July 2012 Office Technology

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CONTENTS Volume 19 • No. 1

FEATURE ARTICLES 10

Mobile Printing Reflecting the transformation of the workplace

SELLING SOLUTIONS Optimal Prospecting How to succeed in business by really trying

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by Kate Kingston Kingston Training Group

by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

The start of every sales quarter must begin with a plan and, for most of us, that plan should include setting a goal to exceed last quarter’s sales. At Kingston Training Group, we know that the path to success is to set yourself up with a great plan and then execute that plan.

Today, smartphones and tablets have climbed to great heights in the world of information access and sharing. This changing landscape raises some important questions within the office technology industry. How will the rise of the mobile device impact the volume of documents that are printed?

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Q&A: Terry Chapman BTA’s new president assumes office July 1

by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

P R I N C I PA L I S S U E S Transform 2012 Photizo Group hosts annual conference May 23-25

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On July 1, Terry Chapman became the 78th national president of the Business Technology Association (BTA). Recently, Office Technology magazine had the opportunity to visit with Chapman. He was asked about his role as a BTA volunteer, the association and the dealer channel.

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DocuWorld 2012 DocuWare hosts annual partner meeting May 21-24

by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

Building on its managed print services focus, the Photizo Group’s recent Transform 2012 conference reflected a new, broader view of the services-centric opportunity. Specifically, this year’s conference addressed strategies for business transformation.

More than 300 people attended the conference.

Sales Rep ROI Consistently measure top& bottom-line parameters

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Emphasizing an expectation of continued year-over-year growth, while demonstrating its commitment to supporting its Authorized DocuWare Partners (ADP), DocuWare Corp. hosted its annual DocuWorld meeting May 21-24 at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress in Orlando, Fla.

by Luis Gonzalez SalesScoreKeeper LLC

Do you have a good idea as to which of your sales reps are making you money and which are not? As margins tighten and service prices fall, it is good to have a standard set of benchmarks. Calculating a return on investment (ROI) can be time consuming, but can make a major difference to your bottom line.

COURTS & CAPITOLS 24

Casual Dress Codes Develop a policy your employees will embrace

by Robert C. Goldberg BTA General Counsel

The BTA Legal Hotline receives several inquiries this time of year regarding casual dress codes. There is a tendency to relax requirements during the summer, but without clear guidelines, relaxation may go too far.

It is essential to establish clear guidelines and enforce them if expected standards are to be maintained.

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

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• BTA Highlights

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Executive Director’s Page

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BTA President’s Message

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Advertiser Index

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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S PAGE

BTA Still Bringing Dealers Together

Y

ou are likely aware that BTA’s history goes back many years. In fact, the association was established in 1926 as the National Association of Typewriter Dealers, and later was known for many years as the National Office Machine Dealers Association (NOMDA). Then, in 1994, the name was changed to the Business Technology Association (BTA).

I mention our long history to emphasize the now countless times that the association has brought dealers together throughout the years. In BTA’s offices here in Kansas City, Mo., we have several boxes of old photos of dealers at association events from years gone by, some dating back to the 1930s and 1940s. These photos capture how the association has had a positive impact on peoples’ lives for decades. It has provided great memories and forged lasting friendships. I don’t look at these photos often, but when I do, they always bring a smile to my face. (I have scanned a few of these photos for you to enjoy as well, placing them on the BTA website. Visit www.bta.org/PhotoArchives.)

About one year ago, BTA’s now immediate past president, Tom Ouellette, began talking about bringing dealers together for what would be a particularly memorable experience — one that would serve to forge new friendships among member dealers and provide unforgettable memories. When he first mentioned the idea, I thought of those old photos. I thought about the association’s rich history of bringing dealers together. I also thought about how, all of these years later, the association’s president is still seeking meaningful ways for dealers to connect with one another.

Take a look at the page opposite this

column and you can see that Tom’s idea has come to fruition. On Sept. 4-11, BTA will be hosting a group of dealers on a once-in-alifetime trip to Shanghai and Beijing, China.

Together, these dealers will enjoy visiting such historical sites as Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China. There will also be many opportunities to enjoy the local culture and cuisine.

The trip will also provide a unique opportunity to tour manufacturing plants of two of our industry’s leading vendors — Konica Minolta and Sharp. We are very appreciative of both of these long-time member companies offering to host this group of BTA dealers for tours of their manufacturing plants.

On these tours, dealers will see the manufacture of MFPs. Of course, for some, these will be the exact models they currently sell.

You may be looking at the calendar and thinking: “Here we are in July. This trip is right around the corner. I don’t have a passport.” No worries. There is still time to get a passport and the required visa. You can read about the details on expediting the passport and visa application process on BTA’s website. Visit www.bta.org/ChinaTrip.

While on the promotional page, take the time to read through the trip itinerary and details on many of the sites the group will visit. There are also links to various websites related to the trip, including those of the hotels where the group will stay.

We understand that this trip may not be of interest to everyone, or the timing may not be right, etc. If so, there are three great BTA district events this fall where you can connect with fellow dealers, starting with BTA East’s Oct. 2-3 Grand Slam event. See pages 2 and 3 for details. Watch for upcoming information on BTA Southeast’s and BTA West’s October and November events as well.  — Brent Hoskins

Executive Director/BTA Editor/Office Technology Brent Hoskins brent@bta.org (816) 303-4040 Associate Editor Elizabeth Marvel elizabeth@bta.org (816) 303-4060 Contributing Writers Robert C. Goldberg, General Counsel Business Technology Association Luis Gonzalez, SalesScoreKeeper LLC www.salesscorekeeper.com Kate Kingston, Kingston Training Group www.kingstontraining.com

Business Technology Association 12411 Wornall Road Kansas City, MO 64145 (816) 941-3100 www.bta.org Member Services: (800) 505-2821 BTA Legal Hotline: (800) 869-6688 Valerie Briseno Membership & Marketing Manager valerie@bta.org Mary Hopkins Database Administrator mary@bta.org Teresa Leerar Bookkeeper teresa@bta.org Brian Smith Membership Sales Representative brian@bta.org Photo Credits: iStockphoto, Stockbyte. Cover created by Bruce Quade, Brand X Studio. ©2012 by the Business Technology Association. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means without the written permission of the publisher. Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of published material. However, the publisher assumes no liability for errors in articles nor are opinions expressed necessarily those of the publisher.

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BTA PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE 2012-2013 Board of Directors

2012-13 on Track to be a Great Year

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t is a privilege for me to assume the national presidency of the Business Technology Association. Like all of my predecessors, I did not step forward to volunteer for the association with an eye on the presidency. Instead, I had my eye on giving back to the association. Even so, I am grateful for the opportunity to serve in this role.

