Some things never change and one of those is getting dealers to think outside the box. I’ve been doing this since 1986 although it wasn’t until the early ‘90s that I started taking this industry seriously and was smacked across the face with the realization that I’m pretty much here to stay. Anyway, sometime between then and now I began hearing all this talk of solutions selling and how that was the wave of the future. Conversations with dealers have shown that many have embraced this or at least they say they have. I’m still not sure how this industry, whose foundation is selling boxes, can completely embrace a solutions selling business model. Don’t the OEMs still have quotas—box quotas, not boxes with solutions quotas, right? Call me naïve, but I still can’t figure out how box quotas fit into a model that everyone acknowledges requires a longer sales cycle. Can someone help me out here? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

With the summer craziness going on, not to mention the hurricane that’s hitting the East Coast this weekend, I’m extending the deadline for Elite Dealer nominations to Sept. 6. There’s still time.

New content this week includes:

Flo-Tech was Making a Case for Managed Print Before MPS

Meet the Movers & Shakers: Toshiba’s Bill Melo

Thanks for reading.