May 2019 Office Technology

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CONTENTS Volume 25 • No. 11

FEATURE ARTICLES Adjacent Opportunities

10 Looking to add to your core offerings?

P R I N C I PA L I S S U E S Technology Services Focused

28 TAG convention embraces ‘company culture’ theme

by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

Technology Assurance Group (TAG) hosted its 19th Annual Convention April 7-10 at the Rosen Plaza hotel in Orlando, Florida.

Today, “diversifi ation” is the watchword of the industry. Here are three opportunities dealers may want to consider.

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2019 BTA National Conference BTA Southeast hosts event in Orlando

‘At Your Side’

30 Brother hosts FY19

Analyst Business Review

by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

by Elizabeth Marvel Office Technology Magazine

Brother International Corp. hosted its FY19 Analyst Business Review April 11-12 in Mashantucket, Connecticut.

The 2019 BTA National Conference was held March 22-23 at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa in Orlando, Florida.

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Ensuring Continued Success It is time to change your business model

Innovate 2019

32 Kyocera dealers meet new president & CEO

by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

by Ken Edmonds Service Management Coach

Kyocera Document Solutions America Inc. (Kyocera) hosted its annual business and technology conference April 16-18.

In this article, I will address several areas that I see as the leading threats to independent dealers, as well as potential solutions.

COURTS & CAPITOLS 24

Trade Secrets Ensure company information is kept confidential

SELLING SOLUTIONS The Four Decisions

33 Every choice must

be in your favor to win

by Troy Harrison Troy Harrison & Associates

by Robert C. Goldberg BTA General Counsel

Hardly a day goes by that I do not receive an inquiry regarding a noncompete, non-solicitation or confidentiality agreement.

DEALERS HELPING DEALERS 27

Monitoring Software Are dealers using it for proactive service?

Compiled by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

This article includes another of the questions submitted by a dealer member as part of BTA’s Dealers Helping Dealers resource.

The truth is that every sale consists of a prospective or current customer making four decisions.

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

Education Calendar 25 •• BTA BTA Highlights

6

Executive Director’s Page

8

BTA President’s Message

34

Advertiser Index

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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S PAGE

Change is Fueling New Opportunities

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n November of this year, I will celebrate my 33rd anniversary at the Business Technology Association (BTA). Like many of you, I have seen many changes through the years. When I joined BTA in 1986, our industry was substantially different than it is today.

The magazine at the time was the NOMDA Spokesman. I believe I previously shared in this column that my first article was on effective Yellow Pages advertising. Really.

When I first arrived at the association, I did not have a PC at my desk, but rather a typewriter. I cannot remember how I used the typewriter, but I do remember that when it was time for me to write an article, I would take my floppy disk to a bank of shared PCs. Meanwhile, the production of the association’s magazine was a far more complicated process than it is today, with waxy strips of typeset articles manually affixed to artboards for the printer. Oh, how times have changed.

I feel like I have worked in a few diff rent industries since 1986, although I have been working in the same building since the start. How so? It all has do to with change.

As each industry transition has taken place, it feels like a fresh start — a new job in a new industry. I used to work in an industry with a channel of entrepreneurs focused on the speeds and feeds of analog copiers. That industry is gone. Today, I work in an industry with a channel of entrepreneurs focused on digital technology, solutions and services targeting the eff ctive management of document and information workflows.

In recent years (and rightly so), the industry has focused a lot on the need to diversify product and services off rings, given the decline in the number of printed pages.

In some discussions on this topic, the underlying question seems to be: “Can we survive without diversifying? ” In the case of office technology dealerships solely focused on selling imaging devices, I often hear: “The r days may be numbered.”

That may be true, but I have faith in the BTA Channel. That is, it seems to me that dealers are busy preparing for the future, increasingly taking on new revenue opportunities while striving to better meet the needs of their customers. The outcome will be successful. How do I know? Because it has happened in the past. Consider the state of “technology” when our association was founded in 1926. We are still around. Th BTA Channel is still around. Technology has changed. It will change again and again.

But successful, progressive dealers primarily keep their eyes on addressing customer needs, not on the technology of the day.

If I had a dealership, I would be diversifying my product and services off rings as well, perhaps adding managed IT services and phone systems. I would also be seeking ways to ensure my dealership is seen as part of an appealing career path for the newest generation entering the workforce — tomorrow’s dealers.

Plus, I would be embracing change. Absolutely. I am certainly not the first to say it, but where there is change, there is opportunity. Today, opportunity and the associated resulting revenues abound, given that there is no shortage of change in our world today.

Of course, through today’s transitioning industry and beyond, BTA will continue to be the leading source of guidance and support to dealers through education, events and the sharing of information and ideas.

Together, we will one day look back at this latest transition with satisfaction that, once again, the BTA Channel persevered. n — Brent Hoskins

Executive Director/BTA Editor/Office echnology Brent Hoskins brent@bta.org (816) 303-4040 Associate Editor Elizabeth Marvel elizabeth@bta.org (816) 303-4060 Contributing Writers Ken Edmonds, Service Management Coach www.kedmonds.biz Robert C. Goldberg, General Counsel Business Technology Association Troy Harrison, Troy Harrison & Associates www.troyharrison.com

Business Technology Association 12411 Wornall Road Kansas City, MO 64145 (816) 941-3100 www.bta.org Member Services: (800) 505-2821 BTA Legal Hotline: (800) 869-6688 Valerie Briseno Marketing Director valerie@bta.org Brian Smith Membership Sales Representative brian@bta.org Photo Credits: Bigstockphoto. Cover created by Bruce Quade, Brand X Studio. ©2019 by the Business Technology Association. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means without the written permission of the publisher. Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of published material. However, the publisher assumes no liability for errors in articles nor are opinions expressed necessarily those of the publisher.

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BTA PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Gateway to Success to Be Held in Austin

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he Business Technology Association’s (BTA’s) next 2019 event, Gateway to Success, will be held June 13-14 at the Fairmont Austin in Austin, Texas.

The event will include two days of educational and networking opportunities, including a keynote address on unforgettable leadership, a featured educational session on whether to sell your business, a dealer panel on the evolution of MPS, five additional educational sessions led by industry leaders, as well as plenty of time to visit with your peers.

The event will kick off at 3 p.m. on Thursday, June 13, with opening comments and the keynote address, “Unforgettable Leadership: How to Be the Leader Your Employees Never Want to Leave,” led by author and leadership expert Ted Ma. A break, giving attendees time to visit with their fellow dealers and exhibiting sponsors, will follow.

Breaks like these will be held throughout the event, giving you plenty of networking time.

Following the break, John Hey of Strategic Business Associates will present the featured session, “To Sell or Not to Sell?

That is Not the Question!” If you’ve been thinking about selling your dealership, this session is definitely one you won’t want to miss. After John’s presentation, the Managed Print Services Association will present its annual awards, and a welcoming reception will be held until 7:30 p.m.

