October 2020 Office Technology

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CONTENTS Volume 27 • No. 4

FEATURE ARTICLES 10

Digital Transformation The rise of document management opportunities

P R I N C I PA L I S S U E S The COVID-19 Tidal Wave Health-care sales have helped calm the waters

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by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

by Ray Belanger Bay Copy

Looking at those dealerships offering document management (or ECM) solutions in particular, one could say that the growing remote workforce has presented a silver lining in an otherwise difficult business climate due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Unresolved Conflict Handling the ‘silent assassin’ in your organization

by Greg Buschman, Ph.D.(c) Strategic Leadership Development

COVID-19 hit us like a tidal wave.

At the beginning of 2020, the economy was strong, the prospect of continued and new business with companies in many industries was promising and, for most of us in the office technology industry, the hopes for a strong year were not only high, but fully expected. And then March arrived.

DEALERS HELPING DEALERS Pivoting During COVID-19 What dealers are doing to shore up their businesses

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In the business world, unresolved conflict is a silent killer of leadership and team cohesion. If left unchecked, unresolved conflict can wound the decision-making process and kill unity in organizational leadership during a crisis. In and of themselves, conflict and controversy are neither good nor bad.

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Compiled by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

How are you pivoting your business during COVID-19? This is another of the questions submitted by a dealer member as part of BTA’s Dealers Helping Dealers resource, and several of the answers received. These answers and many others can be found in the members-only section of the BTA website.

Q&A: Sharp Sheehan comments on dealer support & recent strides Compiled by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

How are the industry manufacturers assisting dealers in the current environment? What advice do they have for dealers? This month, John Sheehan, senior vice president of channel sales for Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America, answers these and other questions.

SELLING SOLUTIONS Your Management Time Are you spending it or investing it?

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by Troy Harrison Troy Harrison & Associates

The word “investment” and its closely related word “spend,” really do have heavy bearings in the world of sales management. In more than 15 years of managing salespeople and coaching other sales managers, I can state this as fact: Far too many sales managers spend their time when they think they are investing their time.

COURTS & CAPITOLS 24

Waivers, Consent & Liability Take these into consideration during COVID-19

by Robert C. Goldberg BTA General Counsel

As the risk of contracting COVID-19 continues, businesses are concerned about the liability to customers and employees should they contract COVID-19 while providing services or working. Until a vaccine is developed, precautions must be taken.

D E PA R T M E N T S 6

Executive Director’s Page

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BTA President’s Message

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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S PAGE

Join One of BTA’s Discussion Groups

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n May of this year, the Business Technology Association (BTA) set up two Dealers Helping Dealers Discussion Groups, now meeting every other week for one hour via Zoom. The groups are intended to provide noncompeting BTA member dealers a means to share insight, counsel and success stories with one another as they face the challenges of the current business environment. The primary goal, of course, is to provide dealers with strategies for success to help them ramp their businesses back up to an optimum level of operation.

As dealers register for the group calls, they are asked to indicate topics or questions they would like their fellow dealers to address; these set the call agendas. Here is a sampling of just a few of the topics addressed in recent calls: marketing during the pandemic; sales rep video cold calls; automated supply shipment software; use of compatible toner and its effect on relationships with manufacturers; IT services; revenue “achievers” during the pandemic; PPP forgiveness; and production print. Increasingly, the conversations are becoming less focused on the struggles resulting from the pandemic and more focused on discussing a broad range of strategies to operate a growing office technology dealership.

Are you interested in participating in one of BTA’s Dealers Helping Dealers Discussion Groups? If so, email me at brent@ bta.org. I look forward to hearing from you.

In the meantime, here is a look at how some of the current participants view the groups: n “I’m brand new to this discussion group and I’ve been looking for this exact forum since I bought my dealership 20 years ago ... This is everything I need to stimulate

new ideas and reinforce that we are having the same issues as other dealers. It’s made me look in the mirror to see if I need to make some changes. It’s great. I never want to miss these Zoom meetings.” — Dennis McGalliard, president, Western Business Products, Redding, California n “The Dealers Helping Dealers calls offered through BTA have been great added support. It is great to both hear and share strategies for these challenging times.” — Earl Philpot, president, Precision Duplicating Solutions Inc., London, Kentucky n “BTA’s Dealers Helping Dealers Discussion Group is a great peer-to-peer platform to share ideas and best practices. As we all are faced with new challenges this year, it is more important than ever to work together and leverage the group’s talent and expertise. It’s always time well spent.”

— Thomas Fimian, CEO, Docugraphics LLC, Charleston, South Carolina n “I have found the Dealers Helping Dealers Discussion Group to be extremely valuable to discuss challenges and opportunities with other dealership principals and senior managers. In our day-to-day business we don’t often have the opportunity to bounce ideas off of other business leaders and definitely don’t want to share too much with competitors. Thanks again for providing this venue for us.” — Dean Woroniecki, president, Affordable Business Systems, Delmar, Maryland n “I would like to thank BTA for the Dealers Helping Dealers initiative. This has given all the participants priceless insights into different ideas and perspectives to not only navigate our way through this unusual time, but to improve our businesses in many ways we would never have thought of.” — Tim Renegar, president, Kelly Office Solutions, Winston-Salem, North Carolina — 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 Ray Belanger, Bay Copy www.baycopy.com Greg Buschman, Strategic Leadership Development www.gregbuschman.com Bob 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: (312) 648-2300 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. ©2020 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.

FLASHBACK

The association’s magazine cover 55 years ago this month — the NOMDA Spokesman, October 1965

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BTA PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Are You Using Your Member Benefits?

