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Company Culture Change
Is it time to internally
reinvent your company?by Layton GetsingerDOTS Inc.Those dealerships that have made
the transformation from the “box”
mentality have done so through an internal reinven-
tion of their existing business model while abandoning
or modifying their existing company culture.
Your Real Profit Center
Learn to attain & maintain
high service marginsby Jerry NewberryBEI ProsI am asked many times how indus-
try changes are affecting service margins in the
office equipment business model. I would answer
with two words: “They aren’t.” Are there different
challenges to deal with? Yes.
4 | w w w . o f f i c e t e c h n o l o g y m a g . c o m | J a n u a r y 2 0 0 8
CONTENTS
The Green Office
Sharing the
eco-friendly messageby Brent HoskinsOffice Technology MagazineWhile the Energy Star logo has be-
come familiar, some dealers may
wonder what other ecologically
friendly initiatives their vendors have pursued. Here is a
brief look at some of the efforts of four vendors.
D E P A R T M E N T S
Volume 14 � No. 7
18
10
22
F E A T U R E A R T I C L E S
Transforming the Office
Focus on the MFP’s full
range of benefitsby Gary GillamXerox Corp.Today’s office is in the midst of a new
technical evolution. As competitive
and economic pressures continue to
increase, the need and demand for robust information
workflow has never been more critical.
JBMIA Update
Association president
reports on activities & plansby Yoshihiro MaedaJBMIAHere is a look at some of the current
initiatives of the Japan Business Machine and Infor-
mation System Industries Association submitted by
its president, who also serves as president and CEO
of Toshiba TEC Corp.
28
S E R V I C E C O N N E C T I O N S
P R I N C I P A L I S S U E S
26
6
8
30
32
Executive Director’s Page
BTA President’s Message
Advertiser Index
BTA Calendar
29 Who Are They Calling On?
Ensure that your sales
reps are not wasting timeby Max RosenthalDiversified Business SolutionsAt a recent sales manager executive
training meeting, I asked the question, “Are your
reps calling on the executive level decision maker?”
The hands shot up. I then rhetorically asked, “Who
do you think you are fooling?”
S E L L I N G S O L U T I O N S
A Perpetual Breach — ECI2
Do not blindly negotiate
a resolution, call BTAby Robert C. GoldbergBTA General CounselThose BTA members who have been frustrated with
the ECI2 acquisition of OMD and La Crosse should call
the BTA Legal Hotline for guidance. Discuss the fea-
tures you desire and the monthly increase and yearly
cap that are acceptable. Then consider your options.
C O U R T S & C A P I T O L S
24
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PrintAudit BLI ad 12/13/07 2:31 PM Page 1
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S PAGE
In the past, I would
occasionally hear
about the efforts of
organizations like the
Sierra Club and Green-
peace. Today, efforts to
help the environment
are a frequent topic of
discussion in the news and otherwise. A
Google search on “global warming,” for
example, provides 24.3 million links.
Last year, I.T. Strategies, a consulting,
research and business implementation serv-
ices firm, contacted me about assisting with
a survey of dealers to determine the “impact
of ‘green’ programs on the dealer commu-
nity.” BTA’s role was to send the survey to
those dealers on our e-mail distribution list,
which includes member dealerships.
The survey results are thought-provoking.
They reveal that there is a notable level of
interest among dealers in terms of helping
the environment. They also reveal that
dealers view ecologically friendly efforts as a
way to be better corporate citizens and as a
way to increase customer loyalty.
That interest in customer loyalty is
reflected in the results of a survey question
regarding the “impact of returns on the
dealer community.” Forty-six percent of
respondents to the question indicated that
eco-friendly efforts do/could provide a “pos-
itive impact.” Among the comments shared
by survey respondents:
� “Positive for consumers who believe in
recycling. More sales for the dealer.”
� “I think it is a good idea. There will be
some time involved, but it will be well spent.”
� “I believe it is a win-win for everyone.”
The survey further sought to identify
those customers most likely to contribute to
that positive impact. Specifically, the survey
asked: “Do you find a particular customer
group is more concerned about green issues
than others?” Thirty-five percent of the
respondents answered “yes.”
Who are the customers most concerned
about green issues? Survey respondents
listed the government, education and major
accounts among these customer groups.
The concerns of these customers and rea-
sons for going green, as noted by dealers,
include: keeping empty cartridges out of
landfills; corporate responsibility programs;
and, simply, saving the earth.
While the largest percentage of respon-
dents indicated a positive impact in regard to
eco-friendly efforts, 20 percent indicated a
“negative impact.” The remaining 34 percent
reported either “no impact” or “other.”
What are the possible negative impacts?
The comments shared by dealers reveal
some possibilities. Among them:
� Manufacturers may become rechargers.
� More service related problems with re-
cycled cartridges.
� Dealers will shoulder most of the cost.
The I.T. Strategies survey also asked
dealers to rate the vendors of the brands
they sell on a scale from “not at all green” to
“extremely green.” In addition, dealers were
asked what they see as the best opportunity
for their dealerships as the emphasis on
green continues. The full summary of the
survey results can be found on the BTA Web
site, www.bta.org. Click on “Research” then
“Other Industry Research.”
As you read the summar y of the I.T.
Strategies survey results (and the cover
story in this issue), consider this question:
“How eco-friendly is my dealership?”
— Brent Hoskins
How Eco-FriendlyIs Your Dealership? Executive Director/BTA
Editor/Office TechnologyBrent Hoskins
[email protected](816) 303-4040
Associate EditorElizabeth Marvel
[email protected](816) 303-4060
Contributing WritersLayton Getsinger, DOTS [email protected]
Gary Gillam, Xerox Corp.www.xerox.com
Robert C. Goldberg, General Counsel Business Technology Association
Yoshihiro Maeda, JBMIAwww.jbmia.or.jp
Jerry Newberry, BEI Proswww.beipros.com
Max Rosenthal, Diversified Business Solutionswww.dbsconnnected.com
Business Technology Association12411 Wornall Road
Kansas City, MO 64145(816) 941-3100
www.bta.org
Member Services: (800) 505-2821BTA Legal Hotline: (800) 869-6688
Valerie BrisenoMembership Marketing Manager
Mary HopkinsAccounting [email protected]
©2008 by the Business Technology Association. All RightsReserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced by anymeans without the written permission of the publisher. Everyeffort is made to ensure the accuracy of published material.However, the publisher assumes no liability for errors in articlesnor are opinions expressed necessarily those of the publisher.
6 | w w w . o f f i c e t e c h n o l o g y m a g . c o m | J a n u a r y 2 0 0 8
®
06OT0108 1/2/08 3:00 PM Page 6
©2007 Toshiba America Business Solutions, Inc. Electronic Imaging Division. All rights reserved.
E I G H T W I N SI S N ’ T T H A T T H E K I N D O F T E A M Y O U ’ D L I K E T O B E O N ?
The people have spoken. And for the 8th time, Toshiba was voted #1 for Overall Performance by the BTA.
Maybe it’s because Toshiba offers more than just great copiers. We offer value-added solutions that make businesses more
productive and profitable. If you’d like to learn more about what’s made Toshiba America’s fastest growing copier
company or become part of our winning team, visit www.copiers.toshiba.com or call 949-462-6165.
Toshiba ad Dec 07 11/9/07 12:07 PM Page 1
BTA PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
On Feb. 21-22,
the focal point
of th e of f ice
technolog y industr y
will be ITEX 2008 in Las
Vegas. As in past years,
this event is certain to
be an outstanding edu-
cation and networking opportunity for the
BTA Channel.
