November 2017 Office Technology

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CONTENTS Volume 24 • No. 5

FEATURE ARTICLES 10

Managed IT Services Leveraging the expertise of a labor partner

COURTS & CAPITOLS Rewarding Your Employees Structure your bonus payments properly

27

by Robert C. Goldberg BTA General Counsel

by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

As the year comes to a close, dealers often consider bonus payments to their employees. Although a bonus may become an expected part of an individual's compensation, it should also be a motivator.

Many have advised office technology dealers to pursue managed IT services in order to add new recurring revenue, thwart competitors, diversify their offerings and best prepare for the future. Some dealers have fully embraced the opportunity and, it appears, are doing well.

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Fall Colors Retreat BTA Southeast hosts event in Asheville

P R I N C I PA L I S S U E S FutuREady Konica Minolta hosts 2017 Dealer Conference

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by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

On Oct. 19-20 at the Doubletree by Hilton Asheville-Biltmore in Asheville, North Carolina, BTA Southeast hosted its annual Fall Colors Retreat. The event featured a two-part dealer panel moderated by John Eckstrom, president and CEO of Carolina Business Equipment, Columbia, South Carolina.

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Inventory Obsolescence It has become an industry epidemic

by Jack Duncan Jack Duncan Consulting Inc.

Reinforcing its commitment to connecting people, workspaces and technologies, Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. Inc. hosted its 2017 Dealer Conference, themed “FutuREady,” Oct. 3-5 in Carlsbad, California.

SELLING SOLUTIONS Great Sales Leaders And the characteristics of those who are not

29

by Troy Harrison Troy Harrison & Associates

In a recent survey by BEI Services Inc., it was found that the average dealership has approximately $150,000 in obsolete parts inventory.

Is this obsolete inventory the symptom or the problem?

It is the result of not monitoring changes in population and adjusting purchasing trends accordingly.

22

Service Pricing Successful dealerships understand these factors

by Ken Edmonds Service Management Coach

Service pricing affects several metrics in the industry model taught in BTA’s ProFinance 2.0. Dealers use some of these numbers to justify changes in head count and to evaluate the performance of their service managers. The factor that dealers fail to consider is the impact of discounting service rates.

I have been blessed with the opportunity to work with a number of truly great sales leaders during my career. The following are what I have found to be the major characteristics of the great sales leaders I have met.

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

25

• BTA Education Calendar • BTA Highlights

6

Executive Director’s Page

8

BTA President’s Message

30

Advertiser Index

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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S PAGE

Managed Services Workshop Date Set

A

re you looking for ways to improve the sales and profitability numbers of your managed services offering? Have you just entered the managed services market — or are planning to — and need to make up for lost time and avoid mistakes? No matter where your dealership is in its managed service provider (MSP) maturity, the BTA Managed Services Workshop will allow you to walk away with a time-tested process, tools and metrics for capitalizing on this market opportunity.

The next BTA Managed Services Workshop will be held Feb. 7-8, 2018, at MWA Intelligence headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona. Led by Mitch Morgan and Chris Ryne of Growth Achievement Partners (GAP), the workshop has been expanded to include the data and critical success factors within the Managed Services Business Model, vCIO development, trends in MSP M&A and incorporating third platform services like hosted voice into your offering.

Mitch and Chris will share their experience in both the office equipment and MSP spaces and cover topics that include: n MSP Market Overview — Current state and future direction; n The Managed Services Business Model — Ten critical success factors for driving performance; n Sales Process & Client Engagement — Land and expand more of the right accounts in less time; n vCIO Development — Getting the most out of this critical resource; n MSP M&A — Acquiring and integrating the right MSP; n Delivering Profitability — Achieving target sales, operations and contribution

levels to maximize profit; n Third Platform Services — Incorporating profitable products and services beyond the NOC and help desk.

Previous BTA Managed Services Workshop attendees have found the information shared to be beneficial for their businesses: n “The managed services model is now maturing and these guys have a lot of confidence in dealers making this move. The timing is now right to get into managed IT services. It can be very confusing and expensive if a dealer does not have the right consultants in place ... We now have a much better understanding of how to see the big picture. Managed IT services can be very complex; Chris helped us get to the simple side of complexity.” — Jerry Carlisle, Business World Inc., Little Rock, Arkansas n “The BTA Managed Services Workshop was extremely beneficial in clearing up where we need to go and how to get there.

The investment of time and money over the day and a half will save us significant time and money down the road. I am extremely excited about our ability to launch this in our company and be great at it.” — Dave Mueller, Modern Office Methods, Cincinnati, Ohio n “This workshop contained very good information on how to transition into and manage this business. It’s great to have a resource like Growth Achievement Partners to consult with on the differences in this business compared to our traditional business.”

— Bob Evans, Function4, Sugar Land, Texas BTA member tuition for the BTA Managed Services Workshop is only $995. You may apply your $150 or $250 educational discount received with membership toward the tuition fee. Non-member tuition is $1,425 and includes a one-year BTA dealer membership.

For more information or to register, visit www.bta.org/MS. 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 Jack Duncan, Jack Duncan Consulting Inc. www.jackduncanconsulting.com Ken Edmonds, Service Management Coach ken.edmonds@CKE-Enterprises.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. ©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

Train Your Employees for Strategic Selling

T

here has been a shift in our industry from a focus on transactional sales (characterized by an equipment focus; selling a payment; replacement of the base [current or net new]; and mid-level buyers) to that of strategic sales, which are characterized by probing for pain; aligning solutions to a prospect’s business goals; determining (and getting to) the right level in an organization; and justifying incremental spend. With this shift in selling styles comes the need to retrain your sales reps, and the Business Technology Association (BTA) has a workshop to help you do just that.

Presented by Mitch Morgan and Chris Ryne of Growth Achievement Partners (GAP), the BTA Strategic Sales Semester is an online workshop that will help sales reps determine which accounts and opportunities require a transactional approach versus those that require a strategic approach. The workshop, which will begin at 11 a.m. Central on Jan. 22, 2018, consists of 13 online training sessions held every other week over a six-month period. Each session is 45 to 60 minutes in length, and is geared toward specific parts of the sales process. Each module includes skill-building exercises and fieldbased activities for reps to complete, as well as polls, test questions and interactive Q&A sessions. Participants will also receive the modules in an app so they can listen to training anytime, anywhere, and repeat sessions or establish a library for future use.

