June 2008 Office Technology

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CONTENTS Volume 14 No. 12 G

FEATURE ARTICLES 10

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Dedicated Scanners Perhaps it is time to take a closer look

COURTS & CAPITOLS Improving Customer Relations Strengthen your relationships through communication

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by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

by Robert C. Goldberg BTA General Counsel

While the MFP’s copying, printing and scanning capabilities remain important in the workplace, the advent of third-party software solutions has drawn notable attention to the scanning capability. Lately, however, an alternative has increasingly gained the attention of dealers — dedicated or network scanners. Speed, convenience and lower cost serve to distinguish the product category.

As a provider of equipment and services, you can take steps to strengthen your relationship with end-users and thus avoid satisfaction and collection issues.

PRINCIPAL ISSUES Power Protection Quantified Study shows parts cost savings, fewer service calls

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‘The New Frontier’ Sharp hosts national dealer meeting May 6-9

by Wes McArtor BEI Services Inc.

One of the most frequently asked questions by my customers has been: “How can I quantify the benefits of power protection?”

by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

With a giant leap forward in the A4 marketplace and predictions of a growing market share, the Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America (SIICA) 2008 National Dealer Meeting reflected its forward-looking theme — “The Next Frontier.”

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by Bob Sostilio Sostilio & Associates International

The document imaging market has been in flux for 40plus years with accelerated growth and decelerated rates, but it has never stopped and gone into reverse.

The Business Plan Use SWOT analysis & planning to create success

By Tom Callinan Strategy Development

I rarely find companies where the management team shares a high level of intensity or drive for success. You have to have a framework that provides everyone in your organization with a baseline intensity level. The framework begins with a business plan.

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The Economic Slowdown What trends may affect your dealership?

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SELLING SOLUTIONS Rules for Sales Planning Building an effective road map to track progress

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by Tom Kramer Strategy Mapping Selling

Effective sales planning will result in good fortune if you follow a disciplined and defined process and focus on the details of the execution.

Managed Print Services From controlling the fleet to improving the business

by Ed Crowley Photizo Group

Oftentimes, vendors and resellers make the mistake of assuming all managed print services (MPS) customers are looking for the same thing: reducing the cost of hard copy devices, maintenance and supplies. But is this really true?

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DEPARTMENTS 6

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

Have You Attended Any BTA Programs? number of BTA members have taken advantage of the association’s education programs.

Are you among them?

If not, perhaps it is time to reconsider. The programs receive high marks. But don’t take my word for it. Read what some of your fellow dealers and their employees are saying: BTA ProFinance — “My owner has bragged on this seminar for the last year since he went to it. Now that I have the information as well, we will begin implementing practices as soon as possible, with as little disruption as possible. I look forward to improvements in the information we will have to tell us about our business, as well as benchmarks for comparison.

John [Hey] and John [Hanson] are great trainers and make it fun to learn what can be dry information.” — Debbie Howes, Digital Business Machines, Nashville, Tenn.

BTA ProSolutions — “Darrell Amy’s ProSolutions was a wonderful opportunity to see how to apply practical sales skills to our evolving equipment industry. This course is highly recommended to any company’s sales staff or sales engineers interested in solutions selling and flipping the paradigm many in this industry have clung to for so very long.” — Ken Stewart, Kearns Business Solutions, Greenville, S.C. FIX — Cost Management for Service — “The FIX seminar was absolutely outstanding. Ronelle Ingram is a fantastic instructor. She combines a dynamic personality with exceptional experience, both as a service manager and a FIX instructor ... The subject material will be of extreme benefit

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to our company.” — Kurt Hendrix, Hendrix Business Systems Inc., Matthews, N.C. BTA Print Management Workshop — “The print management course run by BTA and Tom Callinan is an invaluable asset to any company interested in servicing this offering. Tom’s industry knowledge and insight are, bar none, the best ever provided at a workshop I have attended." — Kevin W. Coughlin, TC Technology Inc., Kenmore, N.Y. BTA Sales Management Workshop — “Thank you for an exciting two days! You [Tom Callinan] and David [Ramos] did a spectacular job of providing us with a process that can help to develop our team and increase our market share ... As a new manager I am constantly trying to find resources for establishing a proven process that can be replicated each and every time with predictable success. This will go a long way to helping with that! Great class, nice job!” — Russ Kromminga, MT Business Technologies Inc., Mansfield, Ohio.

BTA’s “Building My Business” Webinar Series — “I participated in Monday afternoon’s webinar with Lou Slawetsky [“The Impact of a Changing Market — A Snapshot]. I just wanted to comment and say how impressed I was. The webinar was very informative. Lou did a great job, and technically everything came off without a flaw. Any more, I participate in a lot of webinars, and I have to say this was one of the best. Thanks and I do believe this is a great direction for BTA.” — Richard B. Maxwell, OfficeWare, Cincinnati, Ohio If you haven’t done so, I encourage you to take advantage of BTA’s education programs.

Class dates and locations are listed on the BTA Web site (www.bta.org) as scheduled.

— 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 Tom Callinan, Strategy Development www.strategydevelopment.org Ed Crowley, Photizo Group www.managed-print-services.com Robert C. Goldberg, General Counsel Business Technology Association Tom Kramer, Strategy Mapping Selling www.strategymappingselling.com Wes McArtor, BEI Services Inc www.beiservices.com Bob Sostilio, Sostilio & Associates International sostilio@flash.net

®

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 ©2008 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 ®

It’s Been a Pleasure to Serve as President t has been a pleasure to serve as the national president of the Business Technology Association. On June 30 my term comes to an end. I have certainly enjoyed playing a role in helping to take BTA to new heights, meet BTA members at a number of industry events and work alongside the outstanding members of the association’s national board of directors.

I’m sure BTA’s past presidents would say they had not necessarily envisioned serving as national president when first stepping forward to volunteer. How did I find myself in the presidency? It goes back to 1995 when I bought my dealership and quickly found myself asking a lot of questions. That led me to BTA. I went to a North Carolina BTA local meeting and received so much value and met so many welcoming dealers that when they asked for additional volunteers at the end of the meeting, I raised my hand.

Soon, I began serving as an officer of the local. From there I moved into the BTA Southeast district officer positions. That led to my service on the national board. For the 2006-07 year, I became president-elect, which brought me to the national presidency. As you may have surmised, the guidance and counsel that BTA and its members provided in those early months and years after the purchase of my dealership made my future responsibility clear — I needed to give back to the association that had given me so much.

With my story shared, I “throw down the gauntlet,” so to speak. Would you consider stepping forward as a BTA volunteer? I encourage you to give it some thought. I

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know and understand the initial reactions: “I’m too busy” or “They don’t need me to serve.” I can counter both. For the first: BTA has a paid staff in Kansas City, Mo., that is responsible for the daily duties of running the association and pursuing the strategies and initiatives set by the board. The staff members recognize the reality that volunteers have full-time responsibilities elsewhere and are sensitive to not asking too much of any volunteer’s time. For the second: BTA does need your help. Keep in mind that BTA was created by dealers for dealers. The association is reliant upon having dealers lead and serve in order to ensure that it effectively and appropriately provides the benefits and services that dealers need.