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ave you taken advantage of all that your Business Technology Association (BTA) membership provides? The association offers a wide variety of benefits for members, many of which are included with your yearly membership fee. For those of you who are new to the association, or who just haven’t taken full advantage of your membership, I’d like to share a quick summary of some of BTA’s more popular benefits. n BTA Legal Services is one of BTA’s most highly regarded benefits. Bob Goldberg, BTA general counsel, offers members free industry advice and guidance via the BTA Legal Hotline; sample legal agreements and contracts that are customizable for your dealership; contract reviews; and more. Learn more about BTA Legal Services at www.bta.org/Legal. n The BTA Scholarship Foundation awards a number of scholarships to the qualifying children of full-time employees of current BTA member dealerships.

Applications for the next school year are available in December and are due by May 1 of the following year. Visit www.bta.org/ Scholarships for more information. n Natural disasters are currently top of mind for many dealers thanks to recent hurricanes, storms and wildfires. For those members affected, the BTA Disaster Grant Program can help. The program was established to provide emergency financial support to BTA member dealerships that have suffered losses due to natural disasters. Consideration for a grant is based on information provided via an online grant application.

Learn more at www.bta.org/DisasterGrant. n American Fidelity Assurance Company offers BTA members Section125, long-

and short-term disability, cancer and accidental death policies, as well as expense management and administrative support services. All of these services and benefits are independent from major medical plans and may be used with your existing plans.

These benefits also help reduce employer and employee tax liabilities. To learn more, visit www.bta.org/Insurance. n If you’re looking for a discount on collection services, look no further than C2C Resources. The company offers Profit Maximizer, the InfoMax Collection System and Legal Forwarding Edge to help your company be more effective with in-house collecting and to maximize recovery of accounts turned over for collection. For more information, visit www.bta.org/CollectionServices. n TSYS offers BTA members payment solutions at reduced costs. The company provides technology to accept all major payment types including credit, debit, ACH/e-checks and more. You can also take advantage of TSYS’s fraud prevention and data security tools. To find the right payment solutions for your company, visit www.bta.org/CCProcessing. n As a BTA member, you are also eligible to receive exclusive discounts and preferred pricing with two leading shipping and transportation providers. BTA has partnered with UPS and YRC to provide its members reduced-price shipping services. Whether you ship envelopes, packages, crates or pallets, these carriers can provide a solution.

Visit www.bta.org/Shipping to learn more. n BTA members are also eligible to purchase CompTIA certification exam vouchers at a 15% discount. For more information, visit www.bta.org/CompTIA. This is just a sampling of a few of the great benefits your association offers. For a full list, visit www.bta.org/Benefits. n — Tim Renegar

2020-2021 Board of Directors President Tim Renegar Kelly Office Solutions Winston-Salem, North Carolina trenegar@kellyofficesolutions.com President-Elect David Polimeni RITE Technology Sarasota, Florida dpolimeni@ritefl.com Vice President Don Risser DCS Technologies Corp.

Franklin, Ohio don.risser@dcs-tech.com Immediate Past President Bob Evans Function4 Sugar Land, Texas bobevans@function-4.com BTA East Aaron Rubin Docutrend Imaging Solutions New York City, New York arubin@docutrend.com Mike Ardry Automated Business Solutions Southington, Connecticut mardry@absne.com BTA Mid-America Mike Nerland Elite Business Systems Sioux Falls, South Dakota miken@elitebusinesssystems.com Matt Jackson Copynet Digital Imaging Solutions Inc. Plano, Texas matt@copierfax.com BTA Southeast Adam Gregory Advanced Business Solutions LLC St. Augustine, Florida adam@goabsinc.com Debra Dennis CopyPro Inc. Greenville, North Carolina ddennis@copypro.net BTA West Mike McCurdy Integrated Technologies Inc. Twin Falls, Idaho mikem@itechinc.com Dan Bombard Yuma Office Equipment Yuma, Arizona daniel@yumaofficeequipment.com Ex-Officio/General Counsel Robert C. Goldberg Schoenberg Finkel Newman & Rosenberg LLC Chicago, Illinois robert.goldberg@sfnr.com

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Digital Transformation The rise of document management opportunities by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

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n recent months, office technology dealerships — particularly those more significantly impacted by the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic — have focused on, among others, these key goals: recouping lost revenue and identifying new ways to maintain their status as trusted technology advisors. As it turns out, to some degree, those goals are being achieved as a direct result of the rise in remote workers.

Looking at those dealerships offering document management (or ECM) solutions in particular, one could say that the growing remote workforce has presented a silver lining in an otherwise difficult business climate. It appears that the need for remote access to files, management of workflow, etc., is driving what is often referred to as digital transformation.

Yes, says Jim Roberts, president of DocuWare Corp., a provider of document management and automated workflow solutions, the pandemic has resulted in many companies now pursuing digital transformation. “There are a lot of companies that are being forced into remote work situations and needing cloud solutions,” he says. “Primarily they need to give workers immediate and secure access to data and to ensure business continuity.”

DocuWare is seeing “tremendous urgency” in the marketplace that did not exist prior to the pandemic, Roberts says. “Businesses need to quickly digitize, index and access information so they can maintain core business processes,” he says. “We consider ourselves very fortunate to be in a position to help.”

Although most enterprise customers have already selected and implemented document management solutions, many SMB companies have not, Roberts says. “That’s where the acceleration is kicking in,” he says. “The timing is perfect for a new dealer to jump into the space.”

Stephen Young, president and CEO of Square 9 Softworks, offering a variety of document management and document capture automation solutions, shares a similar perspective.

“It’s a new focus for many companies; they’re committing their budgets and their resources toward changing the way they work,” he says. “We’re seeing this all the time now. For most organizations, change can’t be justified until there is a strong business case, and the COVID-19 pandemic acted as a catalyst for many organizations to say, ‘You know what, digital transformation isn’t a nice-tohave, it’s a need-to-have.’ That’s the message that we keep getting from our customers and from a lot of our dealers, quite honestly.”