Thank you for the opportunity.

You have likely noticed that BTA has come a long way in recent years. This resurgence follows some “lean years” for the association. I attribute much of this resurgence to the dedicated service of our recent volunteer leadership — people like Bill James, Ronelle Ingram and Rock Janecek.

There are others, of course, but these three inspiring individuals, all of whom ultimately served as national president, epitomize the type of perseverance that helped our association reach new heights. They kept the fires burning, kept the faith and worked hard to make it happen.

The results have been impressive. We have continued to add value to membership, without increasing dues, by adding a number of new member benefits. We have expanded the number of annual BTA district events to five, providing dealers nationwide with regional events to gather ideas and tools to ensure their dealerships stay on track for continued success. We have also streamlined the focus of the association to ensure we best address dealer needs in today’s evolving marketplace. Today, we have a strong association.

Following in the footsteps of those volunteers who redirected BTA to a promising future is a new generation of volunteers. They include my predecessor as BTA

president, Tom Ouellette, and my fellow officers for the 2012-13 year, President-Elect Todd Fitzsimons and Vice President Ron Hulett. These dealership principals, and others, often go above and beyond the call of duty, working on behalf of their fellow BTA member dealers.

This new generation of volunteers continues to grow, maintaining the momentum. With the arrival of our new fiscal year, beginning July 1, we have eight individuals who have stepped forward to serve at the district level for the first time. Allow me to publicly express my personal appreciation for their willingness to serve. They are: Greg Gondek, president, Advanced Copy Technologies, Cromwell, Conn.; Dave Quint, president and CEO, Advanced Systems, Waterloo, Iowa; Dan Castaneda, general manager, International Copy Machine Center, El Paso, Texas; Michelle Paterson, vice president of marketing and corporate secretary, Copy Systems, Des Moines, Iowa; Mike Ehlers, president, Yost Business Systems, Idaho Falls, Idaho; Jeff Bucher, president and CEO, Infincom, Tempe, Ariz.; Cathy Dimon, president, Northern Business Systems, Fairbanks, Alaska; and John Hines, CFO, Copiers Northwest, Seattle, Wash. These eight individuals join the other 10-plus volunteers serving at the national and district levels.

You can see photos and bios of all of our volunteers on the BTA website, www.bta.org.

Click on “Contact Us,” then “BTA Board of Directors” and “BTA District Contacts.”

I would like to see the number of volunteers double in the coming years. Is the timing right for you to give back to BTA? If so, let us know. In the meantime, as I take the office of president, with a great team of volunteers working alongside me to guide a now strong BTA, I’m certain it is going to be a great year.  — Terry Chapman

President Terry Chapman Business Electronics Corp.

219 Oxmoor Circle, P.O. Box 531066 Birmingham, AL 35253 tchapman@businesselectronics.com President-Elect Todd J. Fitzsimons Network Imaging LLC 122 Spring St., Ste. B3 Southington, CT 06489 tjfitzsimons@ni-ct.com Vice President Ron Hulett U.S. Business Systems Inc. 3221 Southview Drive Elkhart, IN 46514 ron.hulett@usbus.com BTA East Rob Richardson Allied Document Solutions & Services Inc. 200 Church St. Swedesboro, NJ 08085 robr@ads-s.com BTA Mid-America Dave Quint Advanced Systems Inc. 2945 Airport Blvd., P.O. Box 57 Waterloo, IA 50704 dquint@asiowa.com BTA Southeast Debra Dennis CopyPro Inc. 3103 Landmark St. Greenville, NC 27834 ddennis@copypro.net BTA West Mike Ehlers Yost Business Systems 685 E. Anderson Idaho Falls, ID 83401 mike@yostonline.com Ex-Officio/Immediate Past President Tom Ouellette Budget Document Technology 251 Goddard Road, P.O. Box 2322 Lewiston, ME 04240 touellette@bdtme.com Ex-Officio/General Counsel Robert C. Goldberg Schoenberg Finkel Newman & Rosenberg LLC 222 S. Riverside Plaza, Ste. 2100 Chicago, IL 60606 robert.goldberg@sfnr.com

8 | w w w. o f f i c e t e c h n o l o gymag.com | July 2012

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Mobile Printing Reflecting the transformation of the workplace by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

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oday, smartphones and, more recently, tablets, have climbed to great heights in the world of information access and sharing. It has been a rapid ascent. Scan the crowd at any airport and you will see many eyes fixed on the screens of mobile devices. Look around the boardroom table or among education workshop attendees and you will see these same devices being used for taking notes and checking email. There is no turning back.

It is, of course, the tablet — and more specifically Apple’s iPad — that has essentially catapulted the mobile device into the business domain. “Quite frankly, the tablet has taken off much more quickly in the business environment than I think any of us could have predicted,” says AnnMarie Link, manager of Worldwide Workflow Solutions Marketing at Xerox Corp. “With that comes the advent of collaboration with the use of the tablet in that environment.”

This changing landscape raises some important questions within the office technology industry. Perhaps primary among them: How will the rise of the mobile device ultimately impact the volume of documents that are printed? After all, one can now access a digital document at any time, in any place. Whatever the ultimate answer, it is incumbent on BTA Channel dealers to recognize that mobility is of growing importance in the SMB (small to mid-size business) space.

The industry’s copier/MFP manufacturers have recognized the rise of both mobile workers and mobile devices and, so, have released various related applications, including those that allow workers to print from their mobile devices.

They have done so, in part, out of necessity, says Jon Reardon, a group director at market research firm InfoTrends.

“They are looking for something to mitigate the lost pages they are experiencing in their overall businesses,” he says.

“They are looking for new avenues for printed pages.”

It is difficult to predict the impact mobile printing will have in terms of mitigating lost page volume, Reardon says.

“We are only now becoming more mobile,” he says. “With technology advancing and displays getting better, I suspect that there will be less of a need to consume things on printed paper. At no point do I think that paper will disappear. There will always be a need to print. It is a question of, ‘Where does it settle?’”

Phil Boatman, manager of dealer program development at Lexmark International, acknowledges the need to embrace the rise of mobility. “We approach it as part of an overall direction of where the technology world is headed,” he explains. “Our MFPs need to be able to easily integrate with mobile printing. We know that this is important to today’s customer in the SMB space.”

Consequently, like its competitors, Lexmark has released various mobile print applications, including Lexmark Mobile Printing App, which provides for printing from an iPhone, iPad or Android smartphone or tablet. This free, downloadable application enables direct printing of PDF documents and image files, such as TIFFs and JPGs, to supported Lexmark printers on a business network.

