Scary Times – Ricoh the one world leader succumbs to bad economy and is vulnerable like everyone else…

Now this is just hearsay, but I was just told that Ricoh is making employees take a week furlough without pay and has started lying off employees. This is a very similar situation that I am seeing across the boat I mean board with companies in our industry. From Konica Minolta's huge layoffs right after Xerox and Kodak cut roughly 20% of their global workforce. I'm sure it is not a shock to see HP step back and act cautious in new hires and expansion. Now with Canon in complete desperation to see them partner up with HP is almost funny. These types of partnerships are not uncommon in our industry, good bedfellows they make as they both struggle to assert their once top tier status. With Oce bleeding profusely to now even Ricoh showing their humanity we see salary's decreasing, employee benefits being cut or disappearing all together to sheer headcount reductions in almost every company.

IKON has even make changes and cutbacks in our company 401K matching program. The one thing I will say is that we are still expanding headcount and retooling our demo facilities and go to market strategy. We have not given up that we can be successful in such trying economic times. "Be Bullish In Production" our RVP says religiously. IKON is very bullish in times when even the greats are cowering. In fact we seem to have put on the war paint and run into the streets to meet our enemy head on. We continue the fight regardless of the naysayers.

I am getting nervous to see our "big brother" have such 'noise' coming from their employees. I knew many that went from Konica Minolta and others to over to RBS when they were the best looking for longevity; now what were long term stable employees they too are making the great pilgrimage to look for "gainful employment."

With everyone having such a knee jerk reaction it makes me wonder what is coming next. From everything I am seeing it appears that IKON is coming out on top and in a strong position to negotiate with the Ricoh first born. It would not surprise me to find that IKON becomes the "chosen one" and the pony picked to win this next horse race. I look forward to hearing the stories from my readers as I'm sure that many will find even uttering such a thing blasphemous.

If you have a Ricoh layoff story or more "inside information" I would love to hear. As for Pirate Mike I think we will see the true colors of Ricoh's intentions by April 1^st 2010! Maybe I'm wrong but hide and watch as Ricoh retools their organization to come out fighting strong in the next fiscal.

Also be looking for the new Ricoh Pro C901 ( or whatever they will call it ) This new machine of destruction will be a great advancement of the C900 of today with no fuser oil, basing its strengths on a newly formulated polymerized toner? that will bring digital quality to new heights. If I had to guess with the speed at which they are developing products I would guess mid spring or early summer. With all of the great advancements of the Aegis product you can be sure that Ricoh is looking to show the world that "Ricoh knows production." Or at least the new horse they ride IKON>

What Ricoh knows is how to buy the best technology and engineers and then follow that up with a great distribution model which they did too buy. The IKON acquisition will show that their multibillion dollar purchase was not in vain but truly put them on the map in a way that they never could have done before the acquisition.

Ricoh is slowly learning the power of the weapon that she bought. But being able to wield this new weapon of destruction is yet another story. IKON is not an easy horse to ride, and this ride is surely to get very edgy in the short term as things build and the economy continues to falter. This is an "E" Ticket for sure!

As we get into 2010 I'm sure there are more cuts, layoffs, and changes to come. All we can ask is in the end that we are paid to the champions of the day. I for one cannot complain too bad as I have had record months and a record year! I am sitting somewhere around 120% of my budget with almost 400% of my yearly units. The Ricoh Pro 550EX, 700EX and the infamous C900 have taken me to the Promised Land!

Even in bad times the pirate of Lewisville Lake is showing that it can be done with no food or water and just on new business acquisition alone!

Happy Hunting,

The Pirate Connection…

The Pirate Connection…

You know I think I get more questions about the whole pirate thing and yet even with all that I have written I think that people truly do not make the connection. People still think pirates are folklore and are left to the stories of people walking the plank and funny characters talking strange and hobbling around on a wooden leg with a hook for a hand wearing the proverbial eye patch. What they do not understand is that piracy on the high seas is common, even in the true definition piracy occurs over 250 times a year and is one of the most common dangers faced by our merchant marines. Much more common than hurricanes or other weather related dangers it is a seaman's reality. We find it also on land, and in some of the areas that we claim are the safest like our market system.

And all the while I am living in the midst of a typical corporate merger created from the pressures from Wall Street in a very simple commodity type business and I am witnessing what I write about first hand. I mean toothpaste, toilet paper, fax machines These are all common goods that we use pretty regularly right? Well as it turns out the last year that I was working at IKON I was going to witness on a grand scale what privateering and piracy is all about at the multibillion dollar level. When I talk about sovereignty, territory and exercising power and control in the definition in the privateering of old I could as well have been talking about hostile takeovers and corporate mergers of the 21^st century. Nothing has changed our actions that we take still have lasting effects on the way we live and the security of others.

