E*Commerce: Where B2C Thrives and Old Business Systems Go To Die.

Summary: DOTC argues that selling office technology has become a commodity, with e-commerce platforms replacing the need for sales reps to pitch the product. The author suggests that instead of focusing on the hardware, companies should shift their focus to managed services and helping businesses increase sales, reduce costs, and grow profits.

______

You've heard it, "If you aren't on my e-commerce platform, you're going to die."  or this one, "Today, you don't need any outside sales reps.  Your prospects don't want to talk to your pushy, commission-breath, hired guns anymore...they'd much rather tap a few keys and have the copier show up at the door."

Well, not that bad.

To be certain, having an ecomm presence is a good thing- for ribbons, toner cartridges, staples, highlighters, and white out.  Groceries, bicycles, and yoga pants are easy to purchase online as well.  So are motor oil, shampoo, peanuts, air compressors, and even lawnmowers.

Do you see the common thread?

Commodity: a mass-produced unspecialized product

Happy Halloween: Grover's Mill, NJ - October 30, 1939

"...We know now that in the early years of the twentieth century this world was being watched closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own. 

We know now that as human beings busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinized and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinize the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacence people went to and fro over the earth about their little affairs, serene in the assurance of their dominion over this small spinning fragment of solar driftwood which by chance or design man has inherited out of the dark mystery of Time and Space. 

Yet across an immense ethereal gulf, minds that to our minds as ours are to the beasts in the jungle, intellects vast, cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes and slowly and surely drew their plans against us. In the thirty-ninth year of the twentieth century came the great disillusionment."

It was near the end of October. Business was better. The war scare was over. More men were back at work. 

Sales were picking up. 

Level Up With West, Ken and Me

I had a great time with these guys talking about office technology and the new way of the Worlds.

Check it out, here.

New to Copier Sales: The Three Levels of Prospects, P1

I once believed selling was selling — that no matter where I lived, or what I was peddling, the act of selling was the same.  From personal computers and insurance in mid-Michigan to corporate identity programs and copiers in Southern California, I was told by many learned sales managers, trainers, and “experts” that “sales is sales is sales.”  They were wrong.

Of course, there are differences across the selling spectrum. Geography, local economics, and social norms impact decision-making on a varied and personal level.  To treat everybody the same is an injustice.  Advanced B2B selling has moved beyond a cookie-cutter methodology.

As far as I see it, there are three levels of B2B prospects:

Read the rest, here.

"Chips Are the New Oil"

The copier industry strikes again. 

We were one of the first to implement M2M in our assets. 

We were a premiere user of remote data collection - yes, even before 'probes' were all the rage. 

You may ask yourself, "How are microchips produced, and is there a parallel with copiers?" 

You may ask yourself, "How did I get here?" - that answer is for other content... 

Anyway - Behold.  The projection of light, creating an image, upon a surface. 

Look a little familiar?

The Biden administration is continuing the weaponization of silicon - it all started back in the 60s - this issue has global and historical ramifications, much like the lack of oil for Japan spurred WWII, cutting off the chip pipeline has economic and strategic implications.

Wars have started for less.

LAUSD Gets Hacked, Does Not Pay, "Secret and Confidential" Data is Released.

Is Anyone Surprised?

From a LinkedIn post by Michael Bruner, Technology Consultant, Managed Print and Content Services, Flex Technology Group.

"I'll just leave this here...

Los Angeles School District gets hacked?

I've called on ALOT of school districts and .GOV letting them know I'd like to meet and talk about the potential security vulnerability of their desktop printers and MFP's. #itsecurity #managedprintservices

What will it take to understand this is a serious threat?"

###

Of course, I chimed in...

New to Copier Sales: The Three Levels of Prospects, Part 1

I once believed selling was selling — that no matter where I lived, or what I was peddling, the act of selling was the same.  From personal computers and insurance in mid-Michigan to corporate identity programs and copiers in Southern California, I was told by many learned sales managers, trainers, and “experts” that “sales is sales is sales.”  

They were wrong.

Of course, there are differences across the selling spectrum. Geography, local economics, and social norms impact decision-making on a varied and personal level.  To treat everybody the same is an injustice.  Advanced B2B selling has moved beyond a cookie-cutter methodology.

As far as I see it, there are three levels of B2B prospects:

Here.