June 2019 Office Technology

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CONTENTS Volume 25 • No. 12

FEATURE ARTICLES 10

Leveraging the Cloud A growing trend among the industry’s manufacturers

P R I N C I PA L I S S U E S DocuWorld 2019 Software company focuses on retention, cloud growth

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by Elizabeth Marvel Office Technology Magazine

by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

On May 7-9 at the M Resort Spa Casino in Henderson, Nevada, DocuWare hosted its DocuWorld 2019 conference for 366 attendees. The event consisted of keynote presentations; a partner panel discussion; training breakout sessions; networking events; and more.

Daily access to the cloud for business applications and company information in the workplace is no longer an emerging trend. Workers are now accustomed to using the cloud.

It offers a convenient means of collaboration and a level of security not always in place with on-site servers.

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Recruitment Quotas An important metric for sales managers to tackle

by Kate Kingston Kingston Training Group

SELLING SOLUTIONS Recurring Revenue Addressing the Catch-22 involved in this model

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Sales quotas are not the only metrics that need to be met by a successful office technology sales manager. Recruitment quotas must be established to create the pool of candidates a dealership needs to succeed in building a money-making, energized and competitive sales force.

by Gil Cargill Cargill Consulting Group Inc.

Once a salesperson has a portfolio of customers that he (or she) is serving, he can become so busy taking care of existing customers that he does not have time to reach out and contact prospective new customers. This is the Catch-22 of the recurring revenue model.

COURTS & CAPITOLS 20

Dispatching Techs From Home When does the time clock start?

by Robert C. Goldberg BTA General Counsel

Schedule Discipline It separates the successful from the unsuccessful

29

by Troy Harrison Troy Harrison & Associates

In what hopefully is a decision that becomes a trend, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled that state law does not require employers to pay employees for routine commute time driving company-provided vehicles between the employees’ homes and assigned job sites.

One of the most common topics I am asked about when it comes to training is time management. “There just aren’t enough hours in the day!” salespeople and sales managers yell. The truth is that there are usually enough hours in the day to do what needs to be done.

DEALERS HELPING DEALERS 24

Service Plans How are dealers managing print volume?

Compiled by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

This article includes another of the questions submitted by a dealer member as part of BTA’s Dealers Helping Dealers resource, and several of the answers received. These answers and many others can be found in the members-only section of the BTA website.

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

Are You Using FlatRate Service Plans?

L

ast year, the Business Technology Association (BTA) launched a feature in Office Technology magazine called Dealers Helping Dealers, allowing dealers to submit businessrelated questions to BTA via email. We then share those questions with the full dealer membership and ask them to respond with their guidance.

This month’s Dealers Helping Dealers asks about service plans: “How are you managing unlimited or flat-rate service plans?

What is done if the customer exceeds the original estimated print volume? And what is done to prevent customers from becoming ‘print shops’?” Below is a sampling of the answers we received. Additional answers appear on page 24. For a full list of all the questions and responses we have received to date, visit www.bta.org/DealersHelping Dealers. You will need your BTA username and password to access this resource. n “We typically only use unlimited under state contract, however, for the few that we have offered unlimited beyond state contract, we put an asterisk saying that we reserve the right to cancel the contract or add charges for overusage of the machine (beyond our acceptable use).” — Daniel Bombard, owner/general manager, Yuma Office Equipment, Yuma, Arizona n “A simple clause in the contract allowing for the review of volumes on an annual basis should suffice.” — John Hastings, senior vice president of sales, Loffler Companies, Bloomington, Minnesota n “We have not begun to do these, but it is under discussion. Ideally it would be best suited for a customer that has a stable or declining track record of usage. Having contracted safeguards in place tied to volumes

exceeding an expectation or excess supply usage would also be helpful. Or, the ability to alter the contract semiannually or annually more than the traditional 10% annually.” — Chip Turner, director of service and administration, RITE Technology, Sarasota, Florida n “We do not do unlimited plans. This will ruin the market. We do an aggregate term volume, meaning 1,000 copies per month over 36 months totaling 36,000 or 36 months, whichever comes first. If they hit the volume before the term, then we either renew them with another unit and service or we offer a service plan.” — Van Seretis, managing partner, Premium Digital Office Solutions, Parsippany, New Jersey n “We currently do not have any customers on a flat-rate or unlimited service plan.

We are considering it for some customers with multiple low-segment units installed, but are still trying to figure out the language for our contracts to cover ourselves.”

— Juan Maldonado, vice president of service, UBEO Business Services, Austin, Texas n “We have managed copykits. There is a time period of one year or X number of copies allowed during the time period. If the copy count has exceeded the allowed copies during the time period, we renew the copykit sooner than the one-year period with what was the ending meter count of the original copykit. If it is extremely over during the time period, we increase the number of copies allowed with a more expensive and increased copykit plan for the next year.” — Gary Brewer, partner, Data Copy of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky Do you have a question you would like to ask your fellow dealers? Email it to me at brent@bta.org with the subject line: “Dealers Helping Dealers.” I will then share your question with the full dealer membership with a request for guidance. n — Brent Hoskins

Executive Director/BTA Editor/Office Technology Brent Hoskins brent@bta.org (816) 303-4040 Associate Editor Elizabeth Marvel elizabeth@bta.org (816) 303-4060 Contributing Writers Gil Cargill, Cargill Consulting Group Inc. www.gilcargill.com Robert C. Goldberg, General Counsel Business Technology Association Troy Harrison, Troy Harrison & Associates www.troyharrison.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 Marketing Director valerie@bta.org Brian Smith Membership Sales Representative brian@bta.org Photo Credits: Bigstockphoto. Cover created by Bruce Quade, Brand X Studio. ©2019 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

Thank You for a Very Fulfilling Experience

J

une 30 marks the end of my year of service as the 84th national president of the Business Technology Association (BTA).