Some examples of modules included in the BTA Strategic Sales Semester: Technology Shift & Establishing Relevance; Transactional vs. Strategic Accounts; Better Meetings; Business Process Optimization; and Strategic Sales Process (SMF).

Also note that the first session will be a pre-workshop session with the dealership’s sales leaders that will educate them on the content, concepts and flow of the class.

One great upside of the BTA Strategic Sales Semester is its affordable cost. You can train your entire sales team for much less than you would with in-person training. For dealerships with one to five participating sales reps, the cost is just $250 per month for the entire team. For six to 10 reps, training is $500 per month for the entire team. For companies with more than 10 reps, contact Mitch at (913) 269-7255 for pricing.

The online workshop has received positive reviews from attendees: n “We are so thankful that we enrolled in the BTA Strategic Sales Semester, run by Mitch and Chris of Growth Achievement Partners! We are thrilled to have a strategy for moving away from ‘speeds-and-feeds’based selling and, instead, positioning ourselves as strategic business partners and consultants for our customers and prospects. The fact the training is tailored to our industry makes it all the more relevant and beneficial. We would highly recommend this training to any organization looking to grow their business through consultative selling as opposed to competing on hardware costs and fractions of a penny on managed print services.” — Elizabeth Ross, Laser Logic Inc., Lawrence, Kansas n “One of the best training programs to date. This has helped my new hires and my senior reps develop or sharpen their sales skills, and really develop account management skills.” — Jason Rheinlaender, Knight Office Solutions, San Antonio, Texas Train your sales team to shift to strategic sales at a fraction of the cost of classroom training. Visit www.bta.org/Strategic Sales to learn more and register. n — Dan Castaneda

2017-2018 Board of Directors President Dan Castaneda International Copy Machine Center El Paso, Texas dan@icmc-elp.com President-Elect John Eckstrom Carolina Business Equipment Inc. Columbia, South Carolina johne@cbesc.com Vice President Bob Evans Function4 Sugar Land, Texas bobevans@function-4.com BTA East Jim Donnellon Donnellon McCarthy Enterprises Cincinnati, Ohio j.donnellon@dme.us.com Tim Seeley Jr. Seeley Office Systems Inc. Glens Falls, NY tseeleyjr@seeleyoffice.com BTA Mid-America Erik Crane Copy Products Inc. Springfield, Missouri ecrane@copyproductsinc.net Greg Quirk JQ Office Equipment of Omaha Inc. Omaha, Nebraska gquirk@jqoffice.com BTA Southeast Tim Renegar Kelly Office Solutions Winston-Salem, North Carolina trenegar@kellyofficesolutions.com David Polimeni Rite Technology Sarasota, Florida dpolimeni@ritefl.com BTA West John Hines Copiers Northwest Inc. Seattle, Washington jhines@copiersnw.com Mike Brandon ABC Office Equipment Co. Inc. Spokane, Washington mbrandon@abcoe.com Immediate Past President Rob Richardson Allied Document Solutions & Services Inc. Swedesboro, New Jersey robr@ads-s.com Ex-Officio/General Counsel Robert C. Goldberg Schoenberg Finkel Newman & Rosenberg LLC Chicago, Illinois robert.goldberg@sfnr.com

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Managed IT Services Leveraging the expertise of a labor partner by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

I

n recent years, many have advised office technology dealers to pursue managed IT services in order to add new recurring revenue, thwart competitors, diversify their offerings and best prepare for the future. Some dealers entered the fray, fumbled and later exited. Some are waiting on the sidelines, perhaps apprehensive about the road to profitability. Others, however, have fully embraced the opportunity and, it appears, are doing well.

We all know about the three options for those dealers interested in moving forward with IT services — build, acquire or partner. The third option can be pursued in two ways. First, the dealership can partner with a local managed services provider (MSP) or, second, partner with an IT services company like a Master MSP that provides remote network monitoring and helpdesk support. Three of the companies in this second group — All Covered (owned by Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. Inc., and, so, for Konica Minolta-authorized dealers only), Continuum Managed Services and Collabrance LLC (a GreatAmerica Financial Services company) — are quick to express enthusiasm for the dealer channel’s potential in offering managed IT services.

“It has so many synergies with the dealer’s core, which has always been hardware for a monthly payment,” says Michael Amiri, senior director of dealer services at Continuum.

“Now, it’s IT services for a monthly payment. It’s not going anywhere and is only going to expand, especially as security becomes so much more in the forefront of what the average customer needs. I truly believe that the dealer channel is perfectly suited to become the next generation of what customers are going to want from a quality IT services vendor.”

How is the dealer channel perfectly suited for managed IT services? “Office technology dealerships have the perfect qualities to succeed,” Amiri says. “They have ‘brand names’ in their communities. They have earned trust in advisory roles and they have hundreds, if not thousands, of customer

relationships that can serve as backbones to becoming trusted IT advisors. I believe that by the end of 2020, dealers will be seen as ‘one-stop’ resources across the network for their customers, as long as they do it the right way, select the right kinds of business partners and keep their eyes on their labor costs to ensure profitability.”

Greg VanDeWalker, senior vice president of IT channel and services at Collabrance and GreatAmerica, cites a sobering reality that may cause some dealers to take a second look at managed IT services.

“If you look at the pot of money the typical end user spends on IT versus print, I have seen ratios from Computer Economics Inc. that are about 97-to-3,” he says. “So, customers are spending a lot more money on IT. There is no reason office technology dealers can’t get some of those dollars.”

The key offerings of companies like Collabrance, Continuum and All Covered are the technology they utilize and the personnel they have on board to provide support to the partnering dealership in the form of remote network monitoring and remediation of most IT-related problems at end-user locations.

“Today, Collabrance is remotely remediating more than 95 percent of all help-desk tickets,” VanDeWalker says, citing the ratio of Collabrance in particular, which he says is the result of its standardized “technology stack” (a combination of specific hardware and IT services, such as utilizing Datto Inc. for cloud storage) for dealers to offer to their IT customers. “That means only 5 percent of the tickets, or technology issues, in end-users’ IT environments are kicked back to the dealer partners.”