“We also have AirPrint support in our firmware; we started making that available on our business-class printers last fall,” says Chris Faro, manager of worldwide solutions marketing at Lexmark, noting that with the firmware in place, there is no need to download an app, install a driver, etc. Instead, the worker can automatically locate and connect to Lexmark AirPrint-enabled printers on his (or her) Wi-Fi network. “Of course, this helps with printing from iOS devices — iPads and iPhones.”

Xerox is among the many other copier/MFP manufacturers that offer mobile printing solutions, including within managed services environments. “Xerox’s Mobile Print Solution allows employees to utilize existing mobile devices,” Link says. “It works through an email-based structure. So, with an iOS or Android smartphone, a laptop or a

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tablet, if you have email, As noted, Lexmark and then you are able to print Xerox are by no means alone “It comes down to the [Word, Excel, PowerPoint, in their embrace of the mobusiness process and PDFs, text and rich text files, bile printing opportunity. A asking the right questions ...

JPGs and HTML] to a supsampling of other mobile apIf the rep understands what ported Xerox device. You are plications now being offered: the mission-critical workflow going to get true document Konica Minolta’s PageScope fidelity of that mobile docuMobile printing application, areas are ... he is going to ment, just as if you were sitallowing for printing to the uncover that mobile printing ting at your workstation.” company’s bizhub MFPs, applications are among them.”

Link shares the example via a wireless LAN, from an — Phil Boatman of one industry where the iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch; Lexmark International Xerox Mobile Print Solution Kyocera’s Capture2go aphas proven particularly benplication, allowing users eficial: real estate. “Realtors are mobile; they all have a tab- to scan documents on the Kyocera TASKalfa 500ci series let, iPhone or some other mobile device with them. When of MFPs for review and distribution on an iPhone (once they have a document that needs to be printed, whether it’s scanned into an iPhone, Capture2go allows for printing to a contract, sell sheet, spec sheet or brochure, they can do so any authorized Kyocera networked printer); and OKI’s Mowith ease and security with our Mobile Print Solution.” tionPrint, powered by Cortado Workplace, a free cloud printThat print job is sent to a designated MFP at any of the ing application that enables documents to be printed directreal estate company’s branch offices, Link explains. “The em- ly from smartphones and tablets to any PCL/PS-enabled OKI ployee sends the job to be printed, which is held until the job printer or MFP that is connected to a wireless device or that is released,” she says. “Upon arriving at the [branch] office, has embedded wireless capability. the employee walks up to the multifunction device, types in Today, with essentially all of the copier/MFP manufaca confidential PIN code and the print job is released.” turers now offering mobility solutions, the office technology Another Xerox mobile printing solution, Xerox Print- dealership sales rep should be including the topic of “mobilBack, is designed for the mobile employee’s personal printer. ity” in his conversation with the customer. That conversa“PrintBack is targeted at a single user who wants to print tion, Boatman says, should focus not only on mobile printfrom a mobile device to the printer used in the office,” ex- ing, but on improved productivity and workflow as well. “It plains Rob Houston, product marketing manager for Xerox. comes down to the business process and asking the right “It uses an agent that installs on the individual’s Mac or questions around workflow and what the customer is tryWindows PC, and an app that is downloaded to his Android ing to accomplish,” he says. “If the rep understands what the or iOS device.” mission-critical workflow areas are inside that customer Like the Xerox Mobile Print Solution, PrintBack is de- environment, he is going to uncover that mobile printing signed for use when the worker is mobile. “I work on a cam- applications are among them.” pus, so I spend an inordinate amount of my day away from Beyond the need to ask the customer the right questions my desk in meeting rooms,” he explains. “Quite often, while about business workflow, the increasing need for the sales away from my office, when monitoring email on my iPad or rep to focus on mobility should begin with a simple recogniiPhone, I see a document that I need to print.” tion of the changing nature of today’s workforce, says Randy In the past, Houston says, he would have made note of his Dazo, a senior director at InfoTrends. “Today, there is a shift desire to print a document using a to-do list application on to be more mobile in the general work force,” he says. “We his mobile device. “But now I can be in a meeting room or at have definitely seen, from a labor standpoint, that organia customer site and when I open a document that I know I zations are creating virtual offices. So, mobility is not just want to print, I can take care of it right there,” he explains. about a novel capability with smartphones and tablets. It’s “Whether my computer is turned off or it’s back at my desk more about a growing mobile workforce that has a need for hibernating, I can issue the job with PrintBack right there.” mobile printing solutions.”

Houston’s mobile print jobs are placed in Dropbox until Dazo cites a telling indication of the growing interest in he returns to the office and either plugs in or wakes up his mobile printing. “There is definitely a strong push,” he says. computer. “At that time, an agent will come back and see “People are starting to put ‘mobile printing’ in their RFPs, that the print job has been added to Dropbox and it will push even if it is something they may not actually want today. the job to my printer,” he says. “So, it’s a convenience thing.” They are starting to think about it and want to make sure 12 | ­w w w. o f f i c e t e c h n o l ogymag.com | July 2012

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“Mobility is going to bring a lot of attention to workflow, and will be less about printing ... We need to focus on content flowing through the work stream; mobile devices are going to be critical to that going forward.”

— Jon Reardon InfoTrends the technology and capability exists for any printing devices that may be placed in their offices.”

Despite the growing interest in mobile printing and the rapid population growth of mobile devices, the rise of mobility as it relates to office technology and business workflow is still in its early stages. “It started out with mobile devices being a consumer product, with consumers bringing them to work — BYOD, bring your own device — and integrating them into business,” says Randy Sparks, director of worldwide solutions marketing at Lexmark. “There is such a broad landscape right now in terms of how businesses are integrating mobile devices into their workflows that it is difficult to say exactly where it is headed.”

Similarly noting that the industry is “still at the beginning” of the rise of office technology/mobile device integration, Reardon emphasizes that the focus will ultimately need to rest more on workflow and less on the industry’s “currency” — the printed page. “Mobility is going to bring a lot of attention to workflow, and will be less about printing,” he says. “Of course, workflow is not foreign to our industry or the dealer channel. We need to focus on content flowing through the work stream; mobile devices are going to be critical to that going forward.”

The boundaries of the traditional office are fading away.

The boundaries of the traditional products used to create, manage, distribute and collaborate are fading as well. “Today, your customers are able to work whether they are in the office, traveling, at home or in a campus environment going from office to office,” Link says, focusing on the significant transformation of the workplace that players in the office technology industry must now embrace.

“They no longer have to work within the four walls of a cubicle or an office environment.” 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.

