May 2017 Office Technology

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CONTENTS Volume 23 • No. 11

FEATURE ARTICLES 10

Cloud Services Embracing this source of additional revenue

P R I N C I PA L I S S U E S The Future of Work Xerox announces new products, shares vision

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by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

On March 29, at its “The Future of Work” press event held at the Xerox Executive Briefing Center in New York City, Xerox Corp. announced 12 A4 and 17 A3 MFPs, both color and monochrome, with speeds up to 90 pages per minute. It was the largest single product announcement in the company’s history.

As the trusted advisor to customers, why not leverage your good reputation to provide a broader range of services to more fully address their needs? Why not embrace the additional revenue opportunities facilitated, in whole or in part, off-premises — in the cloud?

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Spring Break BTA Southeast hosts dealer event in Orlando

Navigate Your Success Kyocera hosts Business & Technology Conference

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by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

BTA Southeast hosted its 2017 Spring Break event March 24-25 at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa in Orlando, Florida. The event featured a keynote address by Durwood Fincher (aka Mr. Doubletalk) that left dealers laughing and, at first, speechless.

COURTS & CAPITOLS 20

Noncompete Agreements Are they transferrable in an acquisition?

KYOCERA Document Solutions America kicked off its 2018 fiscal year by hosting its annual Business & Technology Conference April 18-20 at the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. The conference drew approximately 1,200 attendees, including dealers from across the Americas.

SELLING SOLUTIONS The Missing Metric Ways to improve your ‘consideration rate’

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by Robert C. Goldberg BTA General Counsel

by Gil Cargill Cargill Consulting Group

The BTA Legal Hotline regularly hears from companies regarding the enforceability of existing noncompete agreements when a business is sold. Although there is a recently enacted Federal Trade Secrets Act, noncompete agreements are evaluated under state laws.

P R I N C I PA L I S S U E S 22

New Opportunities Ahead Samsung hosts national dealer meeting March 27-28

by Elizabeth Marvel Office Technology Magazine

With a focus on the acquisition of the company’s printing business

by HP Inc., Samsung hosted its Printing Solutions National Dealer Meeting 2017 March 27-28 in Chandler, Arizona. Executives from both companies weighed in on the acquisition during the meeting.

As it pertains to business-to-business marketing, the most important and most frequently overlooked metric is the consideration rate.

Simply stated, the consideration rate is the percentage of desirable sales opportunities that, at a minimum, consider you.

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

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• BTA Education Calendar • 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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These forums will provide education and tools needed for the emerging seat-based billing model. Join us as we discuss opportunities, challenges, implementation strategies and best practices. Receive 50% off when you register for both the BTA event and SBB roadshow. To register, please visit www.bta.org/SBB *Percentage difference based on average and estimated CIG and HP wholesale pricing for a set of color cartridges for the HP Color LaserJet M651 printer.

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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S PAGE

I’ll See You June 7-8 in BTA’s Hometown

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any of you attended the 2016 BTA National Conference in Kansas City, Missouri, hosted by BTA Mid-America. It was a great event and, I’m pleased to report, the comments on the hotel venue and Kansas City itself were very favorable. I’m biased. I’ve lived here for 32 years and am pleased to call the city my home. Nevertheless, it was great to hear the positive comments — primarily that Kansas City is such a great place to visit.

BTA Mid-America’s leadership team members were among those who enjoyed their time in Kansas City. In fact, when the time came to select the site for the upcoming June 7-8 Gateway to Success event hosted by the district, the leadership team said, essentially in unison: “Let’s go back to Kansas City!” So, we’re headed back to BTA’s hometown and the same hotel, the InterContinental Kansas City at the Plaza.

Speaking of the BTA Mid-America leadership team, I am grateful for the guidance these volunteers provided in the planning of this year’s event. Special thanks to each of them: President Greg Quirk, owner of JQ Office Equipment of Omaha Inc., Omaha, Nebraska; President-Elect DJ Hastings, president of Hogland Office Equipment, Lubbock, Texas; Vice President Mike Nerland, owner of Elite Business Systems, Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Secretary/Treasurer Chris Albert, sales manager at Marco Technologies, Fenton, Missouri; Immediate Past President Erik Crane, president of Copy Products Inc., Springfield, Missouri; and Board Member John Ross, president of Laser Logic Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. These are your hosts for the Gateway to Success event.

If you have not done so, I encourage you

to visit the event page on the association’s website, www.bta.org/BTAKC. There you will find details on the exhibiting sponsors and the educational sessions to be presented by a great lineup of speakers: Bob Goldberg, BTA’s general counsel; Tom Callinan, president of Strategy Development; Sally Brause, director of human resources consulting at GreatAmerica Financial Services; Rick Farrell, president of Tangent Knowledge Systems; Ed McLaughlin, vice chairman of Innovolt and CEO of Valderus; and Melissa D. Whitaker, founder and CEO of Melissa Whitaker International.

In addition, Dr. Neeli Bendapudi, provost, executive vice chancellor and professor of marketing at the University of Kansas will be our featured speaker, presenting “Creating the Living Brand.” The topic sounds great; read about the session on the BTA website.

She was introduced to BTA by John Ross. I am looking forward to her presentation.

Similarly, our keynote speaker, Chad Pregracke, was introduced to BTA by Erik Crane.

Erik has seen Chad present and recommends him highly. Chad, who will present “From the Bottom Up,” is founder and president of Living Lands & Waters. As the 2013 CNN Hero of the Year, I know that his story of how one person can make a difference will be compelling.

Finally, the Gateway to Success event will have plenty of time for networking, including an evening at Kauffman Stadium to enjoy dinner in a private suite and see the Houston Astros take on the Kansas City Royals. (As I write this, the Royals are at seven wins, 14 losses for the 2017 season. Of course, there is plenty of time for the 2015 World Series Champions to turn things around for the season.)

I look forward to seeing you in Kansas City June 7-8. Register today at www.bta. org/BTAKC. 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 www.gilcargill.com Robert C. Goldberg, General Counsel Business Technology Association

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 Mary Hopkins Database Administrator mary@bta.org Teresa Leerar Bookkeeper teresa@bta.org Brian Smith Membership Sales Representative brian@bta.org Photo Credits: Bigstockphoto. Cover created by Bruce Quade, Brand X Studio. ©2017 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

Attend the 2017 BTA National Conference

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ast year, BTA MidAmerica hosted the 2016 BTA National Conference in the association’s hometown, Kansas City, Missouri. This year, we’re headed west.