I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt thanks for the confidence you have had in me, allowing me to serve as president over this past year. It has been a very fulfilling experience.

Looking back at my presidency, I would like to thank the most competent staff I have seen at any organization like BTA. Brent Hoskins, the members of your worldclass team do a masterful job carrying out the vision you have for the organization.

I appreciate your quiet resolve in doing things the right way. Valerie Briseno, thank you for the work you do behind the scenes to make sure our events run smoothly. Brian Smith, thank you for your role at our district events, too, but also for your daily interaction with BTA’s member dealers. There is no question that it takes a lot of work to both grow and sustain an organization like BTA; you two are key anchors for the association.

And, finally, thank you Elizabeth Marvel, for your work on Office Technology magazine, our website and BTA’s promotional materials, as well as for managing the association’s social media. Your professionalism and predictable follow-through on the tasks that must be accomplished every month in a timely manner are appreciated. The staff truly makes it easy for the volunteers.

I believe we will still be writing about Bob Goldberg within the pages of Office Technology for decades after he retires. Don’t worry, he knows he can’t retire as BTA’s general counsel for another 10 to 20 years. Bob provides one of those BTA member benefits that many dealers aren’t aware of until they

take advantage of his services. They then become big advocates for both Bob and BTA itself. Thank you, Bob, for your contributions to making BTA a great organization and for all you have done for the BTA Channel.

Those of you who have heard me speak about the benefits of membership in BTA know that I place a great deal of emphasis on friendships. That’s where the rest of you come into play. I have met some incredible people in my time as part of BTA’s leadership team. It began with BTA Southeast and, fortunately for me, I was able to move to the national BTA Board of Directors. All along the way I have both met and developed friendships with fellow volunteers and other BTA member dealers as well.

Those friendships will last long after my presidency has ended. While my year in this role is coming to an end, I’ll still be around.

Look for me at BTA’s district-hosted events.

Plus, for one more year, I will continue to serve on the national board as immediate past president. I can assure you that our association is in good hands with one of the many great leaders I have met among the volunteers — Bob Evans, who assumes the BTA presidency on July 1.

You all know the benefits of this organization and it goes without saying (however, I must say it anyway) that there still remains the need to grow this organization.

With that in mind, for those of you who actually take the time to read this, do me a favor. Reach out to your dealer friends who are not currently members of the association and invite them into our “club” (have them visit www.bta.org/JoinBTA). Remind them how BTA has been the leading advocate for dealers for the past 93 years. Together, we can show them how BTA can help them grow their businesses and better prepare for the future. n — John Eckstrom

2018-2019 Board of Directors President John Eckstrom Carolina Business Equipment Inc. Columbia, South Carolina johne@cbesc.com President-Elect Bob Evans Function4 Sugar Land, Texas bobevans@function-4.com Vice President Tim Renegar Kelly Office Solutions Winston-Salem, North Carolina trenegar@kellyofficesolutions.com BTA East Tim Seeley Jr. Seeley Office Systems Inc. Glens Falls, NY tseeleyjr@seeleyoffice.com Don Risser Advanced Laser Printer Service & Supplies Inc. Emigsville, PA drisser@alpslaser.com BTA Mid-America Greg Quirk JQ Office Equipment Omaha, Nebraska gquirk@jqoffice.com DJ Hastings Hogland Office Equipment Lubbock, TX dj@hoglandofficeworks.com BTA Southeast David Polimeni RITE Technology Sarasota, Florida dpolimeni@ritefl.com Michael Hicks Electronic Business Machines Inc. Lexington, KY mhicks@ebmky.com BTA West Mike Brandon ABC Office Equipment Co. Inc. Spokane, Washington mbrandon@abcoe.com Joe Escamilla Document Systems Oxnard, CA jescamilla@documentsystems.com Immediate Past President Dan Castaneda International Copy Machine Center El Paso, Texas dan@icmc-elp.com Ex-Officio/General Counsel Robert C. Goldberg Schoenberg Finkel Newman & Rosenberg LLC Chicago, Illinois robert.goldberg@sfnr.com

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Leveraging the Cloud A growing trend among the industry’s manufacturers by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

D

aily access to the cloud for business applications and company information in the workplace is no longer an emerging trend. Workers are now accustomed to sharing and accessing documents, PDFs and other files via the cloud. It offers a convenient means of collaboration and a level of security not always in place with on-site servers.

Wasn’t security once a major concern with the cloud? “We are absolutely beyond that; in fact, the government has major initiatives to move to the cloud,” says Craig Temple, director of business solutions marketing at Ricoh USA. “In the SMB space, the cloud is acceptable all day, every day. And, headed upstream into larger accounts, we’re seeing that the tide has turned.”

With the cloud now mainstream, MFP manufacturers are focused on cloud solutions to better serve end users. Are you?

Below is a look at what three of the manufacturers are doing to leverage the cloud. Undoubtedly, the cloud will increasingly be an integral enabler within the office technology industry.

Lexmark International Lexmark International’s cloud offerings — Lexmark Cloud Services (LCS) — first emerged in 2014, then primarily focused on its Cloud Print Management (CPM). Today, LCS also includes Cloud Fleet Management (CFM), as well as the Cloud Connector.

While CPM is currently only offered direct, CFM and the Cloud Connector are targeted to the BTA Channel. “The goal of CFM is to help partners [dealers] increase service profitability, as well as provide enhanced customer service on the Lexmark devices they are supporting,” says Arnie Kirby, enterprise and channel solutions manager at Lexmark. “We do that with three key capabilities — remote configuration and updates, remote service and diagnostics, and data collection.”