Fortunately, says Hedy Belttary, senior vice president of sales at Laserfiche, a provider of intelligent content management and business process automation solutions, the office technology dealership’s move into offering document management is a “very organic transition.” In fact, “it’s a match made in heaven,” she says, noting that offering document management is simply a continuation of dealerships’ efforts to guide their customers’ digital transformations. “This is the next step for their customers,” she says. “It is a very logical way for dealerships to take their customers to the next step in their business processes and their workflows.”

Selling document management is easier than many dealers may believe, particularly with the rise of cloud-based solutions, Belttary says, emphasizing that even dealerships that are perhaps lacking the necessary staffing for on-premise solutions are “very successful” with Laserfiche’s cloud offering. “With a traditional on-premise solution there are a lot of considerations that need to be factored in prior to the deployment of technology,” she says, adding that the required expertise must come from either technical resources employed by the dealership or the internal IT of the prospective client. “A lot of that is resolved with the cloud. So, the ability to go out there as a salesperson and sell a cloud solution is now much faster and much more doable than having to always resort to the technical support system.”

The rise in the number of remote workers is driving a new level of demand for cloud-based solutions, Young says,

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noting that Square 9’s move says. He notes that the e“In the first 90 days, earlier this year to make its signature offering has been entire portfolio available in particularly well received we craft a customized the cloud is paying off sigduring the pandemic. “The marketing and growth nificantly. “Many people are ability to process contracts plan for each specific saying, ‘Look, I’m not in the and so forth when many dealership ... and we help office to support or manpeople are working in their them work through that age a system. I want that home offices is enhanced plan. It involves sales and ease of use in the cloud,’” he and made possible through implementation training for dealers ... “ says. “We’ve seen a definite e-signature processes.” increased demand for ECM In terms of new strides

— Jim Roberts for remote access [via the at Laserfiche, Belttary touts DocuWare Corp. cloud] as companies have the “exciting components realized this is a key part of and functionality” that have their business continuity plans.” taken the company’s cloud offering to the “next level,” such as Cloud availability of its entire portfolio is not the only intelligent capture and invoice processing. “We call it Smart recent stride at Square 9. “About a year ago, we introduced Invoice Capture, which gives users the ability to capture insomething that we call the Square 9 Solutions Delivery Net- formation in a fluid way, regardless of where it’s located on work,” Young says. “This is a cloud-hosted library of prede- the page; so, not necessarily relying on structured content signed [downloadable] applications that we built on our to be able to capture information for indexing purposes and GlobalSearch platform. If a customer says, ‘I’m struggling processing of invoices,” she says. “We also have our new Lawith managing my signed delivery tickets,’ we’ve got a solu- serfiche Workflow Bots, which give users the ability to contion for that. Or, if the customer says, ‘I’d like to put in a two- nect with other applications, out of the box, and do away with tier invoice approval process,’ no problem, we’ve got that, redundant tasks. These bots conform to how users utilize the and it’s already prebuilt. So, by standardizing and simplify- document management system in the most intuitive way. In ing solution delivery, we’ve taken away a lot of the reasons addition, they are easy to configure by users, if needed.” why dealers haven’t had success in selling ECM before. It’s Beyond the recent strides among the solutions providers, no more of that blank canvas, ‘Here, go figure it out.’” dealers only now considering document management will More recently, Square 9 began offering Return-to-Work also likely find the level of support and training provided to Essentials, built on the GlobalForms platform. “This uses be appealing. “As a company, we are big believers in empowour forms product in a touchless, mobile way, allowing a erment through education,” Belttary says. “This is reflected person entering a facility to use a mobile phone to scan a QR in the comprehensive solution provider training program code, which then displays a series of health screening ques- we offer to get interested parties up and running quickly. tions on the phone,” he says, noting that the person can also Much of this has transitioned over to online and live handsinput his (or her) current temperature, once taken. “We’ve on labs and sessions. In conjunction with this, new solution had huge success with this. We’ve implemented it in a num- providers who are eager to close and implement their first ber of nursing homes and school systems. It’s been a very solution can take advantage of outsourced services that we strong new product offering.” also offer to the channel.”

Similarly, among the new strides at DocuWare (which Roberts says DocuWare has a comprehensive program in also offers cloud-based solutions), is the company’s new place to support and work with its dealer network. “Our Aucontactless screening e-form, allowing the screening of thorized DocuWare Partner program is truly a partnership, employees returning to work, Roberts says. “With screen- because both sides have to work equally hard to make it sucing now mandatory in most states, this e-form is growing in cessful,” he says. “In the first 90 days, we craft a customized popularity with customers,” he says. “Adding this function- marketing and growth plan for each specific dealership and ality to a new or existing system is a quick and easy way for customer base, and we help them work through that plan. dealers to sell and earn more.”

It involves sales and implementation training for dealers, Other new strides at DocuWare include its electronic sig- along with certifications they can earn.” nature service, single sign-on and multifactor authenticaThe DocuWare training program also includes work on tion, providing added security and convenience that have lead generation and customer events to fill the funnel, Rob“allowed dealers to enhance their customers’ existing Docu- erts adds. “It’s also coaching on solution selling, learning Ware solutions and profit from the additional work,” Roberts how to demonstrate, consult and communicate on the highly 12 | w­ w w. o f f ic et ec hno lo gy m a g.c om | Oc t ob e r 2 0 2 0

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to make dealers look good valuable solutions, and how “How people are and provide them with the to help customers realize the resources that they need to benefits,” he says. “In addigoing to work in the be successful.” tion, there is detailed trainfuture has changed Looking to the future, ing on the backside on how forever. So, I think dealers considering docuto implement and support.” the more tools we ment management as a Young, emphasizing the can give people, means to recoup lost revesupport Square 9 provides its regardless of where nue and maintain their stadealers, shares another perthey are working, the better.” tus as trusted technology spective. “When we launch advisors should recognize new dealers, we’re less focused

— Hedy Belttary that “how people are going on teaching them all the ins Laserfiche to work in the future has and outs of our software, bechanged forever,” Belttary cause that’s something that says. “So, I think the more tools we can give we’re experts on,” he says. “We’re there to support them.”

