Sometimes, it's just too Delicious to let go: Define "photocopier" - under oath.

3/2011

One of the thousands of "DOTC Informers" tipped me off to some goings-on in the Mistake by the Lake, The Rock and Roll Capital of the World - Cleveland.

This is no lie.

As we on this side struggle to define Managed Print Services, there are Public workers everywhere who still call the machine which makes copies a xerox.

Think I'm too tough on the public sector? 

Here is a sample from a deposition last year that seemed to get stuck on the definition of "photocopier".

Lawyers and a witness - you can not make this stuff up:

Marburger: Do you have a secretary?

Patterson: No.

Marburger: Does anybody there have a secretary?

Patterson: Yes.

Marburger: Have you ever heard a secretary use the term "photocopy"?

Patterson: No.

Marburger: Have you ever--do you have machines there where I can put in a paper document, push a button or two, and out will come copies of that paper document also on paper? Do you have such a machine?

Patterson: Yes, sir.

Marburger: What do you call that machine?

Patterson: Xerox.

Marburger: Xerox. Is the machine made by the Xerox Company? Is that why it's called Xerox?

Patterson: No.

Marburger: So Xerox, in the parlance that you've described, the language that you've described, is being used generically as opposed to describing a particular brand; is that right?

Patterson: All of my life I've just known people to say Xerox. It's not commonplace to use the terminology that you're using.

Marburger: You mean it's more -- people say Xerox instead of photocopy?

Patterson: If you're referring to a type of machine where you place a piece of paper on the top and press a button and out comes copies of it, they usually refer to it as a Xerox.

Marburger: Have you ever heard it referred to as photocopying?

Patterson: Not with my generation, no.


You must check out the entire conversation.

Click to email me. 

SuperMoon - SuperBeast - 2:10 EST

What were you doing, the last time there was a supermoon, 19 years ago?

Where will you be when the next SuperMoon rises?

Photizo Managed Print Services Conference 2011 - Look to Yesterday and See Tomorrow

This year the North American MPS Conference is going to be huge - attendance up, interest in MPS common, the niche now firmly established as an industry.

Why should you go?

Maybe you don't want to be the last person on your block selling copiers. No doubt to the surviving collection of people who don't care about value, costs or spending our money: Public Sector.

Do you think this "Hot New MPS Thing" will finally catch on next year?

Perhaps you're such a output-geek, friends and family are starting to put you in the same class as "Trekies"(for the record, its "Trekor"). Fewer people stick around once you get going on "scan once, print many".

And maybe approaching a three-some like the one above, intimidates you.

Ok, that has little to do with MPS; more to do with DOTC_AfterDark.

If you're into Managed Print Services, see a future beyond Stage 4, and reside out here with me 'to the right of the bell curve', this is our time.  Come.

Managed Services - Qualification is Very Important.

Fire your undeserving customers, don't lock them in.

Qualify at every turn. Call it "trial closing" if it makes you feel better.

To qualify a prospect, you must first know what you are, what you believe in and what you stand for.

And most of all, be prepared to see - no - search out reasons the person in front of you is not a prospect and does not match your ideals or what you stand for.

Again, I doubt very much, any of your OEM sales training ever stresses this, simple point.

Your 'solution' does not fit everybody.

Managed Services - Can Your Marketing Department Come up With Something Like This?

We know Managed Print Services can be boring to some.

Putting together Value Prop's and sales collateral is extremely important. Toils every marketing department/major love to do.

But really, why can't just once, all those web-design and Adobe classes result in something like this:

Your Managed Print Services Association - Looking for Standouts

Nominations Now Open for 2011 Managed Print Services Leadership Awards

Third annual award program takes place at MPS Global Conference in Orlando

Columbus, OH – March 14, 2011 – The Managed Print Services Association (MPSA) is accepting nominations for the third annual MPS Leadership Awards. These awards recognize organizations demonstrating leadership in implementing, providing or supporting MPS projects.

“The road to success in MPS takes hard work, and organizations that demonstrate leadership and innovation deserve to be recognized. Our winners exemplify the initiative, excellence and diligence found throughout the managed print services industry. The awards catapult deserving firms into the winners’ circle of this emerging and critically important MPS world, and bring them valuable visibility and credibility,” said MPSA President, Joe Barganier.

Skylar, Dr. Dre, Em, and Ri - On and Off Stage, an Orchestra, Lights, Video - Lot's of Moving Parts. Just Like Managed Print Services

The award season is past, thank the TV gods. This year's 53rd, Grammy show returned its best rating since 2001.

The telecast, in addition to rewarding musicians for jobs well done, teems with performances.

Some good, some not so good.

One of the best of the evening, was Rhianna performing "Love the Way You Lie" as a duet, with Eminem.

Em, Skylar and Dr. Dre, rounded out the recital with the sequel, "I Need a Dr.".

The production was big, complex, and sophisticated with many moving parts.

They made it looked easy.

Catching the performance that evening left me impressed; my appreciation grew more profound in the weeks that followed.

The performance ecosystem:

• Dre - the Rock. Solid, been here, done this.
• Em - recovering.  Detroit. White Rapper(the f?)
• Ri - Damn.  Hot. Mocha. Sing the shit outta everything.  Recovering.
• Skylar - Who?  Young.  New. Wrote the Song. Never performed to a crowd like this.

Oh, and one more thing - Live.

All these parts, these ego's and interpretations, seemingly incongruous styles, overlapping, merging and separating.

Infusing an emotional charge from each individual - and making it work - stellar.