If you have not already registered for the
show, I encourage you to do so today. As a
BTA member, you can register for $79,
instead of the regular $199 onsite/$99 online
fee. Just enter BTA member discount code
G48BTA when you register online at
www.itexshow.com. You may also download
a BTA member registration form from the
home page of the BTA Web site, www.bta.org.
Still undecided on whether to attend?
Consider that ITEX 2008 will feature more
than 100 hours of education Power Hour
sessions in six education tracks — Business
Management, Sales and Marketing, Man-
aged Print Services, Document Manage-
ment: Capture & Workflow, Technology and
Service. The presenters will include a num-
ber of the industry’s leading experts, repre-
senting the dealer, vendor, research and
consulting communities.
Consider, too, that there will be 250-plus
vendors on the trade show floor — ranging
from ABBY USA Software House Inc. to
Zygoquest. These include a number of
familiar hardware vendors such as BTA
m emb ers Eastman Kodak, Hew lett-
Packard, Lexmark International, Muratec
America, Panasonic, Ricoh, Sharp and
Xerox. Other exhibiting vendors include
Fujitsu, Konica-Minolta, OKI Data and
Samsung. There will also be many software
vendors exhibiting, providing dealers with a
number of options to consider as they con-
tinue their transition from box sales to solu-
tion sales.
There are several notable additions to
th e I TE X show thi s year as wel l . For
example, the trade show floor will feature
one new pavilion and one central station —
one focused on wide format printing, the
other on ECM and mailing systems. These
should be of particular interest to any
dealers looking to expand their product
offerings.
Another new addition is the Service Solu-
tions Integrator 2008 training program,
scheduled for Feb. 20, the day before the
trade show floor opens. This full-day educa-
tion program is designed for service man-
agers and dealer principals. The program is
sponsored by MWA Intelligence Inc., Katun,
BEI Services and BEI Pros. For more details
on this event, visit www.itexshow.com/ssi.
Of course, BTA will be at ITEX 2008, too.
Plan to drop by the association’s exhibit
booth on the trade show floor. The booth
number is 745. There you will find all of the
latest information on the association’s
many benefit programs and services. We
will also be drawing for some great prizes.
In addition, BTA is finalizing plans for a
hospitality suite in the show hotel, the Las
Vegas Hilton. This will be an ideal opportu-
nity for BTA members to network with one
another and meet the members of the BTA
Board of Directors and key staff members.
Watch for details at www.bta.org prior to
the show; there will also be information on
the hospitality suite in our exhibit booth.
I look forward to seeing you in Las Vegas.
ITEX 2008 will be a great event for all of us.
— Shannon Oliver
Register for ITEX ‘08Using Member Code
®
2007-2008 Board of Directors
PresidentShannon Oliver
25 Wheaton CircleGreensboro, NC 27406
President-ElectRonelle Ingram
Steven Enterprises Inc.17952 Sky Park Circle
Ste. EIrvine, CA 92614
Vice PresidentBill James
WJS Enterprises Inc.3315 Ridgelake Drive
P.O. Box 6620Metairie, LA 70009
BTA EastThomas Chin
Accolade Technologies LLC31 Mamaroneck Ave.
Ste. 508White Plains, NY 10601
BTA Mid-AmericaMike Blake
Corporate Business Systems LLC2018 S. Stoughton Road
Madison, WI [email protected]
BTA SoutheastJerry Jackson
All South Copiers (ASC)1325 Cobb International Blvd.
Ste. AKennesaw, GA [email protected]
BTA WestRock Janecek
Burtronics Business Systems Inc.216 S. Arrowhead Ave.
P.O. Box 1170San Bernardino, CA [email protected]
Ex-Officio/General CounselRobert C. Goldberg
Schoenberg Finkle Newman & Rosenberg Ltd.222 S. Riverside Plaza
Ste. 2100Chicago, IL 60606
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by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine
The Green OfficeSharing the eco-friendly message
In the mid-1990s, of f ice
technology dealers began
to see the use of the Energy
Star logo in relation to copiers,
printers and, later, MFPs. The
logo signifies compliance to a
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) program that is
designed to identify and pro-
mote energy-efficient products
that help to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions. Today, the logo
has become a familiar image
within the industr y and is
widely used among office tech-
nology manufacturers.
While the Energy Star pro-
gram is important and benefi-
cial, some dealers may wonder
what other ecologically friendly initiatives their vendors have
pursued. Are vendors — both on the hardware side and the
software side — doing enough to help sustain the environ-
ment? Which vendors are seen as doing the best job?
Consultants at I.T. Strategies (www.it-strategies.com) had
these and other questions as well. In the Spring of 2007, the
Hanover, Mass.-based firm, which offers consulting,
research and business implementation services, surveyed
office technology dealers to find out how they view their
vendor partners in terms of eco-friendly initiatives. The
results reveal some industry leaders — and room for
improvement.
Seventy-one percent of the respondents indicated that,
overall, they view the industry’s manufacturers as either
“somewhat green” or “not at all green.” In contrast, only 7
percent are viewed as “extremely green,” with 9 percent
viewed as “very green” and 13 percent viewed as “green.”
What makes a company
green? The survey results re-
port produced by I.T. Strategies
reveals several key factors.
Among them: A well articu-
lated message about the com-
pany’s position on green is-
sues; safe disposal instructions
for products; support of envi-
ronmental groups, such as The
Nature Conser vancy ; eco-
friendly packaging; and prod-
ucts that are En erg y Star
compliant.
With these and other green
factors in mind, survey res-
pondents were asked to rate
those vendors seen as the most
green. The top three vendors:
RISO, Xerox and Kyocera Mita.
Regardless of how green vendors are today, it appears that
there is a notable level of interest among end-users in eco-
friendly companies and their initiatives. Thirty-five percent
of dealers responding to the I.T. Strategies survey indicate
they do have “a particular customer group that is more con-
cerned about green issues than others.”
Chris Wyszkowski, vice president of professional sales
and marketing for Equitrac Corp. (www.equitrac.com), a
provider of print management and cost recovery solutions,
says the percentage of companies concerned about green
issues is on the rise. In recent months, he and Equitrac CEO
Michael Rich have been meeting with CIOs and CFOs of the
company’s largest customers. “I would say that in about one
third of these C-level meetings there has been a discussion
about the importance of a sustainability objective within the
firm,” he says. “It is a new trend in North America. Twelve
10OT0108 1/2/08 3:03 PM Page 10
PrintAudit point ad 12/13/07 2:36 PM Page 1
months ago it would have
been unusual for somebody
to talk about their sustain-
ability goals.”
Given this increased in-
terest in eco-friendly busi-
ness practices among end-
users, what are office tech-
nology companies doing to
help sustain the environ-
ment? A brief look at some
of the initiatives of four
vendors familiar to dealers
will provide some indication. Perhaps their efforts will
inspire others to become more eco-friendly.
Equitrac Corp.In 2007, Equitrac announced its support for the joint
American Bar Association-EPA Law Office Climate Challenge,
an environmental initiative
that, in part, encourages law
offices to adopt best prac-
tices in office paper manage-
ment. The software company
supports the initiative by
offering a 10 percent dis-
count on Equitrac Profes-
sional 5 to any law firm that
participates in the Waste
Wise program, one of three
EPA partnership programs
tied to the Challenge.