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Q&A: Terry Chapman BTA’s new president assumes office July 1 by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

O

n July 1, Terry Chapman became the 78th national president of the Business Technology Association (BTA). He has served as president of Business Electronics Corp., a Toshiba and Lanier dealership in Birmingham, Ala., since 1988.

Chapman is a graduate of Birmingham Southern College and previously worked in the banking industry. He was named BTA’s Volunteer of the Year in 2008 and has served in several positions on the BTA Southeast board, including BTA Southeast president.

Recently, Office Technology magazine had the opportunity to visit with Chapman. He was asked about his role as a BTA volunteer, the association and the dealer channel. Following are his responses.

OT: What led you to first join BTA? Chapman: My father, Larry, was a big advocate of BTA and when we started the company, we joined BTA. I was born in Rochester, N.Y., and my father worked for the Halloid Company before it had even become Xerox. He went on to work in Manhattan for Xerox and then moved to Alabama. So the reason that I’m in Alabama, and the reason we have the company, is really because of that history.

We moved to Alabama with Xerox in the early 1970s, and then we started this company [Business Electronics Corp.] in 1988. My father was a very active member of BTA Southeast and went to their conference every year and always encouraged me to go. I began attending district events and learned a lot from the speakers and other dealers. It was something that I decided I wanted to keep going back to.

Before long, they asked me to get involved in the [BTA Southeast] leadership. So I volunteered to help produce the conference and organize the speakers, sponsors and the agenda before even joining the board. I joined the board

shortly thereafter and continued to help develop the BTA Southeast conference and work more with the leadership team. Then they asked me to be the president of the Southeast district.

OT: What led you to your willingness to be involved? Why did you say “yes”?

Chapman: Every time that I’d ever participated in a BTA function, I learned something that I didn’t know I needed to know. Unless you get involved and participate, you don’t always realize what you are going to learn. You can’t stay in your office (which is what I had been doing) and just think, “Well, I’m sure it’s a good conference, but I have these specific things I need to be learning and I’m not sure if [the conference] will help me learn them.”

That doesn’t help you. What helps you is to get out of the office, go to the conference and meet other people; and sometimes you learn something you didn’t know you needed to know. Most of the times I have attended BTA conferences, I have learned as much from the person sitting next to me at breakfast, lunch or the cocktail reception as I did from the speakers. And sometimes those tips gave me an insight into a better way to run my business than I ever would have thought up on my own.

OT: Looking to the year ahead, what are some areas you believe will be your primary areas of focus as BTA president?

Chapman: When I first joined the [national] board, there were some things I really wanted to see accomplished. And fortunately for me, the past couple of presidents have accomplished a huge amount of what I thought was needed.

We have had a great consensus about what is a good agenda for BTA. We are completing a lot of work on revitalizing our

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before

after

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come together, interact, meet and get educational workshop programs and “BTA speaks for and ... advice from each other. our partners, and I think that the things We have also just formed another we are going to be announcing are goto the needs of the peer collaboration group; those dealing to be very exciting. It is important independent dealer. ers are very excited about being part of for BTA, as a membership association, We are viewed as very that organization. We know we have a to provide education, training and advaluable by all of our strength in being able to support those vice in various formats to our dealer constituents — not only groups, help them to stay organized, members and the employees of their and make it easier for them to meet dealerships. And I think we have always independent dealers ... “ and communicate. done a great job at identifying areas where there is a need — where maybe OT: Why do you believe BTA is important to the manufacturer base or others are not able to bridge all of the gaps. And we have really worked on making sure that office technology dealers and the industry as we are providing good, quality education. That is one area a whole?

Chapman: The fundamental reason is still true. BTA of focus.

We have also been very successful in putting together five speaks for and speaks to the needs of the independent dealgreat annual district events and have had very positive feed- er. We are viewed as very valuable by all of our constituents back from the people who have attended. Now we are work- — not only independent dealers, but also manufacturers, ing to put those events in a calendar that goes further into who view us as a very important connecting body to the the future. We are planning further ahead and we are able dealer base. The vendors, software and solution manufacto help people identify times when they can come together. turers all see us as being a very important reference and We are bringing in quality speakers and new speakers, en- communication point for the dealer community.

When they have a question, when they want to know suring their fresh voices be heard.

We now have a district event in each of the four districts. what the dealers think (“Do the dealers think this would That is a great success. It gives our members a chance to be a good idea?”), they start with a call to BTA. And they

BTA 2012-13 President-Elect Todd Fitzsimons Todd Fitzsimons, BTA’s 2012-13 president-elect, is president of Network Imaging LLC, located in Southington, Conn. He began his career in the document solutions industry in 1989 and in 1991 joined Hallet and Co. as sales manager. In 1997, he purchased the dealership and shortly thereafter changed the name to Network Imaging LLC. The 53-year-old dealership sells Sharp, Kyocera and Lexmark products. The company’s territory covers Connecticut as well as western Massachusetts.

Fitzsimons, named BTA’s Volunteer of the Year in 2011, served as BTA East president during the 2009-10 and 2010-11 fiscal years.

He got involved in BTA after attending a BTA East district event.

“I’d never even been involved in BTA until about five years ago, when I went to my first district event,” Fitzsimons said. “Before that, I had my membership that I paid for every year, but basically did nothing more than get the magazine. But when I went to that first event, I took away so much from the education sessions. It was really exciting.”

Fitzsimons encourages each BTA dealer member to attend the annual event in his (or her) district every year.

“They [dealers] really need to attend the district events and get more actively involved,” he said. “The education at these events is invaluable and BTA does it at a price point where it is very, very affordable to go and learn the latest about what’s going on in our

industry, which helps dealers’ businesses grow and develop. A lot of manufacturers will have their own national events, but they are focused specifically on their products and don’t really give you a good overview of what is going on in the industry. I think BTA has really brought that [industry focus] to dealers.”

Fitzsimons is enthusiastic about the formation of the PRO Dealer Group, a newly created peer group for non-competing dealers.

“We’ve recently gotten the PRO Dealer Group off of the ground, and we are excited about that because there has been a lot of interest from dealers throughout the country to get another dealer peer group formed, especially with all of the changes in the industry today,” Fitzsimons said. “Being able to get that group going has definitely been a benefit to many and I encourage other dealers to get involved.”

He says that the ability to form relationships with other dealers is one of the most important benefits of BTA membership.

“Developing relationships with other dealers is important because we can share information about what has and has not worked in our dealerships,” Fitzsimons said. “Dealers feel comfortable sharing this information with each other because they are in non-competing territories and are willing to help other dealers grow and develop their businesses. When you can develop these types of relationships and friendships with dealers, and can share best practices, the value is priceless. This is one of the things I enjoy most about my BTA membership.”