What is amazing is that we call ourselves a civilized society, well in some areas we may be, but in reality we are pretty savage and hypocritical. We are a greedy and bloodthirsty lot. The rest of the world talks about us in disdain and we the great capitalists of the west have exercised our sovereignty to line the pockets of the high and mighty. We like to talk about helping the needy and being a good big brother to the nations so that we can sit at home and sleep well at night. When the reality is that we have sent teams out into the nations to spy and steal with commission. "For the good of all" right? Well just to provide National security to protect the innocent right? "To preserve our freedom" right? Ya that is what is it all about; sure…

I am not a conspiracist nor am I a conspirator, but what I am is a realist. I am also a consumer, I live a decent life and earn a decent (6 figure) income in which 40% of it is disposable. In which I have the luxury to take time being a buyer, and not always a seller of goods and services. I have on many occasions after great study, research and consideration still been screwed by a savvy and well thought out salesperson. I myself have worked for manufacturers where I had several products all good for a purpose but when questioned by a prospect had to give them what the "best" solution that I had none of which was the best for their purpose. I have made purchases that luckily came out ok, due to the fact that a poor purchase could have been catastrophic. Like in the case of a bad purchase of insurance, or of a home or lemon vehicle which could ruin your finances or worse.

Since I am in the midst of some ruthless privateering and an employee of said sovereign body whom grants me commission to plunder I will hold my comments for a time. But there will be a day come to pass when I will talk of what many already know. Corporate America is savage and full of privateers and pirates. None of which can be trusted or believed, it is intrinsically interesting though how often they deceive even themselves. And what is even more funny is that they believe each other; listening intently to each other's stories of conquest with anticipation and belief. If you wake up and think you are innocent you are but just part of the great deception. If you wake up and think you are a great deceiver you have bought into the lies of those that are in ultimate control. If you wake up and are just not sure of what is happening you may very well still have a chance to save your soul.

What is of concern is that I have on occasion thought that I was outside of the boarders of those that would influence control over me, but in reality I live in the heartland of the controlled. I am but a mere pawn in this chess game of marauders. Corporate America, land of the free, home of the brave. What do you think it took to be brave in a new frontier? How do you think those brave men stayed free from the chains that would have liked to have bound them? Laissez-faire capitalists would have you believe that "hands off" government is the way to go, just let the fair market system prevail. What people forget is that the markets are driven by people and that people are in many cases driven by greed. If you leave markets and corporations to be "ruled" by themselves what you end up with are warlords and chieftains. They will fight over their territory and sphere of influence till they choke out the others. This is called a monopoly and in many rights a dictatorship.

Power corrupts and complete power corrupts completely. Without checks and balances what we see is that corporations like people become an enemy of the state. What we find is that groups are corporations; they are embodied to further a cause sometimes economic sometimes it is purely ideological like in the case of a political or spiritual group or organization. These groups can if left to themselves and being unchecked can rise up to power and cause great destruction. Look at the debacle going on with our financial institutions which have been highly regulated and monitored by the state and federal government. Look at the men that have plundered great fortunes just to leave the companies that they ruled ravaged by their greed and great incompetence. Look at the cost of their failures to our lifestyle and the real debt that we will have to pay for their debauchery.

So "hands off" doesn't work and neither does "hands on" so what does work? Market competition? Look at my industry? Well I would love to tell you about it, but this is a public blog and I am still under commission and still privateering.

Maybe when I retire J Or maybe if you come close I can whisper these great secrets into your ear, just before I cut that necklace off of your body! Don't forget I am a pirate… One that has made it through many campaigns and survived many sieges, and I will survive this one too. This old pirate is looking for calmer seas, maybe an inland cove to rest. Watching the sirens call to the passing ships has become a pastime and steering clear of the reefs has become old hat. I would much rather sit around the helm and tell stories while drinking rum then actually boarding a ship and taking no prisoners.

Taking the crew to land and plundering a city has lost its charm. I would much rather watch a sunset or the clothes fall off a beautiful silhouette. There is more to come, keep watch I am sure to tell more stories as the time passes.

RiKON… The Next Generation…

It sounds a bit like an old Star Trek episode but really this is my life. With all of the instability in the world what could happen that would bring all the stars into alignment, fix the global economy and solve world hunger? How about Ricoh making a play for the largest independent distributor of office products and solutions maybe? Ok maybe not… So you think that you had it all figured out huh, Konica Minolta buys Danka, Xerox buys Global. And maybe since IKON was almost a billion dollars of Canon's yearly equipment revenue that they would forsake the path that they followed with Global Imaging and Danka; well you were wrong! I can remember it like it was yesterday, "No Canon will never cut IKON off, that is ludicrous." Much to IKON's and Ricoh's dismay, Canon did pull the plug and sent Ricoh (the father of a brand new baby) reeling looking for a new horse to ride for the high end color and black and white portion of IKON's production portfolio (a 25% share of IKON's revenue). Watching this unravel (from the inside) was enough to send you to the doctor looking for a well deserved prescription of Xanex. Well thank goodness for Ricoh's Kodak relationship now we can all rest easy right?