“A big part of this program has to do with effective use of
paper and reducing waste of paper,” says Wyszkowski. “So,
we came up with a few specific ways that our software can
help these law firms reduce waste.”
For example, he says, Equitrac Professional 5 includes a
feature called Follow-You printing technology that can
12 | w w w . o f f i c e t e c h n o l o g y m a g . c o m | J a n u a r y 2 0 0 8
“A big part of this program has to do witheffective use of paper andreducing waste of paper.So, we came up with afew specific ways that oursoftware can help theselaw firms reduce waste.”
— Chris WyszkowskiEquitrac Corp.
12OT0108 1/2/08 11:45 AM Page 1
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MKG ad Jan 08 12/13/07 4:59 PM Page 1
“reduce waste by 10 to 15
percent that results from
unclaimed print jobs.” In-
stead , says Wyszkowski ,
“print jobs are never ren-
dered to paper until some-
one is actually there to col-
lect them.”
Equitrac also has devel-
oped an eco-friendly mes-
sage for another of its pri-
mary customer groups —
the education market. In
2005, the company launched a new Web site, www.endprint
waste.com, which emphasizes, in part, how Equitrac Express
4 can help educational institutions reduce paper waste. “We
launched this after having a realization that our products
were being sold where sustainability was the primary objec-
tive,” says Wyszkowski, who notes that the education market
is particularly receptive to
the eco-friendly message. “In
the educational environ-
ment, you have students and
faculty who have a higher
recognition of environ-
mental concerns than the
general population,” he says.
“So, the fact that you can
deploy a solution to manage
costs and get people to use
resources more effectively —
and feel good about it be-
cause they know that they are saving environmentally sensi-
tive resources — is an absolute win-win.”
Kyocera Mita AmericaAs noted, Kyocera Mita America (KMA, www.kyo
ceramita.com) was among the companies cited as “most green”
by respondents to the I.T. Strategies survey. This may be due,
in part, to KMA’s ECOSYS printers, an entire line dedicated to
and named for its focus on “ecology” and “economy.”
Peter Hendrick, vice president of marketing for KMA,
emphasizes the eco-friendly nature of the printer line. “Our
unique ECOSYS technology incorporates a patented drum
technology, which is separate from the toner container,
eliminating the need to replace the drum when the toner is
depleted, thus reducing landfill,” he explains. “We believe
that ECOSYS truly is a long-standing example of Kyocera
Mita Corp.’s green initiatives and our pursuit of innovative
product development.”
KMA also has a focus on pursuing eco-friendly efforts
within its internal operations. In 2007, the company
announced that it had received ISO (International Standard
Organization) 14001:2004 certification, which recognizes
companies — through an independent audit — that have
effectively managed their operational impact on the envi-
ronment. Hendrick says the certification “underscores
Kyocera Mita America’s commitment to reduce waste and
the consumption of energy/natural resources caused by
normal operations, such as sales, services and distribution.”
How have KMA’s operations helped the environment?
“We have reduced our electrical usage by 17 percent and our
paper usage by 39 percent, year over year,” says Hendrick.
“Those types of reductions have, in just one year, signifi-
cantly lowered our carbon and nitrogen oxide emissions
versus the previous year. In fact, these reductions equate to
14 | w w w . o f f i c e t e c h n o l o g y m a g . c o m | J a n u a r y 2 0 0 8
“We have reduced ourelectrical usage by 17percent and our paperusage by 39 percent, yearover year. Those types ofreductions have ...significantly lowered ourcarbon and nitrogen oxide emissions ...”
— Peter HendrickKyocera Mita America
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FMAuditadSept07 8/29/07 11:38 AM Page 1
more than 40,000 gallons of
gasoline, 9,000 tree seedings
grown for 10 years and three
acres of forest preserved
from deforestation.”
In addition, KMA strives
to publicly share its eco-
friendly message. For exam-
ple, the company’s current
62-page Sustainability Re-
port can be downloaded
from its Web site.
Memory Experts InternationalLike KMA, Memor y Experts International (MXI,
www.memor yexpertsinc.com) has received the ISO
14001:2004 certification. In addition, MXI, a manufacturer of
memory expansion modules, data storage systems, cable
assemblies and portable security devices, is a certified Zero
Waste to Landfill company.
“Simply put, Zero Waste to Landfill means that materials
we use in our manufacturing processes, including pack-
aging, are recycled and/or reused,” says David Fry, MXI exec-
utive vice president, USA. “We use a system known as the
Five Rs — reduce, refuse, return, reuse and recycle.”
Fry shares an example of the far-reaching benefits of
adherence to the Five Rs system. “We were seeing packaging
coming to us from one of our hard drive manufacturers that
we were finding difficult to recycle,” he explains. “So, we said
to them, ‘We can’t recycle this packaging. We don’t want it
anymore. Please don’t give it to us.’”
As a result, the supplier began picking up the packaging
from MXI after delivery of its hard drives. “They found some
cost saving benefits by meeting our requirements,” he says.
“They are now reusing the packaging over and over again,
not only with us, but with many of their customers.”
In recent years, Fry says the company has seen consider-
able savings due to its eco-friendly efforts at its Santa Ana,
Calif., manufacturing facilities. An evaluation of electricity
consumption, for example, led to improved energy usage,
reducing the cost of electricity by 30 percent. Similarly, by
recycling metal, plastics, bottles, cardboard, paper, etc., MXI
has reduced the number of filled waste containers (3-cubic-
yard dumpsters) from 36 to four each month.
The key to success in reducing waste is making it easy for
employees by using properly marked, error-proof recycling
containers, says Fry. “You simply tell them what you’re trying
to do, and you ask for their
help in getting it done,” he
says. “It isn’t that difficult.”
RISO Inc.Perhaps RISO Inc.’s (http:
//us.riso.com) ranking as the
“most green” company by
respondents to the I.T. Strate-
gies survey can be attributed
to the company’s long-term
focus on environmental stew-
ardship. In 1996, the digital
duplicator and printer manufacturer developed its Environ-
mental Charter. In 1998, it established the RISO Environmen-
tal Protection Principles. In 2000, RISO’s manufacturing plan
and R&D technology center received ISO 14001 certification.
“So, this is not a new idea for us; it is not a passing fad or
trend,” says David Murphy, vice president of marketing.
“This is a very, very major part of our corporate principles
and our feeling of responsibility to the global environment.”
For RISO, that responsibility is apparent in the develop-
ment of its products, says Murphy. “Our products have always
been geared to reducing the footprint [or negative impact] on
the environment,” he says. “For example, our duplicators
utilize soy-based ink and do not have any hazardous ozone
or CO2 emissions, and our supplies are biodegradable.”
In the past, adds Murphy, RISO did use oil-based inks.
“We decided to switch to soy because it is environmentally
friendly,” he says. “It actually costs about the same if not a
little bit more for us to produce soy-based ink, but we do it
because of our feeling of responsibility to the environment.”
Murphy also cites the low amount of energy that RISO’s
ink-based products require, as compared to toner-based
products that require heat. “As a result, they draw very little
electricity,” he says. “In fact, our duplicator draws 3.5 amps.
That’s the equivalent of using four 100-watt light bulbs
about an hour a day.”
Looking to the future, Murphy sees an ever-growing
interest in eco-friendly initiatives. “We are finding that the
new generation in the workforce is more conscientious about
helping the environment,” he says. “That is
good news for our society.” �
Brent Hoskins, executive director of the
Business Technology Association, is editor
of Office Technology magazine. He can be
reached at [email protected].