Amiri expands on the value of what he refers to as the “labor partner,” citing similar numbers. “A labor partner is going to do what can be done remotely,” he says. “In the IT world, as much as 90 percent of the heavy lifting can be done remotely. But, like with MFPs and printers, every once in a while, you need to go turn a wrench or wiggle a wire.

The dealer needs to be positioned for that other 10 percent, where there is a need to be met physically at the device.”

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The partnership eliminates day one,” he says. “They the need for a dealership to have a usually already have a “We’ve got one Collabrance “huge department of technicians tech available, so they partner that we just brought with very expensive skill sets, are not going to dedion that went from having for which you have to pay health cate someone full time zero monthly recurring care, etc.,” Amiri says. “Outside initially. You have zero revenue [MRR] to $18,000 in of sales, they simply need to do customers on day one, MRR in less than 60 days. the things that we can’t do from so you are just borrowSo, when you think of the a remote perspective. It’s really ing a tech for a period just hardware or triage events of time. The real cost is margins ... you are covering your salaries.” that absolutely, positively need your managed IT servic — Greg VanDeWalker to be done physically at the cuses sales rep.”

Collabrance LLC tomer location; that need to be At some point, “the done by someone with a dealersheer numbers are going ship logo on their shirt, and not someone from Continuum or to demand you hire a dedicated technical person,” VanDeanyplace else. It is the dealer’s customer — their relationship.” Walker says. “Shortly after that, you’re going to have to hire The on-site personnel requirements may not be as daunt- your own virtual chief information officer [vCIO] to make ing as some dealers may believe. “They just need to have at sure the dealership is doing quarterly reviews and continuleast two engineers and everything else is basically done ally helping customers know the value you are delivering as through All Covered,” says Andreas Krebs, director and a partner. So, those are the employees you need to add as head of marketing at All Covered, referencing the require- you add on more and more managed IT services customers.” ment of Konica Minolta dealerships that have partnered Though perhaps not as daunting as expected, for some dealwith the company. “So, it’s a recurring revenue stream for ers, hearing about the necessity of adding any employees (the the dealers, where they basically just need to make the com- exact mix apparently dependent on the recommendation of mitment to have the engineers and salespeople who can the IT services partner selected) may be a primary reason for have discussions and find the opportunities.” not moving forward. However, the IT services partners conKrebs notes that the engineers, who are most often new tend the road to profitability may be shorter than assumed. hires, are occasionally involved in the sales process them“We have had partners that have gone out and sold three selves. “Sometimes, it’s the difference between a technical managed IT services deals in their first month,” VanDeWalker skill set and a sales skill set,” he says. “Usually, if you have says. “We’ve got one Collabrance partner that we just brought someone who can do both, it’s quite a valuable skill set, but on that went from having zero monthly recurring revenue they are mainly for onboarding and getting the customer [MRR] to $18,000 in MRR in less than 60 days. So, when you set up from a technical perspective.” think of the margins on that, you are covering your salaries.”

There are some variations in terms of the advice offered for Amiri cites a similar success story. “IT services can ceron-site personnel requirements. “You need someone who is tainly represent a healthy amount of gross revenue opporgoing to assist the sales reps in their processes and own this tunities and net income for a dealer,” he says. “We work with relationship with IT customers going forward,” Amiri says. a dealership in the Midwest that now drives 20 percent of “We call that person a vCIO or SME (subject-matter expert). its gross revenues and 50 percent of its net profits from IT You need this individual to be the name and face of your IT services alone. Just look at the dealership’s history. It took 42 services deliverables. That will instill a lot of confidence in years to get where it is today and in just four-and-half years, your core hardware sales reps, who are going to need the spe- IT services has drastically impacted what it looks like today cialist to talk the talk once the reps capture opportunities.” and what it will look like into the future for decades to come.”

The vCIO or SME “will manage those long-lasting relationNoting that the opportunity provides “instant, recurring ships so that customers absolutely perceive long-term value in revenues” for the dealer, Krebs emphasizes that the opporthe solutions and truly view the dealership as that trusted IT tunity is not just limited to larger dealerships. “We’ve seen services partner for life,” Amiri says. “However, you will also all sizes of dealerships be successful,” he says. “Obviously, need field techs — true IT techs — who will be handling the the larger the dealership, the more resources it possesses, 10 percent where there is a need for an on-site customer visit.” but we’ve seen smaller dealerships that have uncovered opVanDeWalker offers a similar perspective. “What a part- portunities, working with us to create revenue streams.” ner needs, from our perspective, is a sales rep and a techWhile dealers can expect a welcome new revenue stream, nician to handle on-site tickets; that’s what they need on it appears that they can also expect support from their IT 12 | ­w w w. o f f ic et ec hno lo g y m a g.c om | Nov e m b e r 2 0 1 7

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seller.’ You have to evolve. services partners to help “I think that if you are not Plus, this isn’t just selling them achieve success. Says a piece of hardware; this is Krebs: “We have a dedicated doing this, at some point, the holy grail of recurring team to help dealers underyou’re going to be seen as revenue sources.” stand their clients’ quesa laggard. You’re not going Amiri similarly encourtions and provide a road to be seen as an innovator. ages dealers to move formap to help get into the You are going to be forever ward. “I would say time’s aengagements.” Says Amiri: seen as the ‘copier seller.’ wasting if you’re still on the “We have a launch plan that You have to evolve.” sidelines or on the fence in helps them get started. In terms of taking hold of this addition, we provide zero — Andreas Krebs opportunity, given this incost sales and technical All Covered dustry’s transformation,” he training.” Says VanDeWalksays. “But, more importanter: “We offer a two-day Sales Simplicity Seminar where we teach how to properly sell ly, consider the transformation of your customers and what they are demanding from managed IT or everything-as-a-service.”

Is it time for your dealership to take another look at the their vendors.” n Brent Hoskins, executive director of the managed IT services opportunity? “I think that if you are Business Technology Association, is editor not doing this, at some point, you’re going to be seen as of Office Technology magazine. He can be a laggard,” Krebs says. “You’re not going to be seen as an reached at brent@bta.org or (816) 303-4040. innovator. You are going to be forever seen as the ‘copier

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Fall Colors Retreat BTA Southeast hosts event in Asheville by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

O

n Oct. 19-20 at the Doubletree by Hilton AshevilleBiltmore in Asheville, North Carolina, BTA Southeast hosted its annual Fall Colors Retreat. The event featured a two-part dealer panel moderated by John Eckstrom, president and CEO of Carolina Business Equipment Inc., Columbia, South Carolina.

