Conversations with Your Prospects: Is Your Sales Approach Missing the Mark?

Article first published February 2019, here.

My name is Greg Walters and I’ve worked in the technology sector since 1988. 

I've sold and configured and installed networks, accounting software, servers, PCs, laptops, manufacturing systems, corporate identity programs, copiers, EDM, BPO, Scan/Fax/Print, managed print, and IT services. 

Since 2007, I’ve helped providers build managed print practices, more importantly, I’ve assisted corporations (your prospects) design, building, and implementing self-managed MPS programs. I’ve been a shoulder to shoulder with my clients (your prospects), in Canon, Ricoh, Lexmark, HP, Staples, Xerox, and dealer MPS presentations. I’ve seen the best manufacturers have to offer and helped my clients choose the right partner. I’ve also been privy to the conversations and critiques from clients after each vendor presentation – I’ve heard some pretty enlightening things.

Whatever category the dealership falls into – copier, MPS, Managed IT—and whether the job title reads account representative or Vice President of Sales, these mistakes were made by the most seasoned MPS representatives. And prospects of all sizes from all corners of the globe have expressed these same feelings over and over again.

New to Copier Sales: Experiential Selling

The plan was that, once COVID-19 receded, employees would return to the office, their printers, copiers, coffee machines, and cubicles.

But will they print? Will they copy? Will they return to habits of the past? It really doesn’t matter.  Print will happen and your clients are exploring cost-reducing processes and offerings – managed print services can be your vehicle for higher revenues.

Selling MPS and copiers is nothing new.  There are thousands of articles and dozens of tools in the market designed to help you find prospects, build a total cost of operation, generate proposals, and close deals.

I’m not going to regurgitate facts and processes a decade old.  However, in the new way of selling that is post-COVID-19, I point out one important view: now is the time to expand from transactional selling to experiential selling.

This is a big shift, and it starts between your ears.