Looking first at remote configuration and updates, “partners can do things like update firmware,” Kirby says. “They can also create a standard configuration. So, when a partner deploys a large number of devices for a customer, the

customer may want all of the devices to have the same security settings and tray settings.

We make doing those configurations very easy.”

In terms of remote service and diagnostics, “this tool is aimed at the partner’s service organization,” Kirby says. “If they can get better insight into the problem a machine is having before they go on-site, they’re going to have a better chance of success the first time. Getting a machine’s log versus having the end user tell the partner what the problem is makes a difference on achieving a first-time fix.”

Finally, the data collection component allows a dealership to secure meter reads and get consumable levels. “Our partners absolutely love the way we’ve architected this,” Kirby says, noting that devices are provisioned to the cloud associated with the dealership. “There’s an agent on each device that communicates autonomously with the cloud. It does it over https. They don’t have to put any software on premise, where the end-user’s network is; that is huge.”

Lexmark’s Cloud Connector allows users to connect their devices to a variety of cloud services — such as Dropbox and Google Drive. In addition, the company will soon provide access to a variety of apps previously available through the Lexmark Virtual Solutions Center. “We’re also working on a strategy for deploying workflows that could be industry aligned,” Kirby says. “This would allow our partners to have access to industry workflows that they can deploy from the cloud.”

As noted, Lexmark’s CPM is currently only available direct. CPM eliminates on-premise print servers and multiple print drivers, offloading the physical infrastructure to the cloud, thereby reducing demands on internal IT departments. “We’re not offering this to partners today, but we’re working diligently to make CPM available to them this year,” Kirby says. “Once they get CPM, they’re going to be able to have new conversations with their customers. We think that giving them the ability to walk into a customer and engage in a cloud strategy conversation, taking that printing infrastructure off their hands, could be big for our partners.”

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Temple has high expectaRicoh USA “I truly believe that this will be tions for Ricoh Cloud WorkThe most recent ramp up flow Solutions.

“I truly believe of Ricoh USA’s cloud offersomething many dealers will that this will be something ings resulted, in part, from look at and say, ‘I should be many dealers will look at and an observation. “In looking adding this to every device say, ‘I should be adding this at SMB customers, we noI sell.’ We believe that in the to every device I sell,’” he says, ticed that a lot of them were SMB space, in the not-tooemphasizing the trend tobuying hardware, but not the distant future, server-based ward cloud-based solutions. additional solutions,” Temple solutions will be in the minority.”

“We believe that in the SMB says. “When we asked why, space, in the not-too-distant we heard that they didn’t

— Craig Temple future, server-based soluhave the IT resources, don’t Ricoh USA tions will be in the minority.” have or want to add servers on-site, and don’t want to Sharp Electronics Corp. maintain software, anti-virus patches, etc.”

While leveraging the cloud is not a new strategy at Sharp Even in SMBs with technical expertise, the upfront costs Electronics Corp. — the company, for example, currently ofof solutions are often prohibitive, Temple says. “We learned fers the Sharp Cloud Portal Office (CPO) content management that these customers want outcomes, not ownership,” he exservice — much of the focus today is on an evolving strategy. plains. “So, we said, ‘Why don’t we put together a collection This focus reflects future cloud-based offerings from Sharp. of offerings that are meant to automate different document The evolving strategy is being driven by current trends. workflows?’ It could be something as simple as zero-config“We are seeing a challenge with a lot of the smaller providuration scan to email, all the way up to very complex data ers, and that’s the fact that the big cloud services have a extraction and auto-data inputting.” gravity to their offerings that are pulling people in, whether The result was the launch of the subscription-based Ricoh it’s Amazon, Microsoft or Google,” says Bob Madaio, vice Cloud Workflow Solutions for use with MFPs. The first level president of marketing at Sharp Imaging and Information is cloud connectors. “This is a basic A to B, point-to-point soCompany of America (SIICA).

“So, one of the decisions we lution, where I’ve got a document and I want to get it into a think all OEMs need to make is: Do you challenge them and cloud account, such as Box, Dropbox or SharePoint,” Temple in what areas?

Or, do you be the best possible hardware and explains. “So, we’ve created solutions around that.” solutions provider to support the big cloud services?

A part The next level is workflows. “What if you want it to go to Box, but also have it go to your email and, maybe, for some of our focus — and some of our products that will extend the reason, you want to fax it?” Temple asks. “You can’t do that business of dealers — looks to the latter.”

Vince Jannelli, associate vice president of software product type of thing with a connector. So, we created more advanced management at Sharp, says the company’s CPO offering has alworkflow components that allow for multiple destinations.” lowed people to access content stored in the cloud from MFPs, In addition, the workflows level provides for automatic Sharp AQUOS BOARD interactive displays and other Sharp document classification. “So, when I scan the document at the displays.

“However, we are now working to leverage what the MFP, it actually figures out, for example, that the document is big providers are doing, given that cloud content management an invoice and ‘knows’ what to do: ‘I’m going to route this inhas almost become a feature and not a product,” he says. “Tovoice to the proper destination,’” Temple says. “Similarly, you day, with Microsoft 365, a company has access to SharePoint can also set up workflows to take advantage of QR codes.” and OneDrive included in the subscription fee. And now, espeThe final level provides cloud services, bringing intelligence cially with Microsoft’s big push to Microsoft Teams, they are to information processing. “For example, we have an accounts making it easier to share content and collaborate.” payable solution for small businesses providing integration Jannelli notes that CPO has had “pockets of success,” but with QuickBooks and Sage,” Temple says. “We also have an authat it has been “de-emphasized a bit.” While the offering is tomated data capture tool. It is not zonal OCR, but it will scan still available, he says, “as we go forward, we’re looking more the whole document and, with artificial intelligence, it will into how we can add value, complementing a company’s exstart to pair information. For example, it can ‘go through’ the isting IT investment.” document, see the word ‘invoice’ on the left and, to the right, For example, at the road shows, Sharp has highlighted a information such as the value, date and PO number. It can then cloud-enabled project, now in development. The result will send that information out, either as a CSV file or an XML file, or be an offering that allows someone to walk into a scheduled it can populate a cloud database where reports can be created.”

