Disqus - Latest Comments for GregWalters

Re: Sales Question: "Is Cold Calling Really On Its Way Out?"

GregWalters — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 14:50:19 -0000

Cold calling is not dead - Calling Cold is Dead...

Re: How Hewlett-Packard Lost the HP Way

GregWalters — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 02:43:26 -0000

IBM..Copiers?...huh.

Ofus, has a point, IBM is what it is today, AFTER a period of rationalization - painful period, if I remember correctly.

There were days when everybody thought IBM was nuts - get out of the hardware business? No way.

Layoffs and DarkDays - Meg is not the leader. Yes, she 'lead' a company into prosperity but we in Cali. witnessed the Meg that listened to outside advice, became what she was told to become and failed.

She can't lead/teach the elephant how to dance.

I do feel for the great employees at HP and I do not doubt for a second that most are committed to succeeding.

Still, leadership is how great companies endure.

Re: The Future of Personal Branding: 5 Predictions

GregWalters — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 00:59:21 -0000

Wow - LinkedIn replaces the resume. Interesting.

What is more interesting is how easily the subject of 'power shift' is ignored or unseen.

As more and more possible employers utilize "online personalities" the ability to control and project our preferred persona increases our power. Allows us, the employee candidate, to qualify and weed out the undesirable employers.

It is most difficult to see now, but the age of centralized, top down influence is waning. In all things.

"Content is Everywhere. Content is Everything" - this isn't a marketing statement or a blogger's dream.

It is the world we live in today. A world shifting to peer to peer power.

Re: Are You Making This "Kiss of Death" Sales Mistake?

GregWalters — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 15:58:29 -0000

Cheese and cars sales people?????

No...couldn't happen, say it isn't true.

Next - furniture sclepps, and copier dudes...

Great Read.

Re: Top 10 Takeaways: 2011 Global MPS Conference

GregWalters — Mon, 09 May 2011 16:34:27 -0000

Okay, how bad is it when I am the one walking around in the corporate 'uniform', asking conformist questions and boot licking the OEMs...wait...that didn't happen.

I'm the one Killing MPS - phew.

Re: Five Lessons Learned On the Road to Becoming a Guru

GregWalters — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 19:34:46 -0000

Dude - is that a hottie, in a box? Kinda like, the SNL skit only different?

Ahem - I digress, as usual.

Great stuff - I would recommend that every selling professional become a 'guru' of some sort... in something, anything...

Re: Nominations Now Open for 2011 Managed Print Services Leadership Awards - Managed Print Services Connect - Managed Print Services News

GregWalters — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 00:28:53 -0000

Let's see what this year shall bring.

Short judging period, high on quality.

Re: Ask Customers to Use Less of Your Product: The Big Heresy

GregWalters — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 03:50:35 -0000

Xerox isn't really asking people to use less of their product - that is happening weather they ask or not - Xerox is simply changing what they sell from product to service.

X hasn't invested R&D in photocopiers for years, but they have purchased ACS. Copiers are dead, and the printed office document is on the decline - a natural progression that X and all the others are running behind.

I mean, sure, Xerox and HP go into enterprises and reduce the number of machines - but who put those machines there in the first place?

What has changed today, that makes less number of machines more efficient? Nothing.

Not only are firms like Ricoh, Canon, etc. reducing the waste/over capacity that they created, they are behind the curve (not for long) when it comes to meeting customer demands for developing smarter business processes.

As for Waste Management - I can't comment, except to say, why do i need to pay for a 'blue' container for "Recyclables" when the waste company processes and re-sells my recyclables, at a profit? Subsidized or otherwise.

And is it true that now because China doesn't need our garbage, pallets full of processed, recycled plastic is ending up in the landfills, anyway?'

The heck?

Re: Hiring Half-Baked Robots

GregWalters — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 18:46:45 -0000

Robby The Robot - Forbidden Planet and the Id!

Yes, let's keep the "human" in Human Relations.

http://thedeathofthecopier....

the more automation, the greater the need for human contact - simply to remind us we are still human...

Good form.

Re: Faces of MPS Media? Ken Stewart & Greg Walters Interviewed

GregWalters — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 01:36:32 -0000

Heckle?...who is heckling? Names...I want names, email addy's and pictures...

Re: The Customer Will Decide: A Dawning Realization About the Pending Collision of Managed Service Providers and Independent Dealers

GregWalters — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:32:59 -0000

It is, and always has been, about the client.

That is the great sea change for the traditional copier manufacturers - they no longer hold the reins on the industry/market.

And MPS is leading the way.

MSPs are going to be in the same boat the "BTA" types were 24 months ago, "do I adapt MPS or Embrace MPS..."

I've been calling it for a year now - MPS is under MSP, PrintSolv/WJA/TRAC/PrintAudit, all end up on a screen, in a NOC.

That's why Hybrid dealers on in the lead, they get it.

The difficulty for the MSPs is all the moving parts - in a printer/copier - switches, servers, and storage do not have as many moving parts as a Lexmark or KonicaMinolta...and depot won't cut it.

Good article!

Re: OfficeMax and MPS: What’s In Store For You?

GregWalters — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 18:13:35 -0000

Wow - Ok, Ken, you have it half right - Purchasing doesn't so much like IT, IT acts too much like purchasing.