The second day will begin at 7 a.m. on Friday, June 14, with breakfast, followed by opening comments and the first three educational sessions. Those will include: “Create a Foundation for Sales Success,” led by Sally Brause of GreatAmerica Financial Services Corp.; “Rebranding Your Dealership,” led by Chip Miceli of Pulse Technology; and

“What’s Happenin’ in the Imaging Industry,” led by Andy Slawetsky of Industry Analysts Inc. Lunch will follow the morning sessions.

At 1 p.m. we’ll reconvene for the afternoon sessions. First, Sarah Henderson will moderate the dealer panel, “The Evolution of MPS: What Has Changed in Dealer MPS Programs?” The panelists will include: John Dodge of Advanced Systems Inc., Cedar Falls, Iowa; Don Duvall of Impact Networking LLC, Lake Forest, Illinois; and Kevin Morris of OneDOC Managed Print Services LLC, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

After the panel, Jamie Bsales of Keypoint Intelligence will present “Printer & MFP Security in the IoT Age,” and Luis Gonzalez of SalesScoreKeeper will present “Ignite Your Sales for Your New Products & Services With the Right Sales Compensation Components.”

Closing comments and prize drawings will be held from 4:30 to 4:45 p.m., wrapping up the educational portion of the event.

On Friday evening, you’ll have the opportunity to experience some of the famous food and culture of Austin at Salt Lick BBQ. From 6 to 10 p.m., attendees will spend the evening at Thurman’s Mansion at the iconic Salt Lick for dinner, live music and yard games.

Two-for-one BTA member dealer registration is only $199, and if you use the $150 discount code received with your membership, you can get two-for-one registration for only $49! This price includes the Thursday and Friday educational sessions; Thursday welcoming reception; and Friday breakfast, lunch and special event at Salt Lick BBQ. If you’ve never visited Austin, haven’t been to a BTA event, or want to experience the educational and networking opportunities of BTA events again, I highly encourage you to attend in June. See the ad on pages two and three or visit www.bta.org/BTA Austin for more information or to register. n — John Eckstrom

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

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Adjacent Opportunities Looking to add to your core offerings? by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

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oday, “diversification” is the watchword of the office technology industry. The realities of the digital era — think, for example, mobile devices — have reduced the demand for printed pages. Consequently, manufacturers and dealers alike are increasingly looking to add new products and services in order to generate new revenues and ensure company growth.

MFPs remain the core off ring of the industry’s manufacturers and nearly all dealerships.

Looking at dealers in particular, conventional wisdom is leading many to embrace varying degrees of diversifi ation. Some are well on their way. Others are still in search of the best opportunities. Most at least see the need to not rely solely on imaging devices.

One does not have to look far to see adjacent opportunities — hardware off rings, software solutions or managed services. Following are three of a variety of opportunities some dealers may want to consider. Are you actively looking to add to your core off rings?

Epson America Inc. While Epson America Inc. off rs single-function and multifunction printers, it also off rs products used in conjunction with those off rings — dedicated scanners. “Dealers should look at every possible solution that an end user would need in their office,” says Sean Gunduz, group product manager for Epson scanners. “Th re is still a lot of money to be made selling scanners.”

“Where there is paper, there is a need for a scanner,” Gunduz says. “Whether you use an MFP or a dedicated scanner, you need to digitize paper in today’s day and age. Some organizations prefer to scan on an MFP, but other organizations prefer — and some workflows require — distributed scanning.”

What environments require distributed scanning? Gunduz cites the health-care industry as the prime example.

“HIPAA compliance requires health-care providers to scan patient information in front of the patient,” he says. “Th y can’t take that information to the back office.”

Distributed scanning is common not only in the health-care industry, but also in education, finance, insurance, legal and government, Gunduz explains. “All of these environments have a lot of paper flowing,” he says.

“Depending on the industry, the tasks are either front-office or back-office, and include such applications as student records, accounts payable and human resources.”

Epson off rs an extensive line of scanning solutions ranging from mobile scanners to A3 wide-format flatbed scanners, with MSRPs ranging from $299 to $3,999. “We sell them through the mainstream IT distributors, such as Ingram Micro, Tech Data and SYNNEX, as well as more document management-focused distributors, such as NewWave,” Gunduz says. “Epson scanners do not require authorization, so they are open distribution.

Theonly caveat is, in order to make money selling them, you need to be part of our CapturePro Partner Program.”

The CapturePro program provides dealers with margin opportunities. “So, let’s say you apply to CapturePro and become a gold member, based on your criteria and scorecard,” Gunduz explains, noting that the application process leads dealers to one of three tiers — silver, gold and platinum.

“You then get a 20% discount when you order through SYNNEX. The latinum member gets a 25% discount.”

Gunduz notes that while the discounted pricing provides the margin (for registered deals where the customer is buying 10 or more units, an additional 10% discount is provided), Epson also off rs its SPIFF Partner Portal. “This is our salesperson incentive fund, allowing reps to earn up to $200 per unit that they sell,” he says. “The SPIFFs range from $10 to $200, depending on the model.”

Given the low price point, scanners are not a difficult sell, Gunduz says. He recommends that a dealer introduce the customer to distributed scanning with a demo unit. “Once the customer sees the quality, the speed and, most importantly, that the scanner works within their ecosystem with their software application, they are sold,” he says. “Th y are ready to buy.”

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Bowes or Neopost meters,” FP Mailing Solutions “We help with envelope Amacker says, addressing Office technology dealers BTA Channel dealers. “So are accustomed to providing design, statement design, why aren’t you talking to products and solutions for invoice design ... We then them about their meters?” printing, copying and manfollow it all the way to where In most dealers’ markets, aging documents in the workwe put it in the mail stream ... in all likelihood competiplace, but what about those We make it a lot easier for a tive office technology dealdocuments headed out of the customer to maximize what is ers are not installing postworkplace? “Dealers’ customordinarily a pretty big expense — postage.” age meters and the related ers are printing and copying equipment and software, information; it’s going some — Carl Amacker Amacker says.

He notes that where,” says Carl Amacker, FP Mailing Solutions a good place to start is with CEO of FP Mailing Solutions existing customers, but that (FP). “Th re’s a high likelidealers can also “go to competitors’ customers with a new hood that it will end up in an envelope. From the point that it’s angle, building relationships with new customers based on printed to the point that it gets into the mail stream, we provide mailing, rather than always fighting over copiers or printers.” the products and services that allow customers to do that.”

For many, FP may be solely associated with postage meters, which, incidentally, must be rented (the meter itself; not Toshiba America Business Solutions Inc. The decision at Toshiba America Business Solutions Inc. the mailing machine that houses it), rather than sold. Why is (TABS) to begin off ring digital signage through its direct that? “Because it prints money [postage],” Amacker says, emand dealer channels was driven, in part, by the same reality phasizing that “billions of dollars” go through postage meters that all manufacturers and dealers are facing. “As you know, annually. “The government would like to make sure that we the reason why dealers and OEMs are looking at alternative have a chain of command — so that we know where the merevenue sources is because demand is going down both for ters are, how they are reset and who is using them. Because [imaging] hardware and printed pages in the office,” says of that, they prefer that we own them and not the customer.”