While Square 9 offers a comprehensive e-learning pro- people, regardless of where they are working, gram for dealer training, “we also have a team of busi- the better.” n Brent Hoskins, executive director of the ness solutions consultants who work nationally with our Business Technology Association, is editor dealers to help them with demos, to do scoping calls with of Office Technology magazine. He can be the customers and to actually help them understand the reached at brent@bta.org or (816) 303-4040. needs and apply the technology,” Young says. “So, our job is

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Unresolved Conflict Handling the ‘silent assassin’ in your organization by: Greg Buschman, Ph.D.(c), Strategic Leadership Development

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ne of Matthew McConaughey’s latest movies, “The Gentlemen,” opens with a scene where he is sitting comfortably at a table in his pub. As the leader and kingpin of his organization, he feels extremely safe in his establishment. Then, in the background, we see a silent assassin pull out a gun with a silencer and point it at McConaughey’s character, Michael Pearson. A shot rings out and the scene fades to black.

In the business world, unresolved conflict is a silent killer of leadership and team cohesion. If left unchecked, unresolved conflict can wound the decision-making process and kill unity in organizational leadership during a crisis.

In and of themselves, conflict and controversy are neither good nor bad. It is how they are handled that determines outcomes. Controversy is the conflict that arises when two people want to agree, but one person’s ideas, information, conclusions, theories or opinions may not be compatible with those of the other person.

In Michael Pearson’s world, controversy arises due to disagreements among junior leaders. All the senior leaders — except for Pearson — failed to recognize the danger they were in and did not take action to resolve the issues. As the movie plays out, the storyline is expanded and the first scene is revisited. In this second take, we see Pearson’s right-hand man enter the front door and the shot that was heard earlier is shown to be his right-hand man taking down the assassin, saving Pearson just in the nick of time.

Take a moment and think of your ability as a leader to resolve conflict. Think of conflict resolution as if it were your right-hand man — because it is. Conflict resolution skills can save you from disastrous decisions, unite your organization and defend it from outside pressures.

When dealing with unresolved conflict, look out for the following types of people with behaviors that can become silent assassins:

Cheetah: This is the person who has unresolved conflict toward you or your team. He (or she) lurks in the grass and when you least expect it, jumps out and puts the squeeze on a decision or action you want to make.

Lion: This person is more interested in winning than coming to an agreement that is most beneficial to all involved.

Sloth: This is the passive-aggressive type who will simply slow everything down to a crawl.

Golden Retriever: This person will agree with anything, even if he does not think it is a promising idea. He may even have information that would change your mind, but will not share it, leaving you at the mercy of making decisions without enough information.

Ostrich: This person is scared to speak up, scared of confrontation and scared to give an opinion out of fear of rejection.

Weasel: This is the saboteur who says he agrees, but is secretly telling others about the solution he thinks is best.

The good news is that your right-hand man — your conflict resolution skills — can be sharpened to mitigate, negate and avoid these behaviors. The first step in the process is to understand group dynamics and decision making.

There are five stages in a group’s life cycle: (1) Forming; (2) Storming; (3) Norming; (4) Performing; and (5) Adjourning (Johnson & Johnson, 2013). When a strike force, a new committee or decision-making body (team) is formed, the leader should expect controversy and conflict to arise in the storming stage and prepare to handle it. Some might think that the storming stage would lessen in intensity the higher one goes in leadership, but the opposite is quite true. Normally, highperforming teams are made up of strong leaders. Strong leaders can clash with far more impact than junior leaders or first-level teams. Make sure to have a conflict resolution process in place. It should be spelled out in your team’s charter.

The second step (and an important factor to note) is that consensus is the most reliable way to make important

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If it is a significant issue, be positive and decisions. However, it is also the most treat it with the respect and importance time consuming (Johnson & Johnson, When a person feels that it commands.

2013). Consensus means that each team his ideas were listened (2) Gather all parties involved and ask member truly backs the decision, even if to and valued, he is at least one trusted — but outside — neuthere are parts of it he does not like. Evmore likely to accept tral person to take part. eryone must be committed to the decithe group’s decision (3) Have each individual research why sion or consensus has not been reached. he believes what he believes and provide During the consensus process, group without holding on to his justification as to why he believes his discussions provide leaders the opporany negative feelings ... idea is correct. Each person should be able tunity to identify negative behaviors and to defend and advocate for his position. dissenting attitudes. As the leader, you (4) After each person has shared his position and the bawill be able to engage the person(s), coach him through the situation and make him feel appreciated as part of the deci- sis for it, have the group discuss all the ideas. This is called sion-making process. By using the following process, each “group idea exchange.” The outcome of this exchange will be of the silent-assassin types listed above can be identified more uncertainty. That is OK; it is normal at this stage.

(5) After the group idea exchange, identify no more than and mitigated. As you identify those who may be dissenting, be proactive, engage them in conversation and make sure three best answers. Rethink them with the group’s input they have a chance to present their ideas and why they be- and come to a consensus. More than likely, the solution will be a combination of several of the ideas presented. lieve them. Use the following five-step approach: Although this process will help, it is not bulletproof. Lead(1) Prioritize the importance of the decision or issue to make sure coming to a consensus is the right course of action. ers should still be diligent and aware of the actions of those around them. If your intuition is telling you something, pull the person aside and have an informal one-on-one meeting. There is nothing like a face-to-face meeting (even over Zoom) to be able to read a person’s body language and facial expressions. One last tip: Do not ever ignore the rumor mill.