“Our products have always been geared toreducing the footprint [ornegative impact] on theenvironment. For example,our duplicators use soy-based ink and do not haveany hazardous ... emissions ...”
— David MurphyRISO Inc.
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by: Layton Getsinger, Dealer Operations Transition Specialists Inc.
Company Culture ChangeIs it time to internally reinvent your company?
The concept of networked docu-
ment solutions has been kicked
around for the past f ive-plus
years with very few dealerships success-
fully migrating from the “box” mentality
to networked solution sales. Those that
have made the transformation have
done so through an internal reinvention
of their existing business model while
willfully abandoning or significantly modifying their existing
company culture.
These same dealerships are also the ones that made the
successful transition from analog to standalone digital, to con-
nected digital, to color and to networked solutions. Sadly, but
unavoidably, a few trusted and tenured employees have been
victimized by the office technology revolution. Either they
could not grasp the new technology or they refused to leave
the simplicity and comfort zone of “box” selling. To reach new
heights, one must abandon old traditions. What was good
enough to get us here is not good enough to take us to the next
level. In fact, what got us here will not keep us here.
The workplace culture is shaped by the way we behave. It is
from the collective actions of the team that a culture emerges.
It reflects the accumulated traditions formed over the con-
tinuum. For some it becomes inviolable or a “sacred cow.”
Usually an established culture is readily identifiable. As more
people come to embrace it, the culture grows in popularity
and influence. Eventually our every action will be influenced
by our culture. Culture becomes our way of life. It defines our
essence. The only way to break the spell of a culture is an open
commitment and direct action to do so. Some may call it a
paradigm shift; I prefer to call it a cultural shift.
The office solutions arena is changing faster than most
cultures can adapt. As a by-product of change, a subculture
of fear will usually emerge. The failure to adapt is primarily
driven by this fear of change. Change strikes fear in the
hearts of all who are affected, as they are
leaving the known for the unknown. The
natural response to change is resistance,
and when change does happen, certain
individuals will employ slowed down
implementation in hopes that it will go
away. Today, employing such tactics posi-
tions us to become obsolete. Today,
change is not only critical to remaining
competitive, but to staying in business.
Based on the duration of the office technology revolution,
dealership culture shifts should have already taken place. If
we are to achieve tomorrow’s successes, we must be eagerly
embracing today’s changes. The dealer principal and direct
reports have to accept the role of “change agents.” If a dealer-
ship is to survive this technological revolution, two actions
are imperative: accept change as a constant and learn to
adapt to change as a matter of survival.
We can either be paralyzed by change or energized by its
potential. Change without a plan is a recipe for disaster.
Change should not occur out of panic — it must be the
result of well-conceived thoughts that will gain the desired
net effect. It must be communicated globally and frequently
so that everyone is dealing with real-time information
versus the rumor mill.
Rather than waste precious time and effort fighting
change, we need to employ actions to hasten its advent.
Those who embrace change and go with the flow will have
the competitive advantage. They will be selling profitably to
new and existing customers.
As is suggested in “Reengineering the Corporation” by Mike
Hammer and James Champy, “throwing the baby out with the
bathwater” is not an option. Change must take place under
controlled conditions. Company and vendor revenue targets
must be attained while migrating to a new business model.
This creates a conundrum for some dealers of how to keep
18OT0108 1/2/08 9:41 AM Page 10
FMAuditDigitalGatewayad 12/31/07 3:37 PM Page 1
moving product while reinventing them-
selves. One size does not fit all. Every deal-
ership has its own unique culture and that
culture must be clearly understood and
framed before change can be initiated. In
some cases, it may require the assistance
of a third-party professional to assist with
this process.
People commonly and mistakenly
respond to the stress of change by putting
out more effort. The greater the change (that is, the bigger the
adjustment that has to be made) the harder they try. Unfortu-
nately, they stick with the same old habits and they bet the
future on “more of the same.” Their heart is in the right place
and their intentions are good, but they fail to realize that
many solutions of the past do not fit the problems of today or
the future. Trying harder using the same old tools, techniques
and thinking patterns will only create a culture of despera-
tion. A truly great dealership is never satisfied with its current
performance. It must continually ask: “Why do we do what
we do?” and “Why do we do it the way we do?”
The challenges are myriad and usually centered on the
inability of the dealership to get traction in the relatively new
world of document solutions. Box selling is a one- or two-
person event with standard rules of engagement involving two
to three calls on the prospect and then “the close” based on a
monthly payment or price, which is usually steeply discounted
based on the competition stepping in at the last minute.
Solution selling is a team activity and requires the involve-
ment of nearly every department within the company to com-
petently and successfully conclude the sale. Hence we must
create a culture shift from “What is in it for me?” to “What is
in it for us?” We need a shift from a culture of independence
to a culture of interdependence. Done right and done well,
solution sales will create virtual competitive immunity and
provide handsome rewards across the company. Most impor-
tantly, solution sales will allow your dealership to go into the
competition’s base and sell profitably while minimizing or
eliminating the competition as a factor.
As the new culture sets in, values change from protective to
productive. Changing values are as important to a new busi-
ness model as changing processes. The new business model
demands employees deeply believe that they work for their
customers, not for their bosses. This will only happen when
the dealer principals and department managers believe it as
well. Culture change calls for resolute and absolute commit-
ment to success. It starts and stops with the dealer principal.
With a new business model (“culture
shift”), work becomes more satisfying
since the entire company is working
together for the common good. The new
business model entails as great a shift in
the company culture as in its structural
reconfiguration. The individual players
achieve a greater sense of achievement
through a collaborative approach to
solving customer problems.
There is the nagging question of “Will you lose a top pro-
ducer or valued employee by making necessary changes?”
The answer is probably “yes.” Any individual willing to
ransom a company’s future to remain in a comfort zone is
highly expendable in my personal experience and opinion.
One prima donna can sabotage the entire process. The
sooner the loss of such individual(s), the quicker progress
can be made.
Some Recommended Action Items� Create a “Change Coalition” led by the dealer principal
and departmental managers.
� Help managers stop acting like supervisors and start
acting like coaches and mentors.
� Everyone should focus more on the customers’ needs
and less on the bosses’ or their own.
� Get rid of unnecessary / non-productive practices.
� Reduce or eliminate disruptive people and unnecessary
paperwork.
� Establish communication links up, down and across
the company. This will marginalize the rumor mill.
� Involve everyone in the company in the change process.
� Employ all resources appropriately.
� Create and maintain a sense of urgency.
� Budget for change and do not stray.
� Get and remain focused.
�Only do things that move the company toward its goals.
� Keep emotions in check.
� Stay steadfast in your resolve. �Layton Getsinger is founder and president of
Dealer Operations Transition Specialists Inc.,
a company that specializes in helping
dealerships become successful networked
solution providers through the creation of new
business models and reshaping of the
company culture. He can be reached at
[email protected] or (704) 450-7778.
The challenges are myriad and usually centered on the inabilityof the dealership to get traction in the relatively new world of document solutions.
20 | w w w . o f f i c e t e c h n o l o g y m a g . c o m | J a n u a r y 2 0 0 8
20OT0108 1/2/08 9:48 AM Page 1
DocuWare_OFFICETECH_BTA_fullpage_Swimming in Circles-Illus10.. 4/26/2007 10:45:36 AMDocuware June 07 5/15/07 4:30 PM Page 1
22 | w w w . o f f i c e t e c h n o l o g y m a g . c o m | J a n u a r y 2 0 0 8
by: Gary Gillam, Xerox Corporation
Transforming the OfficeFocus on the MFP’s full range of benefits
Today’s office is in the midst of a new
technical evolution. As competitive
and economic pressures continue to
increase, the need and demand for robust
information workflow has never been more
critical. To maintain positive growth, not to
mention to gain competitive advantage,
more companies are exploiting new tech-
nologies in old places to streamline infor-
mation flow, simplify business processes,
improve productivity and lower costs.