Now is a particularly enjoyable time to serve as a volunteer. Have you noticed how BTA has made some significant strides in recent years? We have added new benefit programs and will continue to do so. In addition, BTA is becoming much more visible in the industry. Meanwhile, our staff members are truly dedicated to the success of the association. Their enthusiasm is contagious.

How do you let BTA know you may be interested in serving as a volunteer in some capacity? It’s simple. Just contact BTA Executive Director Brent Hoskins at brent@bta.org.

Finally, I’d like to share an expression of thanks to my fellow volunteers on the national board — Ronelle Ingram, Bill James, Rock Janecek. Thomas Chin, Mike Blake and Jerry Jackson. I have enjoyed working with each of these fine individuals, all fully committed to their association.

Under Ronelle’s leadership as national president in the year to come, I can assure you that BTA is in good hands. I — Shannon Oliver

2007-2008 Board of Directors President Shannon Oliver 25 Wheaton Circle Greensboro, NC 27406 shannon@bta.org President-Elect Ronelle Ingram Steven Enterprises Inc. 17952 Sky Park Circle Ste. E Irvine, CA 92614 ronellei@msn.com Vice President Bill James WJS Enterprises Inc. 3315 Ridgelake Drive P.O. Box 6620 Metairie, LA 70009 bjames@wjsenterprises.com BTA East Thomas Chin Accolade Technologies LLC 31 Mamaroneck Ave. Ste. 508 White Plains, NY 10601 tchin@accotech.com BTA Mid-America Mike Blake Corporate Business Systems LLC 2018 S. Stoughton Road Madison, WI 53716 mblake@corpbussystems.com BTA Southeast Jerry Jackson All South Copiers (ASC) 1325 Cobb International Blvd.

Ste. A Kennesaw, GA 30152 jerry@ascopiers.com BTA West Rock Janecek Burtronics Business Systems Inc. 216 S. Arrowhead Ave. P.O. Box 1170 San Bernardino, CA 92408 rjanecek@burtronics.com Ex-Officio/General Counsel Robert C. Goldberg Schoenberg Finkle Newman & Rosenberg Ltd. 222 S. Riverside Plaza Ste. 2100 Chicago, IL 60606 robert.goldberg@sfnr.com

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Dedicated Scanners Perhaps it is time to take a closer look by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

hen the arrival of the MFP turn ed th e of f ic e t e chnology industr y in a different direction, a new value proposition quickly emerged. It unfolded in stages. Initially, the focus was on the “scan once, print many” copying capability. Soon, it turned to driving print jobs to the MFP. Finally, a focus on the MFP’s scanning capability began to gain momentum.

Today, while all three of the MFP capabilities — copying, printing and scanning — remain important in the workplace, the advent of third-party software solutions has drawn notable attention to the scanning capability. Increasingly, dealers are espousing the MFP as the perfect onramp to networks — a tool to transition paper documents to the digital equivalent in order to facilitate the use of document management solutions, etc.

Lately, however, an alternative has increasingly gained the attention of dealers — dedicated or network scanners. Speed, convenience and lower cost serve to distinguish the product category. Perhaps it is time for you to take a closer look at some of the products offered by scanner manufacturers, not as a replacement of the MFP, but as a complementary product that will allow you to further embed your dealership within the customer location and thwart competitors.

While the scanner is not new to the workplace, it has not always been found in the front office. Jackie Horn, director of worldwide marketing for scanner manufacturer BÖWE BELL + HOWELL (www.bbhscanners.com), describes the typical scenario of the past. “When document imaging began, it was very paper intensive and, often, the large volume of paper was centralized,” she explains. “A good example would be an insurance company that had policy applications and claims communications all going to the headquarters location. The

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agents in the field simply sent in their paperwork for processing. At the headquarters, high-volume, production scanners would be used, scanning all of the paperwork into the database.”

Things have changed, says Horn.

“Over the years, the features and functionality that are available on production scanners were introduced on desktop scanners,” she says. “And so now, a lot of the work can be done at the place where documents come into the company. For example, instead of getting all of their policy applications, etc., together at the end of the day and sending them to headquarters, agents can scan the documents in their offices and send the digital images to the headquarters.”

Roger Markham, channel marketing manager for scanner manufacturer Eastman Kodak Co. (www.kodak.com), compares the old and new scanning procedures as well. “The scanning process has been evolving over the years,” he says.

“It used to be a centralized process where the paper in the organization came to the scanner. It was a very controlled environment. The big enabler of change was networks. As bandwidth and storage has become available at virtually no cost, it has enabled moving the image capture process to people’s desktops. That’s what started the whole distributed capture craze.”

Given the transition to distributed capture, the primary appeal of the dedicated scanner to the office worker is convenience, says John Capurso, vice president of marketing for Visioneer Inc. (www.visioneer.com), a manufacturer of scanners, including 10 privately labeled for Xerox. “Let’s consider an office worker in a legal office,” he says. “She is going to be capturing lots of paperwork coming in from clients, from the courthouse, whatever. For her to get up and walk to the MFP, which may not be right next to her desk, it would be a frequent

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interruption to her day.”

Given that not every em“There are MFPs out there Frequent use of the MFP ploye e has hig h-v olum e scanning documents a as a scanner can also be an scanning needs, Horn does great deal, but you know, interruption to other workacknowledge that there is ers, says Horn. “Let’s say I unquestionable value in the I can’t deploy a hundred work in the accounting descanning capability of the of these in companies partment and most days I get MF P, b e y ond its rol e in with high-volume 200 invoices that come in,” making copies. “I think the scanning needs. The she says. “I might not want to MFP is very helpful for ad MFP is not very scalable.” stand at the MFP and scan all hoc scanning,” says Horn.

— Roger Markham 200 documents at the end of “So, if I do not have ver y Eastman Kodak Co. the day or keep going back many documents coming and forth to the MFP as the across my desk in the course invoices come to my desk, because somebody might be of a day, I can easily go over to the MFP and quickly scan to standing behind me asking, ‘When are you going to be done, e-mail or to a folder on the network.” because I need to use the copier?’ or saying, ‘I’m waiting for my Markham agrees, but explains that the use of scanners in print job.’ So, in situations where there are large volumes of addition to MFPs is often a matter of demand and practidocuments, it would really be handy for me to have a dedi- cality. “There are MFPs out there scanning documents a cated scanner at my desktop, sitting right next to my PC.” great deal, but you know, I can’t deploy a hundred of these for scanning in companies with high-volume scanning needs,” he says. “The MFP is not very scalable.”