Go directly to the person(s) involved and discuss what was heard. Many times, the rumor mill creates shadows where silent assassins wait to strike.

Using this five-step approach will allow you, as a leader, to facilitate group discussions and identify, coach and correct negative behaviors. It also ensures that each person is engaged, making him feel appreciated. When a person feels that his ideas were listened to and valued, he is more likely to accept the group’s decision without holding on to any negative feelings that may have arisen during the process.

Proactive conflict resolution builds team cohesion, enhances cooperation and aligns team members, promoting organizational unity. n Greg Buschman, Ph.D. candidate, is the founder of Strategic Leadership Development and author of the book, “I Think, You Think, We All Think Differently — Leadership Skills for Millennials & Gen Z.” He is also an adjunct professor of business management and marketing at St. Petersburg College, located in Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida. Previously, Buschman was employed at Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. Inc., Verde Document Solutions Inc. and IKON Office Solutions. He can be reached at gregory.buschman@gmail.com.

Visit www.gregbuschman.com.

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Q&A: Sharp Sheehan comments on dealer support & recent strides Compiled by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

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ow are the industry manufacturers assisting dealers in the current environment? What advice do they have for dealers? What changes in the workplace do they expect? What training programs do they have in place to help sales reps and service techs optimize their success? In August, Office Technology magazine launched a series of interviews to ask these and other questions of manufacturer executives who oversee the dealer channel for their respective companies.

The August and September issues featured Kyocera Document Solutions America Inc. and Toshiba America Business Solutions Inc., respectively. You can find those interviews in the Office Technology archives on the BTA website at www.bta. org/OfficeTechnology. This month: John Sheehan, senior vice president of channel sales for Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America.

dealership owners were taken care of.

We quickly modified our programs to make earning targets more achievable.

I am happy to say we have continued to modify our programs, as the situation continues to be fluid. A good example of this is that we have extended our annual dealer program deadlines and provided incentives around products relevant to the new business normal. During this time period, Sharp introduced 11 new A4 products, bringing our total A4 lineup to 19 MFPs and printers. This new lineup was accompanied by aggressive sales spiff incentives through the Sharp Ultimate Rewards program.

Finally, our marketing team has been providing content pieces on our website and through social media that dealers are welcome to share with their customers. All told, I feel we have done our best to listen and work with our dealers during this time.

OT: In what ways is Sharp providing additional support and guidance to its authorized dealers during these challenging times?

Sheehan: I think the thing that helped our dealers most during this time is that we reacted quickly to the slowdown in business. As states and businesses shut down, we realized that it would be hard for dealership sales reps to maintain income. Due to this, we launched an aggressive training schedule that included an average of 20 webinars per week.

These webinars covered various topics that were relevant to the current market conditions. We were pleased to see that more than 200 dealerships and 1,600 people attended the webinars. All the participants were compensated for attending the webinar series. We have continued to offer different ways for dealership sales representatives to earn money as businesses build back up.

The second part of the plan was to make sure that

OT: If you owned an office technology dealership, what would you be doing currently to optimize your level of business?

Sheehan: If I owned an office technology dealership, I would be doing the same thing I am doing at Sharp right now. We [Sharp] are focused on broadening our conversations with customers to include topics other than print.

There is no doubt that in the short term, print will decline.

Together, Sharp and our dealers need to expand into other areas. This can include many areas, such as employee safety technologies, products that enhance collaboration and IT services to ensure network security. These are all areas where Sharp can provide products and support. Of course, print will still be part of the equation, so I would focus the conversation around the easiest and safest ways to print, such as using technology that allows for a touch-free experience. With our MFP Voice and Synappx™ Go products,

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Sharp is a clear leader in app- and voicebased, touch-free options to remotely operate MFPs, so we encourage dealers to leverage that technology to have those conversations with their customers.

includes seven short modules of training designed to outline the market opportunity, the product details and how the product fits within the Microsoft ecosystem, which has become so critical for today’s hybrid work environment.

For dealership service representatives, our Platinum Level Service Provider (PLSP) program recognizes service organizations for exceeding performance benchmarks and implementing excellent industry best practices. In order to qualify for the program, dealerships must use only genuine Sharp parts and supplies for current Sharp models, and each Sharp technician needs to complete select core training, among other requirements. We were pleased to announce earlier this year that 66 dealerships received PLSP recognition for the 20192020 cycle.

“The workplace has and will continue to change ... We see an ongoing shift toward products that can be used at home or in smaller offices.”

OT: What key changes in the workplace do you expect long term, if not indefinitely, as it relates to the use of imaging devices?

Sheehan: The workplace has and will continue to change. As you can see by our recent announcements of A4 machines, we see an ongoing shift toward products that can be used at home or in smaller offices. This is in addition to the increase of the use of personal mobile devices to control technology. As people are digitizing more and more documents, we are seeing an interest in utilizing MFPs for scanning documents into digital workflows and ensuring MFPs have access to the cloud for simplified document access.

OT: What noteworthy “success story” can you share regarding one of Sharp’s authorized dealerships in terms of a particularly successful placement of Sharp products during the pandemic? (It is not necessary to name the dealership.)

Sheehan: This one really ties into the previous question.

We have a great story about how one dealership was able to leverage its existing printer relationship with a university to provide it with 275 Dynabook laptops for remote use by the faculty and administrative staff of a college. The Dynabook laptops were chosen as they tested much better than competitors with just a 1% error rate versus a 5% to 10% error rate of other laptops. The customer also needed a lightweight, but very durable, option.