Bill Melo, chief marketing executive at TABS. “People are However, as Amacker noted, FP provides many products figuring out other ways of communicating.” and services beyond the postage meter that can be sold, inThe premise for pursuing digital signage was based on cluding mailing machines, inserters, address printers and the recognition that information is not decreasing, Melo software products. “We help with envelope design, statement explains.

“In fact, information is increasing substantially,” design, invoice design, document design; so, we have softhe says.

“What is diff rent is that people are not printing as ware that starts there,” he says. “We then follow it all the way much.

Instead, they want to see it moving, on screen and in to where we put it in the mail stream. We can help from the action.

So, screen views are replacing printed page views.” point that you insert it, as well as getting the addressing, bar TABS leadership began exploring digital signage in 2012. codes and pricing right — all of the programs put in place “We had been looking at solution spaces beyond document by the USPS [United States Postal Service] in order to save solutions in general and, at the time, Toshiba, of course, had money. We make it a lot easier for a customer to maximize its TV division and commercial displays,” Melo says. “We exwhat is ordinarily a pretty big expense — postage.” plored it and found some really interesting similarities, as Amacker emphasizes that the mailing business is lucraodd as that seems, with our document solutions business.” tive for FP dealers. “We have a very generous program on reSimilarities?

“Yes, it’s not so much that the end product is bates and bonuses for hitting thresholds, plus, they are going similar, but rather the process to get there [to the placement to make decent margins on equipment and supplies,” he says, of a product],” Melo says.

“In both cases, you have an analyst noting that dealers can claim all service plan revenue, since who meets with the customer, understands their needs, curFP does not have a fi ld service organization. “The r technirent technology, budget and what they’re trying to achieve. cians don’t have to go visit these customers much [given the So, there is discover, design, deploy — the process is the reliability of the products]; perhaps once a year. So, this insame that we use for document management or workflow.” dustry off rs very high-margin maintenance contracts.”

At TABS’ LEAD 2014 event, digital signage was showLike with MFPs, for the most part, the postage meter cased — then only available direct from Toshiba — for the business is a replacement business. That is, most FP meters benefit of the end users who were in attendance. “We had a are installed as replacements of competitive meters. “If you lot of dealers coming up to us, interested in digital signage, have 1,000 customers, 900 of them probably have Pitney 12 | w­ w w. o f f ic et ec hno lo g y m a g.c om | Ma y 2 0 1 9

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wholesale it to the dealer asking, ‘How do we get into “The content is the new and the dealer marks it up it?’” Melo says. “So, by LEAD and sells it.”

2015, we had developed a aftermarket. If you use Noting that there is “very dealer program and started a CPC analogy, dealers good money” in the marmaking the products availmake their money from gins, Melo off rs another able to dealers.” service and supplies, comparison between digital Toshiba has three display not hardware. It’s the signage and document soplatforms: large displays for same here; the profi lutions. “The content is the stadiums, churches, etc.; inis in the content.” new aftermarket,” he says, teractive solutions, providing noting that dealers make one-on-one marketing by way

— Bill Melo money each time the conof kiosks to entertain, eduToshiba America Business Solutions Inc. tent is updated. “If you use a cate and inform; and ExperiCPC analogy, dealers make ence Manager displays, generally unattended and displaying scheduled content, such as their money from service and supplies, not those used in the waiting room of a dentist’s office. For all three hardware. It’s the same here; the profit is in the content.” n platforms, Toshiba has the resources to design the content.

Brent Hoskins, executive director of the “What we do is we engage with dealers; they identify cusBusiness Technology Association, is editor tomers who may want the solution,” Melo says, emphasizof Office Technology magazine. He can be ing that the dealer always “owns” the customer. “When it reached at brent@bta.org or (816) 303-4040. comes to the actual implementation and design, we do that,

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2019 BTA National Conference BTA Southeast hosts event in Orlando by: Elizabeth Marvel, Office Technology Magazine

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TA Southeast hosted the 2019 BTA National Conference March 22-23 at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa in Orlando, Florida. The event featured a keynote address, “Strategic Shock: Surviving the Inevitable Crisis,” led by retired 1st Sgt. Matt Eversmann. Theschedule also included two dealer panels, four additional educational sessions, and an evening laser and fireworks show at Epcot.

BTA General Counsel Bob Goldberg moderated the first panel, “Ensuring Your Business Survives a Natural Disaster,” and Todd Lee of Wells Fargo moderated the second panel, “Succession Planning in a Multigenerational Business.” Th additional sessions were: “Security in the Digital Office of the Future,” led by Dr. Alissa Abdullah, Xerox; “Dealer Channel Evolution (A Blueprint for Growth),” led by Sammy Kinlaw, Lexmark; “Leading & Managing in an Era of Disruptive Change: A Practical Guide,” led by Mitch Morgan, Growth Achievement Partners, and John Eckstrom, Carolina Business Equipment; and “How to ‘Capture’ More Customers With Digital Transformation,” led by Mark Hart, ACDI. The exhibiting sponsors: ACDI, Agent Dealer, ARLINGTON, Balboa Capital, Brother, Clover Imaging Group, Compass Sales Solutions, Crawford Thomas, Datablaze, DCS, Demand, DLL, ECi Software Solutions, ecoprintQ, Epson, ESP AMETEK, FP, GreatAmerica, Hybrid Imaging Systems, Hyland, Image Star, Imaging Solutions Direct, Innovolt, ITC Systems, Katun, Keypoint Intelligence, Laserfi he, LD Products, LEAF, Lexmark (keynote sponsor), Liberty Laser Solutions, LMI, Mars, Midwest Copier Exchange, Miracle Service, Muratec, NA Trading and Technology, NoSalesGuys.com, OKI, OPEX, Panasonic Scanners, PCS VoIP, Perform IT, Polek & Polek, Print-Rite, RISO, SalesChain, Sentry File, Static Control, Supplies Network, Supplies Wholesalers, Technology Assurance Group (breaks sponsor), TIAA Bank, Tigerpaw (breakfast sponsor), TonerCycle/InkCycle, Toshiba, Wells Fargo and Xerox (lunch sponsor). n Elizabeth Marvel is associate editor of Office Technology magazine. She can be reached at (816) 303-4060 or elizabeth@bta.org.

Clockwise from top left: Eversmann, portrayed in the film “Black Hawk Down,” presents his keynote address; 2018-19 BTA Southeast President Mike Hicks serves as the event’s emcee; the 2019 BTA National Conference included a keynote address, two dealer panels and four additional educational sessions; BTA General Counsel Bob Goldberg (right) moderates one of the panel discussions with panelists (left to right) Bob Evans, Function4, Sugar Land, Texas; Debra Dennis, CopyPro Inc., Greenville, North Carolina; and Bill James, River Ridge, Louisiana; and 2017-18 BTA President Dan Castaneda (right) presents the 2018 BTA Volunteer of the Year award to 2017-18 BTA Southeast President David Polimeni.

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Planning for Disaster O

The conference’s educational session presenters were (clockwise from top left): Abdullah; Kinlaw; Morgan; Eckstrom; and Hart.