Capurso agrees. “I can’t put an MFP in every office, on every floor and in every location of my company,” he says, but given their low cost, a scanner can be placed “in any workgroup where they are doing lots of document capture.”

At least one copier/MFP manufacturer has acknowledged the practicality of the scanner in the workplace as well. In March, Toshiba America Business Solutions Inc. (TABS) announced that it had entered into a strategic alliance with Fujitsu Computer Products of America Inc. (www.us. fujitsu.com) to offer some of its scanning products through authorized TABS dealers. Specifically, TABS announced the availability of five Fujitsu scanners through TABS dealers, ranging in speed from 25 to 120-pages per minute.

“Pairing up with Fujitsu allows us to be even more flexible in meeting the business scanning needs of our customers,” said Joseph Contreras, TABS director of product and solutions marketing, at the time of the announcement. “There are times when businesses need additional image capturing options, yet do not have the space or need for an additional MFP. By leveraging Fujitsu’s extensive scanner line, Toshiba dealers can now address those specific needs.”

Robert Turner, business development manager for Fujitsu, provides another perspective on the significance of the Toshiba/Fujitsu alliance. “Toshiba realizes that content management/document imaging is frequently a paper-intensive process,” he says, noting that the alliance further emphasizes 12 | 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 0 8

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change something,” says TABS’ commitment to soft“...

Scanners provide a Capurso. “It doesn’t matter. ware-based solution sales. way for you to re-engage Whatever you want to do is “This allows the BTA dealer with the customer, growing okay.”); The ability to detect to say, ‘Look, we understand multi-sheet scanning errors. that you are now going to your footprint within (“If you are scanning a large have this paper-intensive the organization and batch of documents — espeprocess and we have the capturing more mindshare cially if the documents are tools to help you get there. and revenue share from critical to the business appliWe have great software the customer.” cation — you don’t e ver products like Questys, Docu— Robert Turner want to miss one of them,” Ware and ABBYY, and we Fujitsu Computer Products of America Inc. says Horn. “The ultrasonic also have scanners.” sensor will catch it if more While dedicated scanners do serve to facilitate the use of document management solu- than one page goes through at one time, stop the scanning tions while offering convenience as well as space and cost process and alert the operator.”); The ability to “protect” savings in meeting end-users’ scanning needs, there are paper documents, when necessary. (“We have a paper prosome noteworthy distinctions in terms of the capabilities of tection feature in some of our scanners where the scanner scanners versus the scanning functionality of the MFP. “I actually analyzes each piece of paper prior to going through don’t want to say that dedicated scanners are better than to determine whether it is going to be able to scan it or not,” MFPs,” says Capurso. “But I do think they have more func- says Turner. “If the document is too delicate, it will basically tionality for their purpose, because scanning is their only say, ‘I’m not so sure about this document,’ so it will stop the scanner versus potentially damaging the document.”) purpose in life.”

Beyond providing the various benefits to the end-user, why Capurso likens the comparison of the camera function of a cell photo to a dedicated digital camera. “Is your cell else would a dealership choose to carry dedicated scanners? phone camera better than your dedicated digital camera? Turner cites account control among the reasons, noting that No,” he explains. “Is the quality good? Sure it is. It works well, in this era of document management solutions, end-users but if doesn’t necessarily have everything that a dedicated expect various scanning options. He also cites account growth as a reason. “After you place an MFP, as a salesperson, device would.”

What extra capabilities does the dedicated scanner offer? when is the next time you really engage the customer?” he Capurso cites as an example the inclusion of Kofax VRS asks. “The answer : A couple of months before the lease (Virtual ReScan) with its scanners. Visioneer touts the expires. Document imaging integration along with scanners merits of VRS on its Web site: “Ensuring that your images provide a way for you to re-engage with the customer, are of the best quality possible at the point of capture is crit- growing your footprint within the organization and capturing ical to the rest of the document management process, as more mindshare and revenue share from the customer.”

Turner offers one more reason dealers may want to conimage quality will significantly impact the success of data extraction, recognition and retrieval. VRS helps you say sider offering dedicated scanners. “What happens when the monthly scan volume on the MFP goes from 200 to goodbye to the ‘garbage in, garbage out’ dilemma.”

Horn emphasizes the importance of VRS as well. “Many of 2,000-3,000 pages or more and that person standing there the imaging software packages drag data out of the image,” is taking ‘bandwidth’ at the MFP?” he asks. “Now, the MFP she says. “For example, a person who is processing invoices is not able to perform its core function as much, which is would be particularly interested in the amount due, the creating a click charge for your dealership. Now your ‘remit payment to’ information and the ‘payment due’ date. service organization is losing money and The clearer the image in mixed post-processing, the more your customer is unhappy.”

Brent Hoskins, executive director of the accurate the imaging software will be.”

Business Technology Association, Among the other scanner features cited by the manufacis editor of Office Technology magazine. turers: The ability to scan a document into Microsoft Word.

He can be reached at brent@bta.org. (“You may want to move paragraphs to another document or 14 | 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 0 8

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‘The New Frontier’ Sharp hosts national dealer meeting May 6-9 by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

ith a giant leap forward in the A4 marketplace and predictions of a growing market share, the Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America (SIICA) 2008 National Dealer Meeting reflected its forward-looking theme — “The Next Frontier.” The meeting, held May 6-9 in Orlando, Fla., drew approximately 950 attendees — about 750 from Sharp-authorized dealerships.

“I think you’re going to enjoy everything that we’ve got to show you,” said SIICA President Edward McLaughlin, as he welcomed dealers to the opening General Session. “By the end of this continued rollout, you will see the strongest office products line in the industry.”

The rollout at the meeting included the launch of new A4 MFPs and printers, Sharp’s largest line of MFPs and printers to date. To be unveiled over a six-month period, the line will include 18 color and monochrome Segment 3 and 4 models.

All models in the series will support the new third generation of the Sharp OSA development platform. Ten of the models were on display in the meeting’s Product Showcase.

Gary Bailer, associate director of product management for SIICA, explained the practicality of A4 devices. “In the office today, only 14 percent of documents produced are produced on ledger-sized paper,” he said. “That means 86 percent are produced on legal or letter — the vast majority … So, the opportunity [ for A4 product placements] is just absolutely immense for our dealer community today as a whole, not just for Sharp, but for the industry.”

With Sharp’s announcement of the new A4 line, it was emphasized that components, software and processes are engineered by the manufacturer to be shared across engine platforms, making all Sharp products “ look and act” similar across nearly all segments of the market. So, as an example, the multi-tasking MFP controller of other Sharp products will be featured in all of the new A4 MFPs. “This common controller architecture provides a uniform user experience across Sharp’s MFP products, ensuring consis-

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Above: Gary Bailer (right), associate director of product management for Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America (SIICA), explains the features of one of Sharp’s latest products in the Product Showcase. Right: SIICA President Edward McLaughlin addresses dealers. tency and enhancing productivity,” a company press release states.

