DECEMBER 2012
USP THE BEST OF 2013
A look at next year’s catalogues
A BETTER VERSION OF YOU
How to get even better at your job
A TAXING EFFECT
Filing and storage for the upcoming new financial year
Olivetti would like to extend its best wishes to all the team at Intelligent Media and the readers of Dealer Support magazine. Happy 2013!
Thank you for your support and loyalty through 2012. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, wishing you all a successful 2013.
Thank you for continuing to support all our brands, including Europa, Exactive, Guildhall and Rhodia. Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous 2013!
Wishing all our customers a Happy Christmas and a prosperous 2013 Best wishes, Sealed Air
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Jiffy Packaging - Pick It, Pack It, Post It, Trust It
Wishing PulseOffice and PulseStore users a very Happy Christmas and New Year from all the team at Heart Systems.
Thanks to our customers for making SMARTball the product of the year and the point88 the number one fineliner. Happy Christmas, the STABILO Team
Very best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year from everyone at STAEDTLER.
Tombow thanks everyone who supported us during 2012 and wish you all a successful 2013. Merry Christmas and happy holidays. Your Tombow team
On behalf of everyone at the magazine, thanks for your continued support throughout 2012. Have a very merry Christmas and a prosperous 2013.
From all of us at
USP
THE EDITOR’S LETTER CONTENTS
Welcome to the last 2012 edition of USP magazine, and the last edition as you know it. From next month, we’ll be incorporating USP into Dealer Support as a section within it. This will still mean you get the same kind of content and articles to help you sell office products, but I suppose it means you won’t have to flip your magazine upside down. Less effort is always a good thing, we feel. Though not in our editorial, of course. This month we take a look at the best products and trends in the 2013 catalogues to help you stay one step ahead (p6). Furthermore, in preparation for the end of the financial year, we look at tax filing and storage products that will appeal to a wider customer base (p10). In Sales Academy, we look at how you can work harder to be even better at your job (p12) – impossible, I know. We hope you enjoy this month’s USP. As always, please get in touch with any news stories or updates on editor@dealersupport.co.uk. Over and out!
12 NEWS 05 PITCH INVADERS The latest news and products to help you deliver that perfect pitch
MARKETPLACE 06 THE BEST OF 2013 A look at next year’s catalogues
10 A TAXING EFFECT Filing and storage for the financial year
SALES ACADEMY 12 A BETTER VERSION OF YOU How to get even better at your job
LIVE IT
Managing editor
14 HOW TO SPEND IT The latest film, music and technology to spend your commission on
USP MANAGING EDITOR JULIA DENNISON | julia.dennison@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 929 0089 | 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
PITCH INVADERS
All the products and developments you need to deliver the perfect sales pitch
ARTICULATE, ANNOTATE AND COLLABORATE ACROSS DEVICES
PRODUCT DisplayNote is a collaborative learning resource that gives ownership to every member of the class, encouraging them to actively participate, lead discussion and stimulate engagement. Connecting all digital devices including tablets and laptops to projectors, whiteboards and touch screens via a WLAN router, enables every participant to receive, link to and save the teaching material. Complementing the trend towards tablet-based classroom solutions, any connected device can share their screen, annotations and drawings with a presenter or with any other connected device. Receive DisplayNote Presenter FREE OF CHARGE with every purchase of an NEC M or U Series projector or V651-TM multi-touch display. www.education-nec.com 08701 20116
VOW MAKES FURTHER INVESTMENT IN SALES TEAM NEWS VOW has announced the promotion of Martin Weedall and Ian Oakes to north and midlands sales director and south sales director respectively, with immediate effect. The two strategic sales roles will work closely with the regional directors who will continue to have full responsibility for their own regional budgets and customer relationships. This new structure will facilitate continued collaborative working with VOW supporting reseller customers, in order to help drive efficiencies and place increasing focus on business development support and specific product category growth. VOW’s MD, Adrian Butler, commented: “I am delighted to promote the pair into these two senior roles. Both have extensive experience in the business supplies market and as such I have every confidence that they will provide outstanding support to the VOW resellers in their regions whilst driving our sales strategy across all product categories and customer segments. We will shortly be starting the replacement recruitment process for the regional director north and south west.”