— Elizabeth Marvel

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are asking because they want to learn so they can deliver better services and better products to those dealers. So, it is an indispensable role.

document?” We don’t do that with a finisher or a duplexer. We are going to have to do that with software and skilled people who understand how networks and computers work, and how software solutions can be applied, and how service solutions, like managed print and managed network services, can be applied to help the customer be more effective with his (or her) documents. That is a challenge.

How can BTA help? BTA is the first line of help — the first resource to call on. BTA knows the industry visionaries who see where we are going and are meeting the challenges. We are providing those leaders as speakers, as workshop leaders and as references to people within the industry. We are doing research and providing publications that are giving answers to dealers’ questions. We are providing a forum for the people who have one component of a solution to come together in one place so the dealer is able to assemble all of the components necessary to go to market and win. n Brent Hoskins, executive director of the Business Technology Association, is editor of Office Technology magazine.

He can be reached at brent@bta.org.

“We’re having to become much more creative and thoughtful in figuring out ways to deliver value to our customers and to be relevant to what they are trying to do ... “

OT: What do you believe are the greatest challenges dealers face in today’s market? How can BTA help its dealer members address those challenges?

Chapman: I think the biggest challenge that we are facing is that the industry is ever evolving and that what we have always relied on historically is the paper document. The paper document is increasingly evolving into purely an electronic document. As that happens, it is consistent with some trends that are occurring — paper volumes are declining and our traditional revenue sources are declining. We’re having to become much more creative and thoughtful in figuring out ways to deliver value to our customers and to be relevant to what they are trying to do in accomplishing their business goals. We are having to figure out how we can assist them with making their document and documentation processes more efficient without adding hardware or accessories.

We’re now having to ask, “How do we manage an electronic

BTA 2012-13 Vice President Ron Hulett BTA’s 2012-13 vice president, Ron Hulett, is president and CEO of U.S. Business Systems Inc., located in Elkhart, Ind. In 1992, after working for an IKON branch and at another independent dealership for a short time, he founded the company with three business partners. Since then, the dealership has grown into a two-facility business with 30 employees.

The $4 million-plus dealership serves northern Indiana and southern Michigan, represents Sharp, Lanier and Kyocera, and sells and supports a variety of software solutions.

This will be Hulett’s fourth year serving on the BTA Board of Directors. During the 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12 fiscal years, he served as BTA Mid-America’s president. He was awarded BTA’s Volunteer of the Year award in 2012.

Hulett decided to join BTA’s leadership team after seeing that the Mid-America district needed volunteers to kick-start programs and representation in the region.

“Our company has been a BTA member since the inception of our business,” Hulett said. “Over the years, we have received a lot of value from that membership. From education, to the introduction to new partner businesses like ESP and others, to utilizing the Legal Hotline, we have tapped into many of the member benefits.

“I wanted to give back to the association that helped me when we were just getting started. I have a strong belief in the ‘do unto others’ creed and felt this would be a way of living that belief.

In some way, perhaps I can help someone else with his [or her] business by volunteering for this great association and the best independent dealer advocacy available.”

Coming into the role of national vice president, Hulett hopes to bring a different viewpoint to the board of directors.

“I hope to bring another perspective and a wide variety of experience [to the board of directors], as I have worked in the industry for a long time and have served in many different roles throughout my tenure,” Hulett said. “As the others [board members] would probably tell you, I am not afraid to challenge traditional methods and concepts to ensure that we are staying on the forefront of the market and not settling for the ‘that’s-the-way-we’ve-always-doneit’ mentality.”

Hulett says his most important goal in the next year is to add to BTA’s education offerings, further enhancing BTA member dealers’ knowledge of the changing industry.

“One item I am focusing on is forming relationships with new training partners,” Hulett said. “As industry and customer needs continue to change and advance, the requirement for training in these specialized areas is growing. This changing paradigm requires a strategic approach to replace lost revenues with other value-added services. Those services require a concentration on education and training in order to deliver a result to the client.

BTA has always been the best resource for the dealer channel to attain that education and training, and I want to ensure that we continue to be.”

— Elizabeth Marvel

20 | ­w w w. o f f i c e t e c h n o l o gymag.com | July 2012

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DocuWorld 2012 DocuWare hosts annual partner meeting May 21-24 by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

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mphasizing an expectation of continued year-over-year growth, while demonstrating its unwavering commitment to supporting its Authorized DocuWare Partners (ADP), DocuWare Corp. hosted its annual DocuWorld meeting May 21-24 at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress in Orlando, Fla. The meeting drew 231 individuals from ADP companies.

In the opening general session, Thomas Schneck Thomas Schneck, co-founder and co-president for Munich, Germany-based DocuWare AG, the parent company of Newburgh, N.Y.-based DocuWare Corp., congratulated the ADPs for their role in the company’s growth and encouraged them to maintain their momentum in securing new placements and expansions to existing placements. His comments set the pace and focus for the meeting, which featured a variety of general session presentations, breakout sessions and third-party exhibiting companies.

“Everyone in this room can be very proud of what we have created and I congratulate you,” Schneck said. “Your strong commitment, and the knowledge and skill set that you have built over the years, have helped make 2011 another very successful year for DocuWare. We were able to close 1,047 new customers for DocuWare in 2011. This is a new record and we would like to thank you.”

Schneck provided additional details on the scope of the company’s growth. The total worldwide 2011 “project volume,” including software, related hardware and professional services, totaled approximately $96 million (up from $91 million in 2010), with $21 million in revenues from the DocuWare 5 system. The revenue split, he said, was as follows: new installations, 41 percent; expansions, 13 percent; and maintenance and support, 46 percent. Schneck also reported the 1,047 new DocuWare 5 installations geographically: the Americas, 477; Germany, Switzerland and Austria, 334; EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), 211; and the United Kingdom, 25.

In his presentation, Schneck explained the significance

of the meeting’s theme, “From Documents to Value,” the heading of the company’s mission statement. He read from the statement: “Documents are much more than paper. They contain enormous potential that can be unlocked by managing them in an intelligent way. Together, with our partners and customers, we leverage the potential, helping them build sustainability by strengthening their productivity.”

Schneck noted that even after 20 years in the document management industry, he still finds the core message of the mission statement compelling. “We don’t look at documents as something cumbersome and a necessary evil, but rather, we look at them as something that is significant, as something extremely valuable,” he explained. “And to show the power of documents to a company — to make them really see the value that they can unlock in their documents — that’s at the center of what everybody here in this room does. And I think we do this very well.”