During the General Session, Bailer told dealers how the new A4 line will help them “get closer to the customer” while bringing valued functionality to their work areas.

“You are able to provide A3 performance in a very compact design that can fit close to the user,” he said. “Think of all of those environments where traditional A3 products cannot fit that you now have access to with these new high-performance A4 products.”

McLaughlin emphasized that by allowing dealers to get closer to their customers, the A4 products will allow dealers to better address customers’ document-related needs. “Document ‘pain points’ are all over the place in the office,” he

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said. “It’s important to get close to those that we are going to be very serious “We are no longer pain points and close to the customers about being in front of all the customers so that we can resolve those issues that to make all of the deals, to do the right satisfied simply to be one they have to deal with and make their things. We are no longer satisfied just to of the main companies lives easier.” be a player. We want to be among the innovating. We want to The launch of the A4 line demonbiggest players in the industry.” be the biggest and the strates Sharp’s ability to “out-innovate” The comments echoed comments best in this space ... We its competitors, said McLaughlin. “We McLaughlin had shared with industry will be. I guarantee it.” went basically from only a handful of editors and analysts during a press briefsmall A4 products like the AL Series to ing the evening before the General an entire line of very powerful document portals — 18 of Session. “I think it is time for a paradigm shift to overcome them — in a blink of an eye that will be introduced over a some leaders,” he said, during the briefing. “Our target is to six-month period,” he said. “That’s unprecedented.” be in the top one or two position five years from now.” That’s It appears that the A4 product line is expected to play a not simply in market share, he added. “It’s thinking about role in moving the company to new levels of success. “We what we’ve developed, what it represents, what the opportuare no longer satisfied simply to be one of the main compa- nities are — and we intend to go after them aggressively.”

Brent Hoskins, executive director of the Business nies innovating,” said McLaughlin. “We want to be the Technology Association, is editor of Office Technology biggest and the best in this space. Five years from now, we magazine. He can be reached at brent@bta.org. will be. I guarantee it. So, if you are on board, understand

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Piecing Ideas Together.

The BPCA was founded in 1963 with the vision of forming a best practices organization that unites leaders of independently-owned office equipment dealers. The concept is quite simple - bring the leaders of these companies together so that they can share ideas, learn from each other, and take their businesses to the next level.

Our members will attest that it’s well worth the investment by making each of them better leaders and bringing more value to their dealerships.

Feel like there’s something missing from your organization? Let BPCA bring together all the pieces of the puzzle.

“Better Dealers Through Learning and Idea Exchange.”

If you’d like more information about our organization and how to join, please send us an email or give us a call.

Phone: 800.897.0250 Email: info@businessproductscouncil.org Website: www.businessproductscouncil.org Membership Director BPCA c/o BTA 12411 Wornall Road Kansas City, MO 64145

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The Business Plan Use SWOT analysis & planning to create success by: Tom Callinan, Strategy Development

am often asked how to instill a culture of success throughout the organization. It is a fair question because I rarely find companies where the management team shares a high level of intensity or drive for success.

There are times when the reason can clearly be attributed to good people in the wrong job.

More frequently there is no framework in place to instill and sustain a high level of intensity.

Like management skills, intensity cannot be transferred through pure will and certainly not through osmosis. You cannot beat intensity into people, scare people up the intensity scale or lecture folks into intensity. You have to have a framework that provides everyone in your organization with a baseline intensity level.

The framework begins with a realistic and attainable business plan. Realistic and attainable is not defined by a plan drawn up on the back of a napkin or driven by where you want to be without any regard to where you are now. There is an overused cliché that involves a map, a starting point and a destination; you need all three to be successful. You do not define “realistic and attainable” by a laydown plan. Quality people want to be challenged. Planning would be considered a joke if you did not agree on stretch goals.

The plan needs to be realistic to the company. The shareholders who make the decisions on how to invest the resources of the company need to feel as if they are getting a fair return on their investment. And it needs to be fair to the management and employees. To me, that decodes to a nice bonus when the plan is achieved.

Composing a solid plan requires some basic research on the industry, a deep level of detail of your own historical results and the input of your entire team.

Basic research on the industry can be found from numerous sources, including BTA and the vendors you represent.

Some of the trends you will want to understand include the

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average unit selling price (AUSP) by segment; overall unit placements and placements by segment — is there segment shift and a color migration rate? These trends will have a direct impact on your planning.

For instance, if AUSP for Segment 4 has been declining an average of 4 percent annually over the last three years and has a projection of continued declines, you need to have a line item in your planning document that decreases next year’s revenue by 4 percent for Segment 4 placements. Is there a shift from Segment 6 placements to lower revenue Segment 5 placements due to migration of features? That, too, will have a negative impact on next year’s results and will need to be quantified in the plan.

You will also need to understand new and possibly disruptive products, such as the HP Edgeline or the A4 copierbased MFPs. These A4 products are a great opportunity for the dealer community, but they also have a lower AUSP, so every A4 device that replaces an A3 sale results in lower revenue. You need to make an assumption regarding what ratio of A3 placements will migrate to A4. You also may encounter disruptive channels or services. One example of a disruptive channel: VARs selling print management.

Your own historical results are the foundation of your financial planning, but to be useful, you need to get into the details of your results. Knowing that your equipment gross profit margin was 32.4 percent is not enough information to drive change. You will need to know the weighted margin of each equipment revenue stream. Examples include commercial SMB, GEM business, major accounts and national accounts. You will want to understand the margin difference of a leased sale in each category versus a cash sale and you will want to know the margin and AUSP difference between a mono and color unit in each segment.

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the battle. The second half is having an In service, you want to understand Having a robust and operational process to keep everyone your revenue per click trend over the focused on the plan. You did not have a last few years by segment. You will also well-conceived business crystal ball — things will not go exactly want to understand your actual volume plan is half the battle. as planned. trend by segm ent — are v olum e s The second half is having Perhaps you fell behind on training increasing, decreasing or static? What is an operational process your reps on color applications and the your parts usage as a percent of revto keep everyone shift to color is not happening as quickly enue? Is it different for mono and color? focused on the plan. as you had planned — costing you 4 How about by segment? percent of plan in January. You did not get Think about the power of this information in a simplified and hypothetical example. You are the two new reps hired in December, so you are off another 1 developing your equipment business plan, so you start with percent. On top of this, you had an unusually high mix of GEM last year’s results. You know that AUSP is decreasing by 3 business in January, driving your AUSP, and results, down by 8 percent and you assume this trend will continue. So the first percent. You are through your first month of the year and at 87 line item in your business plan is to decrease last year’s results percent of your equipment plan. What do you do?