CANON RECOGNISED FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY INNOVATION
SUPERSTAT GROUP RAISES £1437 FOR CHARITY NEWS The Superstat group has announced that £1437 was raised at the black tie gala dinner that marked the end of their annual conference held earlier this Summer. The donation was presented to charity Help for Heroes. Karly Haley, marketing director, commented: “Help for Heroes is a fantastic charity and one close to the hearts of many of our dealers and staff. We’re delighted at the amount raised and would like to say a big thank you to everyone who helped us raise this impressive sum”
NEWS Testing and research organisation Buyers Laboratory LLC (BLI) has awarded Canon Europe with six Outstanding Achievement awards and the Line of the Year award for energy efficiency in its winter 2013 awards. Six Canon devices were recognised for outstanding energy efficiency following BLI’s rigorous in-depth laboratory tests. In BLI’s real-world environmental job stream test, Canon’s devices consumed between 37% and 62% less energy than their respective competitors. They also offer a variety of environmentally friendly features to help users reduce their overall environmental impact including job review and proof modes, toner-save mode, automatic double-sided printing and the ability to fax or scan without fully warming up the device. The following Canon devices received an award: imageRUNNER ADVANCE 6075 Series (75-ppm) imageRUNNER ADVANCE 4051i (51-ppm) imageRUNNER ADVANCE 4025i (25-ppm) imageRUNNER ADVANCE C2030i (30-ppm) i-SENSYS LBP6670dn (33-ppm) i-SENSYS LBP6680x (33-ppm) Canon’s A3 line of MFPs has also been awarded the Line of the Year award for energy efficiency. The A3 line-up consists of the imageRUNNER ADVANCE C2020i, 4025i, C2030i, C5035i, 4051i, C5255 Series, C5051i, 6075 Series, and the iR 3245i. In tests against competitive models, Canon’s devices consumed between 37% to 62% less energy. “Canon’s commitment to producing energy-efficient products has been clear for the past few years now,” said Pete Emory, BLI’s manager of laboratory testing. “It’s plain for anyone to see the significantly lower than average energy results available throughout Canon’s A3 product line.”
066 MARKETPLACE 2012 CATALOGUES
GREAT
EXPECTATIONS The new 2013 catalogues offer a chance of exciting new products and a host of sales opportunities. GEORGE CAREY finds out what to expect in the New Year A new catalogue is always cause for excitement and an excuse for a chat with your customers. It’s a time to fill them in on the new products available and tell them why they simply must have them. As we try to ignore the triple-dip talk and look forward to a brighter 2013, unlucky for none, there’s no better way to start than with a shiny catalogue bursting with new additions to improve your customers’ businesses. So, what products will have people queuing for the water cooler, just for the chance to discuss them? It would appear that the mobile revolution shows no sign of abating. Like the French Revolution, but thankfully with far fewer beheadings but a few more guillotines, the people have taken it to their hearts and are throwing their full weight behind it. Tablets are becoming common in the workplace and are spearheading a general shift towards a desire for greater flexibility. The modern
USP
DECEMBER 2012
worker wants to be able to work from home or in the office on one device and be able to print in the office, regardless of location. The ever-growing popularity of tablets will be reflected in next year’s catalogues with far more complementary products, offering cross-selling opportunities galore. VOW is seeking to cater for this new demand, as technology product and promotions manager, Stuart Bleese explains: “Over 20 new products for 2013 have been brought into the range to complement the increased sales of Apple iPads and other tablets. Such an investment in the tablet means consumers will want to protect, clean and accessories their tablets. Working closely with Logitech, Kingston and AF there will be a range of keyboards, chargers and cleaning kits available to add to orders.” Bleese sees people’s affection for increasingly attractive mobile devices as something to play on, as they seek to
C us on to ta da ct y
“D qu SS oti U ng B1 r 2” ef to ere q u nc al e if y
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08 MARKETPLACE 2012 CATALOGUES
keep their beloved gadgets looking good and functioning well: “Ensuring you use an amount of scare tactics, you will be able to add on a variety of products at high margin levels to complement the tablet.” Whether you advise your customers to protect their tablet when travelling with a hardback protective case or protect themselves from germs and bacteria with cleaning wipes, there are myriad opportunities.