On Aug. 16-18, 2017, BTA West will host the 2017 BTA National Conference at the luxurious Mandarin Oriental in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The national conference, featuring 10 educational sessions, a number of exhibiting sponsors and plenty of great networking opportunities, is open to dealers nationwide.

The 2017 BTA National Conference will begin at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 16, with welcoming comments and the keynote address, “Vision, Strategy, Execution: More Than Just Business Knowledge,” presented by Meridith Elliott Powell, president and CEO of MotionFirst Inc. Following the keynote and time to visit with exhibiting sponsors, attendees will enjoy a welcoming dinner starting at 6:30 p.m. Following dinner, BTA will present its 2017 BTA Channel’s Choice Awards, recognizing the industry’s leading manufacturers based on the results of the association’s annual survey of independent office technology dealers. In addition, humorist Devin Henderson will provide entertainment with “When Life’s Hard, Laugh Harder!”

On Thursday, Aug. 17, breakfast will be served from 7 until 8 a.m., followed by opening comments and three educational sessions: “Sales Evolution: Delivering Results From Both Transactional & Strategic Sales,” presented by Mitch Morgan, Growth Achievement Partners; “Selling to Gen X,” presented by Darrell Amy, Dealer Marketing; and “Is 52-Percent Aftermarket Profitability Realistic for Your Organization?,” presented

by Ken Staubitz, Modern Office Methods.

Lunch will be served from noon to 1 p.m.

Following lunch, three more educational sessions will be held: “Assessing the Health of Your Dealership,” presented by Jim Kahrs, Prosperity Plus Management Consulting Inc.; “Services-Focused Selling: Is It the Right Approach for Your Company?,” presented by Doug Johnson, LMI Solutions; and “What’s Happenin’ in the Imaging Industry,” presented by Andy Slawetsky, Industry Analysts Inc. There will be breaks between sessions during the conference, giving attendees time to network with peers and exhibiting sponsors. From 7 to 10 p.m., attendees will travel to Treasure Island Hotel & Casino to see a performance of Cirque du Soleil’s Mystère.

The final day of the conference will begin at 7 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 18, with breakfast, followed by opening comments and the dealer panel, “A Strong Culture’s Impact on the Implementation of New Solutions & Strategies,” moderated by Jennie Fisher of GreatAmerica Financial Services Corp.

Following the panel, the final educational sessions will be held: “Effective Sales Management,” presented by Tom Callinan, Strategy Development; and “Manage the Process, Not the People,” presented by Gil Cargill, Cargill Consulting Group Inc. Closing comments and prize drawings will follow, wrapping up the conference.

BTA member registration (including a Mystère ticket) for the 2017 BTA National Conference is only $199; this price includes a free registration for another of the member dealership’s employees. In addition to the Mystère ticket, registration includes the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday educational sessions; Wednesday welcoming dinner and entertainment; Thursday breakfast and lunch; and Friday breakfast. For more information or to register, see the ad on pages 1617 or visit www.bta.org/BTALasVegas. n — Rob Richardson

2016-2017 Board of Directors President Rob Richardson Allied Document Solutions & Services Inc. Swedesboro, New Jersey robr@ads-s.com President-Elect Dan Castaneda International Copy Machine Center El Paso, Texas dan@icmc-elp.com Vice President John Eckstrom Carolina Business Equipment Inc. Columbia, South Carolina johne@cbesc.com BTA East Jim Donnellon Donnellon McCarthy Enterprises Cincinnati, Ohio j.donnellon@absproducts.com Greg Gondek ACT Group Cromwell, Connecticut greg@advancedcopy.com BTA Mid-America Erik Crane Copy Products Inc. Springfield, Missouri ecrane@copyproductsinc.net Bob Evans Function4 Sugar Land, Texas bobevans@digiteconline.com BTA Southeast Brian Snow Tallahassee, Florida Advanced Business Systems bsnow@a-b-s.com Tim Renegar Kelly Office Solutions Winston-Salem, North Carolina trenegar@kellyofficesolutions.com BTA West John Hines Copiers Northwest Inc. Seattle, Washington jhines@copiersnw.com Cathy Dimon Northern Business Systems Fairbanks, Alaska cdimon@acsalaska.net Immediate Past President Dave Quint Advanced Systems Inc. Waterloo, Iowa dquint@asiowa.com Ex-Officio/General Counsel Robert C. Goldberg Schoenberg Finkel Newman & Rosenberg LLC Chicago, Illinois robert.goldberg@sfnr.com

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Cloud Services Embracing this source of additional revenue by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

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ost of what traditional office technology dealerships sell — imaging devices — once sat in warehouses before being delivered to sit on-premises in customer locations.

Historically, dealers have viewed their core offering as a product that is leased or sold, delivered, installed and serviced over its lifetime. From beginning to end, the entire experience is very tangible and visible.

From the customer’s perspective, the product placed and maintained by the dealership is viewed as a shared resource to help multiple employees be more efficient and complete their daily tasks. Customers view the dealership as a trusted provider of products, service and support that help to ease workflow pain points. It just so happens that this has been accomplished largely through on-premises devices, but that is not necessarily the focus of customers. They simply seek to facilitate and, if possible, improve their business processes.

Consider that the perspectives of the dealer and customer may be a bit different. That is, influenced by his (or her) heritage, the dealer may first view himself as a source of hardware products. In contrast, customers may first view the dealer as a means to a better end for their business processes, as well as an exemplary source of service and support.

“We, as an industry, have always done two things really well,” says Chris Ryne, a partner in Growth Achievement Partners (GAP), a provider of strategic sales and operational consulting to dealers. “We have brought appropriate technology to all sizes of business clients and serviced the heck out of them. BTA dealers provide better service than what most people get from their telco providers, IT services, janitors and the people who come in to water the plants, stock the vending machines and change the light bulbs.”

So why not, as the trusted advisor to customers, leverage that good reputation to provide a broader range of services

to more fully address their needs? Why not embrace the additional revenue opportunities facilitated, in whole or in part, off-premises — in the cloud? After all, remember, customers are not really focused on the product or technology; they are focused on the results. For them, any cloud-based service is, by its nature, another shared resource, just like the office MFP. Dealers have always focused on bringing technology to their customers that is appropriate for their needs, Ryne says. “Cloud services is no different,” he says, noting that, increasingly, services are being delivered in a “managed and cloud” way. “It’s just the next generation. Cloud-based products and services line up with the core competency of dealers, which is to provide phenomenal service.”