In a playing field that is less than well defined it is funny where new bed partners come from. Just picking up Kodak sounds good but is not that easy to implement especially over night. Kodak is a very high end and expensive digital press not just in up front acquisition costs but also in day to day operating costs not to mention that it requires a much more skilled operator to run and make repairs. IKON with all of its production experience isn't going to jump in and start doing service on the NexPRESS and service is where it is at in the business model of the office equipment world. So now what? Hmm, well maybe the new Hitachi technology that they have buried into their new flagship product the Ricoh Pro C900 (Digital Press, Production Copier – What do I call it?) will be enough to stave off the bitter reveling of Canon. Either way just putting the Kodak label on portfolio brochures is not going to stop the bleeding. Especially when you have cut a main artery like in the case of IKON and Canon. IKON sold about 60% Canon products in a very well defined market place where over the last years IKON went around buying up successful dealerships that were primarily Canon in nature.


So now the acquisition is over and we approach the first milestone. What is that you say? Well since you asked it is the beginning of Ricoh's new fiscal year of course. Here comes 2009 fast and furious. So what is in store for IKON in this broad new world of opportunity? Will they remain ran as an independent subsidiary? Will they get quickly absorbed into the belly of the beast? With the changing of the guard from a political standpoint and the evolution of our economy it is anyone's guess. As companies draw lines in the sand and build alliances with other competitors either by acquisition or by contract we start to see the battle grounds becoming more defined. Now that the great expansion is over and we see the number of competitors collapse into a 3 or 4 player race; we now are starting to see the mystery unfold.


The new mission of RiKON is to explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations. In my humble opinion this new world of RiKON is very well positioned for the midterm play. Why midterm you ask? Because RiKON is a large organization and they really cannot move and adapt that quick. I watched the launch of the Canon imagePRESS both from the outside (small Canon dealer that was first to market with the imagePRESS in the country's 7^th largest print market and from the inside as a newly head hunted acquisition of IKON to their newly formed commercial print initiative (which was 6 months late to market) and watched IKON take quite a bit of time ramping the program up to the monster that it became. Between defining the goals of the organization and the tools to hand out along with push back from local operations and management it was amazing that the program lifted off at all. IKON has a way of taking strong salespeople and administrating them to death. I wonder daily how I ever find time for sales activities in the midst of my spreadsheets and conference calls. But they do have the momentum of figuring out how they want to position their "go to market strategy" though which still makes them very dangerous; much like a wounded water buffalo one must be ready to pull the trigger or get out of the way.


The imagePRESS's successor the Pro C900 is a Hitachi engine (obtained from the Ricoh purchase of Hitachi Printing Systems) with a Ricoh wrapper (fast plastic B2C look and feel). It has obvious Ricoh influences though, odd finishing configurations and odd substrate limitations that are very familiar with typical B2C products. Without time to finish the development Ricoh opted not to use a polymer toner but to use the old fashioned fuser oil process and the slow down the engines speed capability to build it to a price point. This fusing process is the one that we have over the years come to know and love. For the old timers this should bring back fond memories, as many have come to love the glossy, greasy get out your shammy cloth and buff the proof look. Outside of that, the engine has a very good color gamut (very similar to the imagePRESS) and has 8 bit color depth at the 600X600 dpi setting. (Unlike Canon's "multi bit" technology) The engine has remarkable front to back registration and clearly shows that Ricoh is "on to something." A very strong competitor to the Xerox Docucolor series it will challenge and even beat the imagePRESS where its few obvious weaknesses are not the main consideration. Upon a more detailed look the Hitachi influence is pretty obvious. The registration system is something that closer resembles something off of an offset press not a copier, and the systems that monitor quality are obvious improvements "not Ricoh." From beefed up rollers and mechanisims inside the outer wrapper is purely cosmetic. With expanded controller options in the near future and the ability to incorporate all of Ricoh's finishing options this will be a horse to ride in an economy where people want more for less and sellable is good enough.


With Ricoh moving into the production arena full steam, backing this movement not just with the acquisition but in a total refresh of IKON demo floors, infrastructure, finances and personnel. With strong incentives to stay and see the changes through RiKON is positioned themselves to make strong moves on Canon and Xerox as the new product takes hold in the market place. Also for those elite customers that need NexPRESS or Digimaster they will have that to choose from as well as the IBM infoprint roll to roll systems that at the moment is a joint venture soon to be another wholly owned subsidiary of Ricoh are also on the menu. Now with their PPBG (Ricoh production print business group) and IKON (a real production print equipment and solutions distribution system) Ricoh for the first time has some products to sell and a way to market and support them on a global basis.


How long will this take? My guess after watching the launch of the imagePRESS and seeing the state of the C900 today I am thinking that things will be in place to move forward for a strong play by Q3 or Q4 of Ricoh's 2009 fiscal. Also watch for a faster and a slower C900 along with firmware coming shortly to integrate all options on their mid volume line to fit the C900. This will give the C900 a dominant opportunity in the in plant and crd space given its specs and price point.


