Insights from "Ask Us Anything XXXVI" to Thrive in an Evolving Industry

Copier Salesperson - Office Technology Sales - IT Sales

If you're just stepping into this role, you're in for an exciting journey. Sure, copiers might not sound like the sexiest product, but when you dig into the dynamics of the market and add in the potential of AI, you’ll see why this industry is poised for some serious evolution. Here’s a story that might resonate with you and give you some insights into how to make a mark in your new role.

The Game Has Changed: AI Tools Aren't Just Fancy Gadgets

Art and Greg are two experienced hands in this space, and they’ve been around long enough to see how technology really changes the game. At a recent meeting, they talked about a tool called Fireflies—an AI that automatically records and transcribes meeting notes. This might sound minor, but think about how much time you can save if you’re not scribbling down everything during a meeting. More time for focusing on the conversation, building rapport, and getting to the real meat of the client's needs. It’s about leveraging every tool at your disposal to be the most effective version of yourself.

The same goes for Google’s notebook tool—keeping your thoughts organized is a huge win when you're juggling multiple prospects. It’s the first step in using AI to boost your efficiency and focus more on closing deals than on administrative tasks.

Off-Lease MFPs: Where Are We Going?

Now, you’re going to hear a lot about the off-lease multi-function printer (MFP) market, and it’s a bit of a battleground right now. The big news recently is Xerox buying IT Savvy for $400 million. It’s a signal that these companies are not just about selling machines anymore—they’re getting into IT services, which is where you, as a new rep, need to pay attention. More than ever, it’s about offering a complete solution, not just hardware. This is where you can differentiate yourself.

Customers are also getting more environmentally conscious. Recycling rates for MFPs are on the rise, from 5% a few years ago to 25% today, with a forecast of reaching 50-60% in the next few years. People want sustainable options. When you talk to a prospect, mentioning the sustainability aspects and the future of recycling could give you an edge, especially with clients who have corporate sustainability goals. Plus, knowing the ins and outs of these changing dynamics shows that you’re not just selling—you’re a consultant who’s paying attention to the industry’s pulse.

AI: Your Secret Weapon in Sales

Ai. The New god?

Charlie G. Peterson, IV takes on Ai, religion and God.

No biggie. Casual subject matter.

In her latest NorthStarAi article, The Rise of AI as God: Levandowski's 'Way of the Future', Charlie explores the notion through articles and content from and about Anthony Levandowski, a Silicon Valley engineer known for his work on self-driving cars, and his establishment of the church of Ai.

You may remember Anthony's adventures as a google big shot and one of the 70 or so Trump pardons.(wow)

But that's not important.

I had a chance to "sit down" with Charlie and get her insight on nothing less than Ai becoming God. 

Check it out.

AI in the Driver’s Seat: Leadership, Customer Service, and the Tech Shifts You Can't Ignore

From AI revolutionizing leadership to the delicate balance between automation and human empathy in customer service, the tech landscape is shifting fast—and it's not stopping there. Amazon’s latest AI-driven robotics center is setting the stage for the future of automation, while debates continue over whether AI can truly match human ingenuity in scientific discovery. In this week’s Greg Report, we explore these breakthroughs and what they mean for the office technology world.

🦝️Take This amazon Yahoo's Advice: Quit

​🦝️Can artificial intelligence rescue customer service?

🦝️Inside Amazon warehouse where robots have taken over and cry at humans...

🦝️A new playbook offers guidance for AI leadership...

New To Selling PodCast: Scanning

In a recent article, The Imaging Channel highlights a renewed interest in scanning technology, a resurgence largely fueled by the rise of remote work, accessible software options, and a generation of tech-forward business leaders. The piece explores how these factors are contributing to a growing demand for efficient and secure digital solutions.

Ricoh Takes Robotics to the Next Level: Supporting Humanoid Workers in Tomorrow’s Office

"Okay, but how does this help me sell more copiers today?"

We know Ricoh as the copier company, but their recent move into robotics support might surprise some of us who’ve been in the office tech game for years. 

When you think of Ricoh, you picture copiers or multifunction printers – the bread and butter of many dealerships. But as the business landscape changes, so does Ricoh. Their latest venture? Supporting Agility Robotics’ humanoid robot, Digit. It’s a sign that Ricoh isn’t just sticking to the traditional office technology space but is pushing into new, cutting-edge areas.

Keypoint Survey Reflects What We Already Knew - "Ai Will Remove Paper From the Process"

"Ai doesn't work with paper. At all."

I know, I know - the paperless office "will never happen".  It's been predicted for decades but you're still selling copiers, aren't you?  Still shipping toner, right?  Tick Tock, the clock is winding, we are a few strokes away from midnight.

Is the Death of the Copier Here.

I was surprised to read the headline:

"What’s keeping the enterprise from a paperless future?"

The date was August 15, 2024. Here.

2024.  I started this blog in 2008 because I saw the beginning of the end of the photocopier; printers, scanners, digital documents, faster more efficient business processes and workflows were part and parcel of the business world enabling better results: lower costs, higher revenues, and growing sales.

It's been a long time coming but reading it today is a bit nostalgic and 'analog'.

Flexible Financing: How Leasing Companies Help Dealers Diversify

The leasing companies have their finger on the pulse of the evolutionary changes sweeping the office technology industry, leading to new financing options. 

Have you heard the one about the water purifier? 

Is There Another Kodak Moment in the Industry's Future?

"Scanning" Is Back?

As the Managed Print Services renaissance continues, the mundane and taken for granted "scan-once-print many" feature is also finding revived popularity AND relevance.

Who knew?

This @Kodak Alaris recent strategic pivot to focus heavily on Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) underscores their commitment to a smaller yet growing copier industry niche, document capture and workflow optimization.