We will see more products that reflect the growing customer demand for mobile and cloud connectivity Someone else who has noted the increasing prevalence of a bring your own device (BYOD) culture is Matthew Searle, director of the partner channel for Canon, and he has research to back it up: “Interim results from our independent, pan-European survey of 729 end-users and decision-makers across Europe revealed that almost a third of users would like to use their own laptop at work, while a fifth would like to bring their tablet or smartphone to work.” It’s this trend that Searle sees as driving the popularity of mobile printing, which is a product range that will enjoy an increased presence in next year’s catalogues. He explains: “In 2013 we will see more products that reflect the growing customer demand for mobile and cloud connectivity. Devices will be certified for industry standards such as Google Cloud Print and enable users
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DECEMBER 2012
to connect or operate them with their personal smartphones and tablets, for example printing documents from, and scanning them to, your mobile device and sharing them directly to the cloud.” Rather more low-tech, but no less prominent in the New Year, will be FM products, which are forming an increasingly large part of dealers’ revenue. As wholesaler pricing improves and customers start to become more comfortable with buying coffee at the same time as cartridges from their dealer, this product range is one that’s becoming a significant area of business. That’s why the number of pages devoted to FM has been rising yearon-year, and 2013 will be no exception. Debbie Nice, VOW’s category head of facilities management, has tracked this growth with interest: “We’ve seen a large increase in dealers selling cleaning and hygiene products, particularly paper disposables. Beverage sales also continue to grow.” Because of this trend, the wholesaler has worked to make its catalogue and FM offering user-friendly for resellers. Nice explains: “A large proportion of the FM development has been to increase the range and improve commodity pricing. We have put a lot of focus on lines that are ‘needs’, not ‘wants’ to ensure that there are genuine sales opportunities.” The new catalogues will have plenty to excite your customers, whether they’re looking to print from the cloud or keep the office looking spic and span. It’s time to extort the virtues of all things mobile and convince them that you truly are a one-stop-shop for everything they need.
10 MARKETPLACE FILING AND STORAGE
RANK AND FILE Demand for filing and storage products is set to increase as the financial year ends approach. AUSTIN CLARK asks how the storage and filing market is changing and finds out how salespeople can target their customers with what they need With the self-employed needing to file their accounts in January, the small-office/ home-office (SOHO) demand for tax file and storage is imminent, but it’s also time for larger companies to get organised for the end of the tax year in April. With these key selling periods looming large, savvy salespeople will be looking to offer their customers exactly what they need in order to get their house in order. So, the big question everyone wants to know the answer to is what are the latest trends when it comes to filing and storage? Kevin Wharton, marketing manager – office products, ExaClair, told USP: “As the full extent of the recession began to bite a couple of years ago, there was a noticeable move in our customers’ spending habits away from heavier weight, high-quality filing products towards medium weight products, as many companies tried to save costs wherever they could. More recently however, we have witnessed a definite move back to quality product ranges because those are the products that can best deliver what’s needed in terms of durability, consistency and the protection necessary for long term filing and storage.” Given the continuing economic doldrums, businesses of all sizes are maintaining a drive towards greater efficiency, giving dealers a fantastic opportunity to present clients with effective solutions at a fraction of the cost of, say, a business consultant. Therefore, the secret of
USP
DECEMBER 2012
MARKETPLACE FILING AND STORAGE 11
success is to demonstrate to those clients that are less than proficient about efficient filing that, by using the right products, business efficiency can be improved. Sell the cost savings of effective storage in terms of staffing costs. Demonstrate why storage secures vital records and information in case of business disruption or disaster. Remind customers of the legal obligation to keep information up-to-date, protected from fraud and in an accurate and accessible manor for audit. Throw in the suggestion that effective storage frees up space and the fact that now is the perfect time to get their house in order – not least so that employees return from the Christmas and new year break to clean desks – and it’s clear that there’s a persuasive sales message. Jessica Marshall, marketing manager at Triumph Storage, says: “Sharing findings from storage audits and offering after-sales training to ensure customers are using their storage products correctly and filing perfectly will undoubtedly boost sales. In today’s marketplace price is obviously a key consideration, but at Triumph we believe dealers need to offer the total service package – quality, reliability, value-formoney, experience and expertise.” Wharton adds: “Salespeople need to get to know and understand the customer. They should be asking when their year end accounts are due, when the company does its filing and at what time of year it purchases its filing and storage products, so that they can sow the seeds at the right