Clockwise from top left: Dealers visit with peers and exhibitors during networking time between sessions; Jann Michishima (left) of Laserfiche visits with Vivian Navas of Interface Printers, Richardson, Texas, during a break; Todd Lee (right) of Wells Fargo Equipment Finance moderates the second dealer panel with panelists (left to right) Mike Hicks, Electronic Business Machines Inc., Lexington, Kentucky; Brice, Tim and Blake Renegar, Kelly Office Solutions, Winston-Salem, North Carolina; and Johnathan Garlow, Ford Business Machines, Connellsville, Pennsylvania; and Ken Fischer (left) of Fischer IT Solutions, Annapolis, Maryland, visits with Steve Mosley and Megan Sundmaker of TIAA Bank during a break.

ne of the panel discussions during the 2019 BTA National Conference, “Ensuring Your Business Survives a Natural Disaster,” focused on the aftermath of hurricanes and other emergencies on the panelists’ businesses. Debra Dennis’ dealership, CopyPro Inc. of Greenville, North Carolina, had dealt with several storms in the past, but she spoke about the effects of Hurricane Florence in 2018. Bob Evans’ dealership, Function4 of Sugar Land, Texas, was most recently affected by Hurricane Harvey in 2017. And Bill James (now retired from WJS Enterprises Inc., New Orleans, Louisiana), spoke mostly about 2005’s Hurricane Katrina.

Moderator and BTA General Counsel Bob Goldberg asked about the companies’ disaster plans when these emergencies struck. “We did [have a disaster plan] this time around,” Evans said of his experience during Harvey. “Hurricane Ike hit Galveston and the other side of Houston in 2008. At that point in time, we did not have a plan. We had no electricity for seven or eight days. We went out and bought generators — which we still have — to keep running just in case. This time around ... we had our phones, data center and eautomate in the cloud. Plus, we have branch offices now, so we can transfer phones over. So, we have a much better situation now.”

Goldberg also asked how the companies developed the disaster plans they have in place today. “You start with a plan, which you can find on the internet at ready.gov; FEMA also has some information for businesses,” Dennis said. “Once you start and make a plan, you then communicate the plan to your employees.

Then you go back annually and review the plan, because things change. Your business changes. Every disaster creates something else you wished you would have done ... So you just write it [the plan] down and review it with your employees, because it’s going to change every time.”

The panelists also talked about the support they received during their times of need. “I was inundated with offers of help from fellow BTA members and from our suppliers,” James said.

“There were just an awful lot of contacts asking ‘How can we help? What’s available? Do you need parts? Do you need machines? Do you need money? How about a roof?’”

Dennis had a similar experience. “It was really amazing the number of people in this association who made phone calls in to say ‘What can we do? What do you need? Here’s what we did in the past. This may help you,’” she said. “And hats off to Konica Minolta. They came forward and helped two of our employees; they gave a financial contribution to those guys just to make sure that they were OK. It’s a good group we’re with.”

So, what lessons did these dealers learn from their experiences and what do they recommend other dealers watch out for? “We’ve got everything in the cloud now,” Evans said. “We’ve changed everything where we can go plug in anywhere and go back to work.

The other thing I would tell you is review your business insurance annually. Get clarification on exactly what coverage you have.”

“You can’t depend on just one way of doing things,” James said. “We set up multiple ways of accessing our communication lines, so if one or two are taken out, there’s going to be a third way to get to it ... We now have multiple ways of backing up data, so we don’t have to depend on just one ... The other thing was being prepared. We started a practice pre-hurricane season where we would bring in multiple managers and go through the whole process of starting backups ... and bringing the system all the way up so we have multiple people who are able to do that.” n — Elizabeth Marvel www.offi cetechnol ogyma g. c om | M a y 2019 | 17

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Ensuring Continued Success It is time to change your business model by: Ken Edmonds, Service Management Coach

A

s we take a look at the office technology industry, the scene is clearly changing. In the past, we have gone through cycles where mega dealerships built up and then sold to manufacturers.

Those cycles have, in some ways, made the independent dealer model more difficult.

Thecurrent activity seems to be diff rent and, I believe, more dangerous to dealers than previous cycles. In this article, I will address several areas that I see as the leading threats to independent dealers, as well as potential solutions. Some of the threats are similar in their risks and possible solutions, while others require a diff rent approach.

Mega Dealerships Several mega dealerships are in all-out acquisition mode, including Marco, Visual Edge, Pacific Office Automation and Novatech, to list a few. In the past, the list included Dex, but the company has moved into an entirely new category.

Th se mega dealerships may pose a threat to your dealership, because once they enter your market, they likely have much broader product off rings and can serve as one-stop shops for their clients. That is, when they approach your clients, they off r to handle all of their needs — their networks, phones, printing and copying, etc. This is a very attractive proposition for a client — one vendor and one monthly invoice that covers everything. This may not be important in some markets and to some customers, but can you gamble your future on customer loyalty?

Big-Box Company/Dealership Mergers Dex moved into this new category when Staples acquired the Florida-based mega dealership. Depending on how manufacturers react, this could lead to a new form of national distribution for the manufacturer. It will be interesting to see how Office Depot reacts to this merger.

Staples is building out a national MSP footprint and now has the office technology service organization to complement

that business. Again, this competitor, which is probably already in your town or nearby, can off r a much broader range of services than many independent dealerships.

Manufacturer Direct Operations This is not a new threat. Sharp, Toshiba and Konica Minolta are still actively engaged in acquiring dealerships. Th y also can off r a very broad range of services through their acquisitions in the managed network services (MNS) and managed print services (MPS) spaces.

Inkjet Technology & Providers Inkjet is a fast-growing segment of the output market. In the production print arena, inkjet technology is becoming a dominant technology; all of the manufacturers are off ring high-speed presses. Dealers should take note of the expansion of inkjet technology in the mid-range office market. HP, Canon, OKI Data and Epson are all pushing into this space.

HP and Epson are also expanding their service and support to eliminate the need for clients to contact local companies for support. Th y are also aggressively going after the VAR and MNS channels to penetrate the market.

Declining Volume & Changing Models In the office space, page volumes are declining and that trend is accelerating. While we may never see the paperless office, the declining volumes hit directly at the recurring revenue model dealers depend on for their survival.

To further complicate matters, several programs are being promoted that aff ct recurring revenue as well. Some of these programs are seat-based billing (SBB), imaging device as a service (IDaaS) and other variations of these.

The Dealer Response Collectively, these changes pose a real threat to the independent dealer. It is time to analyze the relative impact on your dealership and in your market. The next step is to

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

Edmonds May 19.indd 1

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If all you have are MFPs and printers formulate a response that protects your in your clients’ offices, then another dealbusiness. Several strategies may be open If you do not have ership can come in and replace you fairly to your dealership. As we discuss these, access to other products easily. If you are also supporting your think about what will work for you. and do not want to clients’ networks, phone systems, etc., n Buy or Sell — One option is to folinvest ... another option you reduce the threat. Ideally, you want low the path of the mega dealerships and is to partner with to bundle all of these services at a single acquire other dealerships and products price so it is more difficult for the competo complement your current business. companies that provide tition and easier for the client. A competThis requires capital and financing. You complementary services. itor would have to be able to take on all of also need a management team to handle those services. Changing MNS providers the added workload. Understand that is a challenge that many companies are willing to face. acquisitions take time to integrate as well. n Partner — If you do not have access to other products Of course, one possibility is to prepare your business for sale.