The panel, “Breaking Through Revenue Growth Barriers,” allowed attendees to hear from fellow dealers who had broken through the revenue “glass ceiling” — whether through organic means or acquisitions. The panelists included: Matt Jackson, president of Copynet Office Systems, Plano, Texas; David Polimeni, president and CEO of Rite Technology, Sarasota, Florida; Tim Renegar, president and co-owner of Kelly Office Solutions, Winston-Salem, North Carolina; and Aaron Rubin, co-founder and president of Docutrend Imaging Solutions, New York, New York.

The event also featured two educational sessions presented by industry leaders: “The Industry Benchmarks & Your Company Value Proposition,” led by Todd Johnson, associate at Strategic Business Associates; and “SeatBased Billing — Opportunities & Challenges in Disrupting a 30-Plus-Year-Old Model,” led by Luke Goldberg, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Clover Imaging Group.

Networking opportunities included a reception and dinner at the Biltmore Estate’s Antler Hill Barn, as well as exhibitor round-tables and breaks between sessions.

The exhibiting sponsors: ACDI, Carolina Wholesale, Clover Imaging Group, DCS, Epson, ESP AMETEK, EverBank, HP, Keypoint Intelligence, LMI Solutions, Marlin Office Technology Finance Group, Muratec, NA Trading and Technology, OKI, Panasonic Scanners, Static Control, Supplies Network, SYNNEX, Tigerpaw, TSO Distribution, Wells Fargo and Xerox (breakfast sponsor).

For more information on upcoming BTA events, visit www.bta.org/BTAEvents. 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 Fall Colors Retreat featured a dealer panel and two educational sessions; Wayne Parrish (left) and Kyle Butler of Rite Technology, Sarasota, Florida, listen to an educational session; (clockwise from bottom left) Frank Gonzalez, Danny Summers and David Carson of Plus Inc., Greenville, South Carolina, visit with Sevada Badalian and Darby Austen of TSO Distribution during the exhibitor roundtable discussions; 2017-18 BTA Southeast President David Polimeni, president and CEO of Rite Technology, Sarasota, Florida, served as the event’s emcee.

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Seat-Based Billing I

Above: The Fall Colors Retreat’s two-part dealer panel, which looked at revenue growth barriers, was moderated by Eckstrom. The panelists (left to right): Jackson; Polimeni; Renegar; and Rubin.

At right, top to bottom: Goldberg presents “Seat-Based Billing — Opportunities and Challenges in Disrupting a 30-Plus-Year-Old Model”; and Johnson presents “The Industry Benchmarks and Your Company Value Proposition.”

Above: Attendees were treated to a reception and dinner at the historic Biltmore Estate’s Antler Hill Barn. Right: Attendees get more in-depth information about the exhibitors’ offerings during the Fall Colors Retreat’s round-table discussions.

t is time for office technology dealers to take a look at the way they are billing customers, said Luke Goldberg, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Clover Imaging Group. In his presentation, “Seat-Based Billing — Opportunities & Challenges in Disrupting a 30-Plus-Year-Old Model,” he shared the message of the Seat-Based Billing (SBB) Council, comprised of Clover, DOCassess, GreatAmerica Financial Services, Print Audit and Supplies Network.

The rise of SBB is the result of the recognition that an increasing number of dealers in the “MPS channel” utilizing cost-per-page (CPP) billing are “moaning about commoditization,” Goldberg said, citing the many dealers selling monochrome and color pages at “ridiculous” low prices. “When we [the industry] originally looked at cost per page,” he said, “we thought that MPS [managed print services] is the great de-commoditizer — ‘We are going to have valued, strategic relationships with our customers and price isn’t going to be part of the equation anymore.’”

Goldberg said the implementation of MPS has not met expectations. “I don’t even think that most dealers are doing MPS,” he said, noting that MPS means the dealer is managing every aspect of the print environment, including not just the devices, but who is printing, what they are printing, why they are printing and where they are printing. “What we are doing today under CPP is not managed print services. We are doing managed printer services ... The bottom line is we really have not done a good job with managed print services. We are managing devices. Guess what? Printers don’t print. People print.”

With SBB, the focus is on the people, Goldberg said. “What SBB allows you to do is look at users and printers and print behavior,” he said. “I am not saying that brings us to a level of disruption that you have seen with Uber and taxicabs, or Airbnb and hotels, but it brings a new wrinkle to a 30-year-old model.

It disrupts an industry that’s entrenched and commoditized, and that’s what this is about.”

SBB does not equate to one user and one printer, Goldberg said, but, rather, equates to managing the user and how much the user is printing, regardless of how many devices. “SBB requires a user assessment; that actually gets us into the world of managed print services,” he said, noting, however, that unlike MPS, which has just focused on the output, SBB focuses on the what, who, where, why and how, ultimately driving down print volumes through use of such tools as document management and rules-based printing. “[For example], are you looking at who is doing the printing?

Where? On which devices? If they are supposed to be printing to this lower-cost A3 or A4 MFP, but keep printing to a local device, why are they doing that?,” Goldberg asked. “The bottom line is, we have to analyze all of those user behaviors in SBB.” The result, Goldberg said, is less printing, but at a fixed monthly cost to customers that is, in actuality, priced more profitably than CPP for the dealer. “The concrete examples we have from the dealers that are implementing this: They have lowered prices by as much as 20 percent to the end user and increased their margins by as much as 7 percent.”

Why would Goldberg, representing a cartridge remanufacturer, promote a billing structure that causes people to print less? “I would rather have a dealership that buys $80,000 from me and is healthy and profitable than one that buys $100,000, is under fire and has margins that are circling the drain.” n — Brent Hoskins www.offi cetechnol ogymag.com | Nove mb e r 2017 | 17

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Inventory Obsolescence It has become an industry epidemic by: Jack Duncan, Jack Duncan Consulting Inc.

I

n a recent survey by BEI Services Inc., it was found that the average dealership has approximately $150,000 in obsolete parts inventory — not counting supply inventory. This is simply bottom-line profits that must be disposed of and written off, or carried on the books as assets that are actually worthless. In many cases, I have seen dealerships holding parts for more than 10 years.