time. If salespeople can segment customers and their specific needs, they will be able to identify the products that are the perfect match to fulfil those requirements and everyone will benefit. It is also worth considering whether the customer might have a particular interest in products with demonstrable environmental credentials, as more and more businesses have ‘green’ purchasing policies in place.” This is a view shared by Darryl Brunt, UK sales and marketing director at Fellowes, who reckons that green credentials are an integral part of a sales message, along with value for money and not simply the price. He says: “Goodsales people should really focus on the long-term strength and easeof-use proposition, combined with speedy build, rather than just the cheapest priced alternative – the usual argument of good value versus just price. The end-user needs to combine this with environmental benefits such as being made from recycled and/or FSC materials.” A key trend sweeping through the office storage sector at the moment is a move towards desktop storage, with plenty of manufacturers introducing new ranges to meet this demand. That opens up sales opportunities for letter trays and box drawer sets that ensure a filing solution is always within reach. Modular storage systems also offer sales opportunities. “A product that can be mixed, matched and stacked offers the ideal level of flexibility for a salesperson to
promote, and as a result of one sale, dealers will find that they have a readymade customer when the time comes for that company to make future additions to its storage facility,” says Wharton. Then, of course, successful storage is as much about protecting the information that you don’t need to keep, as well as information that it does. That means shredders – another potential chunk of sales revenue should be factored in. Desk-side shredders – capitalising on the trend for personal workspace solutions – encourage employees to shred as they go, while larger, more secure shredders can be used for documents of higher importance. Then there’s document management software that’s another way of tidying up office filing and archiving, with yet more potential for dealer sales, although not always with the typical office supplies buyer. Brunt states: “When it comes to filing, archiving, storage or shredding, it’s vitally important that the salesperson engages with the correct buyer and user/chooser. For larger organisations this is certainly likely to be the facilities manager – or equivalent role – rather than the day to day office supplies buyer. Get the message to the right person however and this is a sustainable sector that delivers a strong opportunity for growth.” With opportunity knocking loud and clear, now is the perfect time for dealers to be shouting about the benefits of effective filing and storage. Your customers will love you for it.
DECEMBER 2012
USP
12 SALES ACADEMY SELF IMPROVEMENT
GET GOOD AT STUFF The Little Book of Talent, written by DANIEL COYLE, contains 52 simple, practical and proven tips that will help improve any skill. Here we share a choice selection of excerpts from the handy publication
TIP #1: STARE AT WHO YOU WANT TO BECOME If you were to visit a dozen talent hotbeds tomorrow, you would be struck by how much time they spend staring at top performers – the kind of raw, unblinking, intensely absorbed gazes you see in hungry cats or newborn babies. We each live with a “windscreen” of people in front of us; one of the keys to igniting your motivation is to fill your windshield with vivid images of your future self, and to stare at them every day. Studies show that even a brief linkage of identity can vastly increase unconscious motivation. For example, being told that you share a birthday with a mathematician can improve effort on difficult maths tasks by 62%. Think of targeted staring as an energy drink for your brain. Use photos (the walls of many talent hotbeds are cluttered with photos and posters of their stars) or, better, video. One idea: bookmark a few YouTube videos, and watch them before you practice, or at night before you go to bed. TIP #5: BE WILLING TO BE STUPID Teammates of ice hockey star Wayne Gretzky would occasionally witness a strange sight: Gretzky falling while he skated through solitary drills on the ice. While the spectacle of the planet’s greatest player toppling over like an amateur might seem surprising, on reflection it makes perfect sense. As skilled as he was, Gretzky was determined to improve, to push the boundaries of the possible. The only way that happens is to build new connections in the brain – which means
USP
DECEMBER 2012
reaching, failing, and, yes, looking stupid. Feeling stupid is no fun. But being willing to be stupid is essential, because reaching, failing, and reaching again is the way your brain grows and forms new connections. When it comes to developing talent, remember, mistakes are not really mistakes – they are the guideposts you use to get better. One way some places encourage ‘productive mistakes’ is to establish rules that encourage people to make reaches that might otherwise feel strange and risky – in effect, nudging them into the sweet spot. Businesses do it: Google offers ‘20% Time’ in which engineers are given 20% of their work time to spend on private, nonapproved projects they are passionate about, and thus more likely to take risks. The goal is to encourage reaching and to reinterpret mistakes so that they’re not verdicts, but the information you use to navigate to the correct move. TIP #20: PRACTICE ALONE Being social is fun. But when it comes to improving skills, being alone is more productive. Solo practice works because it’s the best way to seek out the sweet spot at the edge of your ability and to develop discipline, because it doesn’t depend on others. A classic study of musicians compared world-class performers with top amateurs. The researchers found that the two groups were similar in every practice variable except one: the world-class performers spent five times as many hours practicing alone.