What closed the deal, however, was the fact that the dealership was able to bundle the laptops in with the Sharp MFP renewal, making it easier for the customer to purchase everything at once. They are now considering purchasing Sharp AQUOS BOARD® interactive displays for their classrooms so they can collaborate.

OT: What Sharp training programs are in place to assist dealership sales reps and/or service techs to optimize their current levels of success?

Sheehan: Sharp dealership sales representatives have the opportunity to receive certification on our newly launched Windows collaboration display (WCD) by taking a special certification course. The course is designed to help sales team members get a strong understanding of how best to position the WCD within their collaboration portfolios. It

OT: What new Sharp product — recently or soon to be released — or new capability on an existing Sharp product are you most pleased with/excited about at this time?

Sheehan: It is difficult to pick just one product. Since March, we have added 11 new A4 products to our existing lineup, enhanced our Synappx application to include workfrom-home features and launched the WCD from Sharp to help our customers collaborate better in hybrid work environments. But I am very excited about the A4 expansion. We have been taking market share in A3 for a while, but the only hesitancy we received from dealers was the gap within our A4 product lineup. With our most recent launch, we are now able to offer dealers a total of 19 A4 MFPs and printers, so they can now offer their customers a full lineup of Sharp A3 and A4 products.

OT: What can you tell us about the status of Sharp’s next national dealer meeting?

Sheehan: Sharp’s dealer meetings tend to take place every 18 to 24 months depending on a number of circumstances. Since the last meeting was held in October 2019, our next anticipated meeting would not take place until late 2021. Of course, we cannot wait to be back with our customers, but like everyone else in the world, we are waiting to see how the pandemic shakes out. This is a topic that we are going to be closely working on with our Dealer Council representatives. 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.co m | Oc tob e r 2020 | 23

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COURTS & CAPITOLS

Waivers, Consent & Liability Take these into consideration during COVID-19 by: Robert C. Goldberg, BTA General Counsel

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s essential businesses, office technology dealerships have been able to remain open and support their end users during COVID-19. As the risk of contracting the virus continues, businesses are concerned about the liability to customers and employees should they contract COVID-19 while providing services or working. Until a vaccine is developed, precautions must be taken. You may have seen signs on stores or requests to sign COVID-19 waivers of liability in order to enter some establishments. Are these required? Are they legal? Are they a good idea?

Some states have enacted COVID-19 immunity laws that protect businesses from claims that customers contracted the virus while on the business’s premises. The federal government has also debated a nationwide immunity from COVID-19 claims; however, as of the date this was written, none have been enacted. State laws generally protect businesses unless their conduct involves “gross negligence, willful and wanton misconduct, reckless infliction of harm or intentional infliction of harm.” Individuals assume a risk when they voluntarily enter a business. However, for a dealership to invoke the presumption of assumption of risk, it should either provide a printed or electronic warning, or post a sign at the entrance, with this language: Warning Under state law, there is no liability for the injury or death of an individual entering these premises if such injury or death results from the inherent risks of contracting COVID-19. You are assuming this risk by entering these premises.

Although there are legal protections, it remains possible that a lawsuit will be brought contending that the business engaged in gross negligence, misconduct or harm. It will be up to a jury to determine if the business’s conduct was outside the legal protections. As an example, a business that failed to have employees wear masks, social distance or provide sanitizer may be assessed by a jury as being negligent. This may be true even if an employee wore a mask, but failed to cover his (or her) nose. Specific and enforced company policies are essential to qualify for statutory immunity.

States that have passed COVID-19 immunity legislation include Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming. These laws vary and should be reviewed to determine the requirements. Numerous other states are considering legislation as well. A federal provision would apply to

every state. How effective these legislative efforts will be at protecting businesses from litigation is still a big question.

Most laws include references to adhering to safety guidelines available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), state and federal agencies, and directives from federal, state and local authorities pertaining to COVID-19. The potential for conflicting best practices is high. Establishing that COVID-19 was contracted at a specific location may be even higher.

Businesses have also started requiring waivers. Typical provisions state: I acknowledge and understand that there is a risk by entering . By entering, I may contract COVID-19.

Even with all reasonable precautions being taken, there is an unavoidable risk of exposure to COVID-19. I assume all risk by voluntarily entering. Signed The enforceability of such releases varies by state. As discussed above, some states have explicitly immunized companies from the risk of COVID-19 exposure. Courts in states without such statutes will assess the enforceability of waivers.

At a minimum, a well-worded waiver serves to place customers on notice of the risks involved.

If you are bringing end users into your business for demonstrations, a waiver is suggested. n Robert C. Goldberg is general counsel for the Business Technology Association.

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

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PRINCIPAL ISSUES

The COVID-19 Tidal Wave Health-care sales have helped calm the waters by: Ray Belanger, Bay Copy

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OVID-19 hit us like a tidal wave. At the beginning of 2020, the economy was strong, the prospect of continued and new business with companies in many industries was promising and, for most of us in the office technology industry, the hopes for a strong year were not only high, but fully expected. And then March arrived.

In the Boston, Massachusetts, area, where we are located, there was a shutdown that caused many businesses to close their doors, at least temporarily. Large numbers of people were furloughed or forced to work remotely.

Schools were closed. Health-care facilities were scheduling by appointment only except in extreme emergencies, and the ripple effect was far-reaching. Six months later, we are still far from back to normal.

The challenges we faced were many, but our top priority was — and remains — our dedicated and valued team. Would we have sufficient reserve resources to keep all of our employees on board? Many of our employees have been with us for decades. And if we were able to keep them, would we have enough work? That question rang louder in our ears each day as the number of our clients’ businesses that were affected and/or closed by COVID-19 increased. With no time to dwell on the past, it was a time for reinvention.