Certainly, today’s MFP is such a piece of
technology. As those of us in the office technology industry
know, the MFP offers a world of new information sharing
possibilities and typically can be adapted to operate the way
a company works, rather than the other way around.
While you understand the MFP’s full range of benefits, do
you promote and sell these benefits? Or, do you still have
sales reps and customers who view these products as “the
office copier?” Or, in contrast, is your company effectively
transforming the workflow in your customer locations
through effective placements of MFPs? Regardless of how
basic they may be, it is important to consider these and
similar questions, to ensure that your business is moving in
the right direction.
There are a few basic, yet important benefits of the MFP
that may require your attention, but if embraced, will dra-
matically increase your “stickiness” with your customers.
� Cost Control — The days of a printer on every desktop
are dwindling. As printing and maintenance costs have
increased, IT managers have been forced to reassess asset
and document management strategies. Market research
firm Gartner estimates that the cost of printers, coupled
with related supplies, maintenance and support, represents
about 10 to 20 percent of a typical IT department budget. As
IT managers look to consolidate resources without compro-
mising efficiency, many are turning to MFPs.
In addition to device consolidation, MFPs
offer IT managers the ability to track and
measure the amount of pages being printed,
faxed, copied and scanned, as well as how
much color printing is being done. That
knowledge aids companies in budgeting, cost
center charge backs and print management.
All-inclusive printing service contracts for
MFPs can help keep printing costs under
control. By knowing the exact cost per page,
customers enjoy predictable bills. Printing
contracts offer sales reps another tool to strengthen customer
relationships. Is your dealership effectively promoting and pro-
viding these tracking, measuring and page pricing capabilities?
� Simplicity & Customization — Solutions providers can
help their customers leverage the muscle of the MFP to
make their work easier. As you know, some MFPs include a
customizable display panel that provides access to key
workflow functions. Similar to customizing your PC desktop
to prioritize the tools you use most and providing automa-
tion through network enabled scripts, IT managers can now
customize an MFP’s touch-screen display to prioritize the
tools their workers use most and automate complex tasks
with a single button press. As a result, document manage-
ment becomes faster, easier and more accurate. Is your deal-
ership customizing the MFP’s control panel to best meet the
needs of your customers?
� Instant Access — In this era of advanced MFPs, develop-
ment platforms can be harnessed to allow customers or
third-party software developers to build Web-based or
server-based applications that can be accessed directly from
the device for a variety of functions never before considered
for the MFP.
For example, some MFPs let users print to a queue, rather
than a specific device. That way, users can easily and securely
22OT0108 1/2/08 10:23 AM Page 10
retrieve documents from any supporting
MFP, regardless of its location around the
globe. For the mobile worker this means
that carrying heavy documents and
finding a way to print are a thing of the
past with such functionality. All a person
need do is find the nearest enabled MFP,
swipe his (or her) access card (or enter a
password) and “pull-print” securely from
the queue. If available on the MFPs you
sell, is your dealership taking advantage of development plat-
forms and providing seamless integration between the MFP
and a back-office application?
� Easy Collaboration — New MFPs also feature applica-
tion support that gives offices access to common business
documents directly from the device.
Scanned documents typically must be manually named
and distributed, which is both tedious and error-prone.
With today’s MFPs, users select file names and destinations
from easy-to-use, pre-programmed tabs on the MFP’s touch
screen that are easily updated on central servers, reducing
distribution errors and simplifying document processes.
MFPs now act as a centralized communications manage-
ment system for secure scan-to-fax, e-mail and broadcast noti-
fication. Enterprise, government, healthcare and educational
institutions can deliver critical information, such as patient
information, employee performance and more — securely and
with immediate results. Do your customers view the MFP as a
centralized communications management system?
� Security — Enterprise practices and procedures are the
main focus of regulation such as HIPAA and Sarbanes-Oxley
and, as a result, organizations of all sizes should be paying
particularly close attention to the handling of their data.
As you know, when documents are copied or scanned on
many MFPs, an image can be left on the system’s hard drive.
This information is as much at risk of getting hacked or
stolen as information stored on PCs, yet the risk is some-
times overlooked by IT and security departments.
The key for customers is knowing what to look for in
devices and how to best protect data. For instance, an MFP’s
image overwrite or disk overwrite capabilities eradicate cus-
tomer data by repeatedly overwriting the disk surface with
specific patterns to ensure that no normal read process can
discover the original data.
Today’s MFPs offer many protections to secure data,
ensure business continuity, minimize business damage and
maximize return on investment and business opportunities.
Are you making your customers aware
of how to ensure documents that are
scanned, copied or printed on the MFP
remain secure?
We are all enjoying the continued rise
of the MFP in the workplace. However,
solutions providers must work to ensure
that all their sales reps are properly pro-
moting all of the benefits of today’s tech-
nology. Is your dealership truly working
to help customers streamline information flow, simplify busi-
ness processes, improve productivity and lower costs? �Gary Gillam is vice president of North America Channel
Operations at Xerox. Gillam has more than
21 years of channel operations experience
and is responsible for the sale of printers
and MFPs through distributors, value-
added resellers and solutions providers.
Visit www.xerox.com.
MFPs now act asa centralized communications management system for secure scan-to-fax,e-mail and broadcastnotification.
w w w . o f f i c e t e c h n o l o g y m a g . c o m | J a n u a r y 2 0 0 8 | 23
23OT0108 1/2/08 10:24 AM Page 1
The office technology industry is built
upon a foundation of fair, equitable
and ethical treatment. The BTA
Model Dealer Agreement has included
these words for more than 50 years. This is
not a lofty standard, but a guiding principle
that has governed relationships between all
facets of the industry. It is the standard that
results in success for independent dealers,
assuring customer satisfaction. It is the
standard that offshore manufacturers have used to provide
assurance, that regardless of specific terms in an agreement,
the standard of interpretation will be fair, equitable and ethical.
When Hallie Gibbs founded Modern Business Systems, fair,
equitable and ethical treatment built his business to one of the
most successful in the nation, ultimately resulting in its sale to
Alco Standard. Along the way, Modern developed a software
program that helped a growing business track equipment,
maintenance, leases and every phase of an office technology
dealership. The program became so successful that fellow
dealers asked if they could share it as well, and hence OMD
was founded. OMD grew under the same philosophy as
Modern — fair, equitable and ethical treatment. With an out-
standing product, unparalleled customer support and con-
stant innovation, OMD became the operating program for
thousands of independent dealers. OMD was sold to dealers as
a perpetual license. And to assure dealers they would be
treated fairly, the perpetual license provided that fees could
only be increased 5 percent on an annual basis.
A few years after OMD was established, another software
program was released for dealerships. John Brostrom and
Thomas Smith offered copier dealers a program that would
manage the unique aspects of their businesses. Again, the
industry saw strong customer commitment coupled with fair,
equitable and ethical treatment to help dealers grow their busi-
nesses. La Crosse, likewise, offered a perpetual license and
assurances that a dealer’s investment in the software would not
result in being held hostage to uncontrolled fees and costs.