The Little Book of Talent (Random House Business Books, £9.99) is available now
One of the keys to igniting your motivation is to fill your windshield
14
LIVE IT
The best way to spend your free time and money
SEVEN PSYCOPATHS
Would you like to see Christopher Walken, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell and Colin Farrell line up together in a film written by the man who brought us In Bruges? We know we would. Lucky for us then, that December sees the release of Martin McDonagh’s Seven Psycopaths. The delightfully deranged Walken is Hans, an LA con artist who teams up with Billy (Rockwell) to kidnap dogs from wealthy owners and hold them for ransom. Their questionable joint venture runs into problems when they snatch Bonny, a shih tzu belonging to sadistic gangster Charlie Costello (Harrelson). Marty (Farrell) is Billy’s best friend and a struggling writer whose latest script, Seven Psycopaths, is lacking everything other than a title. In search of inspiration, he becomes embroiled in the doomed dog-knapping plot and gets a little more than he bargained for. This is film making of the highest order, as thoughtful as it is ridiculous, with a cast who never miss a beat. Anyone who can compete with Walken in the crazy stakes is doing very well indeed, and Harrelson takes it to the wire, twitch for twitch. Why are you still reading? Go and see it. Out now
BIT OF BANTER
I AM A GENIUS!
I ALWAYS THOUGHT YOU WERE A BIT BIGHEADED
GOOD
FUN
MUSIC
GREEN DAY Green Day’s back catalogue is getting out of control, the not-so-young punk rockers have had more airplay than Chris Moyles and this December they’ve released the third of their three-part opus: Uno! Dos! Tre! Frontman Billie Joe Armstrong’s well-documented off-stage problems don’t seem to have dented the group’s evergreen lust for music and they’ve produced yet another quality album that takes a few risks, with an uncharacteristic piano ballard and a slightly belated tribute to the Occupy movement.
PUB QUIZ Q1. Who was the driver of the car in which Princess Diana was killed? Q2. Who was the first Bond girl? Q3. What sport is played by the LA Lakers? Q4. In what year was hanging abolished in the UK? Q5. What was the name of the Skipper in Moby Dick? Q6. What’s the only active volcano in mainland Europe? Q7. Only two Americans have won the Formula 1 Motor Racing Championship. Name one. Q8. What did Charles Blondin do at Niagara Falls? Q9. What is an ‘ocular contusion’ more commonly known as?
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DECEMBER 2012
CHALLENGING STEREOTYPES A parody of the 1985 US charity song ‘We are the World’ asking for radiators for cold Norwegians has taken YouTube by storm. The spoof was made to challenge stereotypes about Africa, according to the Norwegian group behind the song. The single, Radi-aid, includes inspired lines such as: “In Norway kids are freezing, it’s time for us to care. There’s heat enough for Norway, if Africans would share.”
A WHOLE LOTTA SOLE A man in Brazil’s northeastern state of Ceará met a grisly end after a bet with friends went terribly wrong. The group was fishing on a beach when he reeled in a small sole fish. He bet that he would be able to hold the fish between his teeth for a minute. But as he put the fish in his mouth it escaped and swam down his throat, getting lodged in his windpipe. Despite suffocating, the angler drove to a hospital two miles away, but collapsed on arrival and it was too late for doctors to save him.
BAD
ANSWERS A1. Henri Paul A2. Ursula Andress A3. Basketball A4. 1965 A5. Captain Ahab A6. Vesuvius A7. Phil Hill or Mario Andretti A8. Cross it on a tightrope A9 A black eye
FILM
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hallenge Pioneer C 18 May 6 May –
HERE’S YOUR NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION
JOIN THE CYCLING REVOLUTION What a year 2012 was for British cycling, with Bradley Wiggins scooping the Tour de France title as well as an Olympic Gold, and Sir Chris Hoy becoming the most successful British Olympian of all time. Now you have the chance to join the cycling revolution by getting on your bike and doing your bit for charity. Dealer Support magazine is partnering with Antalis McNaughton and Pioneer Paper to take on the Pioneer Challenge 2013, to get the office supplies industry on their bikes in aid of Breakthrough Breast Cancer. Taking place from 6 May - 18 May, 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 (between 60-90 miles, mainly on road but with some mountain bike sections)
The charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer, dedicated to saving lives by finding the causes of breast cancer, improving detection, diagnosis, treatment and services
The dates 6 May - 18 May
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 day/days.