Adding insult to injury, many times they are also paying property taxes on these items.

The question is this: Is this obsolete inventory the symptom or the problem? My answer: It is the result of not monitoring changes in population and adjusting purchasing trends accordingly. The problem actually began many months ago and it is the result of purchasing without considering these changes to active equipment in the field.

By definition, obsolete inventory consists of parts or supplies that have not been sold or used in the previous 18 months. Considering the average useful life of equipment is between five and seven years, we must take into consideration the age of certain models in our population and monitor changes where these machines have been removed and not resold. This can be done by reporting our active population on a monthly basis and then calculating the net changes, either positive or negative.

What we must develop could be considered an “early warning system” that would allow us to adjust purchasing trends as machines are removed or installed without waiting for the resultant changes in usage, which may not begin to show until several months later. We must develop a way to bridge the gap between the time that equipment is either installed or removed and the changes in usage trends in order to minimize obsolescence in the future.

The yin and the yang in this scenario: Hold for parts calls when we have not gotten sufficient quantities on hand when new models enter the field versus old equipment that has been removed. Essentially, on either end of the spectrum we have incomplete service calls versus obsolete parts and

supplies. We could consider this a “pendulum swing” with excess hold for parts calls resulting in increased need for manpower at one end and obsolete inventory on the other.

Increases in population mean that we may need to increase order quantities on higher-usage items to prevent excess hold for parts calls, while decreases would indicate that we need to lower quantities on hand as well as those being purchased to avoid inventory write-offs in the future.

If we do not have the right inventory in the right places at the right times, the result will certainly be incomplete service calls that are on hold for parts. I recently saw a dealership that ran more than 450 parts hold calls in a single month. If an average technician runs approximately 100 service calls per month, that would mean more than four service technicians are doing nothing but returning to locations to install parts they likely should have had on the first service call. At an average cost of $50,000 per year for payroll, fringes, etc., per technician, what effect would that have on the bottom line?

Conversely, if we do not monitor when machines are at or

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Duncan Nov 17.indd 1

10/31/17 11:45 AM

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certain amount of parts and supplies near end of life and adjust our purchasWhile we know that must be purchased in order to meet reing accordingly, we will be faced with bate targets. This scenario will drive obsolete inventory that will ultimately a certain amount of quantities on hand upward, which can have to be written off. While we know this obsolescence is cause overstocking. This must be closely that a certain amount of this obsolesunavoidable, we must monitored to ensure that items purcence is unavoidable, we must curtail curtail it as much as chased in order to meet criteria are init as much as possible by purchasing possible by purchasing deed items that will be used. smarter and adjusting levels as quickly Too often I see no real schedule for as possible for machines reaching end smarter ... ordering and restocking, which can also of life. Obsolescence could really be conbe a factor that results in poor inventory sidered sins of the past.

One of the root causes could be a lack of proper training turns. The term “inventory turns” simply means that invenfor purchasing staff, which is often the case. Essentially, tory is turning over on a regular basis; it comes in, goes out you are handing these people the company’s billfold; proper and gets used. The commonly accepted targets for inventory training is a necessity. Whatever ERP system your dealer- turns are four for parts and eight for supplies, with the difship uses must be set up and maintained properly so that ference being that parts inventory must maintain car stocks suggested purchases are accurate. Accurate inventory as well as warehouse quantities.

In order to meet these targets for parts, we must have counts are also critical for both purchasing and restocking.

Timely reporting of both service calls — as well as supply a regular pattern for restocking technicians and ordering inventory. The ideal would be something like restocking sales — is critical.

Another factor could be manufacturer rebates where a technicians on Monday and Wednesday and reordering from vendors on Tuesday and Thursday. It is critical to set a schedule and stick to it. Supplies will obviously be shipped daily from the warehouse, but should also be reordered twice weekly. Ordering more frequently and in smaller quantities will result in less cash tied up in inventory.

I would suggest that there are actually two main elements to success in our industry — profits and cash flow.

When we acquire inventory, we are gaining assets, but we are also tying up our cash, which is necessary to run the business. We must also ensure that the amount of inventory that will become obsolete is as small as possible.

In summary, we must have properly trained staff to purchase and maintain inventory. Our ERP system must be optimized to get the desired results. Inventory counts must be accurate at all times. We should set a schedule for purchasing and restocking, and ensure that it is adhered to. Finally, we must adjust our purchasing levels as we see changes in our population, both increases and decreases. In essence, an early warning system should be developed. Obsolescence is the result of not adjusting purchasing levels on a timely basis. n Jack Duncan is the owner of Jack Duncan Consulting Inc. He has more than 40 years of experience in various positions of responsibility, including service and operations, as well as consulting with dealerships across the country since 2004. He can be reached at jack@jackdunconsulting.com or (405) 315-6707.

Visit www.jackduncanconsulting.com.

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Duncan Nov 17.indd 2

10/31/17 1:45 PM

Square 9 ad Nov 16.indd 1

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Service Pricing Successful dealerships understand these factors by: Ken Edmonds, Service Management Coach

S

ervice pricing affects several metrics in the industry model taught in BTA’s ProFinance 2.0.

These metrics include: revenue per technician, revenue per employee, service revenue per machine, supply revenue per machine and revenue per admin employee. Dealers use some of these numbers to justify changes in head count in departments and to evaluate the performance of their service managers. The factor that dealers fail to consider is the impact of discounting service rates.

Service & Supplies Pricing To achieve the proper service pricing, we need to know our actual costs, which will vary by model and volume. These factors need to be addressed when setting service contract pricing. If your backoffice software cannot provide accurate data, then I recommend you look at the information provided by BEI Services.

It can provide both parts and labor costs by volume band for most equipment in production.

Let’s work through the process of setting the service cost on a mythical machine. Based on the data available to us, this machine has an average labor cost per copy of $.00539 and a parts cost of $.00359, plus other service costs of $.00116, which gives us a total service cost of $.01015 per copy. To achieve our target of 52 percent profit, our service price needs to be $.02114.

Our target supply margin is 44 percent, so if the toner cost per page is $.00638, then we would need to charge about $.01138 to achieve the proper margin. This gives a service and supply price of $.032533. For our example, we will assume that the dealership only sells one model and has 2,300 of them in the field. The dealership bills for 110 million copies per year.