To ensure its ADPs remain prepared to help end users “see the value” of documents, Schneck said DocuWare has worked hard to provide the necessary support. “Our goal is to support you in the best way possible to identify the benefits of document management systems for your customers and your prospects,” he said, encouraging the ADPs to take advantage of the company’s support resources. “We do this, for example, through the support of our regional sales directors, available to support you in client presentations. We are also doing this with various tools, such as our ROI calculator.”

Schneck praised the ADPs for taking advantage of one of DocuWare’s newest support offerings, its e-learning DocuWare Sales Advisor certification program, helping to ensure that all of an ADP’s sales reps, not just DocuWare specialists, are comfortable talking about document management.

“We’ve been blown away with the success of this program,” he said. “Over the last two years, in the Americas alone, we’ve had more than 1,000 sales reps who have been certified under this program. These are the employees who can bring you leads for DocuWare sales.” n Brent Hoskins, executive director of the Business Technology Association, is editor of Office Technology magazine.

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NOT JUST A DOT ON THE MAP

You are not just a dot on the map, you are one of the 1700 and growing dealers that has allowed Digital Gateway to bring your world together. The new Digital Gateway is made up of the three Dealer Management Solution companies that you’ve trusted for over a decade and a half: e-automate, OMD, and La Crosse. Our teams now work together to do what’s best for the dealer community, the market partners, and manufacturers that serve you.

Our people know how important the Independent Dealer community is to our success.

We are grateful for the tremendous contributions that so many of the 1700 dealers have made to building the best Dealer Management Solutions available. We know that through this continued relationship we can take on future challenges together.

This is the foundation for success that we can all depend on.

Our people are ready to provide the new tools that are critical to compete—tethered to your dealer management systems—and integrated with your key market partners to win in the new economy.

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COURTS & CAPITOLS

Casual Dress Codes Develop a policy your employees will embrace by: Robert C. Goldberg, General Counsel for the Business Technology Association

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he BTA Legal Hotline receives several inquiries during this time of year regarding casual dress codes for dealerships. There is a tendency to relax requirements during the summer, but without clear guidelines, relaxation may go too far. Instead of wearing clothes that are more comfortable for the temperature, there is a tendency to wear outfits that may be more appropriate for a club or bar. It is essential to establish clear guidelines and enforce them if expected standards are to be maintained.

There are actually legal requirements that must be considered in establishing a dress code. The Federal Civil Rights Act establishes that “employers have a responsibility to reasonably accommodate their employees to the extent they can” with regard to dress codes. This requirement is meant to permit one to wear a head scarf or burqa for religious purposes, or similar justification. If the apparel would interfere with one’s ability to perform his (or her) job, then the accommodation may not be reasonable. Thus, if a burqa is to be worn by an individual running a machine with numerous moving parts that could ensnare the clothing, it could be prohibited.

The National Labor Relations Act permits employees to wear certain union armbands and buttons. This protection does not expand to political buttons that may be prohibited.

The Occupational Safety and Health Act requires specific protective equipment for employees engaged in certain activities.

One must also review the laws and regulations of his state to determine if there are broader requirements than those imposed on the federal level. If your state has broader protections, then those would apply over the federal requirements.

As an example, California prohibits an employer from barring pants on account of gender.

A dress code should be tailored to your business. Dealerships often have several categories of workers and, thus, the code may vary among them. Executives and salespeople may be required to maintain a business professional standard of attire — a coat and tie for men and professional business attire

for women. Delivery and warehouse employees may wear polo shirts and “Dockers”-style pants, while technicians must wear company-issued shirts and designated pants.

In developing a dress code your employees will embrace, there are certain steps to follow. Seek input and communicate with employees and managers as to the goal of and the basis for certain requirements.

Make certain that enforcement will be uniform. Set an example as an owner — you are not an exception.

It is difficult to expect employee adherence when you wear jeans and a T-shirt to work because you are only stopping in for a few minutes.

Be open to reasonable accommodations. Establish the culture and image that is being sought and measure the policy and request for accommodation to those standards. Recognize that if a technician goes out without his company shirt, the image you are developing for your professional service staff is quickly diminished. Establish that an individual coming to work dressed inconsistently with the company dress code can be sent home without pay and may not return until he is in compliance. Repeated violations may result in termination.

Speak with other dealers and determine what has worked for them and what has not. Determine what other businesses in your area are doing. Many dealerships insist that salespeople wear business professional dress all year, but it does not hurt to occasionally allow deviations from the rules for the entire staff on a specific day. Halloween and the day of your holiday party may be days to relax the standards. If you do choose to relax the standards, you may wish to mention it in your company newsletter, along with pictures. Show the human side of the business and receive the goodwill associated therewith. A sample dress code policy can be found on the BTA website at www. bta.org/LegalDocuments. n Robert C. Goldberg is general counsel for the Business Technology Association.

He can be reached at robert.goldberg@sfnr.com.

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THE PREMIER EDUCATION EVENT FOR THE IT CHANNEL

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BTA Members: Register Now at No Cost! Use Promo Code BK2012BTA © 2012 CompTIA Properties, LLC, used under license by CompTIA Member Services, LLC. All rights reserved. All membership activities and offerings to members of CompTIA, Inc. are operated exclusively by CompTIA Member Services, LLC. CompTIA and Breakaway are registered trademark of CompTIA Properties, LLC in the U.S. and internationally. Other brands and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks or service marks of CompTIA Properties, LLC or of their respective owners. Reproduction or dissemination prohibited without written consent of CompTIA Properties, LLC. Printed in the U.S. 4/2012

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

Dealer Members Danwood America, Orlando, FL Digital Image Systems, Los Angeles, CA DiMAX Office Solutions, Janesville, WI Document Technology, Santa Barbara, CA Executive Color Systems, New York, NY Office Imaging, Eugene, OR TC Technologies, Tonawanda, NY Texas Copiers & Office, San Antonio, TX The DRS Imaging Group, New York, NY Tongass Business Center, Ketchikan, AK For full contact information of these new members, visit www.bta.org.

Discount on Recruitment Services

For the benefit of its dealer members, each month BTA features two of its Vendor or Service Associate members in this space.

BTA Vendor Associate member Formax is an industry leader in the design, manufacturing and distribution of pressure sealers, mailing equipment, digital print finishing solutions and data destruction equipment.

Formax equipment and solutions are utilized in companies of all sizes and vertical markets, from Fortune 500 companies to schools, municipalities, and state and federal agencies.