Where will it all fit in commercial print? We will have to see how everyone perceives the C900. With open houses going on around the country, and very critical trials being pursued as we speak; some of the country's largest buyers of digital printing equipment are trying this new Hitachi technology out. Once they make their decision we will have a clear idea of how well we are going to fare this round. Ricoh with enough stamina and finances to get through several boxing rounds gives me the impression that they will get to see the fulfillment of their new objective. "Become a player in the print for pay and high volume market." With Konica Minolta running tight on Ricoh's heels and niche players poised to be gobbled up by someone for example like Oce it is still anyone's race. And what if Xerox decides to drop this AP platform that is just an extension of worn out technology the race could renew yet again. Although pay close attention though as IKON restructures it may take the focus off of those that understand the production world (those that sold and serviced the Canon's) and replace them with new inexperienced followers of the Ricoh line (mfp, fax and b2c color devices) as part of a realignment that might make sense to someone that has been staring at spreadsheets too long.


It is hard to say how long Ricoh will allow the rogue IKON to continue selling multi brands and non focus products but it clear that nothing drastic is going to change in the short term. Everyone is still trying to convince themselves that it is "business as usual." And in an economic and political time like this makes this whole discussion even more interesting. Canon is still dizzy from trying to figure out how they are going to replace 400 locations and how much they are willing to drain out of their large cash reserves to "buy back" customers that chose Canon products and specifically picked IKON as their service provider; they have a tough row to hoe. If one looks at other mergers to glimmer a bit of history one remembers that Global did not lose the farm but instead grew their market share and did quite well after the Xerox acquisition. RiKON could very well come out stronger than ever. Unlike the Danka purchase by Konica Minolta. (I would guess that the danka.konicaminolta.us will quickly change to kmbs.konicaminolta.us as they have no need for the extra dead weight and reputation that Danka has earned over the years.)


I was there for the Minolta and Konica merger and survived it (2 President's Club Trips and 1 Circle of Excellence Trip) so I know how step children are treated. They are managed to success or simply managed out. With mostly the "Minolta Management Style" left they are a very shrewd and focused group led by a Konica visionary (Jun H.) they will drive hard till they reach their business objective which is to become a "Tier 1 Player." Konica Minolta will press on till they move over one of the Gartner's "4 leaders" or knock one out of the game completely. That was their new mantra as I left to chase the Canon imagePRESS product which now has done a vanishing act from my portfolio.


Gartner has Konica Minolta as a challenger and that they truly are. With a very different "to market approach" they are not part of the "leaders" group of thinking (Canon/Xerox/Ricoh/HP). They are very much out of the box and are non traditionalists that could become a wild card in this program; they are not to be taken lightly. With their 90 ppm engine to be out soon the playing ground will level once again and they will be competing from a position of strength stepping up from their current production platform which has done very well in office, in plant and print for pay markets (both commercial print and franchise print).


As I look at my options which are still considerable (enough to keep me with a headache all the time) I am not sure that I see a clear leader to "jump" to. I suspect that as I look at the different organizations that no one has a truly superior program to the one that IKON has put together and the one that RiKON has adopted. What I have seen is a clear indication from Japan that they intend to move into this brave new world that their direct group was unable to accomplish. Now with IKON in hand they can boldly go where they have never gone before.


So what does the future look like?


Muddy and troubled for everyone in this industry. But for those that are brave enough to stick out this new world of RiKON they will be quick to learn the new vision; we are on a 5 year mission to travel out to distant zip codes, and to seek out new customers, and to boldly sell what no one has sold before. We tip our hats to you Mr. C900 may your silicone oil flow through our veins and your "green" pulverized toner sustain us, and your plethora of finishing options take us to the promised land.


Amen


Just another personal opinion from Pirate "Big Iron" Mike…

(May the rate factor be with you and your credit analyst be "on vacation")

Driven… to excellence or failure

You know over the years I feel like I had less to do with myself than I used to give myself credit for. I back in my 20's used to think that I was the sole "destinator" of where I would end up ultimately. Well a few years later and a lot of emotional circumstances, both wins and losses have shown me that I was but a guest in the grand scheme of things. Just a light gust of wind on a breezy sunny day.

What I mean by that is I did have free choice, and I did exercise it on many occasions. But both good and bad decisions that I have made that still seemed to bring me to the same place where regardless, (or should I say in spite of myself) of the choices that I made I ended up ok. The opportunity presented itself and I acted; now I may have been able to act better but as you will see later I knew that if I didn't do something quick I may do nothing at all. I am a firm believer that success happens when opportunity and preparedness meet. Success is a 2 part offer. The sad thing is that many of us would have had more success if we would have had been prepared to take advantage of the opportunities that presented themselves.

Have you ever said to yourself, wow just think; I thought of that years ago, or man if I could have saved my money just a few months longer, or …. Well that is where preparedness comes in. Many times we wander through our life like a leaf in the winds of time. As a sailor I am quite aware what happens when you put your sails up without checking where the wind is and at what angle the sail is to the wind. Many times we think we are ready for an opportunity and we put our sails up, but we did not prepare ourselves and like the sailor that put his sail up incorrectly and went nowhere with a full sail.