The answer to that question is a key to the level of intensity by 3 percent. You have one additional “headwind” with the migration to A4 in Segments 3 and 4 and you put the migra- you foster at your company. My answer is that I expect the sales tion at 5 percent of placements with a 15 percent lower AUSP. leader to adjust and make up the shortfall by quarter end (the Now for the fun part. You develop plans to migrate 10 example is purely equipment revenue issues, but the situation percent more of your Segment 2–4 placement from mono to and expectations transcend functional areas). In the monthly color at an AUSP increase of 11 percent. The new manage- management meeting, the sales leader needs to lay out his (or ment framework you learned at the BTA Sales Management her) plan to get back on track. How do you get the training Workshop will allow you to reduce turnover from 54 percent implemented now? Are you seeing better results out of the reps to 40 percent, increasing sales rep productivity by 7 percent. that you did train? Where are you with adding the two new With the reduced turnover and better management process, reps? What does our recruiting pipeline look like and at what stage of the process are the new sales prospects? What other you can add two new territories for the year.

Finally, you need a SWOT analysis on your company and short-term actions does he have to get us back to plan?

The minimum acceptable level of performance is to plan. you should get all employees involved in this exercise. SWOT is an acronym for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and The leader of the company needs to keep the entire team threats. Strengths and weaknesses are internal — you control focused on this goal. Monthly meetings are not a venue to these areas. Your large customer base would be an example of crucify the functional leader that missed plan for the month; a strength and high general and administrative expenses are they are a venue for the entire senior management team to examples of weaknesses. Opportunities and threats are work together to achieve a plan. The plan belongs to the external — they can impact your results, but you do not entire team. It is possible that one area is not going to achieve control them. Rather, you plan to take advantage of the its planned results, so you need to work as a team to make up opportunities and minimize the threats. Print management is the shortfall in the other areas. A business plan provides you an example of an opportunity. An example of a threat: Other the opportunity to stretch and develop your team. Implement now and grow your market share and operating income. channels entering the contracted output space.

SWOT is important because it focuses your planning and Tom Callinan is the founding principal of Strategy provides warning areas. If one of your weaknesses is high Development, a management consulting and advanced sales turnover on your sales team, adding territories may be illogical. training firm. From 1998 to 2005, he was an executive Adding more employees to an organization with high turnover with IKON Office Solutions. Prior to IKON, usually drives turnover higher. If you discover the threat of he was the founder and CEO of Copifax Inc. VARs implementing print management programs and coming He can be reached at after your output base, you may want to launch your own print callinan@strategydevelopment.org or management program and get your customers under contract.

(610) 527-3317.

Having a robust and well-conceived business plan is half Visit www.strategydevelopment.org. 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 0 8 | 21

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Managed Print Services From controlling the fleet to improving the business by: Ed Crowley, Photizo Group

ftentimes, vendors and resellers make the mistake of assuming all managed print services (MPS) customers are looking for the same thing: reducing the cost of hard copy devices, maintenance and supplies. But is this really true? Are all organizations using MPS the same? Are they looking for the same thing?

A study by the Photizo Group, a research and consulting firm in the area of managed print services, has determined that not all MPS engagements are the same.

These are just a few of the ways in which MPS decisionmakers and accounts are different: In some companies, the IT department “owns” the decision for MPS. In other companies, it is the Facilities Management or Purchasing department; Many things change depending upon which department (IT or Facilities Management/Purchasing) owns the decision, including which MPS vendor is most likely to be chosen, what expectations are for the MPS program and even satisfaction levels with a vendor’s delivery of MPS programs for specific technology platforms (printers versus copier/MFPs); The expectations, requirements and contracts that are negotiated for MPS programs vary greatly depending upon the experience level of the MPS vendor.

This last point bears special discussion. The Photizo Group’s research, along with a significant number of one-onone interviews with MPS decision makers in all sizes of companies, have clearly identified a difference in the three stages of MPS adoption.

At the initial stage — controlling the fleet — organizations implement MPS in order to gain control of the distributed hardcopy fleet (printers and copier/MFPs). This is often the point at which one department (either IT or Facilities Management/Purchasing) gains control of the decision for the entire fleet. Organizations entering into this stage are

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often surprised at the cultural resistance, number of devices and variety of devices that are being deployed within the organization. This stage is the “infrastructure focus” stage that requires vendors to assist with basic financing services (leasing, “click charges” and others), device monitoring, assessments and other tools that help the customer understand the “true” cost of their hardcopy fleet.

In the second stage — optimizing the fleet — organizations move from gaining control of the fleet to optimizing the fleet. At this point, organizations want to ensure that devices are being deployed in a way that is not only cost effective, but is also the most efficient and effective in terms of supporting end-users’ needs. This requires an increasing level of sophistication from vendors and service providers in order to not only track device usage, but to actually move toward actively managing the fleet.

Finally, in the third stage, organizations actually begin to look beyond cost reduction or containment, to actually improving the company ’s performance and business

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processes by implementing electronic tion for enhancing business processes, For any vendor wishing document workflow, document manyou will be overshooting their needs. agement, document repositories and Likewise, if you try to approach a firm to provide MPS, this other activities that actually improve that requires assistance in enhancing model is a critical tool and enhance basic business processes. their fleet’s capabilities and impact on for ensuring you are At this level, MPS vendors must bring the business with a “control the fleet” taking the right an entirely new set of skills and abilities solution, you will be proposing a soluapproach with the to the table. In fact, the vendor must tion that falls significantly short of cusright customer. move to a “consultant” role versus just tomer expectations. providing hardware, supplies and mainUnderstanding where the customer is in tenance/management services. This stage also requires that the adoption cycle is absolutely critical, both in terms of prothe vendor intimately understands the customer’s industry. viding the right proposal, but also in terms of ensuring you have The graph on page 22 provides a representation of the the ability to deliver the solution that truly meets their needs.

Ed Crowley is the founder of the Photizo Group. He has “typical” managed print services evolution. more than 20 years of industry experience including key While customers may often enter into an MPS engagemarketing and management positions with QMS, ment with the expectation that they will move directly to DataProducts and Lexmark International. Crowley speaks stage three, our experience indicates that firms ultimately around the world on topics of branding, must move through the first two stages before entering the technology development and the imaging final stage. industry. He is also an adjunct professor at For any vendor wishing to provide MPS, this model is a Midway College, Midway, Ky., in economics, critical tool for ensuring you are taking the right approach global marketing and business planning. with the right customer. If you approach the customer who Visit www.managed-print-services.com. is still at the stage of trying to control the fleet with a solu-

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COURTS & CAPITOLS

Improving Customer Relations Strengthen your relationships through communication by: Robert C. Goldberg, General Counsel for the Business Technology Association

uring changing economic times I am often asked, “How is business?” I am sure you are as well. Experience has proven that during good times, the nature of legal services leans toward expansion of one’s business. A new building, product lin e and acqui sition of another dealership are all presented for our services. In difficult economic times, we are often requested to assist in the avoidance of obligations, payment of debt or in collecting debts. Businesses become very creative in their justification of why they should not have to pay for services or goods provided. As a provider of equipment and services, you can take steps to strengthen your relationship with end-users and thus avoid satisfaction and collection issues.

