USP Magazine July 12

JULY 2012

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SPOTYA 2012

Heatons turns up the heat

HITTING THE BOOKS The state of traditional presentation products

LIVE IT

How to spend it

THE EDITOR’S LETTER CONTENTS

12 JULIA DENNISON

NEWS 03 PITCH INVADERS

Welcome to the July edition of USP magazine. We hope this issue finds you in as good of spirits as a drizzly summer will allow. With a summer of sport upon us, this is your chance to sell like a champion and get Britain buying British and using their friendly local office supplies dealer to do so.

In this issue, we go back to basics. First, we take a look at the market for quality books and pads (p5) to find out where the opportunities exist for dealers. Also, don’t forget to check out page 10 where we discuss the down-side to outsourcing those necessary cold calls.

As the world begins to descend on London for the 2012 Olympics, the editorial team at USP wishes you all an exciting and safe July. And as always, please get in touch with any news stories or updates on editor@dealersupport.co.uk.

The latest news and products to help you deliver that perfect sales pitch

MARKETPLACE 05 BOOKS. PADS, AND ACCOUNTING The current market on quality books and pads

HIGH ROLLERS 08 SPOTYA 2012 Heatons turn up the heat

SALES ACADEMY 10 COLD CALLING

Managing editor

The downside to outsourcing

LIVE IT

USP

12 HOW TO SPEND IT

MANAGING EDITOR JULIA DENNISON | julia.dennison@intelligentmedia.co.uk EDITOR BILLY TAYLOR | billy.taylor@intelligentmedia.co.uk REPORTER GEORGE CAREY | george.carey@intelligentmedia.co.uk PUBLISHER VICKI BALOCH | vicki.baloch@intelligentmedia.co.uk SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER – MEDIA SOLUTIONS MATTHEW MOORE | matthew.moore@intelligentmedia.co.uk

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE – MEDIA SOLUTIONS KRYSTLE DAVIS | krystle.davis@intelligentmedia.co.uk DESIGNER SARAH CHIVERS | sarah.chivers@intelligentmedia.co.uk DESIGNER ,PRODUCTION PETER HOPE-PARRY | peter.hope-parry@intelligentmedia.co.uk CIRCULATIONS MANAGER NATALIA JOHNSTON | natalia.johnston@intelligentmedia.co.uk

USP magazine is published by...

Intelligent Media Solutions | Suite 223 | Business Design Centre | 52 Upper Street, London N1 0QH tel: 0207 288 6833 | fax: 0207 288 6834 | email: info@intelligenmedia.co.uk | web: www.uspmagazine.com Follow USP on Twitter at Twitter.com/uspmagazine Printed in the UK by Buxton Press www.buxtonpress.co.uk

The latest film, music and technology to spend your commission on

PITCH INVADERS

All the products and developments you need to deliver the perfect sales pitch

SENNHEISER HEADSETS RATED ‘AVAYA COMPLIANT’ NEWS Two new Sennheiser headsets in its wired Circle Series are compliant with key collaboration solutions from Avaya, a global provider of business collaboration systems, software and services. The company says the headsets are designed to improvie efficiency and creating comfortable working environments.

“Membership in the Avaya DevConnect program provides a unique opportunity to offer our joint customers a rich communications experience based on a tested and compatible solution,” says Lars Riis Rasmussen, strategic alliance manager for Sennheiser Communications.

“Being a central element in a voice communications solution, the Sennheiser Communications headsets provide leadership in sound quality, comfort and hearing protection for contact centres, offices and unified communications professionals.”

Sennheiser is a technology partner in the Avaya DevConnect program — an initiative to develop, market and sell third-party products that interoperate with Avaya technology and extend the value of a company’s investment in its network.

10 IPHONE PRIZES UP FOR GRABS TO SUPPORT EUROPA SALES COMPETITION ExaClair Limited has launched a prize draw campaign to support dealers and retailers and to further stimulate sales of the Europa books, pads and filing products. End-users can win one of 10 iPhone 4S handsets with every purchase from the Europa range.

James Mead, sales and marketing director, says ExaClair hopes to repeat the success of its 2011 campaign: “Last year’s prize draw prompted almost 8,000 entries and drove up sales for dealers, and this year we hope to build on that strong foundation of consumer awareness around the Europa brand.”

The competition closes 31 October 2012

PROTECT YOUR DATA WITH 256 BIT ENCRYPTION PRODUCT Olympus claims its digital dictation is now even more secure with 256 bit encryption available for professional dictation products.