Mitch Morgan, also a partner in GAP, says it’s time for the dealer channel to step up its game in offering cloud services.

“Frankly, we think that dealers ought to look at whether there is a cloud offering with regard to every solution they sell,” he says. “It doesn’t necessarily mean cloud only, but it needs to be an offering because of recurring revenue and the market shifting to cloud.”

While he is a proponent of cloud services, Morgan advises dealers to proceed carefully when selecting providers.

“The profitability that the dealer is able to gain from that partnering relationship is really a starting point in their discussion when they’re selecting a cloud services provider,” he says. “What I mean by that is there are many companies that sell cloud services that either would prefer to go direct or don’t have much respect for the channel; respect meaning offering the profit margins that they should.”

When GAP works with dealer clients in selecting cloud services partners, “the conversations begin with, ‘What type of profit margins can be gained from this relationship for our clients?’” Morgan says. “Because, if our clients shift a

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managed IT contract of $2,000 a month over to a cloud-based offering, but the margins are cut significantly, then they really haven’t moved forward.”

Of course, there is a variety of prospective partners for dealers who are seeking cloud services revenues. Following is a brief look at three of the many options available to dealers.

“If there’s a local disaster and you don’t have the ability to use the local device, you can use our cloud services to do an offsite disaster recovery.

One-hundred percent of our business has a level of cloud offering to it.”

— Henry Washburn Datto Inc.

CoreDial LLC A private-label cloud services provider, CoreDial offers a SaaS platform, SwitchConnex, that enables partners to sell, deliver, manage and invoice for cloud communication services, including hosted PBX solutions, VoIP, SIP trunking and unified communications.

“None of the users who enjoy our platform do so through us directly,” says Jim DeBald, vice president of channel sales at CoreDial. “They all do that through our partners. We are the ‘Oz behind the curtain.’”

While CoreDial sells its services through MSPs, VARs and IT solution providers, the company also partners with office technology dealers, DeBald says, emphasizing that partnering with a private-label provider is proving particularly appealing to dealers. “The dealer is controlling the customer’s experience and not deferring to somebody at a third-party company,” he says. “At the end of the day, these guys are Type-A personalities — entrepreneurs — and they don’t want to be told what to do. They want to do what’s right for their customers themselves. Our business model is exactly in line with that personality type.”

DeBald notes, too, that the subscription-based model offered by CoreDial is a good fit for dealers and is increasingly well received by end users. “The office technology dealers are selling print — managed print services — which is essentially a subscription-based service,” he says. “All technologies are moving in that direction. People are getting a lot more comfortable with not only the cloud, but the subscription-based-economy concept — the fact that you don’t have to own the asset to benefit from the asset.”

Dealers welcome the new revenue opportunities that can be gained by partnering with CoreDial, DeBald says. “One of the things we talk about with office technology dealers is that every single one of their customers has phones,” he says.

“We ask, ‘For every 1,000 machines in field, how many people per machine do you think you support? Let’s says it’s 10.

So, for 1,000 machines, you are supporting 10 people; that’s 10,000 people, and they all use phones. They are buying that service from somebody; why not from you?’”

DeBald says some simple math reveals the revenue potential. “Let’s assume you were able to secure 25 percent of all of the phones for those 10,000 people,” he explains. “If you just assume the average endpoint price of $25, that’s $62,500 in monthly recurring revenue if you secure 2,500; multiply that by 12 and you’re

looking at $750,000 a year.”

CoreDial will help dealers find success through both training and support, DeBald says. “We’ve got a combination of self-paced learning, as well as instructor-led learning, which is typically delivered remotely,” he says. “We also ‘hand-hold’ partners through their first couple of implementations.”

Datto Inc. Datto Inc. provides business continuity solutions to secure essential business data. The company’s integrated suite of services includes its backup and disaster recovery offerings, advanced cloud-to-cloud backup services for SaaS applications and network continuity solutions. “We offer end-to-end data protection, not just on-premises or on physical servers, but data on virtual servers, in SaaS applications and even data in transit,” says Henry Washburn, technical evangelist at Datto. “We protect business data no matter where it lives.”

As noted, the company’s product offerings include onpremises continuity solutions (servers) for data storage. “It’s important for ease of use and quick restores to have a local device, because you don’t have to worry about internet transmissions,” Washburn says. “Some of these servers are huge — terabytes in size — which is totally illogical to pull down from the internet.”

However, Datto’s business continuity solutions are “hybrid cloud” in that “all of our on-premises devices are backed up to the cloud,” Washburn says. “If there’s a local disaster and you don’t have the ability to use the local device, you can use our cloud services to do an offsite disaster recovery. One-hundred percent of our business has a level of cloud offering to it.”

That cloud backup is stored in bicoastal replicated data centers, Washburn explains, noting that the data is encrypted while at rest in the data centers and, as noted, while in transit.

Datto is poised to provide data backup and business continuity when disaster strikes. “Hurricane Sandy was the largest

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disaster to date for our partBy using itopia, end users ners and their SMB customgain the benefit of a cloud“At a certain point, these ers, and we handled it with based data center and the traditional legacy Windows ease,” he says. “We helped economy of scale presentworkloads will almost more than 1,000 companies ed through shared assets, certainly be cloud-based ... along the Eastern Seaboard Markley says. “When I say there are millions of accounts perform instant recoveries ‘shared assets,’ I’m referring being moved every year to in the cloud so they could get to the data center; in our Office 365. We continue to back to business.” case, the Google Cloud PlatWhile most of Datto’s soform,” he says. “They provide see more applications shift to the cloud ... ” lutions are offered through a firewall, so you don’t need

— Scott Markley MSPs, increasingly, office to buy a firewall. They do itopia technology dealerships purthe networking, so they put suing managed IT services the network in place. They are partnering with the company. Dealers can get up to have the virtualization software already running on their speed through the company’s training program, The Datto physical hardware, so you no longer need to buy the virtuAcademy, and the support Datto provides them. “We pro- alization software. Cloud computing has really taken the vide them all sorts of tools, including, for example, guidance economics of the hosted data center concept that had tradion how to position the product line and how to market the tionally lived on-prem in the enterprise and brought it to the product line,” Washburn says. “We also have a marketing masses at a price point that is palatable.” platform that provides ready-to-use marketing toolkits, Of course, by using the Google Cloud Platform via itopia, including, for example, ransomware campaigns, security companies are also protecting data from loss due to natucampaigns and continuity campaigns that they can send ral disasters and otherwise. “The service providers [MSPs out to their customers.” and dealers] can choose the Google data center that they In addition, each dealer is assigned a partner success want to provision their clients out of; there are three in the manager who serves as a “go between with their account U.S. and each of those has three to four zones inside of it,” manager, offering support if they need it,” Washburn says. Markley says. “Those zones are all fully redundant and self“Plus, we offer 24/7/365 tech support. Disasters don’t happen supporting. You can put the client’s primary environment at 2 o’clock on a Thursday. They are more likely to happen at in one zone and the backup environment in another zone.”