On top of the list for improved customer relations is communication. Consider an electronic and/or printed newsletter, tip of the week or cost-saving practice. Have your sales team follow up on installations with a call to ensure everything is right. Send out surveys seeking input on how your business is performing. Provide a monthly prize to one end-user who returns his (or her) survey. Provide an annual or semi-annual review of the user’s technology to determine if their needs are being met, their technology is state-of-the-art and their solutions are economical. It is much easier to schedule your annual review than a sales call.

Update your Web site. Make it easier for your customers to schedule a service call, order supplies, request a quote or merely ask a question. Make certain an employee is designated to check the Web site throughout the day to respond to all requests. We live in a connected world where many individuals would prefer to electronically communicate than speak directly. Your Web site should welcome this preference.

Feature a new product or application on the site and educate end-users as to the new technologies available. Have a link to your newsletter and tip of the week. Advise of any semi-

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nars you may be offering to acquaint users with new technology or to show them an even better use of their existing technology.

Review the organization of your service department and the manner in which it operates. Make certain it is functioning at peak productivity.

Provide the latest tools and support technicians need to perform their jobs. The most frequent excuse for refusing to pay is the failure of the equipment to perform as the user believed it should. Proper training and education when the equipment is installed will create realistic expectations of the equipment’s performance.

Reward your technicians for completing a service call correctly the first time without a call back. Designate an employee to receive any complaints regarding service and add a link to that person on your Web site. If an end-user refuses to pay or seeks to return equipment that he feels is not performing properly, the number of complaints lodged to the designated individual (as well as your service records) will assist your defense.

Get out from behind your desk and visit customers. List your top 100 customers and visit two per week for the next year. Let them know you appreciate their business and stand available if they ever need your personal assistance. At the same time, learn about their businesses and offer efficiencies and recommendations on the use of technology. If possible, patronize your customer’s business to develop an even stronger relationship.

Difficult economic times pose challenges for every business.

Complaining is not the solution. Be proactive with your customers and avoid becoming a victim of their tough times. Now is the time to be more visible and more involved. The stronger the relationship, the less chance you will become a victim of their cash-flow problem.

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

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PRINCIPAL ISSUES

Power Protection Quantified Study shows parts cost savings, fewer service calls by: Wes McArtor, BEI Services Inc.

n the 27 years that I have been a part of the office equipment industry, one of the most frequently asked questions by my customers has been: “How can I quantify the benefits of power protection?� Although it is common knowledge that quality power protection protects copiers and MFPs from damage caused by lightning and disruptive power surges, many in our industry question how much power protection can actually help improve machine performance and ROI. In fact, many of the smaller studies done by dealerships and vendors have proven to be inconclusive at best.

Therefore, BEI Services recently conducted the most comprehensive analysis in the history of our industry. We analyzed more than 50,000 machines distributed across the United States to test if power protection improved machine performance and profitability.

I must admit, at the onset of this study I fully expected to see very little statistical impact. However, the results were revealing and somewhat surprising. Our analysis discovered that power protection significantly impacts CPC (specifically, service and parts cost per copy), MCBV and labor costs. The details of the study: BEI Services compiled machine performance data from 50,000 machines serviced by 13 dealerships from around the country (located in nine states) over a period of 184 days.

To ensure the integrity of this study, a number of machines were omitted from the analysis for the following reasons: (1) data from old technology (analog); (2) data from new installations (skewed by low copy counts, operator error and technician learning curve issues); and (3) data as a result of poorly performing service technicians (graded under a 20 percent first-call effectiveness ratio).

The resulting study group was 36,824 copier/MFPs. This group was distributed across segments and manufacturers.

BEI Services obtained power protection usage lists from ESP and compared these lists to our study group. We found that from our sample of 36,824 machines (both black-and-white and color), 17,820 total copier/MFPs utilized power protection,

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while the remaining 19,004 copier/MFPs were likely not using any power protection, but possibly could have been using other brands.

BEI Services then conducted a blind analysis from the base sample of 36,824 machines by comparing power protection usage to CPC parts usage (the cost of all parts used to service a machine divided by the number of copies made) and MCBV (mean copies between visits). We used CPC and MCBV because these statistics are widely accepted service performance measurements and we felt that these would be the most effective ways to measure the financial impact of power protection.

After analyzing the performance data from such a large sampling, I was able to quantify that proactive use of power protection reduces parts and labor costs. Dealerships that used power protection experienced an annual parts cost savings of $64 per copier/MFP. Dealerships that did not use power protection experienced 22 percent higher CPC and 16 percent lower MCBV, resulting in higher labor service costs per copy.

While the results varied from manufacturer to manufacturer, in every case, the protected machine performance was measurably better than the unprotected units. The results of this study would be almost impossible to see on a smaller population because of variations in volume, technician performance and numerous other factors. But the difference in performance is obvious and quantifiable.

The bottom line is this: Are you willing to risk $64 per copier/MFP per year in extra parts costs and 16 percent lower MCBV for the machines you service? After seeing the results, I, for one, would not recommend it.

Wes McArtor began his career in the industry as a service technician for Savin Corp. Since then he has held various positions in copier and computer dealerships, ranging from technician to service manager. In 1993, McArtor co-founded BEI Services Inc. to provide independent imaging dealers with an unbiased source for standards and nationwide comparative service reporting.

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PRINCIPAL ISSUES

The Economic Slowdown What trends may affect your dealership? by: Bob Sostilio, Sostilio & Associates International

he document imaging market has been in flux for 40plus years with accelerated growth and decelerated rates, but it has never stopped and gone into reverse. It has not seen a recession since 1982.

The document output market over the years has moved from a centralized environment to a virtual one where print output is everywhere. It has contracted several times with consolidation at the manufacturing and distribution levels and expanded with independent dealerships, but the industry has never shut down. Its go-to-market strategy changed more than once — from rentals, to outright sales to leases to total cost of ownership (TCO). It continues to seek a balance between direct and indirect distribution of copier/MFPs and printers, all the while generating revenue that has not declined in more than 30 years.

For what it is worth, many independent dealerships have come and gone in the last 16 years; they started up, grew and sold without ever experiencing a slowdown in the market.

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Learning From History For those who were not in the market in the early 1970s, it is worth noting that the document hardware market grew by double digit increments transitioning from coated paper (excludin g Xerox, Ko d ak and IBM) and li qui d to dr y toner/plain paper in the early 1970s, from rentals to outright purchasing of desktop models through independent dealers in the mid-1970s, from analog to digital in the late 1980s, standalone to networkable multifunctional models in the 1990s and now from monochrome platforms to high-speed color.