Thankfully, we were able to take advantage of the Payroll Protection Program (PPP) to maintain our staff. Once that sigh of relief was exhaled, we realized that we had already prepared for potential future fallout.

Years ago, we sought to diversify our client base to avoid finding ourselves in a bind if one industry segment suffered economically. We had added the health-care industry to our client base mix and were glad we had because, to be perfectly frank, that is the segment that has kept us going this year.

With health-care facilities facing financial challenges due to COVID-19, the medical industry is looking for cost savings in new ways. Managed print services (MPS) is one significant — but often overlooked — savings measure and is ideal for medical centers, hospitals and physicians’ offices, because it looks at the cost-per-page as the bottom line, in contrast to the final price point of office equipment.

A couple of months into the pandemic, we were fortunate to enter into a five-year agreement with an integrated health-care organization to upgrade its document management and MPS programs, with a goal of saving the organization significant funds on its annual costs to generate documents. Our work encompasses the replacement and upgrade of 500 machines within this health-care group, including MFPs and printers located in a main facility and numerous ambulatory sites.

We were able to implement these improvements within a 30-day period, but, once again, COVID-19 played a role. Because of the restrictions resulting from the pandemic, the installation and setup of each individual machine required additional layers of preparation, including dispatching technicians at times when traffic was lower and requiring additional protection for technicians.

But we worked through it, with the safety and well-being of the health-care organization’s staff members and our Bay Copy team of technicians top of mind. The result is a client that is benefiting from the efficiency and cost-savings of our MPS program and continued work for us with a major

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a management team that genuinely cares. client in an industry that will never close Flexibility for employees who may be careits doors. Our sales team is now working The takeaway is that, givers, or who have had or been exposed to diligently toward adding other clients in in order to make the virus, is another way to demonstrate the health-care industry as we continue the best of a bad leadership during challenging times. to build on our reputation as a “go-to” situation, you need Do not forget furloughed employees. document solutions source in the New to first identify what Check in regularly and offer honest upEngland region. dates and clarity about any and all benefits The takeaway is that, in order to make you excel at and they may have access to. Consider providthe best of a bad situation, you need to then go from there. ing furloughed workers with a guide of lofirst identify what you excel at and then go cal services to help get them through. from there. Choose a segment or two in an We have weathered the COVID-19 storm for more than six industry where you are strong and then concentrate your efforts. When things get tough, it is a natural reaction to “throw months now. It has been a half year of more downs than ups to spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks.” But I can say from be sure, but by focusing on our strengths, delivering promised experience that channeling efforts into an area where you results to clients and standing strong alongside (make that already shine will work to your advantage in the short and six feet apart!) our workforce, we are coming through the 2020 tidal wave with hopes that longer runs.

And speaking of the longer run, the anxiety we are all ex- 2021 will bring calmer waters. n Ray Belanger is CEO of Bay Copy, periencing is not likely to go away any time soon. Be mindful based in Rockland, Massachusetts. of the toll the stress of this open-ended schism to normalcy is He can be reached at rbelanger@baycopy.com. taking on your workforce. Frequent communications and increased support delivered with calm reassurances are signs of Visit www.baycopy.com.

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DEALERS HELPING DEALERS

Pivoting During COVID-19 What dealers are doing to shore up their businesses Compiled by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

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

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

How are you pivoting your business during COVID-19?

“We have been focusing on and increasing resources in our managed services and software business. We are allocating additional resources to marketing with the goal of increasing our digital presence and inbound marketing leads.”

Bob Evans, partner Function4, Sugar Land, Texas “We are not really pivoting our business. We are focusing on doing what we do best and what has made us our money — selling and servicing printers/copiers. We’ve added two experienced (not in our industry) outside salespeople and kept everyone working full time. We’re busy prospecting and building a new website.”

George Peckham, president Office Systems of Texas, Houston, Texas “We have concentrated on a few key areas during COVID-19.

One is IT. With the large number of companies having some or most of their staff members working remotely, we have focused on IT and managed services work for our companies and have concentrated our sales in those areas. There are inherent challenges with the home office and working remotely — everything from training employees in areas as basic as what not to click or open, to matters of security and, of course, cybersecurity. It looks as if the model going forward will be a hybrid of sorts and there will be larger numbers of remote workers than pre-COVID. The need for increased vigilance in the area of IT will not be going away anytime soon, and that is a market opportunity for us.

We have also increased our emphasis on home/remote office delivery of office products and supplies throughout both Indiana and Illinois. With many people working remotely,

there are challenges and needs in setting up home offices and we have used these two areas to offset some of the challenges that our industry has faced during this time.”

Chip Miceli, president & CEO Pulse Technology, Schaumburg, Illinois “Here are some of the actions we have taken since the pandemic started: n We have expanded our portfolio to provide service for HP, Lexmark and Brother directly to add more volume to our MPS business. n We added Xante to our offering and are having particularly good success with its new line of UV printers. n We added Graphic Whizard to our production accessory offering. n We became a distributor for ePrint’s Skyline software (digital storefront). n We added Newline interactive displays to our portfolio. n We implemented DocuWare throughout the organization to enable our workforce to better collaborate remotely and build a showcase for potential customers looking for a document management solution. n We ramped up IT training and certification to offer managed IT services.”

Thomas Fimian, CEO Docugraphics LLC, Charleston, South Carolina “We are not rushing into anything — especially new services. Work with what you’ve got. Help your customers think digital. Provide IT services to set up remote locations [for employees] to do their work from home. Include ideas like remote printing or setting up equipment for them at their homes. Set up video conferencing and laptops for their communication.”

Dan Castaneda, general manager International Copy Machine Center, El Paso, Texas Do you have a question for your fellow dealers? If so, 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 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.