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cloud service that combines meeting with a laptop and “Again, we see more the device’s sensor data with immediately connect to the data from the company’s Mimeeting room’s display panopportunities for dealers crosoft 365 account to proel, automatically starting the to align to the big cloud vide the company with acweb conference and making players going forward. tionable intelligence to help it easier to access meeting We’re morphing those optimize their workspaces. content, all by leveraging technologies into the office Madaio emphasizes that the cloud. Another Sharp communication and the pending launch of the project “is more around inmanagement space.”

PN-CD701 serves to illusstantaneous collaboration,” trate Sharp’s new strategy as Jannelli says, noting that the

— Bob Madaio it relates to the cloud. “Again, offering will facilitate the SIICA we see more opportunities sharing of information from for dealers to align to the big the cloud by connecting to big displays, even outside of a meeting room, such as in a cor- cloud players going forward,” he says. “We’re morphing those technologies into the office porate cafeteria.

Addressing the focus on scheduled collaboration, this sum- communication and management space.” n Brent Hoskins, executive director of the mer Sharp will introduce the Windows collaboration display Business Technology Association, is editor from Sharp, a 4k, 70-inch interactive display (PN-CD701). Key of Office Technology magazine. He can be among its capabilities is the ambient sensor data the display reached at brent@bta.org or (816) 303-4040. can send through Microsoft Azure to an available analytic

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NuWorld ad Jun 19.indd 2

NBS / BTA | June 2019

5/20/19 9:43 AM

Recruitment Quotas An important metric for sales managers to tackle by: Kate Kingston, Kingston Training Group

S

ales quotas are not the only metrics that need to be met by a successful office technology sales manager.

Recruitment quotas must be established to create the pool of candidates a dealership needs to succeed in building a money-making, energized and competitive sales force.

I have interacted with hundreds of sales managers over the last 18 years and have worked with several who have moved from dealership to dealership. The good ones have several things in common and they all care about sales. But what would make good sales managers great?

The job of the sales manager has to include looking forward on a regular basis to how he (or she) can build his team with new talent. Sales reps leave — sometimes not soon enough — but they do leave. If a sales manager only focuses on finding new candidates when a position opens up, he is being reactive instead of proactive. Sales management must look at a monthly recruitment quota that is inspected, along with a monthly sales quota.

Several problems occur when a sales manager is reactive and waits for a territory to open up. One problem is that a territory most often opens up because the current rep is not performing, which leaves business on the table for the competition to swoop in on because it has not been worked sufficiently. This usually coincides with negligent CRM reporting, leaving a new rep with bad information and poorly serviced current accounts. This is a tough environment for a sales manager to be choosy in, and leaves the door open to the philosophy of “anybody is better than nobody,” which is prime for quick hiring and attrition.

Another issue resides in sales managers not working on or practicing their interviewing skills on a regular basis.

They are well versed on meeting with clients — they do that every week, continuously practicing their selling and presentation skills. They also have regularly scheduled sales meetings with their team members, allowing them to hone those skills once again. But if they do not have regular phone and in-person interviews, and do not regularly hunt for new candidates, those skills become rusty, making an ideal candidate more difficult to find.

Steps to Recruitment Identify a candidate.

Name:

Approach him (or her).

Date:

Start two-way conversation — including via Date: emails, LinkedIn messages or phone calls.

Set up an encounter — lunch, coffee or Date: an off-site meeting.

Give a dealership tour and include a meeting with upper management. Possibly Date: give swag, like a baseball cap, t-shirt, etc.

Follow-up with him.

Date:

Make an offer.

Date:

He accepts or you continue communication Date: for long-term opportunities.

A different approach to sales management could include a structured recruitment quota and an accountability guarantee that the sales manager has the strongest sales team out there. Sales managers should be accountable for weekly recruiting. This can happen through many avenues, including LinkedIn. A sales manager can view his competition’s company page on LinkedIn and look at its sales executives, who often identify themselves as account managers in their profiles. Once he finds them, he can communicate with them. There is a fee-based Google Chrome extension called Lusha that allows you to find a person’s email address and phone number while you are viewing his LinkedIn profile.

Critics may be asking: “If a sales rep is successful at his current company, then how can you poach him?” Well, people make job changes for many reasons — commission structures may suddenly change so they are not in their favor; accounts they have worked on may have been taken from them

18 | w­ w w. o f f ic et ec hno lo g y m a g.c om | June 2 0 1 9

Kingston Jun 19.indd 1

6/4/19 2:42 PM

and given to major account reps; they do their prospecting, current customer not get along with management; or their meetings, and administrative and CRMSales quotas territories change, just to name a few. We entry requirements make money — plain guarantee a focus on ask our prospects to consider us as techand simple. If they do not or will not, they selling, and recruitment nology partner candidates. We ask them should not be on the team. quotas guarantee a for meetings to talk about switching to “You are only as strong as your weakfocus on cultivating and our dealership, even if things are going est link” applies to sales teams as well. relatively fine with their current vendors.