Now how sad is it to watch someone we love struggle against the tides of indecision or even worse make choices that they would later regret. One thing that I know is that the tide goes out and if you are patient the tide surely will return. Knowing timing is important; this is a component to being prepared. You do not want to get in a narrow pass during a tidal exchange, especially if you are trying to sail against a current when the tidal exchange is dramatic. Why you might ask? Well when the tide goes out or even comes in (sometimes incorrectly referred to as a low or high tide) and the exchange of water is great, currents form that head out to sea or come back at great speeds. (Tides come and go, also referred to as flood tide(high) and ebb tide (low)

Trying to sail 6 knots against a current that is 9 knots is futile. You will end up going backwards at a rate of 3 knots. But if your timing is right and you head out at the slack tide (a time in between tides when the water is neither going out to sea nor coming in) you will make headway and get to your destination.

Knowing timing in our life is very important, as we identify our desires we need to make sure that we are prepared to make the decisions that have to be made in order for those desires to come true. And many times also must know when to not act on a desire due to lack of preparedness. Surely if we take off to tackle a great desire and yet have bad timing, we are sure to fail. This can be seen in relationships when people didn't finish with themselves and yet moved forward too soon with the right person in a deep relationship that they were incapable of maintaining. How sad it is when they lose the relationship only due to lack of preparation and not due to lack of opportunity.

I have had many opportunities in my life. Many that I took on at or near the right time and several opportunities that I took on way before my time. I have also been a part to and witnessed people that had a desire and prepared themselves for it. Waiting for the tide to go slack, got in their vessel to take on the opportunities and just as they left the slip let go on the sheets that held onto their sails and sabotaged themselves due to fear of the unknown.

One of our greatest enemies many times is ourselves. Many times in our subconscious we are scared of winning/success. We are scared that what happens if I achieve this great new job, or this great new relationship. I will be required to work hard to maintain, or earn it. The fear of what will I do if I get this, or achieve this. When we sit down to identify our desires and spend the energy and time to prepare ourselves for opportunity we must also be ready to stave off the fear that will settle in as we approach our new goal or desire. We must be ready to reestablish new goals to replace the one that has been achieved so that we can like the sails set properly can maintain forward movement in a desirable direction.

Many times fear of success is as great of a detriment to our future as apathy and laziness. Nothing is ever static we are either moving forward or backward. We are born and we immediately start the dying process. In life we are in a constant state of evolution. Just like the seas, they are in constant motion and only slow down for a moment, many times the way we do only to start back up again, moving forward or backwards.

It has been proven many times that people will do more to avoid pain than to gain pleasure. Therefore in the sense of motivators, we will many times go way out of our way to avoid something we are unfamiliar with. Unfortunately many times this thing we are not familiar with is success. All too often we are more comfortable with where we are at then where we really want to go. Typically where we want to go is somewhere that we are not and have been not. This uncertainty is what creates the emotion of fear and doubt. This is where the uncertainty comes in, once the uncertainty has grasped the brain, the emotions that come from that are death. Death to the new ideas, Death to the new dreams, Death to the new job, Death to the new relationship, Death to the new move across the country, Death to the hopes and goals that you have lived a lifetime to never achieve. Fear becomes our greatest motivator, and with fear no good thing can be accomplished. Knowledge is the great dissolver of fear. Therefore the second half to being prepared other than timing is knowledge. Knowledge is power this old saying is true, and knowledge with great timing is success.

Don't allow fear to grasp you in this way. I am no different. I have fears. I have found that sometimes I must not use too much "common sense" as if it is common and shared by the general public it probably is laden with fear and insecurity. The problem with Common sense is that it is common and is easy to get a hold of. So in that, I am a bit of a gambler. I have a tendency when something I want is at risk to take chances. I am always looking for an uncommon knowledge, the same knowledge that created men like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, William Churchill, etc.

Normally if it will not kill me, won't financially ruin me, or mar me for life. I will just give in to my passions and desires. Try it and jump with both feet in. That way if the water is really cold I cannot back out of it due to doubt and insecurity. Living this way is not for everyone, you could end up with many regrets. Most people do not realize that they shouldn't regret anything, because at one point that was exactly what you wanted. Be grateful that you were able to have it, and many are not so fortunate, their fears have kept them from experiencing anything.

I would rather look back are realize that I would with 20/20 hindsight maybe have done things a bit different, but I would hate to look back and realize that I did nothing. That is my biggest fear, is that I will get to the end of my journey, and realize that when the wind came I never put my sails up. How sad, to never have used all that was given to you.

So as for me, I am taking chances every day. I am meeting new people. I am conquering and overcoming my fears. I am enjoying learning to love new activities. I am experiencing touch and being tactile in new ways. I am exploring my mind, and my senses. I am challenging my natural tendency to be scared of things I am not familiar with. I match that fear with the knowledge of self discovery. I get a hold of new ideas and facts and apply them to new problems and issues. I am a problem solver, I am a lover, I am an explorer, I am a learner and in the world of high dollar technical sales you can not afford to slow down or take a break. Learning is the foundation for future success. And knowledge without action is futile.