Some dealers may want to finalize an exit strategy and seek a and do not want to invest the needed time and capital to build buyer. For some, this may be the easiest solution and the least out the support mechanism, another option is to partner with risky option. Many dealers do not want to sell, but in some cas- companies that provide complementary services. Now is the time to talk to companies that off r services you do not and es, waiting too long may result in having nothing to sell. n Diversify — To help ensure the viability of your compa- find ones that are interested in cooperating. Th y face the ny, you want to find more reasons for your clients to buy from same threats you do, so finding a mutually benefi ial arrangeyou. Themore you can off r them, the more reasons they have ment for both companies could solve the threat for both.

One option would be to create a joint venture where two to stay with you. The ays of the one-trick pony are ending. or more companies continue to manage their own businesses, but billing and reception are handled by one company.

To the customer, it would appear that a single company is supporting its needs. Each sales team could be independent and pay referrals to leads from the other team.

Th re are probably multiple legal structures for this type of arrangement. You may end up with more than two companies working together, but you can leverage the collective customer base and secure client relationships for the group.

The Time is Now For dealers who do not address the looming threats, company failure is a very real possibility. It will not be a quick, painless death either. Instead, your clients may be picked off one by one until you have nothing left.

The challenges and threats are real and imminent. It is time to plan and start acting before it is too late. None of these solutions are overnight fixes; each day potential threats get closer. The dealers who wait too long may find that their ships have sailed and their options are gone. n For nearly 16 years, Edmonds served at Sharp Electronics Corp. and then at Konica Minolta Business Solutions. In early 2018, he retired from Konica Minolta. Before that, Edmonds had an extensive background in the imaging business, having owned a dealership and serving as a service manager. In total, he has more than 40 years of experience in the technical and computer fields. Edmonds can be reached at ken@kedmonds.biz.

Visit www.kedmonds.biz.

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

Edmonds May 19.indd 2

5/2/19 4:49 PM

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www.offi cetechnol ogyma g. c om | M a y 2019 | 23

Express Sales - ProFinance ads May 19.indd 1

4/30/19 9:59 AM

COURTS & CAPITOLS

Trade Secrets Ensure company information is kept confidential by: Robert C. Goldberg, general counsel for the Business Technology Association

H

ardly a day goes by that I do not receive an inquiry regarding a non-compete, non-solicitation or confi entiality agreement. It may be said that employees lack the dedication to employers that they once had and will easily move to new companies for better terms. Th se new positions often include a portion of compensation that is determined by performance. Because of this, a departing employee may feel the need to take customer information, contract information and/or lease information with him (or her) when he leaves. This information is highly valuable to a business, but does it constitute trade secrets worthy of protection?

Recently, a federal judge in Chicago, Illinois, taught a painful lesson to an Illinois employer. Even if information is suffi iently sensitive and valuable that it could qualify as a trade secret, it will not be considered as such unless the owner of that information takes adequate steps to protect its secrecy.

Th re are two basic elements to the analysis of whether information qualifi s as a trade secret: (1) The information must have been sufficiently secret to impart economic value because of its relative secrecy; and (2) Theowner must have made reasonable eff rts to maintain the secrecy of the information.

Thesituation in this case was all too familiar. A key employee left to join a competing business. He took with him a flash drive with information regarding customers, pricing, contracts, leases and suppliers. He later hired another individual from his former employer and she, too, brought information she thought might be helpful in her new position. The information taken was uploaded to their new computers, shared with other sales reps and used to target the customers of their previous employer.

Th re was no question that the information taken was valuable to the owner and had been misappropriated. An action was brought under the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act and the Illinois Trade Secrets Act. The court refused to grant an injunction, as it found that the owner had taken almost no measures to safeguard the information he now maintains as invaluable to his competitors. The court found that the owner’s data security was so lacking that it was difficult to identify the most signifi ant shortcoming.

Fortunately, there is a lesson here, as the court shared the data-security measures that could have been taken, but were not: n Entering into non-disclosure and confi entiality agreements with employees. n Enacting a policy regarding the confi entiality of business

information “beyond a vague, generalized admonition about not discussing business outside of work.” n Training employees as to their obligations to keep certain categories of information confidential. n Asking departing employees whether they possessed any confi ential company information and, if they do, instructing them to return or delete it. n Adequately training the company’s IT manager about data-security practices. n Restricting access to sensitive information on a need-toknow basis. n As appropriate, labeling documents as “proprietary” or “confidential.” n Keeping the premises, files and information secure and not easily accessed. n Periodically checking computer logs to determine if information is being improperly directed.

Today, with employee mobility, it is important to take the necessary steps to ensure that your valuable company information is kept confi ential. Clearly the courts will not protect your information if you fail to do so yourself. The BTA website has several legal templates to help you begin the necessary steps. n Robert C. Goldberg is general counsel for the Business Technology Association.

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

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

Goldberg May 19.indd 1

5/2/19 4:51 PM

EDUCATION CALENDAR May 23

June 11

BTA Building My Business Webinar: “Cultivating Your Culture” Establishing and maintaining a positive company culture must be front and center in order for companies to succeed today. In this webinar, led by Arial Harland of PathShare HR Services at GreatAmerica Financial Services Corp., you will gain insights into: What is culture?: How culture weaves throughout your entire organizational system; Why culture matters: How focusing on culture today will positively impact your organization for years to come; and Building your company culture: How to align your organizational system to support your desired culture. Visit www.bta.org/BMB to register.

BTA Building My Business Webinar: “Stop Cold Calling, Start Cold Emailing” During this webinar, led by Gil Cargill of Cargill Consulting Group, you will learn the dos and don’ts of using cold emailing to find prospects that are interested in your products and services.

You will learn how efficient and economical cold emailing is, especially in comparison to traditional prospecting tactics and strategies. Most importantly, you will learn how this tool can give your business a distinct competitive advantage. Visit www.bta.org/BMB to register.

13-14 Gateway to Success - Hosted by BTA Mid-America Austin, Texas The Gateway to Success event, hosted by BTA Mid-America, will feature: a keynote address on unforgettable leadership presented by author and leadership expert Ted Ma; a featured educational session on whether to sell your business; a dealer panel discussion on the evolution of MPS; five additional educational sessions led by industry leaders; time to network with peers and exhibiting sponsors, including during a welcoming reception and breaks; and an evening at Salt Lick BBQ for dinner, live music and yard games. BTA member dealers receive 2-for-1 registration and can use their $150 or $250 discount codes received with membership.

Visit www.bta.org/BTAAustin to register.