The sales manager’s job is to find, hire, finding the right sales We make those meetings and, often, we onboard and motivate his sales team team members. can convince them to make a change. Remembers to exceed their quotas every cruiting is the same. month. Sales quotas guarantee a focus There was a story in the news recently about a profes- on selling, and recruitment quotas guarantee a focus on sional basketball player with a Nike contract. The player’s cultivating and finding the right sales team members. n Nike shoe actually broke during a game and he sprained his Kate Kingston is founder and president of the Kingston ankle. His team lost the game and he will be out for some Training Group (KTG). With more than 17 time. It did not look good for Nike. years of success in making appointments with Nike’s contract was up for renewal and, before the shoe decision makers, she is a recognized authority blowup, I am sure the player was planning on renewing, on lead generation, cold calling and new and his agent told Adidas and other shoe companies that he business development. Kingston can be had no interest in switching. However, if Adidas had regureached at kkingston@kingstontraining.com. larly interacted with the player and his agent, and commuVisit www.kingstontraining.com. nicated that it wanted the player on its team, wearing its brand, when this opportunity came up, Adidas would have been in a position to have the “switch conversation” and convert him to an Adidas contract. Now that would have been good recruiting.

If you use this example and continuously focus on recruiting and executing on a recruitment plan, you will guarantee that your dealership can be first in line to have the “switch conversation” with a successful, experienced sales player.

Establishing weekly and monthly quotas will provide the structure and accountability needed for this initiative to stick. Just as we say in sales, “inspect what you expect.” The same holds true for recruiting. Every sales manager should have several experienced sales candidates he is nurturing through phones calls, lunches, dealership tours, emails to the candidates’ Gmail accounts and LinkedIn messages.

These techniques allow for electronic communication that the candidates’ current dealerships will not be aware of.

Each sales manager should be expected to provide, in writing, the names of who they are recruiting and where those relationships stand. See the chart on page 18 for an example of the “Steps to Recruitment” to use.

Recruiting must also coincide with reviewing your current sales team members and being willing to cut ties with non-performers. I always say “activity for salary and commission for results.” Although attrition is hard, having sales reps not completing their required activities (which we all must agree is the only way they do not succeed), brings down a team’s morale and ends up being even more difficult for the manager. Sales reps who are accomplishing www.offi cetechnol ogymag. c om | J u n e 2019 | 19

Kingston Jun 19.indd 2

6/4/19 2:42 PM

COURTS & CAPITOLS

Dispatching Techs From Home When does the time clock start? by: Robert C. Goldberg, general counsel for the Business Technology Association

I

n what hopefully is a decision that becomes a trend, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled that state law does not require employers to pay employees for routine commute time driving company-provided vehicles between the employees’ homes and assigned job sites. In the majority of states, the rule is the employee’s normal commute time from his (or her) home to the dealership is deducted from the time taken from home to the first job site to determine when compensation begins. This rule is also applicable to the return from the employee’s last job site back to his home.

The rule has been difficult to interpret due to changes in work practices. Many employees work remotely and seldom, if ever, come to the place of business. Technicians hired to service and support remote locations can be located far from the business. These individuals, dispatched from their homes, do not have commute times. The Wisconsin Supreme Court took a practical and reasonable approach to the issue and its logic should be influential elsewhere.

In 1996, Congress enacted the Employee Commuting Flexibility Act, establishing that normal commute time — even when driving an employer-provided vehicle — is not compensable under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. The regulations provide that, “wages accrue when employees are engaged in physical or mental exertion controlled or required by the employer and pursued necessarily and primarily for the benefit of the employer’s business.” Moreover, “these exertions must take place within a workday which comprises the time which the employee commences their principal activity and those activities which are indispensable to its performance.”

The claimant in the Wisconsin Supreme Court dispute contended that driving the company-owned vehicle containing the parts, supplies and tools required to perform his job were indispensable to the performance of his duties. Although the issue was deciding when the workday began, the court did not find that the driving involved physical or mental exertion primarily done for the benefit of the employer. If it did, then every commute to work would be for the benefit of the employer, at the direction of the employer and indispensable to the performance of the job. After all, everyone thinks about their jobs on the way to work, whether they ponder what tasks need to be accomplished or how they relate to their supervisors. The court was clear to point out that it did not matter if the employee was in his own vehicle or a company-owned vehicle, as in both instances the employee was commuting.

The mere fact that the employee was transporting parts, supplies and tools necessary to perform his principal job activities to the job site was insufficient to convert a commute into compensable work time. The court did draw a distinction where an employee met another employee or a supplier to obtain a necessary part for the performance of his principal activities. In that instance, it was concluded that the time from his home to the meeting site was not compensable, however once he met the other employee to obtain an indispensable part, he was on the clock.

Determining when an employee is eligible for compensation and overtime compensation is a significant issue for every business. Failure to properly compensate individuals can result in governmental and private claims. A claim by one individual can quickly become a claim for all individuals similarly situated. Past wages, interest, fines and penalties can quickly add up and jeopardize a business. Even with specific policies regarding authorization of overtime compensation, if the employer takes the benefit of the work, it is obligated to compensate the individual for it. In this instance, the Wisconsin Supreme Court failed to approve commuting time, recognizing that every individual commutes and the workday does not begin when you leave your home. n Robert C. Goldberg is general counsel for the Business Technology Association.

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

20 | ­w w w. o f f ic et ec hno lo g y m a g.c om | June 2 0 1 9

Goldberg Jun 19.indd 1

6/4/19 2:43 PM

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www.offi cetechnol ogymag. c om | J u n e 2019 | 21

Katun - BTA SE ads Jun 19.indd 1

5/31/19 9:03 AM

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

Dealer Members 360 Office Solutions, Billings, MT Datatek Imaging LLC, Watertown, WI Ephesus Office Technologies Inc., Albuquerque, NM Laser Way, Houston, TX Vendor Members Aster Graphics Inc., Riverside, CA RingByName, Miami, FL For full contact information of these new members, visit www.bta.org.