Printer sales exploded along similar curves in the late 1980s. Historically, the evolution of the document-creation market presented substantial revenue growth with long-term annuity (revenue streams) unheard of in other industries even through the “stagflation” (stagnation plus inflation) of the mid-1970s when gas prices quadrupled. I know of no automobile manufacturer back then, or even today, that was able to capture the gasoline revenue from the buyers of their cars.

The copier/MFP market has had its moments. How many remember the wage and pricing freeze that took place in the summer of 1972? It limited manufacturers’ abilities to raise prices on models that were launched with cash discounts.

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They were truly “loss leaders” because the prices could not be raised. The copier industry survived by re-launching rebadged models with slight modifications to the specs. The market still expanded, thanks in part to all the government regulations and the thousands of man-hours devoted to creating and filing documentation.

How about in the late 1970s when service technicians had to wait in queues just to get a limited ration of gas due to the station owners’ allotments? Service calls were predicated and assigned on the basis of how far the technician had to drive within his (or her) installed base of copiers and there were no guaranteed response times. I think at that time, American Motors’ Gremlin and Ford’s Pinto wagons were popular with branches and some dealerships because they could hold a sales rep’s demo copier or technician’s spare parts and get 18 miles per gallon in the city and 27 miles per gallon on the

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highway as long as you did not turn on the air conditioner.

During the 1970s and 1980s, freezing hiring and deferring bonuses was preferable to layoffs in order to protect the dealership’s high performers.

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means the ability to print on a wider array of media. End-users also demand to print as needed in remote or virtual offices and look for more post-printing finishing options on printers similar to copier/ MFPs. Users want a single ser vicing source that responds 24 hours a day, seven days a week and can manage all of its printing devices.

These demands have taken the form of a replacement, non-expanding market where users are authorized and empowered by their enterprises to replace petroleum-based equipment, slow and costly technology and lessen existing dependency on products that do not meet expectations — namely lower price per page and environmentally friendly products.

To meet these user demands, we have learned that more dealers have access to their manufacturers’ (or third-party) meter reading software and remote diagnostics systems.

These embedded systems are programmed to capture accurate meter reads so the dealer can bill exactly what the MFPs

One driver of the ... market that is ... understood is that of end-user demands for faster, cheaper, quieter and environmentally friendly devices.

A Repeat of History?

So here we are again, facing another economic slowdown, but we are better prepared. Analysis of historical trends concludes that events such as the aforementioned are independent of the document industry. Most of the document industry’s fluctuations are a result of a country’s change in gross domestic product (GDP) more so than reacting to financial markets’ ebb and flow. In the U.S. market, the forecasts for uncoated free-sheet paper are still 4 percent per year. There are still ample opportunities in the document space when pages are lost in the mortgage or housing markets, as they are made up in marketing, legal and education markets.

Understandably, the demand for black-and-white pages from copier/MFPs has been in decline for a number of years but the loss of black-and-white page revenue has been more than offset by the increase in the growth of pages from color printers and color-capable MFPs. Color pages that represent less than 9 percent of today’s total output will likely grow to 25 percent over the next five years.

We are very confident in citing some of these trends, which were extrapolated from data in a recent survey of independent U.S. copier/MFP dealerships by Sostilio & Associates (SAI).

This confidence comes from the U.S. office equipment dealer’s entrepreneurial skills. Dealers who own the most successful U.S. dealerships, which still represent 32 percent of hardware placements and 55-plus percent of revenue, are optimistic about growth. They are involved in growing their companies, as evidenced by the increased networking of more units — on average 59 percent of the time versus 45 percent just one year ago. They have increased their color revenue from 17 percent to 35 percent and they realize they can generate more revenue from the service sector than in previous years. They may focus on Segments 2-4 where they place 77 percent of their units, but are marketing faster and more sophisticated products.

End-Users Affect Change One driver of the document imaging market that is clearly understood is that of end-user demands for faster, cheaper, quieter and environmentally friendly devices. Demand for faster output includes less warm-up time, while cheaper 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 0 8 | 27

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(or printers) produce in a timely and accucialize it. Soy-based (and even corn-based) rate manner. These systems can also toners may displace oil-based toners some Soy-based (and even monitor ink and toner, drum and develday, meeting end-user demand for environcorn-based) toners mentally friendly supplies. But whether it oper usage, as well as calculate yields so may displace oil-based satisfies the end-user’s demand for quality that at preset intervals the unit will autotoners some day, and lower page cost may be elusive given the matically initiate reorders either at the meeting end-user demand upward soaring prices of corn and soybeans contracting dealership/distributor or for environmentally thanks to refineries seeking soy and corn through the manufacturer’s Web site. friendly supplies. products as alternatives fuels. If not curWe were surprised by the large number tailed, the costs to manufacture such bioof third-party software companies installing their software within the independent dealer’s base, as toners may well exceed that of the oil-based toners. well as the large percentage of third-party software companies My Two Cents supporting applications sold by the dealer.

In our survey, dealers indicated that they had a plan or In 2008-2009, I believe total sales revenue in the U.S. office managed print services strategy and were expecting their equipment industry will increase while unit placements will service departments to be larger contributors to the total decline. Revenue will come from faster black-and-white and revenue of the dealership. We learned that dealers are color cpm/ppm models and from the annuity streams of offering incentives to technicians who are more thorough on service and supplies of the installed base as it converts to first calls and who are more proficient overall. They are given color, offsetting reduced hardware revenue.

Further loss of hardware revenue can happen when the U.S. laptops and PDAs to better directly communicate and manage the service call with their customers and respond market starts to see refurbished digital printers and MFPs accordingly. According to the survey, technicians are being coming off of leases with sufficient life and placed back into the tracked on performance and given incentives to be more effi- machine-in-field (MIF) population on low cost-per-copy leases.

It is apparent from the survey that service departments will cient with parts and on first calls.

Dealers may have to implement some cost reductions — generate revenue from print service agreements and bundle perhaps reducing customer discounts that become a per- parts, supplies and service inside operating leases. End-users ceived benchmark, making it difficult to increase when times will demand more use of recycled paper and toners to be more are better. But one thing we learned from the 1970s and early efficient in transferring to paper.

1980s was that cutting staff and key people resulted in worse Currently the engineered toners generate zero dust, are service for the customer. The organizations that survived the biodegradable and are easier to be de-inked from the recycled economic slowdown were those that added more service paper, which may help lower price points even further in a people, gave discounts only to existing clients in the form of maturing market. coupons and converted time and material customers to ones Above all, the document market addressed by independent covered by maintenance agreements, giving the dealership a dealers will survive this economic slowdown because the better sense of its cash flow. owners and principals believe they can take advantage of the The survey results reinforce similar thinking, as many situation, even to the degree of buying a smaller dealership respondents stated they were adding more service technicians that has not been able to build a large enough customer base. and getting a greater percentage certified for network servicing. Thirty-seven percent of the dealers in our survey told us so.