19-20 ProFinance 3.0

Blue Ash, Ohio (a Cincinnati suburb) Over the last 17 years, the principles of ProFinance have dramatically improved the performance of hundreds of dealerships. Now, with color, connectivity, software, managed print services (MPS) and managed network services (MNS), the business has changed — and ProFinance has changed with it. Taught by John Hey and Todd Johnson of Strategic Business Associates, ProFinance 3.0 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 2019 | 25

Calendar May 19.indd 1

5/2/19 12:48 PM

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

Dealer Members Advanced Copier Technology Inc., Brewster, NY Advanced Document Concepts, Chico, CA All/Pro Office Technology Inc., Alton, IL Ameritel Corporation, Rockville, MD Associated Business Technologies, Salt Lake City, UT BMC Office Technology, Knoxville, TN Digicomm Document Solutions, Shelton, CT EGP Document Solutions, Duluth, GA Hilliard Office Solutions, Midland, TX New Jersey Office Systems LLC, Cranbury, NJ The Copy Image, Grainger, IN Total Office Solution of West Texas, Odessa, TX United Laser, Florence, SC 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 members in this space.

Toshiba America Business Solutions Inc. (TABS) is an independent operating company of Toshiba Corp., the world’s eighth-largest electronics/electrical equipment company. TABS is a leading managed document services (MDS) provider with experts that help organizations take control of document security, workflow and print environments.

With the award-winning Encompass managed print services (MPS) program, e-STUDIO line of MFPs, toner products, digital signage and retail information/thermal printing systems, TABS is leading the way for businesses to print smarter, work safer and conserve resources. https://business.toshiba.com

Sharing Insight, Questions Asked & Answered BTA’s Dealers Helping Dealers resource allows BTA member dealership owners and employees to submit questions for their fellow members to answer. The answers are then archived on the BTA website for future reference. If you have a question for your fellow members, email it to brent@bta.org with the subject line “Dealers Helping Dealers.” BTA will then share your question with the full dealer membership with a request for answers.

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

Clover Imaging Group (CIG) provides support, collection opportunities and solutions to independent dealers, OEMs and retailers. CIG includes: MSE, Dataproducts, Clover Environmental Solutions, OPRA, Axess Managed Print Services, Depot International, Latin Parts and Tecno Toner. This group offers an array of products and services, and is supported by a vast engineering infrastructure, marketing resources, distribution capabilities and strategic partnerships. By bringing all aspects of its businesses together, CIG is able to provide a level of partnership unsurpassed in the aftermarket imaging space. www.cloverimaging.com

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

A full list of BTA vendor members can be found online at www.bta.org.

For more information, visit www.bta.org.

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

Highlights May 19.indd 1

5/6/19 8:16 AM

DEALERS HELPING DEALERS

Monitoring Software Are dealers using it for proactive service?

Compiled by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

F

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

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

Are you using PrintFleet, FMAudit or any monitoring software, not just for toner supply orders, but as part of a proactive service approach? Are you monitoring fuser levels, image units and transfer belt life so you can stock techs’ cars accordingly? If so, to what degree has this benefited your service operation “Yes, we get an alert when a fuser, ETB belt or other critical parts are at 10% life remaining. At that point, we order the part. We will set up a time to replace the part based on that printer’s estimated monthly usage. In other words, a device that prints a low volume can go three to six months with a fuser at 10% life, while higher-volume machines need the part changed within the month.”

Paul Thomas, president National Office Store, Lillington, North Carolina “Yes, we use PrintFleet for meter collection. For proactive service, we are using vCare from Konica Minolta and imageWARE from Canon. It is a requirement that our technicians use the mobile tools to check the status of the equipment and parts prior to going on-site. We use Pros Elite Group’s PIVOT tool to assist with car stock levels and set the levels in e-automate. The PIVOT tool recommends car stock based on the actual usage per serial number assigned to the technician.”

George Rosa, director of service North American Office Solutions, Orlando, Florida “We use Kyocera Fleet Services (KFS) as our primary monitoring software. It has helped our service department tremendously on things like pushing firmware updates remotely, monitoring misfeed trends and, of course, toner levels. We use it for other facets, but those are where we have seen the most uptick in service efficiency and profi ability. We use Print

Audit as a backup monitoring service. Th most important factor to us as a company is making sure our customers are getting a proactive service department rather than a reactive one.”

Brantly Fowler, sales manager Zeno Office Solutions, Midland, Texas “We use FMAudit for our toner on demand and meters. We are mainly using FMAudit for toner only. The technicians do go into MICAS (Sharp’s Machine Intelligence Call Assistance Service) and will see if there are machines that are due for preventative maintenance when they are slow with regular calls.

This does help our service operations because it allows us to better plan preventative maintenance calls when it is slow rather than during peak service call activity. Also, it allows for the technician to find something productive to do during slow periods rather than doing courtesy calls or training calls.”

Buddy Puente, president of operations & finance Southwest Office Systems Inc., Dallas, Texas “We use FMAudit and the manufacturers’ embedded remote connectivity tools such as @Remote to monitor high-mortality items. Knowing what you need before you go to a customer site dramatically increases efficiency. Also, knowing jam history and error-code history allows a tech to form a repair strategy and access resources prior to attempting a repair on-site.”

Joe Coler, vice president of service Atlantic Tomorrow’s Office, New York City, New York “Woodhull does not do this. But we do use Print Audit to assist us with selling new MPS agreements as we install Print Audit’s IDM on all new installations, which allows us to see all of their printing devices.”

Susan Woodhull, owner & president Woodhull LLC, Springboro, Ohio Do you have a question for your fellow dealers? Email it to brent@bta.org with the subject line: “Dealers Helping Dealers.”

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

He can be reached at brent@bta.org or (816) 303-4040. www.offi cetechnol ogymag. c om | M a y 2019 | 27

DHD May 19.indd 1

5/2/19 1:07 PM

PRINCIPAL ISSUES

Technology Services Focused TAG convention embraces ‘company culture’ theme by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

T

echnology Assurance Group (TAG) hosted its 19th Annual Convention April 7-10 at the Rosen Plaza hotel in Orlando, Florida. The event centered on providing educational and networking opportunities to TAG’s members — managed technology services providers (MTSPs) representing $400 million in products and services annually in 136 markets. The convention, themed “Igniting Your Company Brian Suerth Culture,” also featured the products and services of a number of exhibitors — TAG’s strategic partners, including companies familiar to BTA Channel dealers such as Continuum and Tigerpaw Software.

What is TAG? “We are a training, education and consulting company for companies [MTSPs] that sell technology,” said Brian Suerth, TAG president, in an interview with Office Technology during the convention. “Our whole role in life Lane Smith is to increase our members’ profits and sales. We’ve been around since 1998 helping organizations — whether they’re in office equipment, IT or voice — make the transition into new technologies profitably.”

Citing the addition of managed IT services as an example, TAG provides the “game plan for how you build it, price it, sell it, market it and onboard customers,” Suerth said. He noted that TAG off rs such resources as sales training that achieves an 85% close ratio, financial analysis and benchmarking, onboarding and customer management, marketing and lead generation, and hiring assistance.

As noted, the theme of this year’s convention focused on company culture, which was also the topic of two of the keynote sessions. “If our members can take at least one thing from this convention that will change the culture of their companies, then that’s success,” Suerth told Office Technology. “That gives each of them the opportunity to reevaluate a specifi topic about his or her organization, putting it at the forefront.”