And I love your quote, "...as many times as you think purchasing is non-strategic, that group is responsible for a good bit of movement, or lack of movement, in an account…"

Purchasing is strategic - and there is "movement", ahem, connected to purchasing - but, generating a pricing matrix for...let's say, line painting in the corporate parking lot, or mop head and floor mats, is a far cry from recognizing value of of a managed print service.

And honestly, asks a bit more from PA's than we should expect(gasp!).

As far as Staples and OMax having "relationships" with companies, the proof will be in the pudding...execution in the field, not on some white board, will be the differentiator.

Time will tell.

Great Post!

Re: Assessments or Assuckments?

GregWalters — Mon, 17 May 2010 18:35:34 -0000

Ok - I expect some sort of royalty on "The Death of..." and is "Assuckment" a new, MPS term?

LOVE IT!

See the Red Head, here:

http://thedeathofthecopier....

Great read, Ken, very good stuff.

Re: 10 Takeaways: 2010 MPS Conference

GregWalters — Wed, 12 May 2010 10:53:26 -0000

Respect, the power of the thong...Be The Leopard, baby...Be The Leopard!

Re: MPS: Myopic, Poor-planning, and Self-serving

GregWalters — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 10:58:34 -0000

Ken - good observations.

And one point to mention, as you did, this has all happened before.

But not in our industry.

The dollars associated with consolidations is staggering; in billions.

Just as impressive, are the number of people in our industry with a feather over their eyes, blinded.

The selling and profiteering you mention, again, happens to everything shinny and new at some point. In the beginning, automobiles where cutting edge technology and sold themselves.

Today, we all know the stigma associated with car salesmen.

Good form, Kenneth.

Re: Has Technology Killed The Relationship?

GregWalters — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 11:36:04 -0000

Very good observations - from chemistry.com to AshleyMadison.com to Salesforce.com; all the building blocks in relationships are changed, all the rules are different.

Re: 2 Reasons You Should Control the Definition of MPS

GregWalters — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 21:10:27 -0000

Nicely done.

Re: The Blah-Blah of the Blogs

GregWalters — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:37:30 -0000

Ken - isn't it simply Grand?!!

...er...wait...did you just call me "Thick-Headed"?

Odd, that was one of my nicknames in college...had nothing to do with smarts...bless my heart.

Cheers!

Re: Is The Problem Sales Versus Support?

GregWalters — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 03:21:39 -0000

Correct on all counts, except that Leftist-thing.

I make Reagan look like JFK...er...come-and-go...yup, that's me too.

:-)

Re: Is The Problem Sales Versus Support?

GregWalters — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 23:24:03 -0000

Ok - it's simple really.

Sales people, in the past, make promises for other people in the organization to keep.

How u like me now?

Re: The Managed Print Services Ecosystem

GregWalters — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 05:42:14 -0000

That Greg guy sure is smart.

Ok, maybe not all that smart.

I like the MPS Ecosystem idea, I really do. Because I look at MPS holistically and a bit ideally. And I too, look at MPS form different aspects and angles.

I guess I should say that yes, hardware is the platform that all else is built upon. And yes, a good MPS engagement/relationship is going to result in hardware placements.

My "anti-hardware" stance is simply this : MPS is different, if one uses MPS as a marketing ploy designed to pull equipment sales through, the approach is short term, copier-like, and flawed.

If the assessment clearly shows hardware should be purchased, then hardware is purchased.

But - go back to my above statement. I don't say "don't sell hardware". But perhaps I should say, MPS is not about hardware," it's about more than just hardware..."

There is an underlying aspect to all this and it's something I like to call "hardware heavy" accounts; simply meaning, the account has too many printers, copiers, supplies on site - they have been oversold. Probably due to the "commissions are paid and market share determined by hardware..." mentality of the last few decades.

So I am rallying against the old model. Windmills, I am sure.

Either way, I know that if the "big boys" get in the game, and they have, they will drive what they can to their hardware - they have no choice.

For the manufacturers, there is no REAL incentive to reduce the amount of toner they sell each year, or limit the number of copiers they manufacture, or even reduce volume output on their machines, in their "enterprise" accounts.

It will be done, grudgingly, because that's how commissions and market share are determined.

It's almost like the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Re: Rants, Resources, Reflections, and Revelations

GregWalters — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:58:31 -0000

ok - I am in -

will be up sometime...

Re: The End of Silence: ChangeForge Launches OdioGo Integration

GregWalters — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:39:48 -0000

Say What?

And getting the PodCast of your posts is easy too...I think.

I often listen to my posts in the vehicle on the way to Imperial or San Diego or Irvine...

I am still trying to figure out how to change gender and tone of the voice...hubba hubba...

Thanks for the shout out!

Re: How Do You Spell MPS?

GregWalters — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 14:52:05 -0000

Max!

Most xlint points.

I see this in the real world - did just yesterday.

My latest approach is to let the client define for me what they "think" MPS is; their definition.

And guess what, unless it is completely out of line, I agree with them and move forward.

Re: Selling to the Economy

GregWalters — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:46:03 -0000

Right on!

"Cost savings" is paramount.

And if your "solutions" always provided savings, then these could be the beginning of the "salad days".

One word of caution - FEAR is the motivator of the day.

Once it was the Red Threat, then the Soviet Union, then Global Warming, and today Global Financial destruction. When you hear anyone say "the economy will be damaged permanently" they are at best speaking from ignorance and at worse lying.

Do not believe this.

Econ 101 - "the economy is cyclical" - we are all on the same roller-coaster enjoy the ride.