The Formax product line is offered through a dealer network across the United States and internationally. In addition, Formax provides turnkey product design and manufacturing services to organizations. www.formax.com

Crawford Thomas, a nationwide full-service sales recruitment firm that specializes in the recruitment of office automation sales reps, MPS reps, production print specialists, sales managers and all support staff, is offering discounted recruitment/staffing services to all BTA members. BTA members will receive a 20 percent discount on the company’s recruitment/staffing services, which include: recruitment, staffing, backgrounds, drug tests, hiring process design, recruitment training and human resources consulting. Visit www.bta.org/Crawford Thomas for more information.

BTA Service Associate member Power Appointment Setting specializes in appointment setting for digital output devices and managed print services (MPS). PAS offers a low up-front cost to get started; appointments that are set by business development reps; customized scripts for MFPs, MPS and software solutions; exclusives with the contracted dealer; appointments set with C-level executives; any appointments that will not meet with you will be replaced with new appointments at no charge; and Cold Market Prospecting, an InfoUSA Business List, from which to choose prospects. www.poweraptsetting.com

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

A full list of BTA Vendor and Service Associate members can be found online at www.bta.org.

26 | w w w. o f f i c e t e c h n o l ogymag.com | July 2012

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SELLING SOLUTIONS

Optimal Prospecting How to succeed in business by really trying by: Kate Kingston, Kingston Training Group

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he start of every sales quarter must begin with a plan and, for most of us, that plan should include setting a goal to exceed last quarter’s sales. At Kingston Training Group, we know that finding new customers is an integral part of that plan.

The path to success is to set yourself up with a great plan and then execute that plan.

One way to measure this process is to calculate “the rate of return” on your daily tasks.

It is critical to know how much you make every time you accomplish a prospecting task.

When it comes to prospecting for net-new clients, salespeople have to schedule a lot of time to make calls, send emails, foot canvass and network. Salespeople should plan on spending 12 hours a week actively prospecting. To use their time wisely, salespeople need to know not only which prospecting processes are the most successful for them, but also which activities are most enjoyable and gain the most/best results.

“Metrics” can seem arduous, but if a salesperson knew he (or she) made $15 every time he made a phone call, for example, making 10 additional dials every day would be a no-brainer.

As a salesperson, the first thing to do is figure out your most successful prospecting process. If you can look at how you systemically make your meetings, you can identify your most successful process. This way, you can plan your prospecting to include all components that bring you the most success.

Your basic prospecting efforts are generally grouped into one of four functions: phone calling, foot canvassing, emailing and networking/referrals. Look back at your calendar for last year and try and figure out how you got a first-time meeting with your last 10 decision makers.

Write down how you first made positive contact with those decision makers, specify the company or contact names and the date you first made positive contact with them. Use this to identify the last 10 net-new C-level decision-maker meetings you scheduled and you will begin to see a pattern that should identify which prospecting process is most successful for you.

Next, create a breakdown for how you might allocate your prospecting time most effectively. For example, if you generated most of your meetings from phone calls, you would want to schedule most of your prospecting time for calls (see chart).

Once you have identified your most profitable prospecting process, you need to know how much money you make every

time you follow the process. Fill in the numbers below and you will know how much money you make every time you prospect.  The number of prospecting (phone calls, emails, foot canvasses) touches it takes to generate a net-new meeting.  The number of net-new meetings it takes to write one proposal. For example, you meet with three new prospects and at least one of them lets you propose a solution to him. So, your number would be three.  The number of proposals it takes to get a sale. The industry average across the country is approximately four written proposals to close at least one sale.  How much money do you make, on average, per sale? For example: $3,000 in commission.

The bottom line: 240 calls earns you a $3,000 commission; each prospecting touch point earns you $12.

Knowing what success looks like can also help a salesperson know if he is really trying hard enough. It takes at least 150 prospecting touches a week, or 30 touches a day. Quality activity has to be part of every salesperson’s equation. A salesperson should be able to execute at least 15 to 18 phone calls and corresponding emails during a 90-minute prospecting session. He should be able to schedule one live meeting for every three or four decision makers he speaks to on a call.

Every 10 prospecting emails should create at least one response. A salesperson should know how long he is spending on foot canvassing and what it delivers in terms of meetings.

Most salespeople spend the majority of their prospecting efforts walking door to door. If they are not creating a meeting for every hour they spend foot canvassing, it is not the most efficient way of prospecting. All quality prospecting avenues are important, and knowing which avenue is the most profitable will help the hard work pay off in opportunities and sales.

Now you know how to plan for success. Guarantee this success by executing your plan and by identifying how you make money each time you do.  Kate Kingston is president of the Kingston Training Group, which provides prospecting sales training to office technology dealerships across the country. She can be reached at kkingston@kingstontraining.com.

Visit www.kingstontraining.com. www.officetechnologym a g. c o m | J u l y 2 0 1 2 | 27

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PRINCIPAL ISSUES

Transform 2012 Photizo Group hosts annual conference May 23-25 by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

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uilding on its managed print services (MPS) focus, the Photizo Group’s recent Transform 2012 conference reflected a new, broader view of the services-centric opportunity. Specifically, this year’s conference addressed strategies for business transformation.

Transform 2012, held at the Hilton OrT.J. DeBello lando Creek resort in Orlando, Fla., featured 40 education sessions and 35-plus vendors in the event’s exhibit hall. More than 300 people from 15 countries attended the conference.

One of the sessions, “Grit and Guts: Dealer Stories of Transformation,” featured a panel of dealers who shared insight into developing not only an MPS Chip Miceli program, but a managed IT services initiative as well. GreatAmerica Leasing Corp.’s Greg VanDeWalker, chair of the Managed Print Services Community for CompTIA, served as moderator.

“Every year, we survey dealers with respect to managed print,” VanDeWalker said, citing MPS as the most significant opportunity for transformation in recent Milton Bartley years. “Many people aspire, some people connect, but only a few make the transition. That shows up in the survey results; transformation is difficult to do.”

T.J. DeBello, vice president of sales and marketing for Stargel Office Solutions, Houston, Texas, acknowledged that the transformation did not come easily, but that his dealership has made significant strides in recent years. “Ten years ago we were definitely more in the transaction business,” he said. “It was about moving boxes. We were more worried about things like how to tackle going from analog to digital.”

Ultimately, the dealership began efforts to enter the MPS arena. “We kept making some inroads, but probably about five years ago decided we weren’t going as fast as we wanted to,” DeBello said, noting that Stargel then ramped up its efforts to focus on a full transformation. Ultimately, that led to the establishment of a separate division, Star Managed Services, which encompasses MPS, managed IT services and software solutions. “That was two years ago,” he said. “Today, we

invoice almost $3 million a year just in that division.”