The end result of that pricing is shown in Figure 1 (above),

applied to the ProFinance 2.0 model. As you can see, this dealer is meeting or exceeding all of the benchmark criteria and generating the target of 14-percent profit.

Effect of Failure to Cost Service Correctly One challenge I see regularly is dealers failing to take into account the effect of volume on service cost. For any piece of equipment, the lower volume bands cost significantly more than the higher volume bands, yet most equipment is placed in the lower volume bands. Figure 2 on p. 24 shows the impact if the resulting price is off by 20 percent.

While we met all of the metrics in the model with correct service pricing, by underestimating the actual cost for service, we missed most metrics. Looking at the model, most dealers would think that service is doing a poor job; the labor and parts costs are significantly higher than necessary.

The client is obviously using too much toner, as our toner cost is way out of line. We must also be overstaffed in service because our revenue per technician is insufficient.

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Edmonds Nov 17.indd 1

10/31/17 11:51 AM

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Sales Mgt - BPO ads Nov 17.indd 1

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Effect of Discounting on the Financial Model Now we will add in the effect of discounting service on the dealership. If we discount service $.002 to acquire more business, look at what it does to our dealership (see Figure 3). It is now significantly below plan on all of its service and supply metrics. Based on these numbers, the case could be made that you need to cut employees in service and administration. You need to stop putting parts into the machines and find out who is selling all of the toner. It looks like the service department’s costs are out of line and you might need a new service manager.

The cumulative result of these pricing failures is that net profit is down to 4 percent from 14 percent. While this may seem like a gross exaggeration, the majority of dealers are not getting 14-percent profit on the bottom line. In most cases, they look at the numbers and try to fix their service departments since it looks like they are the cause of the issue.

Rational Pricing is the Solution The only way to solve this issue is to base all of your service pricing on actual cost data and stick to it. This means that you have to know how the customer’s volume is going to impact the cost of service on any model being proposed. Service contract pricing must be based on volume bands. Then the pricing must be protected by minimums or absolutely fixed pricing.

I have seen dealers complain about contract profitability and when you look at the national cost for the machine in the volume band it has been placed, the service costs are much higher than the contract price.

The dealerships that are really successful in this industry understand these factors and make sure that they price contracts correctly. This results in them having abundant cash flow and the ability to acquire the dealerships that do not. n Ken Edmonds is currently employed as a district service manager for a major copier/MFP manufacturer. He has an extensive background in the imaging business, having owned a successful dealership, served as service manager for multiple

dealerships and as a document solutions specialist for Sharp Electronics. Additionally, Edmonds has more than 40 years of experience in the electronics and computer fields.

He has attended BTA’s FIX: Cost Management for Service workshop, Pros Elite service manager training and the Service Managers Achieve Results training conducted by Strategic Business Associates for Sharp Electronics. Edmonds also completed the University of Wisconsin training program for technical trainers.

He can be reached at ken.edmonds@CKE-Enterprises.biz.

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Edmonds Nov 17.indd 2

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EDUCATION CALENDAR November 16

Building My Business Webinar: “‘My Friend’ Has This HR/Employment Issue ... ” Prior to this webinar, you will have the opportunity to submit HR/employment questions to Sally Brause of GreatAmerica Financial Services and BTA General Counsel Bob Goldberg. The knowledge shared by these industry experts on employment and human resources concerns will guide you in the right direction. Visit www.bta.org/BMB to register.

December 14

Building My Business Webinar: “Service Profitability: Where Does it Begin?”

Profits begin at the machine level and are ultimately controlled by the technician’s ability to properly diagnose issues and resolve them on the first service call, while also performing any necessary maintenance at the same time. In this webinar, Jack Duncan of Jack Duncan Consulting will share his insight and advice with dealers seeking to increase their service profitability.

Visit www.bta.org/BMB to register.

January

17-19 BTA Sales Management Workshop The BTA Sales Management Workshop is a career development “must-have” for sales management at all levels, and provides the knowledge, skills, processes and tools to immediately increase effectiveness and achieve higher levels of success. Taught by Kim Ward of Learning Outsource Group, the workshop focuses entirely on the “how-to” skills that will help each attendee reach his (or her) full potential as a great sales leader and coach. Visit www.bta.org/SalesMgt to register.

22

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.

25

Building My Business Webinar: “The Great Industry Reboot” Over the last few years, we have seen almost every manufacturer in our industry go through some significant shifts and transformations. This webinar, led by Randy Dazo of Keypoint Intelligence-InfoTrends, will review the results from Keypoint Intelligence research on each manufacturer’s new strategies, discussing both manufacturer interviews, as well as the channel’s views.

Visit www.bta.org/BMB to register.

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

www.offi cetechnol ogymag.com | Nove mb e r 2017 | 25

Calendar Nov 17.indd 1

10/31/17 12:52 PM

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

Dealer Members Basic ITS, Washington, IL Bay Copy & Data, Tampa, FL Dixie Digital Imaging, Ft. Smith, AR Martek Imaging Solutions, Melbourne, FL McCartney’s, Altoona, PA OmegaCor Technologies, Millersville, MD Plus Inc., Greenville, SC Tower Business Systems, New Castle, DE WJ Office, Boone, NC For full contact information of these new members, visit www.bta.org.

Actionable Intelligence

The office technology industry’s destination site for the latest news and in-depth analysis, www.action-intell. com features nearly 3,000 posts conveniently linked to provide an easy-to-use mosaic of detailed analysis. The site is an essential tool for professionals marketing hardware and consumables. Subscribers have access to hundreds of product profiles of the latest machines and supplies, topical market research, analysis of key issues such as lawsuits and M&A activity that are shaping today’s competitive landscape, and upto-the-minute news refreshed in real time. BTA members receive a 30-percent discount on an Actionable Intelligence subscription.

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

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

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

BTA Vendor Associate Member Crexendo Inc. is a full-service cloud solutions provider that delivers critical voice and data technology infrastructure services to the start-up, SMB and small enterprise markets. Crexendo is comprised of engineering, sales, marketing and support professionals who combine left-brain logic with right-brain creativity to design, build and deliver cloud services that drive business productivity.