Suerth set the stage for the convention’s theme, presenting on company culture during the opening awards banquet. “Culture is so very important to the success of our organizations, because it impacts so many things,” he said. “Culture impacts our competitiveness, the experience we’re trying to deliver to

our customers, our brand, the story that our brand is trying to tell to our marketplace, innovation, and our employees’ abilities to think creatively, productively and profitability.”

Culture is the “intangible glue that holds all the pieces of the company together,” Suerth said, challenging attendees to consider how culture is viewed within their companies.

“What are the top three words that come to mind to describe the culture of your company? What if I asked your employee?

How would they describe the culture of your company? Is it in alignment with your three words or is it out of alignment?”

In addition to sessions emphasizing company culture, the agenda featured three breakout sessions focused on eff ctive MTSP business practices. Among them was “Keys to Success When Launching a New Service Off ring,” led by Lane Smith, TAG’s vice president of member advancement. Smith recently joined TAG after serving at Continuum as senior director of partner enablement.

In his presentation, Smith spoke of some of his own experiences with launching new services, acknowledging that his first experience resulted in “total failure.” Over time, he said, he learned that it is important to have everyone involved on the same page, with a process in place. “When you’re launching a service, you’ve got to come up with a clearly defined process that is repeatable,” he said, noting that it is akin to having a sales process in place, which can be improved if it becomes ineff ctive. “If you have no process [for the launch of a new service], how are you going to improve it?”

Smith listed and explained the components of a process for the successful launch of any new service. Among them: executive buy-in; packaging and pricing; structuring a playbook so that all sales and post-sales employees are fully aware, for example, of the steps to follow, as well as the tools they will need and have available to them to sell and support the new service; team training; and a go-to-market strategy.

Looking at the go-to-market strategy in particular, Smith recommended MTSPs start with a “pilot” customer when adding any new service. “Everybody has ‘friendly customers’ that you can sell to, pretty much because you recommend it,” he said. “Give them a discount if you need to, but use them as your first launch to make sure you are getting everything done. Th n, most importantly, use them as a testimonial; get a case study out on them.” 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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PRINCIPAL ISSUES

‘At Your Side’ Brother hosts FY19 Analyst Business Review by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

B

rother International Corp. hosted its FY19 Analyst Business Review April 11-12 at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut. The agenda included presentations focused on the company’s business strategy, as well as product demos and a products, solutions and services overview. There were also two Brother dealers on hand to discuss their experiences with the company.

Dan Waldinger Among the presenters was Dan Waldinger, senior director of marketing at Brother, who focused, in part, on highlighting the support initiatives the company has developed for its dealers. It was important to discuss the programs “because, frankly, when we pushed aggressively into the B2B space a few years ago, this was a concern,” he said. “When people think about Brother, the first things that come to mind are the small office/home office products, not necessarily the B2B products.”

Waldinger set the stage for his comments on Brother’s support initiatives with a company video ending with this narration: “This is the year we drive our business further and rise up. It’s the year we place our customer in the center and Brother ‘at your side.’” The “At Your Side” tagline is part of the Brother logo.

From the dealer’s perspective, the tagline is likely seen as a reference to the types of support initiatives Waldinger highlighted in his presentation. “From a B2B standpoint, when we add up all of our support, it’s north of 150 people in this channel — we’re on-site, we’re in the fi ld,” he said, later noting, however, that it is “not enough” to just be in the fi ld supporting dealers. “We have to help educate our sales professionals on our products; what our value is. We have the Brother Knowledge Center that we launched a couple of years ago ...

We just had the 30,000th product training module completed by our channel partners. Th y’re going to this resource and downloading resources at an incredible rate; 20,000 resources downloaded — white papers, infographics and brochures; things that they need [in order] to sell.”

Brother has also created electronic “cheat sheets” for dealers and sales reps, providing the “questions they need to ask when going in and talking about printing solutions and document solutions, and how to uncover opportunities in security and mobility,” Waldinger said. “We [also] have solutions playbooks, as well

as solutions training. This allows them to have business process improvement discussions with customers — having the right questions to ask, knowing how to uncover the opportunity.”

Waldinger noted that Brother’s “dealers are telling us they have not had access to as much information as we provide.”

He noted, too, that the company continually strives to “measure the satisfaction” of the materials it produces for dealers.

“Is it being used in the fi ld? Do we need to course correct and deliver some other types of materials?”

As noted, the agenda included a panel discussion with two Brother dealers. One of the dealers, Tom Mitchell, president of Connected Office Technologies, headquartered in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, with a second location in Portland, Maine, noted that Brother personnel have demonstrated an understanding of dealer challenges — “finding new opportunities, pursuing those opportunities; how do we bring that customer on board?” He noted that the addition of Brother at his dealership was because of that understanding and support. “When I look back at how and why we brought Brother on board, it was because of those things; as soon as it happened, we felt very supported,” he said. “I think the support that Brother off rs to its dealer community is really unique.”

In his presentation, beyond citing the merits of Brother’s dealer support initiatives, Waldinger spoke about the company’s product focus and services. “2018 was all about driving our business forward, taking the time to build solid, long-lasting platforms to support our products, solutions and services, like integrating the technology and solutions partners to empower customers with translation services, workflow automation and business process improvement,” he said. “[Brother] ended up with a 15% increase in copier channel dealer growth and more than 75,000 units contracted for managed print services, on track to reach 100,000 in 2019.”

Waldinger also took the opportunity to emphasize the key focus of Brother’s imaging devices lineup. “Our A4 product line, in many cases, is complementing A3 partners that dealers may have, so we really feel this is a strength,” he said, later noting that Brother is targeting the release of a stapler/finisher later this year. “We know that A3 is declining quickly. So, when we look at our portfolio, from a color and mono laser standpoint, we’re really positioned at a sweet spot for growth.” 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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PRINCIPAL ISSUES

Innovate 2019 Kyocera dealers meet new president & CEO by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

K

yocera Document Solutions America Inc. (Kyocera) hosted its annual business and technology conference, Innovate 2019, April 16-18 at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. The conference drew more than 1,000 attendees from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Latin America and Japan.

In the opening general session, Norihiko Ina, president of Kyocera Document Norihiko Ina Solutions Inc. (KDS), emphasized the signifi ance of the division’s global contributions. “Our division accounts for the largest percentage of sales of the entire Kyocera Group at 24%,” he said. “This record performance is because of every one of your efforts for daily sales and service. Let me take this opportunity to express my grateful appreciation for your continued support.”

For FY19, KDS “achieved record unit sales of 2.15 million units globally,” Ina Oscar Sanchez said. “Especially strong were our A3 midrange color MFPs, growing at 6% compared with last year, and A4 color MFPs, growing at 12.5% compared with last year. Th se key Kyocera product categories led to record sales worldwide.”

Ina also took the opportunity to encourage dealers to place more color MFPs. He noted that the “ratio of color A3 MFP sales” for North America stands at 62%, as compared to 82% for Western Europe and 86% for Japan. “I see this as a strong opportunity for growth,” he said. “I believe that in North America we still have a good chance to grow our business even further by promoting color products in the short- and medium-terms.”