4 a.m. on a Saturday. We have staff available at any time.”

The service provider licenses the itopia software to build these environments along with the provider’s other tools, itopia such as antivirus, RMM content filtering, etc., Markley says.

Founded for the Workspace-as-a-Service market by IT pro- “Most service providers attribute a cost to the user from a fessionals seeking to make it easy to migrate Windows work- subscription standpoint,” he says. “They’re buying the plan space environments to the cloud, itopia gives service provid- for themselves. They could then manage as many clients as ers a platform that automatically discovers a customer’s IT they want on the plan. In most cases, they will attribute $5 to ecosystem, migrating a full-stack Windows environment $7 of cost per user and then put their margin on top of that. into the Google Cloud Platform. “This provides a 50-percent Depending on their methodologies, they’ll go to market with cost savings,” says Scott Markley, senior vice president of ‘Here’s a line-item breakdown,’ ‘Here’s a per-user breakdown’ sales at itopia. “The savings is realized from the elimination or ‘Here’s a total cost per month for you as an organization.’” of virtualization software and the engineering time that you Markley predicts that the day will come when cloud need to deploy and manage the server infrastructure.” computing is the norm. “At a certain point, these tradiWith the use of itopia’s platform, the reliance on on-prem- tional legacy Windows workloads will almost certainly be ises servers is eliminated, Markley says. “You would move to cloud-based,” he says. “Already, there are millions of acthe cloud your legacy line of business applications, whether it counts being moved every year to Office 365. be an ERP or CRM or an accounting package, along with the We continue to see more applications shift databases that those applications need to connect to, as well to the cloud and fewer installed on-prem.” n as your unstructured data — your Outlook files, Office files, Brent Hoskins, executive director of the PDFs, etc. — that currently reside on an on-premises file servBusiness Technology Association, is editor er,” he explains. “You are essentially ‘forklifting’ that entire of Office Technology magazine. He can be environment and putting it in the cloud-hosted environment.” reached at brent@bta.org or (816) 303-4040.

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Spring Break BTA Southeast hosts dealer event in Orlando by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

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TA Southeast hosted its 2017 Spring Break event March 24-25 at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa in Orlando, Florida. The event featured a keynote address by Durwood Fincher (aka Mr. Doubletalk) that left dealers laughing and, at first, speechless.

The event featured seven educational sessions: “Industry Update,” led by Bob Goldberg, BTA; “Reducing Parts COGS,” led by Jack Duncan, BEI Services; “Turkeys & Eagles Both Have Feathers,” led by Gil Cargill, Cargill Consulting Group Inc.; “Building a Major Account Strategy,” led by Larry Levine, Social Sales Academy; “The Future of Mobile Printing,” led by Mark Hart, Access Control Devices Inc. (ACDI); “Marketing & Sales — You Need Both to Compete Today,” led by Lindsay Kelley, Prospect Builder; and “Adjacent Opportunities,” led by Ed McLaughlin, Innovolt and Valderus. Networking opportunities included a welcoming reception and a trip to one of Disney’s Orlando theme parks.

The exhibiting sponsors: ACDI, AgentDealer, AMETEK ESP, BEI Services, Brother, Carolina Wholesale, Clover Imaging Group, Compass Sales Solutions, Crawford Thomas, DocuWare, ECi Software Solutions, EDA, Epson, EverBank, Evolved Office, GreatAmerica Financial Services, Gwentaa (breaks sponsor), Hytec, IBPI, Image Star, Innovolt, Katun, Keypoint Intelligence, Laserfiche, LMI, mpScriptel, Muratec, NA Trading and Technology, OKI, Panasonic (lunch sponsor), PHSI, Plustek, Polek & Polek, Print Audit, ProcureIT, Q2, Royal Imaging International, Supplies Network (breakfasts sponsor), SYNNEX, Tigerpaw, TonerCycle/InkCycle, Toshiba, Wells Fargo and Xerox (reception sponsor).

BTA’s next event, Gateway to Success, will be held June 7-8 at the InterContinental Kansas City at the Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri. For more information or to register, see the ad on pages 2-3 or visit www.bta.org/BTAKC. n Brent Hoskins, executive director of the Business Technology Association, is editor of Office Technology magazine. He can be reached at (816) 303-4040 or brent@bta.org.

Clockwise from top: The Spring Break event drew dealer attendees from across the country; Durwood Fincher (aka Mr. Doubletalk) presents the keynote address; Jay Martin (left) of ACDI visits with Duffie and Teresa Sams of Duffie’s Copier Consultants LLC, Forest City, North Carolina; Ed Barfield (left) of AgentDealer/The Sailor Group visits with Matt Lane of ClearView Business Solutions, Tampa, Florida; and 2016-17 BTA Southeast President Tim Renegar of Kelly Office Solutions, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, serves as the event’s emcee.

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BTA SE May 17.indd 1

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Pursuing Adjacencies T

The Spring Break event schedule included seven educational sessions led by industry leaders on a variety of topics. The presenters were: (top row, left to right) Bob Goldberg, Jack Duncan and Gil Cargill; (middle row, left to right) Larry Levine, Mark Hart and Lindsay Kelley; and (at right) Ed McLaughlin.

Clockwise from top: Attendees and exhibiting sponsor representatives visit during a break, which gave attendees time to learn about the exhibiting companies’ offerings; Tom and Stacey Kosloskus of Next Day Plus, Orland Park, Illinois, react to the nonsensical interviews (www.bta.org/BTAOrlando) with Fincher during the keynote address; and Mike Brown (left) of XMC Inc., Bartlett, Tennessee, visits with Neal Becker of Q2 LLC.

oday, many say that office technology dealers must explore adjacent opportunities in order to survive. Ed McLaughlin, vice chairman of Innovolt and CEO of Valderus, doesn’t necessarily contend that adjacencies are a matter of survival.