BTA Legal Services BTA General Counsel Robert Goldberg has more than 40 years of industry experience. He provides BTA members with no-fee advice and guidance on a diverse range of topics, including dealer/manufacturer disputes, dealer contracts, employment matters, industry documentation and more. Goldberg can evaluate legal needs, provide advice and guidance, review and analyze reseller contracts and serve as a third party to help resolve business disputes without costly and protracted litigation. Goldberg will answer your questions and provide advice, general reviews and templates, but cannot negotiate or customize contracts or templates specifically for your business.

Visit www.bta.org/Legal for more information.

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

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

Muratec America Inc., a division of Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. Inc., is a manufacturer of A3 and A4 MFPs and industrial label presses, and is a supplier of desktop and workgroup MFP solutions to more than 550 office technology dealers throughout North America. It is the first manufacturer to offer midlevel and light production label printing products through the traditional dealer channel, as well as print management solutions, managed cloud services, managed document services and document management. Muratec has been awarded “Outstanding Performance - Secondary Brand” in BTA’s Channel’s Choice survey 11 times. www.muratec.com Simplify and accelerate your business communications with a leading global cloudbased PBX communication solution. Whether you have single or multiple locations with or without high call volume, RingByName enables you to begin selling business phone service, IP phones and cloud PBX. The company provides a turnkey solution allowing you to generate evergreen recurring revenue from your existing customers. RingByName’s platform provides the tools, processes and services you need to get started today. Coupled with its Enterprise Hero Platform, supporting your users becomes a simple task. www.ringbyname.com A full list of BTA vendor members can be found online at www.bta.org.

For more information, visit www.bta.org.

22 | ­w w w. o f f ic et ec hno lo g y m a g.c om | June 2 0 1 9

Highlights Jun 19.indd 1

6/3/19 12:37 PM

RingByName ad Jun 19.indd 1

5/20/19 8:21 AM

DEALERS HELPING DEALERS

Service Plans How are dealers managing print volume?

Compiled by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

F

ollowing is another of the questions submitted by a dealer member as part of BTA’s Dealers Helping Dealers resource, and several of the answers received.

These answers and many others can be found in the members-only section of the BTA website. Visit www.bta.org/Dealers HelpingDealers. You will need your username and password to access this member resource.

limited scenarios, but I think customers are generally smart enough to figure out that it is a gimmick and not necessarily in their best interests. I think it only makes sense for customers that are going to run a high quantity of pages in relation to the price quoted.”

John Tyson, president & CEO Lakeland Office Systems Inc., Joplin, Missouri

How are you managing unlimited or flat-rate service plans? What is done if the customer exceeds the original estimated print volume? And what is done to prevent customers from becoming “print shops”?

“You should have in your terms and conditions a usage amount that, if exceeded, you can charge an overage or the charge for the following year will increase based on prior-year usage. What I am hearing from other dealers is to go back in after the contract is in place and work with the client on reducing usage — especially color — to decrease toner usage.”

George Rosa, director of service North American Office Solutions, Orlando, Florida

“We only offer flat-rate service and supply plans when we have a three-month history and know it is a relatively flatgrowth business model that is not going to add too many employees. We craft our plans to be at least 18% more than the average volume and show a reduced CPC overage. We assess the opportunity to minimize color by implementing policies that reduce the volume of color print (e.g., moving MS Outlook color prints to mono).”

Brett Butler, CEO Excel Office Services, Los Angeles, California “We do offer flat-rate service plans, but there are always overage rates that may be discounted from the base rates for a customer going over the base rate. We would never offer unlimited pages for a fixed fee.”

John Hines, CFO Copiers Northwest Inc., Seattle, Washington “We will set a minimum monthly charge to address the low side. On the high-side scenario, we believe we have set the correct rate and view it as the more clicks, the better.

Mike Lierz, president Century Business Systems Inc., Manhattan, Kansas “We do not currently allow unlimited pages for one flat cost.

We are considering it in cases where we know the historical volume and the trends indicate the volume is headed lower, but we have not gone to this model yet. It does make sense in

“Flat-rate service plans: To date, we have not yet been challenged with any of those plans. However, we expect we will soon. If necessary, we will compete with our own flat-rate plan.

However, we will ensure that the volume and rate is designed for each specific model of A3 MFP. Our pricing by model will address the print-shop customers. Higher-volume models will be priced accordingly. We will not include production print in any flat-rate program. That would be foolish. We will leave that business to the manufacturers. It is what they do so well.”

Art Schwartz, president Image Systems for Business Inc., Somerset, New Jersey “We charge overage fees, but we do not monitor toner in regard to suggested yield versus actual yield. We do not have any flat-rate service plans.”

Ronnie Warren, vice president of technical services Copiers Plus Inc., Fayetteville, North Carolina Do you have a question for your fellow dealers? Email it to brent@bta.org with the subject line: “Dealers Helping Dealers.”

BTA will share your question with the full dealer membership with a request for guidance from your fellow dealers. n Brent Hoskins, executive director of the Business Technology Association, is editor of Office Technology magazine.

He can be reached at brent@bta.org or (816) 303-4040.

24 | ­w w w. o f f ic et ec hno lo g y m a g.c om | June 2 0 1 9

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PRINCIPAL ISSUES

DocuWorld 2019 Software company focuses on retention, cloud growth by: Elizabeth Marvel, Office Technology Magazine

O

n May 7-9 at the M Resort Spa Casino in Henderson, Nevada, DocuWare hosted its DocuWorld 2019 conference for 366 attendees. Of those attendees, 288 represented 115 DocuWare reseller companies.

The event consisted of keynote presentations; a partner panel discussion; the Demo Challenge Finalist Showdown, where three DocuWare partners presented their customer demos to the Dr. Michael Berger audience, which got to vote on the winner (Trevor Crystal of BTA member dealership Les Olson Company, Salt Lake City, Utah); training breakout sessions; Gold Sponsor presentations; Diamond Club recognitions; and several networking events.