Digital dictation allows you to secure your voice files via technology such as 4-digit PIN and encryption to prevent unauthorised access, vital in professional environments where confidential data must be kept secure.

To date, 256 bit encryption is the highest level of security compliant with the Advanced Encryption Standard.

Developed for use within professional environments such as medical and legal audiences, Olympus says its professional dictation range encompasses features to support workflow, cost savings and efficiency.

Features such as a bar code scanner to support medical dictation and biometric fingerprint scanner (DS-5000 ID model) to ensure dictations don’t fall into the wrong hands, help to provide necessary support for these heavy dictation environments.

Following the launch of the DS-7000, Olympus has developed a firmware update to enable professional dictation models to be compatible with the highest 256 bit encryption security.

This means that existing and potential users are able to upgrade their current DS-5000 and DS-5000iD devices to record in 256-bit encryption due to backwards compatibility until an upgrade to the new DS-7000 can be made. The latest version of DSS Player Pro is required to cater for the new encryption standard. The new DS-7000 and DS-3500 are 256 bit encryption ready out of the box.

DEALERS DAZZLE ON PROMO DAYS WITH MEDIA SCIENCES FREE SAMPLE CAMPAIGN

PRODUCT

Media Sciences a brand of Katun Corp, is offering free samples plus sales incentives to all UK dealers as part of the launch of the new HP colour compatible toners range. “Dealers are holding promo days offering the ‘try before you buy’ free samples of our new range of HP colour compatible toners and some dealers have got over 20 customers, many of them national companies, testing our new products,” says Katun’s Richard Betts. With no reduction in product quality or performance and providing high dealer margins. Call Katun’s Richard Betts on 07738 642507 or Mark Brown on 07780 833190 to find out more and benefit from this free programme today.

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July 2011 Issue 193

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PEOPLE NEWS FIND OUT HOW OTHERS ARE FARING AND LEARN FROM THEIR EXPERIENCES

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MANAGEMENT ADVICE EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW TO RUN YOUR BUSINESS

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DEALER S

INDUSTRY NEWS THE LATEST NEWS, TRENDS AND GOINGS ON IN OFFICE PRODUCTS

June 201

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CALL: 020 7288 6833 EMAIL: subscriptions@intelligentmedia.co.uk WEB: www.dealersupport.co.uk/subscribe/ *TERMS & CONDITIONS In order to qualify for a free subscription, the recipient must be a director, manager, proprietor and/or buyer in dealers, wholesalers and distributors supplying office products, individuals manufacturing office products, and other individuals with purchasing authority in the UK or Ireland.

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MARKETPLACE PRODUCT UPDATE

A TURN UP FOR THE BOOKS There is still a healthy market and decent margins for quality books and pads.

GEORGE CAREY looks at the opportunities these products represent for dealers

Organisation remains a huge challenge for many professionals, whose time is constantly at a premium. While some have adopted electronic devices to govern their schedules, there are still many who favour traditional solutions. The ease of use of flicking through a page and quickly adding or erasing an appointment is still a huge driving factor for diary sales. In addition to this, traditional paper products are still used en masse for accounting purposes, particularly for SMEs, and quality pads are a constant need for any office-based business.

PUT IT IN THE DIARY One of the key areas for diary and planner sales is the academic year, with students keen to get ahead of their busy workloads and plan their assignments. There is traditionally a seasonal peak in academic planner sales, with highs in late July and August as students and parents prepare their back-to-school investments.

Different customers will be looking for varying content from their diaries. Students may look for products that include key dates highlighted, important phone numbers, personal information pages, or more specific information, such as a scientific periodic table for reference. Business people might be keen on a diary that includes information such as international dialling codes or world time differences.

Given the personal nature of a diary or planner, it allows consumers the opportunity for some individuality. While a senior executive of a company may want a plain, simple diary, a young student will most likely be swayed more towards a colourful and vibrant product, one that reflects their personality or even a planner that they can personalise. Younger pupils may want products that are designed around the latest craze in music or film.

Unit costs of diaries and planners may be relatively low, but there are some easy

JULY 2012

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MARKETPLACE PRODUCT UPDATE

A standard account book can be expected to retail for much more than notebooks and deliver an excellent margin for a dealer cross-selling opportunities for dealers to consider. Given that organisation is the key to sales in this area, there may be scope to sell divider labels for easy access to pages, or colour-coding stickers that can be used to differentiate the various appointment topics, such as client meetings, personal appointments or key dates. Also there is scope to offer customers pens for writing in or colour-coding their planners.

