Tom Callinan

When I started as a sales person in the copier business I had a very simple process for success: I chose a couple of buildings in my geographically bound territory in Philadelphia and walked office to office with a goal of getting the business card of the “decision maker,” and gaining any information about their current copier. When I returned to the office at the end of the day, or arrived at the office in the morning, I called the decision makers from the cards I had collected. I also read a lot of sales books and was competent at every major “close,” including the right angle, Ben Franklin, alternate choice and even the “I want to think it over,” close. I literally had the responses to these common objections memorized.

That process worked for me in 1984/1985. In my first month I was sales rep of the month; in my sixth month I set the company record for monthly sales, double the previous high, and although I was promoted to manager in July of the calendar year, with no additional direct sales, my revenue in July would have earned me sales rep of the year come December. And just in case you’re the cynical type, it was a highly successful dealership with 15 reps. At this point I am sure a lot of readers are saying, “Yes, that’s what we need our reps to do today!” The reason I raise this ancient history is so I could dispel the thought that what worked in 1985 is what works in 2012.

When I started in the business service was a necessary evil: Nobody would buy the copier from you without service, but the profits on equipment were astronomical

Today, service and supplies (aftermarket) provide the profits for the business

In 1984 the dealership carried two product lines with a total of seven models, the fastest at 30 copies per minute

Today, there are over a dozen products per brand with speeds to 150 pages per minute.

In the 80’s the copier was new technology and buying a copier was both exciting for the company and had a degree of risk: The copier was relatively expensive and required service

Today, the copier is 30-year-old technology and there isn’t a lot of risk in the device you choose.

The allure of the new technology quickly faded when the business discovered that the copier required service every other week. Because of the frequency of required service the customer came to the conclusion that your dealership had poor service. They went with a different company for their next copier

Today, copiers are significantly more dependable and it is well known that they require service. Customers understand that it is the technology that is unreliable and not the dealership that causes failures. Most customers have been with the same vendor for three or more cycles of buying a new copier.

In the 80’s you would be hard pressed to find a CIO or director of IT. Enough said.
In the 80’s there was no commercial Internet, and LinkedIn, Facebook, and Web pages weren’t’ even a thought for sci-fi films.

If you are wondering why I am pointing out all of the changes that’s because facts help form how you approach a problem. The problem statement for this article is: “How do you increase each sales professionals pipeline of prospects?” Since I could write a book on the subject, I am simply going to provide you some sensationalized points to help you form an approach, or call the Strategy Development Team to help adjust your sales strategy.

Your territories should be list managed, period. Business type and size matter and your limited resource—sales professionals—should be focused on the business that produce the most paper and have an employee count that matches your capabilities. A four-person law firm may buy a Segment I copier and two printers but a 100-person law firm buys six Segment IV copiers and 40 printers. I want my rep calling on the 100-person firm.
Senior management should develop territories; again, my definition of a territory is a list of accounts. The sales rep you hired yesterday more than likely doesn’t take the time to think logically about how they spend their time so you need to help him focus
Walking door to door is dead. I know it worked in the 80’s, but that was when they were talking about the four-day workweek. I know it’s easy for management—get out there and cold call—rather than management developing a list of accounts and helping their sales professionals move those accounts through the buying cycle. I also realize that I am jumping up and down on a cherished industry approach but I’ll repeat my belief for you: Walking door to door is dead.
- If you are trying to penetrate a new account you know the entry points: Director of IT, Executive Director, CFO, etc. You can find everything you want about those individuals by spending 10 minutes on the internet
- In addition to the phone—and today people have direct inbound dialing so you don’t need to go through the receptionist—there is e-mail, cell phone and text messaging to reach those you want to speak to.
- “Catching people in the act of buying,” as coined by one of our clients, is no longer the goal. A nirvana day for me in 1985 was to find a copier on trial. I was confident I could get to the decision maker and outsell my competitor. Today that copier is probably in a proof of concept from an incumbent vendor who has 14 months of service wrapped into the remaining lease payments. The customer has been with the dealership for 12 years and some low-level employee is dealing with the sales professional. You need to develop relationships in the account long before they are in a buying cycle and you need to be a level above the person who handles the copier. You also need to find a business case to be something more than a copier vendor, since they already have that.

As the industry continues to evolve it will become critical for you to evolve your strategy to continue to experience success. Strategy Development can you help make the necessary adjustments through our consulting and training programs. Some aspects of success in the 80’s still work today: Hard and smart work. Make certain that you use all of the technology available today to add the “smart” element to your hard work.

About the author: Tom Callinan is the principal of Strategy Development, a management consulting firm for the technology and outsourcing space specializing in business planning, sales effectiveness, advanced sales training, and operational and service improvement (www.strategydevelopment.com). From 1998 – 2005, Callinan was an executive with IKON Office Solutions, most recently vice president and general manager of IKON’s largest business unit with revenue of $1.4 billion. Prior to IKON, Callinan was the founder and CEO of Copifax, Inc, a copier dealership that was recognized with numerous awards including inclusion on the INC 500 list of fastest growing private U.S. companies. Copifax was acquired by IKON in 1997. Callinan graduated with high honors from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Tom can be reached at callinan@strategydevelopment.com or (610)527-3317