The conference kicked off on Tuesday, May 7, with an introduction of DocuWare’s new leadership team. In January 2019, Jürgen Biffar and Thomas Schneck (former DocuWare Group Max Ertl co-presidents) transferred their leadership responsibilities to Dr. Michael Berger and Max Ertl.

The pair now serve as the company’s new co-presidents. In his keynote on Tuesday, Ertl also introduced Jim Roberts, who became president of DocuWare Corp. in March 2019. Roberts is responsible for sales and revenue in the Americas.

After meeting DocuWare’s new executives, attendees got an overview of the current state of the company and its outlook for the future. Berger summed up the “three key pillars” he thinks make DocuWare unique during his keynote address. “First, we have a great partner network,” he said.

“This is you ... this is what we are based on from the sales side. Together with this, we have an easy-to-use product specifically dedicated to the SMB space ... Secondly, if we look a little deeper on the product side, we are also a public cloud provider, but at the same time, we also have the on-premise version, meaning we have a code and feature parity that no one else has.

“And the third thing — together with all of this — we’re in good business shape; we’ve been growing constantly over 30 years and, in addition, we are profitable,” Berger continued.

“Also, this is a high customer-retention-rate business, which is really outstanding in the space we are in.”

Berger went on to discuss DocuWare’s focus on the SMB market and he explained why the company is so successful in the space. “We are really dedicated to the mid-market and we’re successful there because we have a simple, affordable solution for you and your customers,” he said. “So that means best-in-fit from the capability perspective; it’s 100% configurable, no customization needed. We are flexible with cloud and on-premise deliveries ... Also, there is its ease of use, ease of configuration and easy integration, which are important, especially for mid-size companies so they can get working on the system quickly.”

Berger also spoke about the company’s growth over the years, noting that DocuWare now has 12,000 customers on maintenance contracts and a 95% retention rate. He also mentioned the huge growth in revenue the company has experienced over the years. “In the year 2000, you see 5 million euros in revenue,” he said, showing a chart of the company’s revenue growth. “Ten years later, in 2010, we see about a tripling — 14 million euros to 15 million euros. If you look now, we’ve more or less tripled the revenues we had in 2010. This is impressive from our perspective and from a growth perspective.”

Ertl gave attendees a bit more detail on that growth during his keynote on Tuesday. “So, how did we do in 2018?” he asked. “This is quite impressive. We — which means you — sold to 1,700 new customers worldwide. If we look at the rest of the market, there is no other document management or enterprise content management vendor in the world that sold more new projects.”

He also noted that the company’s total revenue grew 6% in 2018, from 44 million euros to 47 million euros, with a good portion of that increase coming from cloud sales. Discussing the increased popularity of DocuWare’s cloud offering since its introduction in 2015, Ertl said that 50% of DocuWare’s 1,700 new customers in 2018 chose its cloud offering.

“Our cloud revenue grew by 92%,” Ertl said as he gave additional details on DocuWare’s cloud product.

“This means we doubled our cloud revenue in 2018. The cloud revenue in our business is now accountable for 17% of the whole business.” n Elizabeth Marvel is associate editor of Office Technology magazine. She can be reached at elizabeth@bta.org or (816) 303-4060.

26 | ­w w w. o f f i c e t e c h n o l o g y m a g . c o m | J u n e 2 0 19

DocuWare Jun 19.indd 1

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ProFinance - Royal Imaging ads Jun 19.indd 1

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SELLING SOLUTIONS

Recurring Revenue Addressing the Catch-22 involved in this model by: Gil Cargill, Cargill Consulting Group Inc.

O

ne of the significant contributors to revenue plateauing in companies that deal with their customers in a recurring revenue model is a Catch-22. Specifically, once a salesperson has a portfolio or book of customers that he (or she) is serving, he can become so busy taking care of those existing customers that he does not have enough time during the business day to reach out and contact prospective new customers.

This occurs despite the fact that many salespeople in this situation try to move faster and harder through the sales cycle.

The desire to increase speed actually reduces efficiency and productivity because, in direct mathematic proportion, it increases the probability of errors being committed. And, as you probably well know, every mistake that is made costs time, money and, sometimes, customer relationships. So, what is the answer?

The only surefire strategy I have implemented over the past 40 years is taking a hard look at the existing accounts and assigning a value to each account based on the revenue per sales hour that it requires. Sometimes, the customers that are your very best customers — in terms of total revenue, as well as revenue per sales hour — require very little time on the part of your salespeople and/or your support team. Conversely, the difficult customers (you know the ones I am talking about) will take up lots of time and, in terms of revenue per hour, produce comparatively little.

The accounts at the bottom of this list — the ones that are producing low revenue per hour — should be examined in detail. Now, the Catch-22 comes into play because salespeople (and, frequently, their managers) think that “any revenue is better than no revenue.” To a degree, I agree with that concept.

So, even though we all know that the difficult customers are unpleasant and cause problems for us internally and emotionally, we continue to serve them because of the “some-revenueis-better-than-no-revenue” philosophy.

The key to breaking this conundrum is to create a way to prospect that is separate from the salesperson. A recurring-revenue salesperson who has a good book of business in terms of busyness is not going to be able to break away and start making cold calls or prospecting calls. This situation clearly needs a separation of duties.

To grow the company in a recurring revenue business model, you must bring on board a sales development representative whose only job is to put new opportunities into the funnel for the existing sales team. As new and hopefully better opportunities go into the funnel, separating yourself from those poorly performing accounts (in terms of revenue per sales hour) becomes

far easier. At that juncture, the rule will be “better revenue is better than the revenue I am getting.” That is where we want to go.