However, in his Spring Break educational session, “Adjacent Opportunities,” he said there are adjacencies worth pursuing, with careful planning, in order to generate new revenues.

The reason that the conversation is even necessary, McLaughlin acknowledged, is the undeniable reality of the imaging business. “Let’s tell it like it is,” he said. “Pages are declining. It has nothing to do with population or how people go about making copies — it’s all part of process. And because processes have changed and paper is no longer a part of all processes in businesses today, this decline is permanent.”

McLaughlin noted that there will come a day when every dealer will be compelled to consider expanding beyond the imaging business alone. “The ride is about to reach a point where you can make great money, but you’re not going to grow,” he said. “That’s why we need to start thinking about some of the adjacencies.”

Following is a look at four of the adjacent opportunities McLaughlin cited in his presentation and an excerpt of his comments on each: n Managed IT Services — “I will tell you there’s about six dealers in the United States of America who are making money doing it. Everybody else is losing money. Now, some people don’t want to hear it. Some people think they are making money, but they’re not, because it’s a money pit if you don’t do it right ...

I’m going to suggest that the only way to get started is to partner with somebody, not to try to do it on your own.” n Document Management — “Document management is about helping people acquire and bring knowledge together in a content basis; it is very, very account-centric. If you try to use your existing sales force to do this, I would say, if you’ve got 10 people, one may be able to make the transition to be involved in their devices and also handle the content aspect of it. More than likely, you need a specialized organization.” n Label Production — “This is getting a lot of play lately. Let’s stop and think about label production for a minute. Why is it an adjacent industry to ours? The technology of imaging is identical to what we do. The feed mechanisms and so forth are different, but they’re really not that different than we’ve had historically.

If you’ve ever been to the label show in Chicago, you’ll realize there’s a lot of money in this business.” n Production Print — “As far as I’m concerned, looking at this as an adjacency is a misnomer. This is an expansion of your core business and every dealer in this room should be involved in production print. Absolutely everyone. It’s not inexpensive to do. You’re going to have to put some money into it and you need some specialists, but this volume is growing.”

During his presentation, McLaughlin emphasized that one key reality permeates throughout all of the adjacencies he cited — each requires an investment. “If you’re thinking about going into an adjacent business because your other business isn’t doing well enough, stop. Fix your business before you ever do anything, because whatever you’re going to do is going to cost you money,” he said. “You’re going to have to invest in that business or you will fail at it.” n — Brent Hoskins

www.offi cetechnol ogyma g. c om | M a y 2017 | 19

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COURTS & CAPITOLS

Noncompete Agreements Are they transferable in an acquisition? by: Robert C. Goldberg, general counsel for the Business Technology Association

I

ndustry consolidation continues to affect the lives of employees who suddenly find they have new employers, policies and procedures. In addition, competitive companies often use acquisitions as opportunities to solicit affected employees. The BTA Legal Hotline regularly hears from employees, employers and competitors regarding the enforceability of existing noncompete agreements when a business is sold.

Although there is a recently enacted Federal Trade Secrets Act, noncompete agreements are evaluated under state laws. As an example, California does not allow noncompete agreements for employees, although it will enforce a noncompete agreement entered in conjunction with the sale of a business. Illinois does not enforce noncompete agreements for employees employed less than two years. All noncompete agreements must be reasonable in regard to time and scope, and the employer seeking enforcement must show there is confidential information that needs to be protected.

It is standard procedure in an acquisition for the acquired business to assign all its contractual rights to the purchaser.

While assignment may be standard practice, depending on how the underlying agreements are drafted, the documents could have little or no value to the purchaser. A recent Massachusetts court clearly demonstrated this point.

In the case, the employee entered into a valid noncompete agreement with his (or her) employer in 2011. Four years later, the company was acquired by another entity and (1) the employee had a new employer and (2) the seller assigned its rights under the 2011 noncompete to the purchaser. In 2017, the employee left his position and went to work for a direct competitor.

The acquiring company (to which the noncompete was assigned) went to court seeking an injunction enforcing the restrictions in the agreement. The court refused, finding that the noncompete was enforceable between the original company and employee, but stopped there. The keys in the ruling were the terms of the agreement. The noncompete only precluded the employee from competing against the “Company.”

The “Company” was no longer in existence or operating in the marketplace. The agreement only applied while the individual was employed “by the Company and for 12 months thereafter.”

The court found that the individual had not gone to work for a competitor within 12 months of the sale.

Finally, the term “Company” was defined as the original employer. There was no language in the agreement allowing its terms to be extended to successors or assigns. Without the right to assign the terms of the agreement, there simply was no restriction on the individual working for a competitor of the acquiring company.

Clearly, the language of a noncompete must be carefully considered in evaluating whether an agreement can be enforced by an acquiring company. There are some states where the courts have, regardless of the language, prohibited enforcement of assigned noncompetes. It is also necessary to closely examine the circumstances under which the agreement was originally entered. Was there consideration for the promise not to compete? Was the individual already an employee when he was required to sign the agreement?

Many acquiring companies require new employees to sign new noncompetes. This request can be a clear indication to employees that they are free to explore other opportunities.

This approach should be considered when a close review of the existing agreement and applicable state law reveals it may not be enforceable by the acquiring company. Protecting your customer base is critical, as it is that base that leads to acquisitions and combinations. n Robert C. Goldberg is general counsel for the Business Technology Association.

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

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Goldberg May 17.indd 1

4/27/17 4:33 PM

Hear what happened in booth 900?

Muratec released new label and packaging printers at our label university and ITEX 2017. Muratec now has products in various segments, fitting many manufacturers’ needs. BTA dealers are finding the label and packaging industries as profitable choices when looking for adjacent business opportunities.

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PRINCIPAL ISSUES

New Opportunities Ahead Samsung hosts national dealer meeting March 27-28 by: Elizabeth Marvel, Office Technology Magazine

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ith a focus on the acquisition of the company's printing business by HP Inc., Samsung hosted its Printing Solutions National Dealer Meeting 2017 March 27-28 at the Sheraton Grand at Wild Horse Pass in Chandler, Arizona.

Matt Smith, vice president and head of printing solutions for the Enterprise Business Division, Samsung Electronics America Inc., kicked off the general session by reviewing the highlights of the past year, noting, in particular “incredible growth with dealers”; the creation of a platform dealers feel confident in; a fully developed and integrated solution set; and the Smart UX platform.

