Ode to Trader Joe's - Friday is Fun Day

If you don't know Trader Joe's - too bad for you.

The home of 2-Buck Chuck and all things organic...

HP Security Alert - HP Lasers and Digital Send units

At issue is the potential ability of unwanted to access print jobs through HP's Embedded Web administration tool.

HP says a firmware update is available to secure their printers.

The affected printers/MFPs: HP LaserJet 4345mfp; HP Color LaserJet 4730mfp; HP LaserJet 9040mfp; HP LaserJet 9050mfp; HP 9200C Digital Sender; and HP Color LaserJet 9500mfp- these units have firmware updates to fix the problem.

HP LaserJet 2410; HP LaserJet 2420; HP LaserJet 4250; HP LaserJet 4350; HP LaserJet 9040; and HP LaserJet 9050 all have preliminary updates.

Details regarding the firmware update, etc. can be found at HP Alert.

HP Enterprise Sales Training for the Masses - down from Mt. High, to the Channel...The Death of Socrates?

"What we are seeing is the transactional business or the run-rate business really fall off," Frank Rauch, vice president of HP's Solutions Partners Organization said.

"... People that used to buy a few servers a month, whether they needed them or not, as part of a regular routine are taking a second look at that. What we are seeing clearly accelerate is (sales for) partners focused on cost optimization projects. We are also seeing that the buying cycles are becoming a little bit longer because the customer governance processes are becoming a little tighter. What used to be a CIO decision or an IT director decision now goes to the CFO or the board. So what we are trying to do is equip our partners with training..."


"We want to get a healthier channel," Rauch said, "We want to get a more competent channel..."

HP Enterprise reps undergo training in the "Socriatic Selling" methodology - the art of asking questions. With the economic downturn as a trigger, HP is now offering this sales training to its partners.

"Appointments are getting harder to get. Projects are getting harder to justify," Rauch continues, "There are a million distractions not only in the partner organizations but in the manufacturer organizations and in the customer organizations. The ability to have that laser focus and a methodology to boil through that is going to be key."

But HP will not be doling out this wisdom to all -

"My approach is not a peanut butter approach," Rauch stressed, "My approach will be to work with partners that are dedicated to acquiring new HP customers selling the HP portfolio and providing a reasonable ROI (return on investment) on the money that we give them."

"We have a lot of competitive partners knocking on our door right now," he said. "And we are not opening that door to everyone."

Source: HP Provides Sales Punch For VARs Grappling With Downturn

By Steven Burke, ChannelWeb
3:27 PM EST Fri. Feb. 06, 2009

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