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SELLING SOLUTIONS

Your Management Time Are you spending it or investing it? by: Troy Harrison, Troy Harrison & Associates

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can spot a Tom Hopkins disciple from a mile away. He (or she) uses “sales words” like calling a contract “paperwork” or calling the price an “investment.” In today’s world, using this jargon is like a wet towel across your buyer’s face, letting him know he is dealing with a “salesperson.” But that is not the topic of this article.

You see, the word “investment” and its closely related word “spend,” really do have heavy bearings in the world of sales management. According to Webster’s Dictionary, “invest” means “to expend money with the expectation of realizing a profit or material result.”

“Spend” means “to pay out money in buying or hiring goods or services.” Note the difference? When you “spend,” it is without expectation of achieving a profit. In more than 15 years of managing salespeople and coaching other sales managers, I can state this as fact: Far too many sales managers spend their time when they think they are investing their time.

First, understand that most sales managers spend their time working with or on the bottom tier of their sales forces.

Usually they do this to raise low performers up to a level of basic competence (quota) so they will not have to fire them.

“But Troy, that’s natural, isn’t it?” you ask. “My top guys don’t need my time and some of them may not want me messing with them. Therefore, I can improve the skills of my bottom-tier salespeople and impact my sales force’s performance that way.” This response is true nearly all of the time — and sometimes it is even the correct way to look at a situation.

However, this is where we turn back to the old question of spending your time versus investing your time. Here are two simple questions to help you understand which is which: n After a work session with a rep, do his skills improve?

This would seem obvious, but it is not obvious to many sales managers. I recently had the opportunity to make joint calls with a client’s salesperson. I had previously made joint calls with him three years ago when he was teetering on the edge of being released. Since then, the manager had made him a project, dedicating at least a half day per week to working with him.

So, what was the result? Well, nothing that I could see. His skills had not improved by any measurable level; he was still not asking the right questions; he was fumbling in his ability to present to customers; he was missing buying signs; and was probably burning sales left and right. Yet his numbers were just enough higher that he was no longer in danger of being fired.

We will get to the “why” of his numerical improvement in a moment, but first, here is the moral of this story: If your salesperson’s skills are improving when you work with him, you are investing your time. If not, you are spending your time.

Are your joint calls focused on teaching the salesperson how to sell or are they focused on just helping him get the deal? Here is the “why” of the above point. It is true that the salesperson’s numbers have improved. But the reason (which the salesperson admitted at the end of the day), is that the sales manager is going on enough important calls that more deals are getting closed.

Of course, the reason those deals are closing is that the sales manager is basically closing them himself by taking over the sales calls and making the deals happen. If you do this, you might think you are doing your job and benefiting the company, but you are not. You are only benefiting yourself and your rep — and then only in the short term. If you are staying silent during joint calls and using them as coaching opportunities, you are investing your time. If you are selling, you are spending your time. n If you took your attention off the salesperson, what would happen? Back at the office, I began probing the salesperson’s sales and activity records for the past three years and cross-referencing them with the sales manager’s vacation and travel schedule. When the sales manager was not there, the salesperson’s activity levels dropped nearly in half — and the salesperson rarely sold any deals when the manager was not there. While this was disappointing to the company’s owner, it was what I expected to find. The manager was simply doing much of the salesperson’s work. If, after some length of time under your tutelage, your salesperson can function independently, you have invested your time. If not, you have spent it.

In the review meeting with the company owner and the sales manager, I gave my analysis of the situation (pretty much as above, but with specifics included). The sales manager asked if the salesperson should be put on a performance improvement plan (PIP; i.e., probation). “That’s up to you,” I said, but then turned to the business owner and continued: “The sales manager should definitely be put on a PIP.” Both of their jaws dropped.

“Here’s why,” I told them. “You [the sales manager] have told me that you’ve spent at least four hours per week more in the past three years with this person. That’s more than 600 hours of your time. You’ve done that not to improve the salesperson’s www.offi cetechnol ogymag.com | Oc tob e r 2020 | 29

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simple: Your top reps are the ones who alskills or performance — he hasn’t changed ways want to improve, sell more and pro— but to save yourself from having to make Your top reps are the duce more. If you can help them do that, it a transition and, perhaps, because you liked ones who always want is a good investment of your time. him so much. That’s an incredible misuse to improve, sell more To truly start investing your time rather of time and resources considering you have and produce more. than spending it, try this one simple guideseven other reps who do not receive that If you can help them line: Apportion your coaching (and make level of attention. You should be put on a it coaching, not selling) time evenly to all PIP and then how you handle improving do that, it is a good of your mature reps, top to bottom. Grantyour own performance is up to you.” investment of your time. ed, new and ramping reps take more time Harsh? Maybe. But the truth is that the (as they should), but if you divide yourself sales manager had gotten emotionally involved to a high degree and had abdicated his sales manage- equally among your mature reps, you will find that your time is ment duties in favor of basically being a part-time, uncom- probably better invested with your top people — and that will missioned sales rep. Sales managers do this every day without make everyone smile. n Troy Harrison is the author of “Sell Like You Mean It!” and realizing it. If this is you, stop.

“The Pocket Sales Manager,” and is a speaker, But what about the other part of the objection above — that consultant and sales navigator. He helps your top reps just want to be left alone? Maybe that is true in some cases, but rarely does a strong relationship and time companies build more profitable and productive sales forces. To schedule a free 45-minute spent with a top rep fail to produce dividends. If you get out Sales Strategy Review, call (913) 645-3603 or and work with your top people, you may find easily coachable email troy@troyharrison.com. moments that will produce success — and if you improve a top rep once, he will always want to work with you. The reason is Visit www.troyharrison.com.

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