Following Smith’s presentation, other Samsung executives weighed in on what was top of mind for many dealers at this year’s meeting: the acquisition of Samsung’s printer business by HP. “Some of you may be concerned that the deal may affect your business with Samsung,” said Dr. KiHo Kim, CEO, Samsung Printing Solutions Co. Ltd., in his general session presentation. “Regarding your concerns, I’d like to give you a clear message about the future of Samsung partners ...

First, even after the transaction, for the time being, the A3 and A4 portfolios with the Samsung brand will remain as is ... Secondly, we will make a sales team in charge of the Samsung brand and product. The Samsung team will continue to visit you, negotiate with you and care for you, even after the transaction is completed. Third, Samsung Printing and HP are fully committed to ensuring continuity for all Samsung printer business after the deal closes. HP intends to honor all contractual obligations made by Samsung Printing Solutions and Samsung Electronics. Likewise, Samsung Printing Solutions is doing and will do our best for your success through business with HP without any interruption.”

David Song, senior vice president and global head of strategic sales and marketing, Samsung Printing Solutions Co. Ltd., laid out the integration road map for the acquisition in his presentation, noting that Samsung Printing will become one of HP’s global business units on “Day 1,” which is anticipated to arrive in the second half of 2017.

Until Day 1, Samsung and HP will remain two companies under two brands, competing for business. “In other words, we will maintain the current system and continue business as usual,” Song said. “Then we will integrate into one company while maintaining both Samsung and HP brands. That situation will be the state for up to two years after Day 1, when we fully integrate under the HP banner in late 2019 ... After the

Dealers were able to ask questions of Samsung and HP executives during the meeting’s panel discussion. The panelists (left to right) were: Tran; Kim; Song; Chin Yoon, vice president and head of the solution consulting group, strategic sales and marketing, Samsung Printing Solutions Co. Ltd.; and Smith. integration, your contract with Samsung will transfer to HP, but current terms and conditions will be equivalent and will be honored ... I hope you will continue to trust our brand and feel assured that as we become a part of HP, you can conduct business with us in full confidence.”

Tuan Tran, global head of office printing solutions, HP Inc., was also in attendance to give dealers HP’s perspective. “We believe that the combination of HP and Samsung is great for customers,” he said. “That means they get a broader portfolio, they get more choice in the marketplace ... We believe this deal makes an absolute world of sense in terms of an investment perspective because we can get such quick synergies between the scale and size of HP and [Samsung’s] great technology.

“In addition to all the products you get today, you also get an opportunity to get the broader HP portfolio,” Tran continued. “And that’s subject to all the criteria we have for our other channel partners ... As part of the HP Partner First Program, you will have access to the portfolio if you qualify. It is an important ‘if,’ because there are all sorts of criteria to qualify.

“I’ll just close by saying that we see an absolutely bright future with the combination of Samsung and HP,” Tran concluded. “Our aspirations are nothing short of being number one ... We believe that with the combination of HP and Samsung, we are absolutely in a great position to do that.” n Elizabeth Marvel is associate editor of Office Technology magazine. She can be reached at elizabeth@bta.org or (816) 303-4060.

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Samsung May 17.indd 1

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PRINCIPAL ISSUES

The Future of Work Xerox announces new products, shares vision by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

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n March 29, at its “The Future of Work” press event held at the Xerox Executive Briefing Center in New York City, Xerox Corp. announced 12 A4 and 17 A3 MFPs, both color and monochrome, with speeds up to 90 pages per minute. It was the largest single product announcement in the company’s 110year history.

Equipped with ConnectKey — a com- Jeff Jacobson bination of technology and software for small and mediumsized businesses and workgroups in larger enterprises — the new AltaLink products for larger workgroups and VersaLink products for smaller workgroups have similar user interfaces, as well as common features and functionality. They provide for personalized workflows, one-touch access to the cloud and multilayered security features. In addition, channel partners can use the Xerox App Gallery to download off-the-shelf applications and the Xerox App Studio to develop and sell custom applications, to help them gain “stickiness” with clients.

Xerox touts in a corporate press release that the product line, available in the second quarter, will allow partners to “provide a more consistent user experience, which translates to better sales and service margins.”

The announcement represents a “new portfolio that transforms the multifunction printer into a smart workplace assistant to meet the evolving needs of today’s workplace,” said Jeff Jacobson, CEO of Xerox Corp., as he addressed attendees. He said the new products are the “next stage” in a product strategy Xerox started in 2013 when ConnectKey — an ecosystembased platform initially for A3 workgroup devices only — was launched. “Now, we are increasing the range of ConnectKeyenabled devices to include both entry A3 and workgroup A4, with fleet coherency between A3 and A4 devices,” he said. “Today’s announcement is not just about adding more devices. It is about ensuring that every enterprise in every single workplace, from small to large workgroups, has a secure, mobile, personalized and productive experience.”

Jacobson took the opportunity to comment, too, on the company’s vision and strategy as it relates to its product portfolio.

“It’s no longer good enough just to deliver great products,” he said. “People are expecting the experiences they have in their personal lives to cross over to the workplace. Additionally, no one wants to have to make the trade-offs any longer between

what’s better, what’s faster or what’s more cost effective … Our customers deserve it all; we are going to do everything humanly possible to give our customers what they deserve.”

Xerox must deliver products and services that are cost effective, while helping people become much more productive, Jacobson explained, noting that to meet the requirements of end users, the company must also enable customization and personalization. “Furthermore, as everything becomes more connected, people expect to be able to move very easily between the physical and digital worlds,” he said. “We think of this as much more than just a digital transformation.”

Jacobson said Xerox is focused on helping customers change the way they communicate, connect and work. “The research and development focus of the new Xerox is on developing and delivering document technology solutions that are both customized and cost-effective, productive and personalized and which, again, bridge the gap between the physical and the digital,” he said. “To do this, we are driving innovations in automation, content management, graphic communications, digital communications, analytics and, of course, printing, for organizations of all sizes.”

The vision he shared reflects a strategy at Xerox “that will positively change the revenue trajectory of our business,” Jacobson said. “As you know, the overall document technology industry has a trend of declining revenues. We’ve mirrored that decline. We plan to reverse our revenue trajectory and, ultimately, outperform the market.”

Jacobson also shared that he believes Xerox will “get there,” in part, by improving its efficiency and changing the way it operates. “We began a three-year strategic transformation program just last year, focused on improving our internal processes and systems to simplify the way we do work,” he said.