In December 2006 and the spring of 2007, OMD and La Crosse
were sold to eCommerce Industries Inc. (ECI2). The ramifications
for dealers first occurred with OMD. Throughout the years,
updates to OMD were released and a new
license agreement accompanied the down-
load. This happened again in June of this
year, but only the first page, the familiar
page, remained the same. The new End-User
License Agreement (EULA) ended the per-
petual license that dealers had purchased,
changed the limit on annual increases from
5 percent to 12 percent, and authorized the
use of management software permitting
ECI2 to have a backdoor to every dealer system. Following the
changed EULA, dealers began to receive invoices for increases in
their monthly charges for their licenses. In many instances, these
increases represented two times more than the previous amount
charged. The cap of 5 percent in the perpetual license was
ignored. In fact, the perpetual license itself was ignored. Dealers
were outraged. Many tried to organize, but the cost and logistics
for dealers to do so was overwhelming. The varying time clocks
in each program created additional pressure upon the dealers to
accept the economic extortion they faced.
A short time later, users of La Crosse Management Systems
faced the same scenario. ECI2 ignored the perpetual term of
each dealer’s license, as well as the cap on increases. The added
indignity was ECI2’s ability to gain access to the dealer’s system.
The philosophies that allowed these software companies to
grow and prosper were abandoned for a quick return on invest-
ment. The terms of the perpetual licenses were ignored. Fair,
equitable and ethical treatment was not even considered.
All of the substantial goodwill that had been developed by
OMD and La Crosse was negated overnight. Although ECI2 has
attempted to purchase Digital Gateway as well, the company’s
president vows to remain independent and dealers have lined
up to license Digital Gateway’s eAutomate.
For those BTA members who have been frustrated with ECI2,
do not blindly negotiate a resolution. Call the BTA Legal Hotline
for guidance. Patiently discuss the features you
desire and the monthly increase and yearly cap
that are acceptable. Then consider your options. �Robert C. Goldberg is general counsel for the
Business Technology Association. He can be
reached at [email protected].
by: Robert C. Goldberg, General Counsel for the Business Technology Association
COURTS & CAPITOLS
A Perpetual Breach — ECI2
Do not blindly negotiate a resolution, call BTA
Fair, equitable and ethical treatment was not even considered. All of the substantial goodwill that had been developed ... was negated overnight.
24 | w w w . o f f i c e t e c h n o l o g y m a g . c o m | J a n u a r y 2 0 0 8
24OT0108 1/3/08 11:34 AM Page 26
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Iam asked many times how industry
changes are affecting service margins in
the office equipment business model. I
answer with two words: “They aren’t.” Are
there different challenges to deal with? Yes.
Have the service rates customers require
been reduced due to market pressures and
an educated customer? Again, yes. However,
the potential 52 percent (or more) service
margins can be easily attained and main-
tained with a consistent focus on the fol-
lowing areas, which will be explained in detail:
� Closely-monitored employee productivity.
� Sustain or attempt to eliminate reduced revenue on
upgrades (there are some pretty ingenious ways of paying
salespeople to do this, and they will).
� Pay attention to machine placement where you can. Do
not sell a customer a 60 ppm machine doing 5,000 to 10,000
pages per month. A 40 ppm machine will handle this easily at
higher profit margins.
� Keep your managers informed and share the financial
opportunities within service.
� Color and more printers.
Employee ProductivityService has more benchmarks available to monitor than any
other part of your business. I cannot begin to tell you how
many companies I have visited, both as the vice president of
service at Global Imaging Systems and as the president of BEI
Pros, that monitor only 20 to 30 percent of the available bench-
marks and do not monitor them frequently enough. I do not
blame the managers for this, because in the majority of the
cases, those individuals have not had the training or have not
seen a really profitable and productive customer-responsive
service organization.
It is imperative to monitor the following areas in detail until
you are absolutely sure you have these areas at benchmark
performance levels:
� Raise your expectation levels for your service organiza-
tion. Expectations should be set at every level in service
(supervisors, techs, dispatch and parts).
�Gross calls per day — Do not put too
much emphasis here. You are looking for
quality over quantity.
� Net calls per day — Net calls per
day is def ined as gross cal ls minus
incompletes and callbacks.
� Callbacks
� Incompletes
� Parts cost per call
� Accountable time — Every tech
should be accounting for a minimum of 7.5
hours worked per day between customer hours and travel time.
� Territory integrity — Territory integrity is defined as the
percentage of time the technician services accounts assigned
to him (or her) within his territory. He should shoot for 80
percent or more. There will be a big loss of productivity if this
percentage is off.
� Efficiency ratio
I mention these areas because I see numerous companies
monitoring them, but on a monthly basis looking only at aver-
ages. These averages hide some dirty secrets concerning
unproductiveness in the field.
Upgrading Your Customer BaseIt is common knowledge that net new placements are a
must for continued growth in aftermarket revenue and profit. I
see many companies upgrading a current customer with
strong profit margins on their current machine. As soon as
they upgrade, the rep will have taken the service rate from
0.014 to 0.009. The rep should add color clicks to the upgrade
or he will have reduced the amount of revenue the dealership
is generating on that machine. Do not be afraid to add a
minimum to color prints.
Try this little test: Pay your sales reps to keep the rates the
same on all upgrades. Here is an example: Let us say we are in the
above scenario. In this account, the customer runs 10,000 copies
per month. Pay the sales rep $75 per mil (0.001) to keep the rate
at 0.014 ($375). As a company, you will recoup this within the first
six months and have this rate for the next three to four years. I
have tried this and had to cap the amount the sales rep charged
the customer, as he wanted to raise the service rate further. There
Your Real Profit CenterLearn to attain & maintain high service margins
by: Jerry Newberry, BEI Pros
SERVICE CONNECTIONS
26 | w w w . o f f i c e t e c h n o l o g y m a g . c o m | J a n u a r y 2 0 0 8
26OT0108 1/2/08 12:29 PM Page 26
are companies out there that have eliminated price reductions
on all upgrades. These companies operate at 20-plus percent
operating income.
Optimize Customer SalesI see mid- and higher-volume machines sold to customers
with extremely low volumes and no minimums. Every product
has a “sweet spot” where the reliability and services costs are
optimized. Here is an example of an actual model and the
service cost differences in volume ranges:
This should clearly show the impact of volume on your
service costs. Have your managers show you the “sweet spots”
for the models you sell.
Share Financials & Bonus ManagersI speak to many managers who are not getting service
financials on a monthly basis and who are not compensated
on the performance of service. But the industry model is so
simple: Service revenue is 100 percent (after contract revenue
allocation). Salaries are 25.5 percent of service revenue, while
parts are 16.5 percent. Vehicle reimbursement makes up 4
percent of service revenue, while training makes up 2 percent.
This can easily lead you to areas of opportunity within the
service department. It is either productivity or expense control
issues that reduces profit. Revenue (if everything is billing) is
almost never something I find that causes lower-than-expected
service gross product (GP). Almost 100 percent of the time,
lower GP is directly caused by productivity or parts expenses.
This can be controlled. Here are the top contributors to a higher
percentage of revenue by cost of goods sold (COGS):
� Salary — This expense is driven by productivity in the
field. If this percentage is off, you are probably overmanned in
service. Look at your clicks per tech and all of the productivity
numbers above. Maximize your service team productivity to
allow your service force to add additional clicks and revenue
with no additional manpower. This will drive profit over time.