Make sure your salespeople constantly list and rank all of their accounts, and then examine the worst performers on a consistent basis. If an account has been at the bottom in terms of revenue per sales hour for quite a bit of time and you do not see a way to improve the revenue per sales hour, then you must consider ways to terminate that relationship. Again, terminating the relationship will become far easier when a salesperson knows that he will have new and additional accounts coming on board to replace the account you are terminating.

If you have any questions, feel free to call me and, as always, I wish you good luck and good selling. n After concluding a sales and management career at IBM, Gil Cargill launched his own consulting practice in 1978. He has spent the past 41 years as a consultant, speaker and trainer, helping thousands of businesses achieve dramatic and permanent improvements in sales productivity.

Cargill has taught salespeople across diverse industries the importance of developing sales processes, the advantages of implementing new technology and the benefits of tracking sales performance. He can be reached at (310) 447-4102 or gil@gilcargill.com. Visit www.gilcargill.com.

28 | ­w w w. o f f ic et ec hno lo g y m a g.c om | June 2 0 1 9

Cargill Jun 19.indd 1

6/4/19 2:43 PM

SELLING SOLUTIONS

Schedule Discipline It separates the successful from the unsuccessful by: Troy Harrison, Troy Harrison & Associates

O

ne of the most common topics I am asked about when it comes to training is that nebulous subject of time management. “There just aren’t enough hours in the day!” salespeople and sales managers yell. The truth is that there are usually enough hours in the day to do what needs to be done, and successful people tend to use those hours to accomplish what needs to be accomplished. Here is how.

Successful people have what I call “schedule discipline.”

Schedule discipline is that ability to make plans, appointments and commitments — and keep them in all but the direst of circumstances. I have found that most people are pretty good at knowing and understanding what is important in their lives and careers, and building schedules, in advance, to address those important tasks. Not everyone is good at this of course, but most people are. If I were to ask you right now what your priorities to accomplish next week or the week after would be, you would probably have a pretty good idea.

What separates the successful from the unsuccessful is their ability to accomplish those priorities and keep those commitments. Think about that hypothetical set of priorities two weeks down the road. If we were to review that set of priorities at 5 p.m. on Friday, how many of them would you have gotten accomplished? That is the difference.

So, what happens to interfere? Distractions. A customer calls. You see a post on Facebook. Someone walks into your office. Myriad events occur that can disrupt a plan; some are avoidable and some are not. This is where schedule discipline comes in.

Schedule discipline is the skill that allows someone to immediately assess a distraction from the plan and decide if it really must be handled immediately or if it can wait. One of the biggest fables that has been taught is that we are capable of multitasking. We are not. Study after study shows that our brains are only capable of processing one input in any particular moment, no matter what the stimuli. And when a new input is accepted, our brain must first detach from the previous task, then accept and process the new input, and then re-engage in the previous task. All of that is lost time.

So, how can you implement schedule discipline in your career? It is more than just “plan your work and work your plan.”

The real key to working the plan is personal and team discipline.

(1) First of all, when you have a key task to accomplish — whether it is prospecting, a coaching session or a meeting — schedule it as an appointment, even if it is only an appointment

with yourself. And then keep it. Also have some mechanism to inform your other team members that you are working on something important. As a salesperson, I had a yellow sign that said “Prospecting,” and I used to hang it up to let people know not to interrupt me unless it was really important.

Which leads us to ...

(2) Manage interruptions wisely. Interruptions of any kind are killers to your work. The key is to manage and prioritize interruptions wisely. Everything is not on a “hair-on-fire, haveto-deal-with-it-right-now” level, but if you allow it to become that, it will. Not only do you have to discern what is important enough to break your workflow, but you also have to help your team discern as well. If it is not an issue that would jeopardize a key customer relationship or a key employee, or represent an opportunity that would not be open if it were not handled right now, then do not let it interrupt your work. Again, schedule what is important.

(3) Schedule tasks in no more than two-hour blocks, if possible.

There are a few reasons for this. First of all, if you are prospecting (for example), I find that you get stale if you prospect for more than two hours at a time. Second, in my experience, there are few issues that cannot wait a maximum of two hours, whether it is an email, a customer call or an upset employee. Keeping your task time to two-hour blocks means that nothing has to wait for www.offi cetechnol ogymag. c om | J u n e 2019 | 29

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morning and waiting to put out fires, they an unacceptable period. Again, there are exwill do that too. Oddly enough, those who ceptions, but they are rare.

Schedule discipline work under schedule discipline seem to (4) Allow time between blocks for the is all about respecting have fewer fires to put out in the first place. unexpected. If you are isolating yourself the value of your own What I have discovered about so many for two-hour blocks, you will need the time time and getting time management approaches is that they in between those blocks as a catch-all for others to respect focus so much on the details that the big iswhatever issues might come up. This is also sues get lost in the shuffle. Remind yourself time to answer emails, return calls, etc. For the value of both of the value of your own time and you will every two hours “in session,” allow a half your time and theirs. have the schedule discipline that separates hour to an hour of “off-session” time. the successful from the unsuccessful. n (5) Keep your commitments — to yourTroy Harrison is the author of “Sell Like You Mean It!” self, to internal personnel and to external personnel. Schedule and “The Pocket Sales Manager,” and is a speaker, discipline is all about respecting the value of your own time consultant and sales navigator. He helps and getting others to respect the value of both your time and companies build more profitable theirs. If you commit to a task or a meeting, keep it. You are and productive sales forces. not only making yourself more productive, but you are also To schedule a free 45-minute Sales Strategy modeling behavior for the rest of your team. If you are a manReview, call (913) 645-3603 or ager and your employees see you doing this to manage your email troy@troyharrison.com. own time, they will use this system to manage theirs as well.

Visit www.troyharrison.com.

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