Is "Intelligent Document Processing" a logo or an ideal? 

Success in Office Technology - The Imaging Channel

Here we go.

The world is changing, as it always has, this time, 

"As businesses navigate the ever-evolving landscape of office technology, dealers are finding themselves at the forefront of a changing paradigm. The traditional model of providing print hardware solutions faces unprecedented challenges marked by a shift to hybrid work, flat to declining print volumes, the rise of artificial intelligence in the workplace, and mounting pressure to embrace sustainability. 

 However, within these challenges lies a silver lining for a new and promising beginning."

Read more, here., here.

All In Podcast - The Re'im Music Festival, 2023

Oct 7.

If you are brave.  If you are in technology.  If technology touches your life in any way.  If you have stopped watching the 'protests'.  If you have had enough of 46 year old, lifetime agitators stirring up your kids and occupying the news reel...

How to Start Using AI in Your Dealership

THE OPPORTUNITIES ARE WAITING FOR DEALERS OF ALL SIZES.

Since late 2022, the subject of artificial intelligence (AI) has received and generated billions of words, ideas, articles, and businesses. AI, through the introduction of ChatGPT, is the hottest thing going with promises of razor-sharp efficiency and warnings of the deepest, darkest sort; dystopia or utopia, more likely, both.

Now, let’s pivot to a seemingly unrelated yet intrinsically linked domain: office technology dealers. What’s the common thread? Initial resistance to embracing revolutionary technology. Here’s what some dealers are saying today about adopting AI in their businesses:

“I don’t need AI in my business…”

“I’m going to wait it out and see what happens…”

“I’m not technical, I still use paper…”

See Our Future in the Movies of the Past

The world, observed from above, is a wild, turbulent mix of influences, gravity, beliefs and processes.

We have always tried to make sense of our place through stories and myths. Call it 'programing' - after all, we watched 'programs' on TV 

Everything we want to know, understand and predict about Ai has already been said because Ai isn't just about silicone, quantum, hallucinations, and bias. It is about Us.

My thesis is simple. The dots connected, these movies,  reveal a pattern in the past and a clear picture of the future.  The near future.  Taken collectively, ALL sci fi movies act as that Crystal Ball everyone is searching.  The Fight for the Future is seen in our past.

"We Are the Gods Now - I haven't been struck down. I take that to mean I'm right."

"My Name is Peter Weyland And If You'll Indulge Me, I'd Like to Change the World"

Technology advancements:

• 100,000, BC: Stone tools.
• 4,000, BC: The wheel.
• 800, BC: Sundial.
• 9th century, AD: Gunpowder. Bit of a game-changer, that one.
• 1441: The printing press -- only slightly less impactful.
• 19th century: Steam engine. Railway. Eureka! The light bulb!!
• 20th century: The automobile, television, nuclear weapons, spacecrafts, Internet.
• 21st century: Biotech, nanotech, fusion and fission, and M-theory -- and that was just the first decade.

"We wield incredible power -- the power to transform, to destroy and to create again. The question, of course, before us is, "What the hell are we supposed to do with this power?" Or, more importantly, one should ask, 

"What are we allowed to do with this power?

Work From Anywhere Movement Moves Forward

The commercial real estate establishment is fighting for its life, literally. Publishing slanted studies as evidence that "it is time to get back to work".

Dozens of articles, and interviews projected in an attempt to make us not believe our eyes.  The buildings are empty.

There will be more. 

Reflections of The Industry

John the Baptist, incorporating elements from the Island of Misfit Toys, set in a 1960s science fiction and splatter art style. 

Let's Talk About Copiers

As I roam the landscape of copier, printer, output, digitization and organizational impact of office technology, I RARELY find anything more than a sponsored marketing piece disguised as neutral, self-aggrandizing tome regarding the greatness an organization selling copiers, or a collection empty words and sentences void of substance metastasize into rant.  

Exhausting.

I don't know if it was the eclipse or simply the universe colliding and spawning a three body solution for the mundane, we've got a cool triple-start over at The Imaging Channel.

March 2024 in the Copier Industry - The Same Only Different

I just read an article over at Cannata Report about diversification of products and services for the copier dealership.  I can't help but to be a bit surprised at how much HASN'T changed in over two decades.

Don't get me wrong, all of the observations and reflections contained are valid and support the notion that doing more of everything is the best way for copier resellers to avoid the same fate as buggy whips and While You Were Out message pads.(you remember those, right?)

Managed Print Services, scanners, telephones, and ink (Edgeline, anyone?) are staunch, proven, and although on the other side of the bell curve, profitable endeavors of pursuit.

Hear me out.

3D "Printers" - More Than Meets the Eye

Spooky, the kid is a table.

Digitally Remastered from 2010.

Let's cut to the chase. 

When most of us hear "3D printer," we don't think of a printer; we think of the replicators from "Star Trek." Yet, during a visit to one of the top design schools in the world (and a current client), I stumbled upon a machine using an Epson printhead to do just that.

Surprisingly, I found myself interrupting someone's lunch to get a tour that included this technological marvel nestled beside the woodshop. My curiosity skyrocketed. Without any previous exposure to 3D printing, I bombarded my impromptu guide with questions about how it works and its use by students.

The first thing that caught my attention was the term "printing" used to describe the process, and second, my guide's charm didn't hurt either.

My last campus visit was decades ago, focused on engineering and business, far from the art world's embrace. Yet, here I was, stepping into Otis College of Art and Design in LA, my curiosity piqued.

Business Matters

Work From Anywhere Will Change Everything.

What is up?  

Fran knows what is what in the Office Technology realm. We had a great time talking about work from anywhere and technology.

Ai was just over the horizon.