The reality is that many times we must face our own demons. We must prepare and we must use good timing, but without the hard work it is all in vain. And too often we look to find fault with others actions, when indeed it was our own inappropriate or lack of action that brought us to a particular junction. I was talking to one of my old sales managers that has moved on to become incredibly successful with his career. He said to me "Michael, usually when the grass appears greener on the other side of the fence is because of a lack of watering on our own side." - Zack Jones

Again, I must agree. It is funny how I agree more and more with the man that I used to yell at and almost get into fights with every Friday afternoon at approximately 5pm. Amazing how a few years along in the industry will change perspective.

Typically when things are slow and our pipeline empty, this simply means we have not been diligent with what has already been given to us to tend to. I look forward to the new opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. I am watering my plot of land and am planting seed. But I have drawn my sword should someone stumble onto my land, lest I find a quick meal and a handful of coin.

I am a hunter, and as a hunter I kill what comes by, but I will also tend my land; as a hunter in winter becomes a busy farmer by the late summer with the proper planting. The cycle of plenty will come back around and I do not want to miss my chance to live off the land either by plow or by the sword.

Well it is true now more than ever when we look on the other side for greener pastures it is typically becuase we have not been watering our own side. Activity begets success almost in everything. Without the sowing their can be no reaping. Without the lying in wait their can be no great surprise or great kill.


The ever evolving rambling of Pirate Mike…

"The seas never stop; they come and go bringing to their inhabitants the substance of life, so is the tide of our life's, people come and go and with them they bring us the substance of life… don't ever give up on people, as you will have given up on your yourself…" - Another original from Pirate Mike…

Seven Deadly Sins… The qualifications of a copier salesman…

I have uncovered or become aware of some odd understandings relative to work over the last couple of months. I am not sure really sure how to articulate them, but what I can do is describe them to you and you can figure them out for yourself.

The idea of 7 deadly sins is not spoken of in the bible directly but was used in early Christian teachings to illuminate the idea that man was prone to sin. Catholic teaching broke sin into 2 classifications, venial and mortal sin. The 7 deadly sins are capital or mortal sins.

Listed in the same order used by both Pope Gregory the Great in the 6th century, and later by Dante Alighieri in his epic poem The Divine Comedy, the seven deadly sins are as follows: luxuria (extravagance, later lust), gula (gluttony), avaritia (greed), acedia (sloth), ira (wrath), invidia (envy), and superbia (pride).1

Every day I walk a simple path. I talk to people and listen to their problems. After considering the causes and effects of their situation I ask them questions to probe into what they have done to fix their problems and how that effected their situation. I pay close attention to the things that bother them the most and try to get them to prioritize their problems and find out what they are willing to do to fix or remove the problems. I identify the people involved in the problem and the people that are affected by it. I try to assess how much the problem costs them in both hard and soft costs. Once I get a picture of who is involved and the process that they go through to solve their problems, I get an idea if this is something that they want to fix now or in the future.
At the end of the day I have to sit with myself and put together a plan of action and present it to the people that are responsible to fix the problem. If they buy into what I have put down they agree and act, if not they disagree we discuss it further. If we cannot come to an agreement we both go our separate ways and they continue with the situation that they have as it was before I came along.

This is the life of a document management equipment and services professional. We are sometimes referred to as the "copier guy." I am sure that in this day and age we should be called the "copier person," as the gender reference is quite unnecessary. In this game either sex has the same opportunity to participate in the 7 deadly sins that are so profound in this industry. When I talk about being a corporate pirate most laugh and think I am joking or exaggerating the situation but if you could be a fly on the wall in our building and the many buildings just like ours you would not sleep at night.

Ok that is probably an exaggeration, but it would shock you and in many cases disgust you. After almost 5 years this industry many times makes me feel ashamed of the people I work with and for. I many times have said that your success with a company like mine as a customer is dependent on your connection to it. If your rep is not good, neither will be your experience with the company they work for. Manufacturers and dealers of office equipment and document management services work on a very basal level. And in many cases the parent company or distribution organization is quite evil by nature. Your only hope is to have a buffer "rep" to keep you whole in the experience, or at least minimize the beating (both financial and emotional) you will take from it.

I most of the time try to overlook how others act and the underlying tones that are so prevalent in my business. I try very hard to balance myself and offer solutions to problems and charge people a equitable price somewhere between the extremes that are going to be presented by my counterparts. I also try to the an expert in the areas of topic so that I bring value and am not making money without earning it and putting in the work needed to earn the business for the long term.

I was privy to a conversation which displayed the ugliness that is so frequently seen that makes even the most native business person wary of people in our industry. When dragged into the conversation I was a presented a scenario and asked a question. I answered, "oh that is greedy you can't do that well I mean you can but you will be exposed and the customer will hate you for life." Everyone looked at me like I was a Martian speaking Swahili. I for a brief moment remembered why I consider leaving this business almost daily. The sad thing is it is the culture that has been fostered for many generations of salespeople and managers and is not needed at all.