“We’ve streamlined our go-to-market approach to enhance our relationships with our customers. We’ve delayered our organization to make it easier to get to the leadership within our company and to speed up the decision making. We’ve combined our research organization with product development to accelerate the time it takes to move from innovation to product commercialization to revenue recognition. And, we are targeting our investments in technology to … ensure that we deliver an amazing customer experience.” n Brent Hoskins, executive director of the Business Technology Association, is editor of Office Technology magazine.

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

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EDUCATION CALENDAR June 7-8

Gateway to Success - Hosted by BTA Mid-America Kansas City, Missouri The 2017 Gateway to Success event, open to dealers from across the country, will feature: a keynote address by 2013 CNN Hero of the Year Chad Pregracke of Living Lands & Waters; a featured educational session presented by Dr. Neeli Bendapudi of the University of Kansas; six additional educational sessions presented by industry leaders; a welcoming reception; time to network with peers and exhibiting sponsors; and a Houston Astros versus Kansas City Royals baseball game. Visit www.bta.org/BTAKC to register.

12

BTA Strategic Sales Semester The industry is shifting from transactional to strategic sales, and sales reps need new skills for this transition. The BTA Strategic Sales Semester, taught by Mitch Morgan and Chris Ryne of Growth Achievement Partners, consists of 13 45- to 60-minute online training sessions held every other week over six months. Each module includes skill-building exercises and field-based activities reps will be asked to complete. Visit www.bta.org/StrategicSales to register.

12-14 BTA Sales Management Workshop Owings Mills, Maryland Taught by Kim Ward of Learning Outsource Group, the BTA Sales Management Workshop focuses entirely on the “how-to” skills that will help attendees reach their full potential as great sales leaders and coaches, as well as best practices to build and sustain an elite, high-performance sales team. Visit www.bta.org/SalesManagement to register.

21

Building My Business Webinar: “Overcoming the Fear of Business Planning

by Using the Business Model Canvas” Writing a business plan for your business can be daunting, but a new form of business planning, the Business Model Canvas (BMC), makes the process easier. In this webinar, inspirational growth coach Harry Hecht will explain the BMC, a one-page document that allows you to test and validate the key parts of your business in a manageable format. He will also offer tips on the use of the BMC to develop a full business plan should you need one in the future. Visit www. bta.org/BuildingMyBusiness to register.

21-22 ProFinance 2.0 Cleveland, Ohio With color, connectivity, software, MPS and MNS, the business has changed — and ProFinance has changed with it. Taught by John Hey and Todd Johnson of Strategic Business Associates, ProFinance 2.0 incorporates these changes into the industry model, including benchmarks for MPS. Visit www.bta.org/ProFinance to register.

For more information, visit www.bta.org/Education or call (800) 843-5059.

www.offi cetechnol ogyma g. c om | M a y 2017 | 25

Calendar May 17.indd 1

4/28/17 8:53 AM

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

Dealer Members Copy King Office Solutions, St. Charles, IL D-Tech Business Solutions, Delray Beach, FL Execu-Tech Business Systems Inc., Orlando, FL Imagine Technology Group LLC, Chandler, AZ Mountain Advocate Media Inc., Barbourville, KY Next Day Plus, Orland Park, IL OfficeLinx, Monroe, LA Service Associate Members Actionable Intelligence, Franklin, MA Vendor Associate Members Select Imaging, Olathe, KS For full contact information of these new members, visit www.bta.org.

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

Located in Canoga Park, California, BTA Vendor Associate member Unitone Imaging Supply manufactures and distributes a complete line of premium cartridges for color and monochrome laser, inkjet, MICR, fax and MFPs, as well as a full line of copier/ MFP toner for wholesale customers. With more than 28 years in the industry, Unitone understands the importance of brand identity and offers full-color retail packaging, private labeling and blind label drop shipping to enable customers to compete side-by-side with OEM suppliers. www.unitone.com

BTA dealer members receive discount codes with their memberships that can be used toward BTA educational workshops, registration to BTA’s events, or the purchase of the association’s Business Equipment Quota Index (BEQI). Dealer members receive $400 in discount codes (one code valued at $150 and one valued at $250) with a one-year membership or $950 in discount codes (three codes valued at $150 and two valued at $250) with a two-year membership.

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

BTA Service Associate member Business Systems Consulting Inc. is comprised of skilled professionals who serve the office technology industry. The company’s employees work full time within the industry, dedicating themselves to making your company the most successful organization it can be by offering financial and managed services.

Business Systems Consulting offers not only advisors, but implementers of projects and policies. It also delivers the employee training necessary to enable your staff to maintain your business. www.bussysconsulting.com

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

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

BTA Member Discount Codes

26 | w­ w w. o f f ic et ec hno lo g ym a g.c om | Ma y 2 0 1 7

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PRINCIPAL ISSUES

Navigate Your Success Kyocera hosts Business & Technology Conference by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

K

YOCERA Document Solutions America (KDA) kicked off its 2018 fiscal year by hosting its annual Business & Technology Conference April 18-20 at the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. The conference drew approximately 1,200 attendees, including dealers from across the Americas, global leadership from the parent company in Japan Ed Bialecki and many of Kyocera’s vendor partners.

The conference’s theme, “Navigate Your Success,” was a reference to the transitioning industry and KDA’s efforts to help guide its dealers. “I like this theme because it focuses on KDA’s top priority — your success and how we can help you achieve it,” said Ed Bialecki, senior vice president of sales, as he welcomed attendees in the opening general session.

Yukio Ikeda “Our business model is based on having the strongest possible relationship with our channel partners.

After all, we succeed only when you succeed. So, nothing is more important to us than helping you navigate your success.”

Bialecki reported on KDA’s accomplishments in the past year. “Thanks to you, in FY17 KDA’s business grew for the eighth consecutive year,” he said. “Together, we marked the sixth consecutive year of record-breaking results for the KDA group … I feel like I say this every year, but I’m going to say it anyway; as good as last year was, this year is looking even better. And I can back up that forecast with some solid evidence, starting with our strategy.”

A significant contributor to KDA’s success in recent years has been its Total Document Solutions (TDS) approach, Bialecki said. “TDS enables us to bring customers the hardware, software and services they need to run their businesses more effectively,” he said. “In FY18, we’ll continue investing in Total Document Solutions. But as you’ll hear from Yukio [Ikeda], we’ll be expanding our strategy in new directions that will help drive growth with existing customers and open doors with new customers.”