Bob Sostilio is president and CEO of Sostilio & Associates Not All Predictable International (SAI), an Ocala, Fla.-based consulting firm serving The unknown that dealers have very little control over is the the office technology industry. He has 34 years of experience growth of engineered, bio-friendly toners and inks. The conunin the industry, including service in senior management drum is that the manufacturers of these new, environmentally positions with leading manufacturers friendly toners and inks sought alternatives to oil-based and research organizations. Sostilio toners as the cost per barrel of oil increased and users can be reached at sostilio@flash.net. demanded environmentally friendly inks.

For more information or to order a copy Battelle, an independent research firm, developed a black bioof SAI’s 2007/2008 Independent Dealer derived toner and is working with manufacturers to commerService Study, call (352) 624-2625.

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SELLING SOLUTIONS

Rules for Sales Planning Building an effective road map to track progress by: Tom Kramer, Strategy Mapping Selling

homas Edison is credited with saying that “Good fortune is what happens when opportunity meets with planning.” Effective sales planning will result in good fortune if you follow a disciplined and defined process and focus on the details of execution.

The objective of sales planning is to ensure that we are making the right call on the right person at the right time with the right actions to get the right results that ultimately strengthen our competitive position.

We have a formula that captures this approach in a simple mathematical equation: S = Q x E. Success equals quality times execution.

Think of the “E” as your skills — sales skills, interpersonal skills, technical capabilities, etc.

These are all the things that enable you to effectively carry out any strategy or action.

Now think of the “Q” as the quality of your plan. The quality of the plan and the execution of the plan are interdependent. If you have a great plan but no execution capabilities, you will not achieve success. On the other hand, if you do not have a plan, but have considerable implementation capabilities, you will still not achieve success. You cannot have one without the other and expect successful results.

In other words: Our actions are only as good as our plan.

The plan is only as good as our actions.

In this article we will focus on the “Q” factor — the plan — so that when you apply your sales skills to your plan, you will achieve the results you want. In the planning process, our basic goal is to take customer, marketplace and contact information, turn it into knowledge and use that knowledge to plan effective action.

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Planning’s Seven Rules of the Road Rule 1 – Planning Powers the Selling Process: The only purpose of planning is to improve the effectiveness of sales activities. Planning helps a sales professional determine the

most effective strategies, tactics and actions that will result in competitive advantage and closed sales. In short, planning is thinking with a purpose.

Rule 2 — Planning is Multi-Focused: Plans must focus on achieving three goals concurrently: Creating market and territory advantage Creating account advantage Creating contact relationship advantage Rule 3 — Planning Always Delivers the Value Proposition: Creating a unique and compelling value proposition is the underlying goal of every plan. For every planned action or strategy, test your plan with this question: Will this action create or build value in the mind of the customer?

Rule 4 — Planning is a Team Sport: Planning simply does not work very well in a vacuum. For every planned action you should ask yourself if you have received input from all who will be 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 0 8 | 29

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uate your plan as the situation evolves. involved or affected by the plan. For every Rule 7 — Planning Must be Coached: planned action, you should create a commu“Living” plans do not Even the best plans go off track because of nication and collaboration plan to ensure end up in file cabinets. short-term, reactive pressures. That is, that everyone understands your direction An effective plan is there are other things going on. Other priand the role you expect them to play. a daily road map orities may come up and pull you in Rul e 5 — Th e Pl an Mu st b e E xeagainst which we track another direction. Or, you may simply be cutable: Beware of “brilliant complexity.” our progress and suffering from tunnel vision. That is, you An effective plan means that you must be re-evaluate our direction. no longer see the forest for the trees and able to implement it. You need to consider you need someone else to look at the situthe following: Skills — Does everyone have the sales, interpersonal or ation and bring you back on track. Top performing sales professionals seek out coaching. They not only go to their technical skills required to fill their roles?

Time — How much time will it take to execute your plan? managers, but they discuss the situation with other stakeHow many sales calls, technical calls or survey calls will you holders such as sales team members, other sales professionals need to make? Take into consideration your other responsibil- and staff employees. ities such as reacting to customer requests, administration tasks, etc. Ask yourself if you have enough time to effectively The Golden Rule of Cause & Effect execute your plan.

Finally, we have the Golden Rule of Cause and Effect. It Personnel — Do you have all the people you need lined reads: “For every planned sales action, I can answer this quesup and available to you to begin implementation? tion: Why? Why will this action advance the plan?”

Resources — Do you have all the other resources you If you follow the seven rules of sales planning, you will go to might need to execute your plan? Here we are referring to market with more customer-focused sales plans, more clearly resources such as money, information or customer knowl- defined roles and responsibilities and greater alignment edge. If not, you must ask yourself how you will go about between your customers’ needs, your value propositions and getting these resources. your sales implementation strategies.

Rule 6 — Planning Must be “Living”: “Living” plans do Tom Kramer is an affiliate partner of Strategy Mapping Selling. not end up in file cabinets. An effective plan is a daily road He has more than 30 years of sales, sales map against which we track our progress and re-evaluate our management and marketing experience with direction. Our day-to-day sales decisions should always be IBM, Eastman Kodak Co. and Canon tested with this question: Does the action advance the plan?

U.S.A. Inc. He can be reached at A critical part of your overall strategy is building in this tom.kramer@strategymappingselling.com. questioning process to consistently track, refine and re-evalVisit www.strategymappingselling.com.

ADVERTISER INDEX 12 • Ames Supply Company

31 • CompTIA Breakaway

32 • KIP America

(800) 323-3856 / (630) 964-2440 / www.amessupply.com

http://breakaway.comptia.org

(800) 252-6793 / www.kipamerica.com

23 • BTA District Events (800) 843-5059 / www.bta.org

3 • DocuWare (888) 565-5907 / www.docuware.com

5, 11 • Print Audit (877) 412-8348 / www.printaudit.com

2 • BTA West

15 • FMAudit

(800) 843-5059 / www.bta.org

(573) 632-2461 / www.fmaudit.com

13 • RISO http://us.riso.com/joinus

27 • Business Equipment Quota Index (800) 843-5059 / www.bta.org

18 • IBPI (480) 393-1694 / www.ibpi.net

17 • Supplies Network (800) 729-9300 / www.suppliesnetwork.com

19 • Business Products Council Association

9 • InkCycle

(800) 897-0250 / www.businessproductscouncil.org

(800) 736-8877 / www.inkcycle.com

7 • U.S. Bank (800) 328-5371 / www.usbank.com/oefs

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Office Technology Magazine Business Technology Association 12411 Wornall Road Kansas City, MO 64145 (816) 941-3100 www.officetechnologymag.com www.bta.org

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