Conversations about diaries could lead nicely into a discussion about products, such as wall or desktop calendars and planners, to complete customers’ organisational demands, and, of course, the beauty of all these products is the need for annual renewal, meaning on-going sales opportunities.

PADDING IT OUT Pukka Pads does a lot of work with schools and has recently launched a new range of pads with activities for children as young as three. It’s a new area for the company and one that it used a consultative approach to create, working with children from a local school. Pukka Pads’s MD and owner, Chris Stott, said: “Working with the children from Hamworthy Middle School has been invaluable. Their imagination and creativity has allowed us to produce a new brand that has vibrant pages, loveable characters and a variety of activities that will keep children interested, motivated and aid them in their learning.”

HOLDING TO ACCOUNT Accounting books are still a profitable area of sales for dealers, as Kevin Wharton, marketing manager for office products at ExaClair points out: “Whilst it cannot be denied that the growing use

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of electronic accounting software has had an inevitable impact on the book market within the accounting sector and volumes are not as high as they once were, there is still a higher perceived value in account books than in many other products and justifiably so.” He continues: “A standard account book with three or four cash columns on each page can be expected to retail for much more than notebooks and deliver an excellent margin for a dealer.”

Another advantage for dealers is the strong brand loyalty often displayed by customers when purchasing accounting products. Many users choose to purchase the same products that they have always used and continue to invest in familiar, high quality brands. Wharton comments: “An established and well-respected brand such as Guildhall, which has been producing a comprehensive selection of account books with various rulings available on ledger quality paper since the 1800s, will continue to attract and impress customers and earn their loyalty.”

There is always a strong demand for well-designed high quality notebooks and pads for general use. Many customers feel that the right notepad can complete their look for an important client meeting and wouldn’t dream of walking into such a meeting with a scrappy looking notepad.

There is a huge range of products to consider in the market and a range of uses that they still perform for customers.

It is important for dealers to offer an ever-changing range to reflect customers evolving taste and requirements, whether it be a an activity book for three-year-olds or a an accounting book for a small business.

MARKETPLACE PRODUCT UPDATE

JULY 2012

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08 HIGH ROLLERS SPOTYA

S POTY

SALESPERSON OF THE YEAR AW USP’s Salesperson of the Year Award returns.

The third nominee for 2012’s SPOTYA competition comes from Fellowes in the shape of Danny Young, commercial manager at Heatons Office Solutions.

SPONSOR: FELLOWES

Fellowes offers an extensive range of products to equip the workspace, including paper shredders, binders, laminators, desktop accessories and record storage solutions. Founded in 1917 by Harry Fellowes and headquartered in Itasca, Illinois, Fellowes employs more than 1,200 people throughout the world and has operations in 15 countries.

NOMINATION: DANNY YOUNG This months USP’s Salesperson of the Year Award nominee is sponsored by:

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Danny Youngs is the commercial manager at Heatons Complete Office Solutions with sales account responsibility for a number of its major customers. He has demonstrated a real drive and determination to grow his sales and margins, and has used Fellowes marketing and promotional tools to make it happen. Not just focused on one product category, Young has worked with Fellowes on its Professor Ergo campaign, embracing the concept of using workstation assessments to develop new sales opportunities, as well as various marketing campaigns.

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HIGH ROLLERS SPOTYA

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WARD 2012 Tell us about your background.

During my A-levels, I took a part-time job in retail that quickly spiralled into a management role and gave me the experience to move on to a position within the Criminal Records Bureau as an executive officer. Four years and a promotion later I took a job in Heatons as an account manager and progressed through the ranks into the role I have today.

Can you describe your role?

I manage a sales team consisting of internal and external staff along with my own portfolio of company accounts, turning over upwards of £700K per annum. I also look after all of the company marketing and am working towards creating a more impressive corporate image.

Why are you in sales?

It was a role I fell into due to an ambiguous “account manager” job title, but since then I’ve never looked back. The role is very diverse making no two days the same and the buzz of opening a new account or getting that big order really adds to the job satisfaction.

What’s your best achievement in this job?

I think it would be setting up our print and workwear departments a few years back. They

“Danny’s professional and friendly approach makes sure that his customers know that he will respond to any enquiry and help to find a solution to any request.”

Richard Monk, national account manager, Fellowes

have added close to two million in turnover and have really added to the overall service that we offer to our customers.

What’s your best piece of sales advice?

Try not to come across like a salesperson.

The second people feel like they are being sold to, they put up barriers that are sometimes hard to break down. If you just be yourself, you are more likely to earn their trust and make it easier for them to deal with you going forward.