Starting with a world-class data center featuring multiple levels of redundancy and the highest levels of security, every facet of Crexendo’s development is benchmarked against the maximum security and reliability standards. www.crexendo.com BTA Service Associate member Jack Duncan Consulting was started in 2004 with the goal of helping dealerships run more profitable, successful businesses. The company strives to bridge the gap between the service technician and service manager through educational classes such as the REACH Leadership Development Academy, which has been developed using Duncan’s own experience. He has more than 40 years in the office technology service industry, where he has served in roles from service technician to service manager, director of service and, finally, vice president of service. www.jackduncanconsulting.com A full list of BTA Vendor and Service Associate members can be found online at www.bta.org.

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Highlights Nov 17.indd 1

10/31/17 12:11 PM

COURTS & CAPITOLS

Rewarding Your Employees Structure your bonus payments properly by: Robert C. Goldberg, general counsel for the Business Technology Association

A

s the year comes to a close, dealers often consider bonus payments to their employees. Although a bonus may become an expected part of an individual’s compensation, it also should be a motivator. A bonus rewards the past performance of an individual, a team and/or an organization.

Being a one-time payment, a bonus does not increase regular compensation or wage-based benefits such as vacation time.

Employees welcome bonus payments, but sometimes they can result in unforeseen consequences for a dealer.

This column has often spoken about the Fair Labor Standards Act as it applies to overtime compensation and independent contractor status. Overtime compensation for excess hours worked by non-exempt employees is based on an individual’s regular rate of pay. How does a bonus payment affect an employee’s regular rate of pay? It depends on the type of bonus paid.

A non-discretionary bonus is one that is based on a predetermined standard of performance. If your supplies telemarketer sells a set amount, establishes a certain number of new accounts or provides leads to salespeople, he (or she) may be entitled to additional compensation. A bonus could also be based on the company attaining certain goals.

Non-discretionary bonus payments often make it difficult to determine and calculate the regular rate of pay. If a dealer can determine the precise week in which the employee earned the bonus, the employer must retroactively apply the bonus to that week. Thus, if an individual telemarketer earned a bonus by selling six new accounts in one week and also worked overtime that week, his regular rate of pay would have to include the bonus payment.

If a dealer cannot establish when a bonus is earned, then it must be allocated over the entire bonus period. If a bonus was earned over a calendar year, then the dealer must divide the bonus by 52, add that to the sum of the wages earned during the work week, recalculate the regular rate of pay and pay the additional amount for any overtime earned.

The above calculation creates an administrative challenge, added expense and unexpected consequences. There are exceptions to this requirement and dealers should consider those in deciding on bonus payments.

A discretionary bonus does not affect the calculation of the regular rate of pay. This bonus is one that is determined with the sole discretion of the employer and paid at or near the end of the bonus period. The payment cannot be made because of a contract, agreement or promise. The payment is discretionary

and the employee should not be expecting the bonus.

Another exception that does not impact the rate of pay is a monetary gift. Gifts also are discretionary and unexpected.

If a payment is intended to reward conduct or production, the Department of Labor will not consider it a gift. A Thanksgiving turkey, birthday lunch or anniversary dinner will not impact the regular rate of pay. The real concern is payments made to an employee above and beyond his normal compensation.

Under the new administration in Washington, D.C., it appears the Department of Labor rules increasing the thresholds for overtime eligibility are not going to be enacted. Outside salespeople are exempt from overtime, so their bonus opportunities are not subject to these rules. The impact will be felt by administrative staff, technicians, telemarketers, and support desk, warehouse and delivery personnel.

Do not let your generosity result in unforeseen financial complications. When considering a bonus, make sure to structure it so it does not affect an individual’s regular rate of pay. n Robert C. Goldberg is general counsel for the Business Technology Association.

He can be reached at robert.goldberg@sfnr.com. www.offi cetechnol ogymag.com | Nove mb e r 2017 | 27

Goldberg Nov 17.indd 1

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PRINCIPAL ISSUES

FutuREady Konica Minolta hosts 2017 Dealer Conference by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

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businesses that we have invested in have einforcing its commitment to concaused us to grow more than $1 billion necting people, workspaces and since 2010,” Taylor said, later commenttechnologies, Konica Minolta Busiing on the value of having a diverse range ness Solutions U.S.A. Inc. hosted its 2017 of offerings. “The more ‘arrows we have Dealer Conference, themed “FutuREady,” in our quivers’ to sell, the more things we Oct. 3-5 at the Omni La Costa Resort & can talk about; and the more things that Spa in Carlsbad, California. The conferare interesting to customers, the better ence, which drew more than 700 attendwe are going to do.” ees, was essentially devoid of any imaging A new arrow in Konica Minolta’s quiver equipment, but rather largely focused on was featured prominently at the confernew technologies and dialog regarding the Attendees learn more about the new ence.

Attendees learned more about the “Workplace of the Future.”

Workplace Hub in the Technology Expo. coming Workplace Hub, an IT manageThe conference’s Technology Expo allowed attendees to experience such technologies as facial rec- ment system that combines hardware, software and a full suite ognition surveillance systems from Mobotix (Konica Minolta of services (including printing and scanning) to enhance the owns a majority stake in the company) and a VoIP solution space the traditional MFP occupies. Signage with the Workvia Konica Minolta’s All Covered IT services division. Mean- place Hub product (first announced in Munich, Germany, in while, the educational breakout sessions included such topics March) previewed at the conference stated: “This scalable, as: “Cyber Crime is a Threat to Every Company,” “Actionable game-changing innovation gives customers the freedom, ease Data Provided by Intelligent IP Video Solutions” and “Leading and power to fuel collaboration, any time, anywhere. And with ever-evolving smart features, customers will always be able to a Successful Sales Transformation.”

“This event is being held to answer the question that I get ev- work at their best. Konica Minolta provides the IT infrastrucery time I speak to one dealer or a group of dealers,” said Rick ture and managed IT services that make all this possible.”

Kevin Kern, senior vice president of business intelligence serTaylor, president and CEO of Konica Minolta, in the opening vices and product planning at Konica Minolta, shared details general session. “The question is: ‘What does the future hold about the Workplace Hub during the conference’s opening genfor our business and how do I get ready for it?’ We want to eral session.

“The Workplace Hub is really a series of products take advantage of the opportunities that are in front of us. We and will continue to be a broader series of products over time,” want to provide you clear answers to the question that I just he said, noting that the core of the product is an application asked because I believe in that old saying: ‘The future belongs services platform.