� Parts – Managers should be tracking parts expenses to
budget daily. Put procedures in place to monitor yield on all parts
used that we call “high mortality” items. I cannot tell you how
many times I find early replacement of parts on my visits. This
will eat at your profit in a big way. Flag anything that failed to
meet OEM-recommended yields and claim a warranty replace-
ment. If you are not watching this area, you will be amazed at the
parts dollars being thrown away. Stop this bleeding now!
� Vehicle reimbursement — If you are paying a mileage rate
to the field, there are two ways to drop this by more than 20
percent. Make sure your employees are in territories with
evenly distributed workload from tech to tech. Just ask your
dispatcher how often they pull techs out of their own territo-
ries to assist other techs. If the answer is “very frequently”
(which I hear a lot) then this is driving mileage up.
Secondly, managers should be spot-checking reported
mileage from the field. I see 20 miles entered on an eight-mile
trip regularly. Watch this area closely.
� Training expense — This has become the catch-all bucket
for COGS over the past few years. One way that we can drop
this expense is to ensure we are in the correct field structure.
Product-specialize your team if possible. I have not found one
company with at least eight techs where product-specialized
teams cannot be developed. This will cut your training needs
in half from day one, not to mention the major impact on field
productivity and reliability of your product line.
Color & More PrintersColor revenue on the black-and-white-to-color machines
offer a major opportunity for increased revenues and profit.
However, you must really pay attention to machine applica-
tions and volumes in this arena. This can be a very profitable
environment if you are servicing these units correctly. You
cannot operate in a “hit and run” mode on these products or
profit potential will be greatly reduced. Service these units
smartly and efficiently to ensure margins are maintained and
watch your parts expenses on these units.
Printer service is also a major opportunity to drive service
margins. This area is exploding with opportunity within the
dealer environment, yet I see very few really going after this
business. When I speak about printer service I am referring to
a print management division within your business. A company
that recently hired me as a business partner is growing the
print management side of the business by 300 percent or more
per year. Commit to go after this and do not be afraid to go
national. There are companies that can assist you in providing
a national presence. The business is there for
the taking with nice margins for service. �Jerry Newberry is president of BEI Pros.
He can be reached at
[email protected] or (813) 713-3592.
Visit www.beipros.com.
w w w . o f f i c e t e c h n o l o g y m a g . c o m | J a n u a r y 2 0 0 8 | 27
27OT0108 1/2/08 12:32 PM Page 1
Editor’s Note: Expressing his best wishes
to members of the Business Technology
Association in the new year, the following
was submitted by Yoshihiro Maeda, presi-
dent of the Japan Business Machine and
Information System Industries Association
(JBMIA). Maeda also serves as president
and CEO of Toshiba TEC Corp.
May I first offer my heartfelt wishes to all the members
of the Business Technology Association for their
continued happiness, good health and prosperity in
the New Year!
Last year, the overall global economy largely remained
strong. Although economic growth slowed down in the United
States, high growth was sustained in emerging nations, cen-
tering on China, while increases in exports were recorded in
Europe in spite of a strong Euro. At the same time, there were
some concerns about the influence exercised on the future
global economy by rising crude oil prices and the sub-prime
loan problem in the United States.
In turning our eyes toward domestic issues, Japan experi-
enced a number of scandals brought to light by stricter corpo-
rate social responsibility (CSR) for quality and safety, in such
areas as the strength of elevator steel, misleading reporting of
the fire-resistance of insulating materials, tampering of used-
by dates by food companies, etc. As I mentioned in my inau-
gural address as president, quality and safety constitute the
foundation of manufacturing and are fundamental require-
ments for the soundness of our corporate activities.
The Consumer Products Safety Law was revised last year. In
accordance with the revised law, manufacturers and importers
are required to report product irregularities to the supervisory
authorities and they are also required to provide proper infor-
mation about the said irregularities to consumers. As a matter
of course, we thoroughly abide by all product safety laws. Addi-
tionally, it is important to make efforts to positively develop
voluntary systems required for enhanced product safety in
order to maintain the confidence of consumers. Therefore,
JBMIA, as an industry association, has established the Volun-
tary Action Program for Product Safety, as well as Planning
Guidelines for member companies. We have also formulated
Recall Guidelines (3rd edition) and Safety Guidelines for the
Moving Parts of Shredders (2nd edition).
This year, the Internal Control Report of the Financial
Instruments Sales Law (so-called Japanese SOX Act) will go
into full-scale operation. Last year, the Document Manage-
ment System Working Group organized three seminars in
Tokyo and Osaka on the theme of “the Computerized Storage
of Documents to Support Internal Control” in which a total of
about 450 people participated. On these occasions, we could
feel the high level of interest and motivation in the efforts
made by many companies. Though it was the first time we
held a seminar in Osaka, it received very good responses from
the participants, so we are planning to hold similar seminars
periodically in other regional cities in the future.
We are also facing some important international issues
that need to be solved, such as tariff problems on MFPs in the
EU, copyright levies on printers and MFPs in Germany, etc.
Against this background, we sent a European Mission last
year to strengthen cooperative relations with related indus-
tries including BITKOM, EICTA and so forth. As for our efforts
to develop Asian markets, we conducted a field survey in
China to obtain more information about the utilization of
business machines inside the Chinese office. We intend to
conduct a global survey in a similar way, which will include
the United States.
As for international standardization activities, we organ-
ized the Plenary Meeting of SC28 of ISO/IEC in Matsumoto
last June as the host country. With a record number of partici-
pants, we were able to bring the Plenary Meeting to a suc-
cessful conclusion.
We also developed wide-ranging positive activities such as
efforts toward the creation of an advanced recycling society
using the concept of the 3Rs (reduce, reuse and recycle), posi-
tive responses for the protection of intellectual property rights
and efforts in relation to medium-term problems through the
Electronic Paper Consortium.
This year, we intend to exert our best efforts so that JBMIA’s
activities may contribute to the further development of our
industry and to promote a better society.
Looking forward to your continued support, I thank you in
advance for your cooperation. �
by: Yoshihiro Maeda, JBMIA
PRINCIPAL ISSUES
JBMIA UpdateAssociation president reports on activities & plans
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At a recent sales manager executive training meeting, I
asked the question, “Are your reps calling on the execu-
tive level decision maker?” The hands ceremoniously
shot up in compliance. I then rhetorically asked, “Who do you
think you are fooling?”
We have been down this familiar path too many times
before. At the most fundamental level we all know that we
need to present first to the decision maker. The decision
maker must initially see the potential of our services being a
fit. And now through the power of clairvoyance, I am betting
that little voice in your head is whispering something like:
� “Normally I would agree but he does not know our mar-
ketplace in X state.”
� “It is IT that makes the decision on the solution we offer.”
� “The way we do it is to start at the ground level and then
work up the ladder to the decision maker. That way we have
developed our case ahead of time.”
� “Well, my tenured reps do, but I have a bunch of newbies
who do not have that type of experience yet.”
� “You know, everyone still thinks of us as just a copier
company. Our contacts will not like it if we go over their heads
to the CFO.”
� “The CFO is not interested” or “The CFO delegates these
types of things to the __ to decide and merely rubber stamps it.”
The following two analogies help to clarify my position.
A six-year old child is savvy in asking his father for a new
tool for the “family” toolbox. He prepares a carefully thought-
out argument for a new power drill that works as a screw-
driver, too. He purposely avoids asking his mother, who
believes the tool is too dangerous for his small hands.
Although he knows he cannot get past this reality, he hopes his
father will agree with the clarity of his argument, relent and
then buy the drill (which, of course, he wants too, because it
will make his jobs around the house a lot easier).