Describe how you feel about the nomination.

It has genuinely come as a nice surprise. I’ve never been nominated for anything like this before so I feel quite honoured to have been chosen and hopefully this means I’m moving in the right direction.

Why do you believe you should win this award?

This is probably the hardest question to answer. I honestly believe that I put 100% into everything I do which in turn has bred success on a professional level. I always try to set a good example for my colleagues and winning something like this would be testament to that.

VITAL STATS NAME: Danny Young TITLE: Commercial manager COMPANY: Heatons Office Solutions

JULY 2012

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10 SALES ACADEMY COLD CALLING

Leading sales expert Andy Preston explains the problems of outsourcing your cold calling, and what to watch out for if you’re determined to outsource

THINKING OF OUTSOURCING YOUR COLD CALLING? READ THIS

FIRST!

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SALES ACADEMY COLD CALLING 11

Recently I’ve been asked by a number of small and micro business owners how best they should outsource their cold calling.

Their thinking behind doing this is normally one of three reasons: 1. THEY DON’T WANT TO DO IT THEMSELVES Not a great reason, but because they have to do it themselves, they’re looking to avoid it.

2. THEY DON’T HAVE COLD CALLING EXPERTISE WITHIN THEIR TEAM They’re thinking of outsourcing because they’re concerned that they’ll have to get one of their team to do it who isn’t a natural salesperson, and isn’t looking forward to the prospect of doing it either. This isn’t a great reason to do it.

If you are going to outsource the calls, here are some things to think about: 1 – Consider where they’re going to work from.

6 – What training are you giving them?

Is the person you’re outsourcing your calling to going to work from a business premises? Their home? Your business premises? Your home?

How are you going to handle call costs?

What training are you giving the person? If they’re from an outsourced company, they may well have had some sales training in-house – but it will only be delivered by their manager (not an experienced trainer) and if they’re an individual they probably haven’t done any for ages – not a good sign! What training are you planning to give them on your products and services?

2 – How do their calls fit into your sales process?

In other words, what is the outcome of the call? Is it a meeting? A conference call? A web demonstration? How is it moving the sales process forward? What is the next step after that – you don’t want lots of pointless meetings.

3. THEY THINK BY OUTSOURCING IT

3 – How are you going to pay them?

OR GETTING SOMEONE ELSE TO DO IT, IT GETS RID OF THE PROBLEM There may well be one, or a combination of two, of the above reasons here. Either way, at the moment the sales call issue (or lack of them) has become a problem in the business and by outsourcing it, they think they’re getting rid of the problem. This isn’t a great reason either.

Percentage of sale basis? Payment per hour?

These methods have their benefits and pitfalls and will affect the type of outsourcer you should go for. A typical example I see often is a small business owner tries to convince someone to do their calls for them and expects the person to do it for just a percentage if the business owner makes a sale from that appointment. That rarely works, if ever.

4 – How are you going to manage them?

FACT You can outsource the activity, but you can’t outsource the responsibility

Even if you’re outsourcing your calls to a company, you still need to manage the organisation and the person making the calls. In addition to that, what do you consider underperformance? Do the outsourced organisation and/or the individual have the same perceptions? What are your expectations of success on this project? Have they been clearly communicated to all parties involved?

5 – How well do you know the person?

Many small business owners are far too quick to outsource their cold calling or sales calls just to get rid of the problem of making the calls themselves, or giving them to a colleague who doesn’t really want to do them. Just because it’s easy to outsource the calls, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the right decision.

Are they someone you’ve known for a while?

Or just someone employed by a telemarketing organisation you’re talking to? What’s this person’s reputation? Their experience? Their knowledge of your market sector and the people they’ll be calling? How much do they know about you and your company? What do other people say about them and their work?

7 – Who are they going to be calling?

In other words, where are they going to get their prospects from? Do you have a list of prospects on your CRM system or database that you want them to contact? Are you going to purchase some data to give them some leads to work on?

Are they using their own data? Have you got unlimited rights to contact the data in future?

8 – How long do you want them to work for?

If you can only cope with a certain number of additional appointments per week, it might not make sense to employ someone on a fulltime basis. If they’re starting to make more appointments for you than you can cope with then perhaps it’s time to spend more time on sales, or hire a full-time salesperson to make the calls and do the appointments for you?

9 – How well do you understand the process?

