool when you combine it with your other prospecting methods. It is a fantastic compliment to your strategy, but it is not the main strategy. Do not forget that LinkedIn is not scary. That means it is not the shortest distance to interrupting your prospect.

Modernize Your Net-New Activity Standards

The last recommendation I have for you is to dust off your net-new prospecting activity standards. What methods are you going all in on with prospecting? Are the methods that you want to track scary? That is a great place to start.

Your salespeople only have 40 golden hours per week. Those are the hours your prospects are working. You and I both know their week is not filled with appointments. At best, they have 10 appointments scheduled, but it is probably less than half that number. That means they have between 30 to 35 hours a week to prospect. How do you want them to spend that time?

I would suggest that cold emailing should not even have a slot in your tracking. When you prospect, it is natural to try throwing in an email as a follow up. That is OK. But tracking that as a prospecting touch is ridiculous. Their activity should be heavy on the scary ones, like cold calling in person and cold calling over the phone. That is where the results come from.

To modernize your net-new activity standards, I recom mend prospecting sequences inside of your activities. These sequences do not need to be tracked online per se, but there should be a clearly defined process for them. Outreach, a pop ular CRM, built its entire system around sequences and it is a very effective tool. But you do not need to use Outreach to create your own recommended sequences. Here is an example sequence that you could follow:

(1) Strategic in-person cold call

(2) View their profile on LinkedIn

(3) Warm call over the phone

(4) Send a follow-up email

(5) Connect on LinkedIn

(6) Creative drop-off in person

(7) Warm call over the phone

This sequence would be targeting one individual at one organization. If you are targeting a new contact, you would start the sequence over at the beginning. Hav ing your sales team members learn to fol low a sequence will encourage them to go after an account over a longer period of time. In terms of tracking, I would still recommend just tracking the cold-calling efforts only. That is what is scariest and we know that where there is a bold salesper son, there are net-new appointments being set.

How to Get Back to The People Business

Thirty-six months ago, we were in the people business. We worked hard to get in front of net-new companies to share ideas on how to improve their employee efficiencies and help them grow their businesses. We lived in our territories and in our communities. We built human connections. It was never easy. Being a salesperson is not easy. It is picking up the phone and making that cold call. It is pulling up to a net-new busi ness that you want to cold call and opening up that car door. It is walking past that no soliciting sign. We faced our fears and we reaped the rewards.

In a matter of days, the pandemic temporarily shut the door on those business processes and it has been a struggle to make other methods work. Cold emailing and social selling did not work for us because it is not who we are in this industry. It is not personal. It is not human.

We are an industry of people in local businesses working together in a community. We are in an industry that meets face to face, and that thrives off of personal and human con nections. That is who we are. That is where we are. That is the foundation we have built our businesses on. We can still get back there, but we need to have the courage to get back into the people business. n

Derek Shebby, founder of Modern Sales Training, spent 17 years as a top sales executive and sales director with Xerox Corp. in California. During his tenure at Mr. Copy (MRC), Shebby was a 13-time Sales President’s Club Award winner, coached hundreds of salespeople and sales leaders to excellence, and helped grow his local division from $40 million to more than $100 million in annual revenue (30 to 500 employees). Shebby now spends his time raising his three boys in San Diego, California, while helping dealerships across the nation increase revenues and profits through his 12-week sales boot camp, online sales courses and MPS workshops. Shebby can be reached at derek@modernsalestraining.com and he has exclusive sales trainings for BTA members at www.modernsalestraining.com/BTA. Visit www.modernsalestraining.com.

We are an industry of people in local businesses working together in a community. We are in an industry that ... thrives off of personal and human connections.

Office Technology Magazine Business Technology Association 12411 Wornall Road Kansas City, MO 64145 (816) 941-3100

www.officetechnologymag.com www.bta.org

PRSRT STD

U.S. Postage Paid Fulton, MO 65251 Permit #38

PROGRESSIVE

PROVIDERS CHOOSE GREATAMERICA

GreatAmerica financing programs paired with the right infrastructure fueled our evolution into the IT world. These tools elevated our status from a commodity-based seller to a consultative, long-term business partner capable of advising on financial and business matters.

Gary Harouff, President and Founder, AIS

READ THE FULL AIS STORY:

www.greatamerica.com 800.234.8787