Among the keys to success for the division, cited by DeBello: It was staffed with new hires after it became clear at Stargel that “you can’t change a hardware person into a managed services person”; managed services invoices are itemized, so it is always clear what the customer is receiving for the monthly fee; and sales reps are compensated in a way that ensures they view accounts as company accounts rather than individual accounts in order to encourage hardware reps and managed services reps to work together to make sales.

Chip Miceli, president of Des Plaines Office Equipment, Elk Grove Village, Ill., said he found it easy to ramp up his dealership’s MPS program a number of years ago, but that the more recent addition of managed IT services “has been a little bit more difficult than I thought it would be; we’re getting there.”

Several years ago, Miceli purchased the software needed for monitoring customer networks and built a help desk “from scratch,” which he described as “an expensive ordeal.” Today, seeing a growing number of third-party vendors now offering dealers network monitoring resources and help desks, he advised dealers to consider partnering with such vendors, citing GreatAmerica’s Collabrance as an example. “That organization can provide the help desk and monitor the equipment,” he said. “All you have to do is worry about break/fix; everybody in our industry has somebody who can fix a computer today. We find that 80 percent of our service is ‘log in and fix it remotely.’ We’re not in the customer’s office much.”

Milton Bartley, president and CEO of ImageQuest, Nashville, Tenn., said he is among those who have partnered with GreatAmerica on both the development of his MPS program and, more recently, managed IT services. “In the fall of 2010, Collabrance and GreatAmerica approached me and said, ‘We have this new offering and we would like you to try it,’” he said. “We put ourselves and some of our customers on the platform and have experienced tremendous growth. We have literally doubled the size of our company over the last year and a half. It’s all managed network services.”

Bartley said he began with managed services sales specialists, but now has intense, in-house sales training in place aimed at continuing his dealership’s transformation. “I believe that as managed IT services becomes more mainstream, it is going to be every rep out there selling it.” n Brent Hoskins, executive director of the Business Technology Association, is editor of Office Technology magazine.

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PRINCIPAL ISSUES

Sales Rep ROI Consistently measure top- & bottom-line parameters by: Luis Gonzalez, SalesScoreKeeper LLC

A

t the end of the day, do you have a good idea as to which of your sales reps are making you money and which are not? As margins tighten and service prices continue to fall, it is good to have a standard set of benchmarks that let you know if a sales rep is profitable or not. Calculating a return on investment (ROI) can be time consuming and cumbersome, but can make a major difference to your bottom line. You cannot continue to judge a rep’s performance exclusively from top-line revenue.

The most important thing in calculating an ROI (or any standard benchmark for a sales rep) is to make sure you gather as much data that directly relates to the sales rep’s revenue and expenses as possible. Here are some basic items that you will want to make sure are included in your calculations.

On the expenses side — Salary, commission, bonuses, expenses (fixed or reimbursement), health benefits, subscriptions (software, industry data sources, etc.) and IT devices (laptops, mobile phones, iPads, etc.).

On the profit side — Hardware profits, software sales profits, lease points (all revenues associated with their transactions), manufacturer rebates, manufacturer promos, supply sale profits and any profits directly associated with the rep’s sales efforts.

Now, there are some items included that are often considered as belonging to the company, but in order to derive realistic figures and to calculate accurate data on which to base a decision, it is important that you include all “expense/profit” items related to the sales rep’s transactions in the ROI calculation. This does not necessarily mean that you are going to pay these to the sales rep, but they should be used to fully understand the amount of profit or loss the sales rep generates.

The next part — the math — is easy. Here is a basic formula for calculating an ROI for your sales rep or for anything else in which you invest: ROI = Gain from Investment – Cost of Investment Cost of Investment Now you have a basic calculation that gives you a good idea as to whether your monthly investment in this sales rep is returning a true profit or not. This is a great start in establishing a benchmark by which to judge the performance and the sustainability of having that rep work for your company, or the need to make adjustments to the way your rep sells so he (or she) becomes profitable.

There is something missing in the data above — service revenue margin. This is an area in which it is very difficult to access accurate data and to calculate. In many cases, dealers do not have service contracts tied to their sales reps. This makes it difficult to pull reports on what each rep is responsible for in service revenue and margins for their client companies on a monthly basis.

One of the first things I would suggest is to tie each of your service contracts to a sales rep. It can be a long, drawn-out process, but it will help you better manage your reps and give you a more realistic idea of their contributions to the company’s bottom line.

An added benefit of having service contracts tied back to your sales reps is that this will allow you to rework your comp plan based on a services-type commission system rather than a transactional commission system. Once you are able to gather this service revenue information, it can then be added to your ROI calculations.

Another good way to measure the performance of a sales rep is to see what is happening to his base of service revenue, both in dollars and in volume. Your goal should be to increase www.officetechnologyma g. c o m | J u l y 2 0 1 2 | 29

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measure those parameters over time and revenues to your company every day. Dealways make sure they are moving in a clining service revenue and declining print In summary, make direction that will make your company volume are very dangerous to your bottom sure you have a clear healthy and profitable for the good of all line. Your sales reps may be generating picture of the impact your customers and employees. n great equipment numbers at the expense of that your sales reps Luis Gonzalez founded Miami Office your service revenues and profits. As comhave on the company — Supplies (MOS) in south Florida in 1986. petitive pressures drive down CPC, a once MOS specialized in the office equipment profitable customer can become unprofitnot only on the top line, space for 25 years as an independent able, while a sales rep is getting high fives but also the bottom line. dealership. It was acquired by Sharp in the sales department for selling new Electronics in 2007. From 2007 to 2011, equipment to that customer.

Gonzalez was branch president and director Always make sure that your sales professionals understand of sales and marketing for Sharp Business Systems. the implications of lower CPC and lower volumes, and how He was most recently senior vice president for these factors influence the health of your company. An easy Sharp’s Business Solutions Group. In 2011, he founded way to control this issue with your sales department is to proSalesScoreKeeper, a software design vide incentives so they do not settle for lower CPC or sell withand development company specializing in out a base. Sales professionals are very creative and very good automation of the commission process for at doing things for which they get paid. Maintaining service business-to-business sales companies. revenues, margins and volume should be part of that equation.

Gonzalez can be reached at (888) 786-7270 In summary, make sure you have a clear picture of the imor luis@salesscorekeeper.com. pact that your sales reps have on the company — not only on the top line, but also the bottom line. Find a way to consistently Visit www.salesscorekeeper.com.

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2-3 • BTA East District Event

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25 • BTA ProFinance 2.0

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23 • Digital Gateway

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30 | ­w w w. o f f i c e t e c h n o l o gymag.com | July 2012

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