The conference marked Oscar Sanchez’s debut before a dealer audience as president and CEO of Kyocera. He was appointed to the position in September 2018, having most recently served as executive vice president of Kyocera Document Solutions Europe. Sanchez joined the company in 1996.

Ina praised Sanchez as he introduced him in the general session. “Not only does he know our business very well, but he is also known to produce excellent results by making changes to always keep up with changes in the market,” he said. “I have 100% confi ence that he will strengthen this organization.”

In his presentation, Sanchez focused heavily on the need

for change. “We cannot ignore that the market has drastically changed and looks totally diff rent to the one we knew some years ago,” he said. “And with that, there are multiple questions we need to ask ourselves: What is the scope of our business? Do we want our customers to print more or do we want to reduce their printing costs? Should we encourage our customers to renew their fleets, keeping the same number of devices, or should we help them to downsize? Do we sell A3 devices because the customer needs them or because that is good for our business? Do we sell hardware or document solutions? Do we have the infrastructure in our organizations to support solution sales? Those are fundamental questions that we did not have to ask years ago.”

In considering the questions, Sanchez said a part of Kyocera’s transformation will be driven by a focus on customercentricity. “In this new strategic direction ... for Kyocera, we see customer-centricity as opposed to product-centricity,” he said. “In our opinion, this industry has always been focusing too much on the product instead of focusing on the customer.

We need to change our way of thinking and focus on creating the best solution to meet customer needs.”

As Kyocera works to develop a customer-centric culture, it is “identifying the gaps, defining customer-centric KPIs [key performance indicators], watching over them and using them to make quick decisions,” Sanchez said. “We cannot improve what we cannot measure: key indicators like web traffic, lead generation, conversion rate, net promoter score and engagement rates. Th y all need to be constantly monitored; we need to change from the old-fashioned mentality that revenue is the only KPI to measure our performance. We are trying to design a customer-centric, flat and agile organization.”

In his presentation, Sanchez also noted that Kyocera will pursue such strides as: making a signifi ant investment in the technology it uses to run the organization; looking to other industries to attract new talent; and increasing software sales, including a new, cloud-only, mid-market ECM product powered by Hyland Software. “I am fully committed to devoting myself to drive the biggest transformation in the history of this company,” he said. “When you get to know me, you will see that I aim big and don’t give up until I achieve my goals, and that is how I push my people as well.” 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 Four Decisions Every choice must be in your favor to win the sale by: Troy Harrison, Troy Harrison & Associates

S

ometimes I think we make selling entirely too complicated — and by “we,” I mean those in my profession: sales authors and trainers. Sure, selling can be difficult. That is why they pay us the big bucks. We are dealing with people and trying to persuade them, and that is always a challenge. Still, why make the sale more complicated and cumbersome than it has to be?

The truth is that, boiled down to its elements, every sale consists of a prospective or current customer making four decisions. The trick is that there is no gray area — every decision must be in your favor or you will not win the sale. Following are the four decisions.

Decision One: Engaging With You The first decision that your customer makes is the decision to talk to you — or to engage with you, if you prefer that terminology (and I do; “engagement” implies a two-way street). If you cannot get an audience with your customer, you cannot sell to him (or her). Yes, you can receive an order from someone who does not talk to you (technology these days is wonderful), but you will not have an opportunity to persuade or aff ct the outcome of that decision. This means that your approach to him must communicate the value of a conversation with you.

That is what you should be shooting for.

Decision Two: You Can Solve Their Need(s) Every customer has needs. Your ability to discover his needs — and then solve them — is the key to getting a “yes” at this stage of the sales process. This means that, first and foremost, you must ask copious amounts of questions. Even if you think you know what the buyer needs, you do not know until you ask him. Ultimately, you must know how the buyer will define a successful purchase — not how you define it, not how most of your other customers define it, not how your boss says it is defined, but how the buyer defines it. Without knowing how the buyer will define a successful purchase, everything else is just guesswork — and guesswork rarely wins sales.

Once you know his needs and how he defines success, two burdens are placed upon you. The first burden is this: If your off rings do not and cannot solve the buyer’s needs, and meet his definition of success, you must bow out. This is the only way to retain your (and your company’s) professional credibility. Yes, I know that there is nothing more painful than walking away from potential dollars — but would you rather collect the dollars by hammering someone into a bad purchase and

then live with the failure? Walking away early means that you live to sell another day when your solution fi s; making a bad sale means that you are forever disqualifi d. Even pushing a solution when your buyer knows it is not a solution can forever disqualify you.

The second burden is that, if your solution does meet the buyer’s needs and definition of success, your presentation must be specifi ally and intimately tailored to those exact needs and definition. This is more difficult than it sounds.

Many times you have to develop a presentation on the spot.

Salespeople can get into the “sell-sheet” or “slide-deck” mentality that says, “I have all this great information and I have to get it all out,” even when the customer does not care about all the information.

If I go to the doctor for a sore shoulder and he gives me a pill that will fix it (I know this is not a real thing, but work with me here), I do not care that it will also solve a sore throat because I do not have a sore throat. When presenting, focus specifi ally on the customer’s needs. Hit the meaningful points hard and often and leave out information that is meaningless. If you execute these steps correctly, your buyer will make the second critical decision — that you can solve his needs — and move you to the next step of the process.

Decision Three: Your Solution Has Good Value If your buyer is interested, he is probably going to say, “OK, how much?” At this point (or as soon as you can), you off r a proposal with a price and terms. Your buyer is then going to evaluate your off ring and ask himself whether it is a good expenditure www.offi cetechnol ogyma g. c om | M a y 2019 | 33

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of money, time and resources (or not) and make his third decision. If you have asked enough questions about priorities, needs and the impact of solving those needs, you should already be 80% toward the answer to this question. Still, we sell to human beings and those human beings can be somewhat unpredictable.

best strategy here is: When you are doing the questioning, ask about overall company priorities, ongoing projects, etc. Sometimes you can sell against those priorities if you know about them — but the final decision time is too late to ask or to sell against them.

Here is what you need to know: All of these decisions must go in your favor and each one qualifi s you to move to the next step. If you fail any one, you will not win the sale, even if your buyer “allows” you to keep selling (by offering a price that will not result in a sale, for example). n Troy Harrison is the author of “Sell Like You Mean It!” and “The Pocket Sales Manager,” and is a speaker, consultant and sales navigator. He helps companies build more profitable and productive sales forces. To schedule a free 45-minute Sales Strategy Review, call (913) 645-3603 or email troy@troyharrison.com.

Visit www.troyharrison.com.

... Ask about overall company priorities, ongoing projects, etc.

Sometimes you can sell against those priorities if you know about them ...

Decision Four: Buying From You “But wait, Troy, isn’t the decision that you represent good value also a decision to buy? ” Nope. Not in the slightest. This is where variables outside of your control come into play. Sometimes your solution is a good expenditure for the department you are selling to, but corporate priorities dictate that resources go in a diff rent direction. Or, the timing just is not right (maybe they have other projects going on that require the attention and resources that would otherwise be devoted to yours). In any case, you can have the greatest solution to a big problem, priced right, and still not win the sale because some externality is blocking you. Your

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