You could almost say the 7 deadly sins are the 7 needed qualities of a "copier salesperson."
Companies interview perspective employees and make sure that they have ample quantities of each of the 7 deadly sins and forgo any real qualifications. My first boss said, "Michael even a monkey can do this job." He further illustrated, "I could tape a lease to the back of a blind dog, kick him out of the building and eventually he would come back with it signed." He would later prove himself correct and become wildly successful as a salesman, sales manager and then a branch manager for a fortune 1000 company.


So let's for fun look into the world of a copier salesperson just briefly and examine the qualifications first hand shall we.

Qualification of a good copier salesperson 1

Latin: luxuria (extravagance, later lust)
In copier sales an effective sales manager will show a young salesperson how to drive their desires for things which of themselves are not evil but to excess are lustful. Whether it is sex, money, power, control if you are still breathing surely you don't have enough of any of them. A good copier salesperson will never be satisfied, and will always be disappointed with how much they sell, how much they make (see greed), how quickly they get promoted, how long their vacation is. A great copier salesperson will stop at nothing to further their lust of all things corporate.

Qualification of a good copier salesperson 2

Latin: gula (gluttony)
In copier sales the best sales representatives will be easily identified by how well they gorge themselves on all things corporate. Copier salespeople are not temperate or aware that they should have any natural limits to anything the desire (see above). A good manager will gather his or her sales people together on a regular basis and teach basic gluttony. This is really quite a simple thing to learn, you just take your newbie's out and feed them a $200 dinner, drink 2 or 3 bottles of very expensive liquor/wine, and have grand discussions on how they too can have more than they can legitimately use for themselves. A good sales manager will take the new people out shopping and show them how to buy things they don't need or will ever use. The virtue of overkill will be a daily practice until they even employ it in their own lives.

Qualification of a good copier salesperson 3

Latin: avaritia (greed)
Money is just the beginning of greed. A good sales manager will make sure to teach the principle if the customer is spending $10 and is unhappy they will gladly spend $20 to be happy, even when the solution costs $2 and can be sold at a profit for $4. Why would you save the customer $6 when you can increase their budget based on the pain they have and make an extra $16, $8 of which you will get to keep. Managers are quick to instruct their salespeople to get what is theirs and a bit more. It is so bad that over time it becomes so common that the goal is to see how much you can charge someone without them going bankrupt before they make their first payment and lock themselves into the deal or before they realize how bad they got screwed. Greed goes way beyond the customer but reaches into the team that they are on and the associates that they work with. Greed says that you must sell everything in your neighbors' pond before reaching into your own. A good manager will promote greed as it facilitates the need to sell more and makes everyone more competitive as they must to survive.

Qualification of a good copier salesperson 4

Latin: acedia (sloth)
This is a principle that is taught by the manager that has to be managed all the time. It is the manager's job to manage focus of their salespeople and ensure that their needs are met first. Sloth is taught as a privilege. If you over achieve and sell more than anyone needs, and ensure the managers needs are cared for you can do absolutely nothing. They are taught to sleep in, stare at their computers, take time off. It is the reward for proper lusting, greediness, gluttony as well as the other 3. When you have overloaded on the other 6 deadly sins you must Sloth. Slothing becomes a way of life. You wake up driven by the lust of being over full (gluttony) and greed and the reward for over achieving is Slothfullness.

Qualification of a good copier salesperson 5

Latin: invidia (envy)
A good and experienced manager will stack rank their salespeople and grade them against all of the other salespeople across the organization regardless of how much of an apple vs orange comparison it really is. A good copier salesperson cannot stand to see another have success and becomes driven by the lust of success to overachieve and be as greedy as possible so that they can overcome and surpass all of their comrades. A quickly rising manager will ensure that every one of their sales reps cannot stand to even hear of someone else's success or participate in an activity with someone they think could possibly out do them. Envy resents anything that is good that happens or is good about anyone that they see. Envy is very closely related to Pride, and it drives the lust of self worth which is the fuel that makes pride gluttonous.

Qualification of a good copier salesperson 6

Latin: superbia (pride)
A sales manager cannot graduate until they are good at making each sales person believe that they are the best and deserve everything and more. Days of sloth are awarded to those that can be the fullest of themselves. Copier sales people gorge themselves with the lusts of the flesh and material goods until they cannot move or afford to move then are pushed out the door with belief that they are the only person alive and that they deserve more. They are rewarded for becoming a prima donna. A good manager will know how to control their prima donna's and let them all think they are 1. A practical organization will parade their top performers around and show them that they are invaluable and that they can have anything they desire fueling their lusts. Then the manager just begins over and finds new untapped desires and drives them to gluttony with greed, and keeps them competing with envy in the fearlessness of their pride. When they fall over from exhaustion they give them days to recuperate by awarding them time to Sloth. If they are having a bad month they will use their pride to control them with the envy and wrath of their fellow associates.