You still need to be responsible for this process and as an old manager said to me many years ago you can’t manage what you don’t understand. What’s your experience with making sales calls and cold calls? Is it enough to support and direct an outsourcer that’s not delivering the results you want? Or are you just going to blame that company for not delivering and kiss goodbye to your investment in them?

Follow the tips above and you’ll avoid most of the problems involved with outsourcing your calls.

JULY 2012

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The best way to spend your free time and money

FILM

BIT OF BANTER

TOTAL RECALL This month sees the re-release of an Arnold Schwarzenegger classic, no, that’s not an oxymoron. Total Recall has everything you could want from an Arnie film: guns; a ludicrous plot; aliens; guns; incredible feats of strength; atrocious acting; and guns. Douglas Quaid (Schwarzenegger) fantasizes of travelling to Mars and visits Rekall, a company that can implant memories of a virtual holiday. When the memory implant goes awry, Quaid’s whole life is bought into question and he’s pulled into a world of espionage, mutant rebels and martian hijinks. Pre-CGI special effects, including the excruciating removal of a tracking chip and weird and wonderful prosthetics, add to the enjoyment and make you yearn for simpler times. They say that sci-fi films reflect the time they were made in more than the one they depict, and this is dripping in glorious early 90s tackiness. Will he find the girl from his dreams and save Mars? You’d better get down to the cinema to find out.

HEY, CHECK IT OUT: I HAVE THE CHICKEN POX!

GOOD

Released 6 July

FUN

MUSIC

THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM New Jersey rockers The Gaslight Anthem release their third studio album this month: Handwritten. Having received critical acclaim this album has been highly anticipated, and doesn’t disappoint. Frontman Brian Fallon has described the songs on the album as “pretty personal and pretty aggressive”. The album was recorded in Nashville and is coated in southern-fried goodness, evoking memories of the town’s legendary rock and roll past.

They can be seen this summer at Reading and Leeds Festivals and supporting Soundgarden on their European tour.

Released 24 July

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PENSIONERS The world’s oldest triathlete has just completed another one, at the age of 91.

Arthur Gilbert, from Burnham-on-Sea, goes to the gym three times a week, swims 50 lengths every day and cycles 25 miles each Sunday. He has been crowned British duathlon champion seven times for his age group and also carried the Olympic torch in May this year. As if that wasn’t enough, he has been awarded an MBE for his contributions to charity.

PUB QUIZ Q1. What colour does acid turn Litmus paper?

Q2. What’s the largest Scandinavian country?

Q3. What was the name of the Benedictine

monk who legend has it invented

Champagne?

Q4. Who holds the record as being Britain’s

youngest ever Formula 1 Driver?

Q5. Which land did Puff The Magic Dragon

live in?

Q6. In the USA what name was given to a

seller of illegal alcohol?

Q7. In mythology what was minerva the

Goddess of?

Q8. In the movies who plays the role of Harry Potter?

CARTHIEVES A Chinese car thief has been arrested after giving a policeman a ride on his bonnet. He received a 12-month sentence after refusing to stop for two policemen at a checkpoint in Xuancheng City, east China. Undeterred by one policeman’s presence blocking his path, he hit the accelerator, taking the unlucky officer with him. His time on the run finished when a passing SUV blocked the highway. The driver had removed the car’s license plates to avoid being identified but ironically it was the plate’s absence that drew the officer’s attention.

BAD

Answers: A1. Red A2. Sweden A3. Dom Perignon A4. Jensen Button A5. Honalee A6. Bootlegger A7. Daniel Radcliffe

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hallenge Pioneer C mber 2012 te 17-28 Sep

ARE YOU UP FOR THE CHALLENGE? With the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games coming up this summer, this year is undeniably a year of sporting achievement. If you’re feeling left out of the fun, here’s your chance to do something good for yourself and others.

Dealer Support magazine is partnering with Antalis McNaughton and Pioneer Paper to take on the Pioneer Challenge 2012, to get the office supplies industry on their bikes in aid of Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

Taking place from 17 to 28 September, the goal of Pioneer Challenge is to have 20 riders on each of the 10 stages of the relay. If every rider can raise around £100, with all the expected participants we will blow the £20,000 figure of last year.

The challenge Cycle one or more of the stages from Aberdeen to Brighton (each stage is around 85 miles)

The charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer, dedicated to saving lives by finding the causes of breast cancer, improving detection, diagnosis, treatment and services

The dates 17-28 September

How to enter Please go to www.dealersupport.co.uk to find out more about the challenge, dates, cycle routes, setting up a donation page, logistics and cycle support, then email matthew.moore@intelligentmedia.co.uk with your choice of date/s.