August, 2008
Launched FM Audit’s New Site
Well, we had a great time (and very truncated) building FMAudit's new website. We built the new logo, new website and all new marketing collateral in about six weeks. I am pretty pleased with how it all turned out.
I just loaded the press release over at OfficeProductNews.net.
Here is an excerpt:
FMAudit is proud to announce the launch of its new international brand and website. The new materials can be seen online at www.fmaudit.com.
“We believe we have developed the industry’s best suite of remote meter reading and managed print services technology,” said Kevin Tetu, President of FMAudit. “We knew our next job was to be able to communicate how that technology can be used to help our clients grow their businesses.”
“What Could You Do With FMAudit” is the theme of both the new website and a new advertising campaign. “We wanted to get resellers dreaming about how they could use our solutions to grow their business and reduce overhead.” continue reading...
My Favorite Memory of IKON
I used to be employed by IKON Office Solutions. Today, both companies announced that IKON will be purchased by Ricoh. You can see Ricoh's release here and IKON's release here.
It is interesting to me. 
Ricoh buys IKON for $1.6 Billion or $17.25 per share. A little over a year ago Xerox bought Global Imaging for $1.5 Billion or $29 per share.
Why the big difference? Well, Global Imaging positioned itself for a sale for a long time, as such, it worked on being profitable by growth.
IKON Office Solutions seemed to have a different approach. When I worked for IKON a number of years ago, I remember year after year was the concern that sales weren't where they needed to be.
They still needed to be profitable, so the only other option was to cut. I remember thinking every year, "Oh, boy, here we go again... cutting our way to prosperity." continue reading...
When Inventory Is More Important Than Customers
Two weeks ago, I decided that I wanted to try an air card so that I wouldn't have to find a wi-fi hotspot for my internet needs. I was going out of town on a couple of trips, so it made sense. I talked with the sales guy at AT&T and Sprint.
I decided to go with Sprint. They have a location about 1 1/2 miles from my house. 
Prices were the same as AT&T, but Sprint was where I ended up. When I was at Sprint, they said they didn't have a card in stock and I would have to go downtown to pick it up... about 10 miles away.
No problem... I was actually going right past the location about 15 minutes later.
I picked up the card and for the most part, it worked fine.
There was one area on my travels it didn't work (I am pretty sure the AT&T card works) so I decided to take them up on the offer of returning the card within their 30 day time return policy. continue reading...
Launched New Client Site. TeamKearns.com
I am proud to launch another client site. I have been working with Ken at Kearns Business Solutions for some time now. He is the brains behind ChangeForge.com... which I highly recommend as a great read.
He decided to trust me enough to put together his new company website. I posted a press release over at OfficeProductNews.net.
Here is an except.
Kearns Business Solutions is proud to announce the launch of their new website, www.TeamKearns.com.
Several months ago, the company launched the Team Kearns initiative, geared towards communicating the value a team approach brings to outlining and executing their clients’ strategies. This website is another step towards helping Kearns not only communicate their message to clients, but ultimately providing valuable resources to augment their clients’ document strategies. continue reading...
Long Lines - Waste of Money
I mentioned that I was in Las Vegas. I stayed at Mandalay Bay. I found it very interesting that my first experience there was to wait in line for better than 30 minutes. I was only the 7th person in line.
I looked around and found something interesting about my situation. If you will notice in the image below, there are a lot of people waiting. There are a total of 26 lines where people can check in. Only 10 of them were manned (or womanned... as the case might be). At the point of taking my first picture, there were approximately 8 people in each line. It may look like there are more, but many people wait in line together. But still, that is about 80 people waiting to check into the hotel if you don't count their associates.
After I was done checking in, I decided to step back and take another picture. As far as I could tell, the lines doubled in length during that 30 minutes. continue reading...
Just launched new client website - Copytronics
I am proud to have just launched a new client website. Another fun project to check off my list.
I just posted the press release over at OfficeProductNews.net. Here is an excerpt from the press release.
Copytronics Information Systems is proud to announce the launch of their new website at www.copytronics.com.
“Office technology continues to evolve.” said Bob Shields, President. “We wanted to create a website where current and potential clients
could find helpful information on the application of these new technologies.”
Over the past few years Copytronics has made investments in new solutions to add value to their clients. The Managed Print Services program provides supplies and service to printer fleets in a usage-based cost-per-page model, helping clients control costs. A suite of document solutions software offerings like DocuWare aids clients in streamlining workflow and creating electronic filing systems.
The new website features useful information on each of the new solutions along with expanded content on the application of multifunction technology that prints, copies, faxes and scans. Product catalogs are continually updated by CopierCatalog.com. This ensures that clients will always have access to fresh information about the latest systems. continue reading...
Leaving Las Vegas
I just left Las Vegas and left my hotel room 1 hour and 30 minutes before my flight. I went outside the hotel to the taxi stand. There was no doorman so I went to the taxi stand myself and called for a cab. Since I didn't have any cash, I asked if he accepted credit cards.
The driver was a little disappointed and said, "No."
I waited a couple of minutes for another cab to show up and asked the same question.
"Sorry, there is only one cab company in the area that accepts credit cards," came the response.
So, I looked for a doorman to help me with finding the right cab company, but there were none to be found.
I decided to go to the back of the hotel where I knew there was another taxi stand.
I would have just gotten cash from the ATM on the way to the back taxi stand, but I didn't have a debit card with me. continue reading...
How do you sell?
In thinking a little about how you might compete, I also pose the question of how you sell? Sales tactics have evolved over the years. By and large, people don't want to be "sold to." But, they do want to have their problems solved.
If you talk about your products all the time, you are simply a pitchman. The natural question that follows from the client is, "Okay, so how much is it?" You put yourself into a position that they client will naturally look for the lowest price. continue reading...
How do you compete?
When you sell the same thing everyone else sells, how do you compete? When your product is identical, do you simply drop your price or do you find some sort of substantial differentiation?
I would hope that when you look at your product offerings that you don't fall into the trap that you are better because you are the lowest price... because someone will always be a lower price.
I would hope that you don't think that just because you say you have better service, more employees, more revenues or because you are local that you think that you have a point of differentiation.
You have to be great to be different. If you aren't truly great, then you better get your prices as low as possible. continue reading...
The Untold Problems of Vista
So, Microsoft is really working hard to dispel the attitudes that people have about Windows Vista. It is fascinating to me that they have to work so hard at it. They have sites dedicated to telling people how good they are 
like the Mojave Experiment. They did the same with another site but it wouldn't work because of their stupid Silverlight technology. They have even resorted to spam to accomplish the telling.
If it was half as good as Microsoft claimed, they wouldn't have such a hard time getting people to upgrade. The consumer would spread the word for them.
The fact is, you can do so many things with Vista. You can do all that you did before... you just have to do it differently. In many cases, it is much more difficult.
Here are some observations that I made a year ago that still seem to be an issue... even with the much touted SP1. Some are getting better, but still not there. continue reading...