In his general session presentation, Yukio Ikeda, president and CEO of KDA, highlighted the new directions referenced

by Bialecki. “I believe we can do more to help customers improve their work quality by adding a broader range of services

to our Total Document Solutions offerings,” he said. “Customers are still looking for better workflows to complete their work more effectively and efficiently. This is why I am very excited to announce the next era in KDA’s growth. This strategy is called TDS 2.0.”

TDS 2.0 “builds on Total Document Solutions as the foundation of our approach, while broadening our offerings,” Ikeda said. “These new solutions include services around business process improvement, business process outsourcing and IT services. TDS 2.0 will help you offer a wider and deeper range of services to your customers. These services will help customers improve the way they manage not only document-related processes, but all business processes. By helping customers with more of their needs, we will become a more valuable resource to them. This will help us build deeper, more profitable relationships with our customers.”

Ikeda announced that the TDS 2.0 strategy starts with KDA’s alliance with DataBank, announced last year. “DataBank is the leading workflow solutions and workflow outsourcing provider in North America,” he said. “In FY18, our North American dealers will be able to offer business process improvement [BPI] services through Kyocera and DataBank’s team of BPI specialists. In the near future, we will expand these services to the entire KDA Group territory. We will also enable you to offer IT services to customers in FY18, starting with Workspace as a Service.”

In addition to the advancement of Kyocera’s TDS approach with the introduction of TDS 2.0, Ikeda listed four other “key initiatives on which I would like to work” in FY18. They are: further strengthening TDS with Kyocera’s new hardware and software applications announced last year; targeting new markets for high-speed print with variable data printing; supporting the bottom line for dealerships by reducing their service costs; and making it “as easy as possible” for dealers to work with KDA. During his presentation, Ikeda also thanked dealers for their hospitality when welcoming him at the dealerships he visited over the past year. “I strongly believe that in order to be your best partner, I have to clearly understand your business,” he said. “And the best way to learn about your business is by speaking with you at your location. That’s the reason why I tried to put myself in the field as much as possible the last 12 months.” n Brent Hoskins, executive director of the Business Technology Association, is editor of Office Technology magazine.

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

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SELLING SOLUTIONS

The Missing Metric Ways to improve your ‘consideration rate’ by: Gil Cargill, Cargill Consulting Group

A

s it pertains to business-to-business marketing, the most important and most frequently overlooked metric is the consideration rate.

Simply stated, the consideration rate is the percentage of desirable sales opportunities that, at a minimum, consider you.

For instance, if there will be 1,000 decisions made next quarter in your market and you are providing quotes to 100 potential sales, then your consideration rate is 10 percent.

Companies frequently overlook the consideration rate metric and, as a result, underperform against their optimum opportunities. By optimizing their consideration rates, companies will optimize their new order revenues. I know this sounds obvious, but the more often you compete, the more often you will close business. That is the consideration rate.

There are many ways to improve your consideration rate.

Following is a short list of strategies that are working in the 21st century. I emphasize that they work in the 21st century because the strategies that worked in the 20th century are no longer nearly as effective as they used to be.

For instance, there is no shortage of information available that tells us that cold-calling via telephone is not as productive as it once was. As a matter of fact, some studies show that approximately 95 percent of cold phone calls go into a voicemail box, never to be heard from again. But, there are some solutions and some workarounds. n Webinars — Webinars are still very effective if your content is educational. Do not confuse a webinar with an unsolicited sales demonstration. One quick way to turn off your audience is to invite them to a webinar, promise some educational and valuable information, and deliver a sales pitch. You may as well engage in a campaign where you tell your prospects that they should never consider you. n Trade shows — Trade shows seem to be making a little bit of a comeback. Today’s trade shows are not where they were in the 1980s in terms of popularity or effectiveness, but I do see more activity and, more importantly, I see more traffic at my clients’ booths at various industry-related trade shows. n Networking — Salespeople who are not networking consistently are salespeople who are doomed to picking the low-hanging fruit. While that may sustain a lifestyle that is

desirable for the salesperson, it rarely sustains the revenue or profit targets that have been established by management.

Make sure that you and/or your sales team are networking regularly. There is a growing number of sponsored networking events cropping up in virtually every major metropolitan market.

The secret sauce to networking is to make sure that follow-up is done immediately. You will also find it very useful to practice your elevator pitch. Make sure that your elevator pitch (no longer than 15 seconds) emphasizes the results that you deliver to your clients. Do not fall into the trap that occurs at many networking events where you are hoping that someone in the room will sell one of their prospects or one of their acquaintances on your product. n Cold-emailing — Cold email prospecting is the most effective current strategy to reach a large number of people. The key to cold-emailing is to avoid — and I do mean avoid like you would the devil — attempting to sell your product or service in an email. Keep your email short and succinct. Make sure that you are asking to be directed to the appropriate person within an account, as opposed to asking the contact to purchase or make a purchasing decision regarding your product.

If you would like to know more about cold-emailing as a strategy, send me an email at gil@gilcargill.com with the subject line “Cold-Emailing,” and I will get back to you and show you how cold-emailing can help you grow your business.

Good luck and good selling. n After concluding a sales and management career at IBM, in which Gil Cargill led his sales team from a dead-last rating among 220 branch offices to first place in less than a year, he launched his own consulting practice in 1978. Cargill has spent the past 38 years as a consultant, speaker and trainer, helping thousands of businesses achieve dramatic and permanent improvements in sales productivity. He 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.

Cargill can be reached at (310) 305-7198, ext. 111 or gil@gilcargill.com.

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ADVERTISER INDEX 16-17 • 2017 BTA National Conference

27 • DocuWare

21 • Muratec America Inc.

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27 • BPO Media

31 • ENX Magazine

31 • ProFinance 2.0

www.workflowotg.com / www.theimagingchannel.com

(818) 505-0022 / www.enxmag.com

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

32 • BTA Events

9 • Epson

11 • Supplies Network

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

www.epson.com/workforceenterprise

(800) 729-9300 / www.suppliesnetwork.com

30 • BTA Sales Management Workshop

23 • IBPI

15 • Toshiba

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

(480) 393-1694 / www.ibpi.net

(800) GO-TOSHIBA / www.business.toshiba.com

2-3 • BTA’s Gateway to Success

13 • KIP

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

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

5 • Clover Imaging Group

7 • KYOCERA Document Solutions

(800) 624-6991 / www.cloverimaging.com

(973) 808-8444 / usa.kyoceradocumentsolutions.com

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