Maybe just this one time, the father will give in and make
the decision without discussing it with the child’s mother first.
The truth is that even though the father completely agrees
with the child — a new power drill is something the whole
family would benefit from — he knows that these decisions
require buy-in from the mother.
One of two things happens next. Mother will not share the
logic and there will be no new drill. Or, she requires the entire
presentation to begin anew, requiring the child (and father in
this example) to explain, from the beginning, why the power
drill is necessary when the old handheld screwdriver works
just fine. Time is wasted. Had the “decision maker” been
involved in the initial approach, the toolbox would be the
home of a new power drill and the child would be well on the
way to scheming his next desired toy.
If you are not into new power tools, consider this analogy.
When a case is brought to court, how effective would it be to
plead to the court reporter? Sure, the court reporter needs to
hear everything that is presented and will ask for clarity if neces-
sary, but ultimately, no judgment can be made without the judge.
Who Are They Calling On?Ensure that your sales reps are not wasting time
by: Max Rosenthal, Diversified Business Solutions
SELLING SOLUTIONS
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29OT0108 1/2/08 1:08 PM Page 29
Furthermore, the reporter has no effective
power in the final outcome. It is only the
judge who has the authority to decide the
case, as well as the way the case is argued.
As sales managers, one of our top priori-
ties is to discipline our reps to call on qual-
ified opportunities and, therefore, to
condense the t ime getting the order
closed. The less time spent on any one deal
equates to more time to stuff the pipeline.
While it is important to have buy-in from others in the
company, the parties that need to be at the initial meeting(s)
are those who have the authority “to sign on the line that is
dotted.” I cannot stress that enough.
So I will say it with a little more flare — if you do not have an
executive level decision maker at your initial sales call, you are
just spinning your wheels and falling prey to the most addic-
tive and rampant sales drug on the street — “hope-ium.” Only
until you have the agreement of this person or people do you
have a qualified sales opportunity. Our job as sales managers is
to guide, empower and teach our reps. Teaching them this one
idea and helping them to understand it quickly should be one
of your primary initiatives.
If you are still not completely sold on this idea, consider this
scenario: We have two competing sales reps calling on the
same six suspect companies. Rep “A” blissfully subscribes to
any one of the six “voices” stated earlier and will schedule an
appointment with just about anyone in the company willing to
meet. As a result, he (or she) has convinced himself that he is
productive and, for a short while, is perceived to be busy.
However, he has only created the illusion of being busy — per-
forming the right strategies, just at the
wrong time.
With the exception of pre-call company
research, it is a criminal use of time to be
conducting on-site needs analyses, user
interviews and any other activity that creates
a falsely engorged sales funnel. Think of a
snake after it ingests a fat rat. It looks so full
that it will soon burst. However, time passes
and that swollen bulge has not moved; it just
sits there decaying with rot; nothing is coming out the other end.
On the other hand, the mantra of Rep “B” is to maximize the
time calling on qualified prospects and he believes that this is
systematically fulfilled by scheduling his first meeting with the
CFO. He is not buried in piles of paperwork or onsite at a
prospect’s company delivering unpaid consulting advice. In
fact, although he thoroughly researches the company he is to
meet with, he goes no further until both sides mutually agree
on the potential of an engagement.
See the chart on page 29 and tell me which style rep you
would want to help you hit your numbers.
And my final question: Currently, which style most resem-
bles your team?�Max Rosenthal is an analyst with Diversified Business Solutions,
a BTA member company in San Diego, Calif. Diversified
Business Solutions works with CFOs of small- to
medium-size businesses that are interested in
accelerating the time to cash. He encourages
your opinions and ideas and can be reached
and (858) 565-2737.
30 | w w w . o f f i c e t e c h n o l o g y m a g . c o m | J a n u a r y 2 0 0 8
As sales managers, oneof our top priorities is todisicipline our reps tocall on qualified opportunities and ... to condense the time getting the order closed.
ADVERTISER INDEX23 • Ames Supply Company
(800) 323-3856 / (630) 964-2440 / www.amessupply.com
31 • Business Products Council Association
(800) 897-0250 / www.businessproductscouncil.org
21 • DocuWare
(888) 565-5907 / www.docuware.com
15, 17, 19 • FMAudit
(573) 632-2461 / www.fmaudit.com
9 • InkCycle
(800) 736-8877 / www.inkcycle.com
14 • Innowave
(800) 723-3426 / www.innowave.com
2-3 • ITEX 2008
www.itexshow.com
13 • MKG Imaging
(800) 881-7545 / www.mkg.org
12 • Niche Equipment
(877) 446-4243 / www.roto-shredders.com
25 • On Demand
(888) 824-3004 / www.ondemandexpo.com
5, 11 • Print Audit
(877) 412-8348 / www.printaudit.com
7 • Toshiba
(949) 462-6165 / www.copiers.toshiba.com
30OT0108 1/3/08 11:33 AM Page 1
The BPCA was founded in 1963 with the vision of
forming a best practices organization that unites
leaders of independently-owned office equipment
dealers. The concept is quite simple - bring the
leaders of these companies together so that they
can share ideas, learn from each other, and take
their businesses to the next level.
Our members will attest that it’s well worth the
investment by making each of them better leaders
and bringing more value to their dealerships.
Feel like there’s something missing from your
organization? Let BPCA bring together all the
pieces of the puzzle.
Piecing Ideas Together.
If you’d like more information about our
organization and how to join, please send
us an email or give us a call.
Phone: 800.897.0250
Email: [email protected]
Website:
www.businessproductscouncil.org
Membership Director BPCA
c/o BTA
12411 Wornall Road
Kansas City, MO 64145
“Better Dealers Through
Learning and Idea
Exchange.”
31OT0107 12/18/06 2:51 PM Page 1
PRSRT STDU.S. Postage PaidEaston, PA 18042
Permit #31 Office Technology MagazineBusiness Technology Association 12411 Wornall RoadKansas City, MO 64145(816) 941-3100www.officetechnologymag.comwww.bta.org
EDUCATION CALENDAR
BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY ASSOCIATION • January 2008
February6-7 BTA ProFinance Orlando, Fla.
BTA ProFinance instructors John Hanson and John Hey of Strategic Business Associates willhelp you understand the strategies required to become more client and employee focused —key strategies toward successfully growing your company, improving profitability and winningagainst the competition. ProFinance is designed for dealership owners and executive-levelstaff who make the critical business decisions that impact your company’s success. This classtakes a holistic approach to setting a new course for your business with the goal of helpingyou achieve a minimum of 14 percent operating income.
6-7 BTA ProSolutions Salt Lake City, UtahBTA ProSolutions, taught by Darrell Amy of Dealer Marketing Systems, is designed for anyonedirectly engaged in the solution-selling process: solution specialists, major account represen-tatives and sales managers. Software vendors teach you about their technology. However,your clients don’t care about technology — they want their business problems solved. Youneed to understand your client’s business problems before you can provide solutions. Thiscourse fills in the gap.
12-13 BTA Print Management Workshop Irvine, Calif.Taught by Tom Callinan of Strategy Development, this two-day educational workshop isdesigned to provide dealerships with the tools they need to establish a print managementstrategy that will allow them to significantly increase the quantity of captured prints, lock incustomers, distinguish themselves from competitors and, ultimately, sell more hardware.
21-22 ITEX 2008 Las Vegas, Nev.
For more information and to register for BTA seminars visit www.bta.org or call (800) 843-5059.
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