“You can run multiple types of applications to those who prepare today.’” inside of it.

It’s an Edge computing device; what that means is The attendees can look at the conference as the “continuaputting a lot of horsepower in the customer’s environment, but tion of a conversation about transformations that we’ve been integrating with a cloud environment on the outside so you can evangelizing about for years; a conversation that will continget the best of both worlds.

This is the new trend in IT.” ue long after this event is finalized,” Taylor said. “We realized Noting that the Workplace Hub is based on an HP Enterlong ago that the future of work was changing and we had to prise server, “it is very easy to remotely manage, very easy to change, embrace that change and lead that change or become update applications,” Kern said.

“We are expanding the bizirrelevant to our customers.” hub MarketPlace into the global MarketPlace 2.0 very shortly, Taylor emphasized that dealers should be aware that Konwhen this product launches, to allow downloading of applicaica Minolta is not “giving up” on the hardware business. “I tions directly to the product to try and keep up with what is promise you,” he said. “In fact, a month ago, we launched a lot going on in the outside world.” n of hardware and we’re enhancing it with value-added services Brent Hoskins, executive director of the Business Technology that customers demand.”

Association, is editor of Office Technology magazine.

Managed document services, vertical market applications, He can be reached at brent@bta.org or (816) 303-4040. enterprise content management and “all of the other services

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Konica Minolta Nov 17.indd 1

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SELLING SOLUTIONS

Great Sales Leaders And the characteristics of those who are not by: Troy Harrison, Troy Harrison & Associates

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have been blessed with the opportunity to work with a number of truly great sales leaders during my career — people who, through the characteristics they possess, are able to drive sales and profits to levels that others can only dream about. This comes through whether they are front-line salespeople, managers or even business owners.

Recently, I worked with three different leaders whose companies could not be more diverse. The first company is a $100-million regional powerhouse that is now expanding outside its region for the first time; the second is a $10-million company that has just taken on new territory and is poised to double its volume in the next three years; and the last is a solopreneur-founded company that has had steady and consistent growth for more than a decade.

Despite the differences in their companies, these three leaders have much in common between them — and with all of the great sales leaders I have known. The following are what I have found to be the major characteristics of the great sales leaders I have met: n Focus — Great sales leaders, at any level, have a degree of focus that borders on intense. They have a well-defined sense of who they are and what their businesses are, as well as what value they provide to customers. Once they find processes that succeed, they execute them faithfully and expect the same from their employees. This does not mean that they never deviate or change — as we will discuss shortly — but when they do, it is with well-thought-out plans. In other words, they do not chase “shiny objects.” Colonel Sanders might have cooked one heck of a cheeseburger, but we will never know because his focus was on frying chicken. n A willingness to do the hard work — Building and growing a business — or a sales territory — is not easy. It is hard work, either mentally, physically or both, and it simply is not for everyone. Great sales leaders recognize this and do not shy from the hard work, either as producers or managers. Great sales leaders recognize that the “easy” button is a myth, so they do not look for it. They do continue to try to improve their skills, ratios or results, but they do not get distracted looking for getrich-quick methods. When all else fails, you will see these leaders working the fundamentals and getting results. n They do not take shortcuts — As Dave Ramsey says, “There are no shortcuts to anyplace worth going.” As a motorcycle rider, I might disagree (I have found some pretty nifty routes), but as a businessman, I completely agree. Too often,

salespeople and managers try to find ways to shortcut a month or two and end up setting themselves back a year or more. My favorite example of this is the “industry experience hire.”

“Troy,” they say, “we don’t have time to teach someone our business, so we have to hire someone who already knows it.”

This predicts a bad hire somewhere around 90 percent of the time, because the good people in the industry are taken care of and happy at their current jobs. In trying to shortcut a couple of months of learning curve, these companies set themselves back a year or more by making bad hires that result in turnover. n They put people in positions to succeed — This, again, is true for both producers and managers. The best sales producers always create opportunities for success for their customers, their co-workers, their referral partners and others they touch. Successful business owners put employees in the right places for success. For instance, great sales leaders rarely have the “selling sales manager” role in their companies and, if they do, it is a temporary bridge to growing the sales force enough to have a dedicated sales manager. The selling sales manager cannot succeed in both roles because every day, he (or she) must decide whether to sell or to develop the people under his wing. Usually, the decision is to sell and his people get short-changed. n They constantly learn, develop and evolve — I have said it before and I will say it again — the successful salesperson of the next 20 years will not look, feel or sound much like the successful one of the past 20 years. Those who want to succeed must learn and evolve. The best sales leaders are always trying to improve their skills and update their techniques to match or lead the market. While the successful sales leader www.offi cetechnol ogymag.com | Nove mb e r 2017 | 29

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and business owners believe that there is a requires focus (as above), that does not button marked “easy,” and if they can just mean that he does not change — it means Egomaniacs are lousy find it and push it, then the whole “hard that change is well thought out and well leaders. If a leader’s work” thing goes down the drain. Rememplanned, and not just done on a whim. speeches to his troops ber: The button does not exist.

Having identified those characteristics, are all about him instead The good news is that anyone can change let’s (quickly) identify a few characteristics of all about them, and learn. So, if you do not think the top of the “not-so-great” sales leader: five characteristics fit you, think about n He makes it all about him — Egomasomeone else should be how you can make them fit and how you niacs are lousy leaders. If a leader’s speechmaking those speeches. can implement the principles of successful es to his troops are all about him instead sales leaders into your own career. n of all about them, someone else should Troy Harrison is the author of “Sell Like You Mean It!” be making those speeches. Here is the worst example: I once and“The Pocket Sales Manager,” and is a speaker, watched a company CEO, speaking to 100 sales reps, stop his consultant and sales navigator. speech to take a phone call from a golf buddy.

He helps companies build more n He chases “shiny objects” — Salespeople want to feel profitable and productive sales forces. that there is a steady hand on the rudder. If there is not, there To schedule a free 45-minute Sales Strategy is a problem. If a leader is constantly changing his approach, Review, call (913) 645-3603 or email the problem might not be with the old approach; it might be troy@troyharrison.com. that he does not do anything long enough to let it work.

Visit www.troyharrison.com. n He looks for the “easy” button — So many salespeople

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