Qualification of a good copier salesperson 7

Latin: ira (wrath)
Wrath is a byproduct of the final two deadly sins Envy and Pride. It is quite ugly and not as common but is a product of greed and envy. When someone else has success a good copier sales person becomes instantly envious and because they are excessively greedy they fuel this emotion with wrath, which satisfies their pride in that they should be the only one that can be so successful or rich or whatever the deadly sin promotion is for the month. It is most obvious when the greed of one sales person takes an account from another to fuel their lust of one of their desires. Since they cannot satisfy this gluttony with their own accounts they must do it with someone else's. It is much more pleasurable to satisfy themselves with someone else's accounts. This lust and greed creates the wrath of the sales person that is feeling envious of the success of the greedy and gluttonous sales rep. A good manager deals with wrath in the most obvious way, with a good dose of pride. "You are not going to let so and so do that to you are you?" "You know you are twice the sales person they are!" Then an experienced sales manager will look for a lust that can fuel the envy and promote the rep that has wrath to go out and be greedy enough to show up the original rep. Wrath is a great way to push someone to compete with the others when the other 5 are having little effect. Sloth is reserved for those that have been over gluttonous for some time and had a lot of success being lustful and greedy.
The seven deadly sins require a lot of effort to perfect so typically a good manager will only focus and practice one at a time till they manage a group of major account executives or specialists. In which case the sales people are quite advanced and can practice multiple sins at a time. This requires a very greedy and prideful manager that can truly harness the energy of their people and use it to fuel their own desires (lust) and gluttony. And of course a good manager works their sales people to death chasing after the dream while they practice the greatest of all sins; Sloth…

In the end a good copier salesman or saleswomen (which there are many) are taught that they deserve whatever they can take from someone else and that it is ok at any cost. They are taught to pull out the stops and go for broke. They are taught how to gamble as professionals and to know when to risk it all for the payoff of the ultimate permanent full time sloth which is held as a carrot to a donkey.

I hope you have enjoyed this enlightenment…

PS – There are organizations that promote the 7 virtues and moderate their sales people keeping them "connected" and customer centric. But they are far and few between, and almost nonexistent in the copier business.

This is why I live a simple life on a 34 foot boat, forsaking the trappings of Dallas and all that is offers. Not that I haven't had my moments being caught up in the limelight. I was after all a 2 time president's club winner and a 1 time circle of excellence winner for that unnamed fortune 1000 company that way talked about above. I am the prodigy of that sales manager that eventually became a branch general manager ;)

Life is fast, life is hard, life never lasts long enough to learn how simple it really is. We complicate it so that we can feel superior to everything else that God has created, when really we were created from the very dust that everything else walks on - Pirate Mike

I am sure that this is considered blasphemous to those that are in my industry as we all want to believe that we are saints. (It is part of our pride) – Pirate Mike

8:30pm and where are you?

Yes I am at work. What am I doing you may ask? Well I am preparing a file for print, so this could be considered in production terms “ripping time.” Ripping is when a print file is processed and is prepared to be printed. I happen to be preparing 6000 post cards with complex variable data that are needed for an open house that we are putting together.

Why 8:30pm you ask? Well I am in outside sales and this is the only time that I have to myself where I can sit down and think. 8 to 5 is selling time and that is when all good salespeople should be out meeting new potential clients and talking with old ones. It is the time when you should be finding leads and closing business. It is not when you should be printing something.

Time is always of the essence. We never have enough time either for ourselves or to accomplish everything that we would like to at our work. Some jobs differ as they can be walked away from and they come to a stopping point at the end of the day. Mine on the other hand never has an ending point it just starts over each day and goes till I give up.

Commitment to the task and integrity is what all companies are looking for. If we could find people that took pride in their work and made sure the task was completed we would not find many of our jobs being sent over seas. It is hard to get mad at someone just because they will work till the job is completed or have taken the time to get an education and work for a price that attracts a company’s attention.

We are ultimately lazy and this is seen in ever vertical market there is. Whether you are a plumber or an electrician an auto mechanic or a printer we all know someone that is always looking for short cuts and isn’t concerned for the quality of their work. It is a shame that we take so little pride in what we do that we can be replaced so easily.

At my job people always look at me crazy as I tend to offer a hand, show up at accounts that are not mine, take time out of my day to explain or teach a concept to someone new. I don’t fight over accounts. I have been known to hand over a prospect to someone that has the relationship or can get the deal done quicker. I try to put my clients first and make sure their needs are tended to.

In any organization there are many levels of management that are constantly looking at the numbers, maximizing margins, protecting the company’s interest. Who looks out for the client? I have always felt that I was that person. I was the front line sales rep that had to make sure someone that knew what was going on argued on their behalf.

Now there are times when a client is unreasonable but many times things go wrong and the customer is just waiting on an action on the part of the vendor. When things do not get done the customer isn’t sure what happened other than the promise wasn’t kept. It is our duty to ensure that the promises are kept and that things go as smooth as they can. The larger the company is and the more complex of an operation that has to be performed, the more that can go wrong. Many times things can get started off on the wrong foot with inaccurate paperwork, poor order entry, lack of documentation, lack of explanation or a vague or incomplete statement of work. When orders are delayed things start off poorly. Then if the implementation and execution isn’t smooth you know you are heading for disaster. Billing and Service after the fact just make things worse if you have already started down this slippery slope of non performance.

I get caught in between the customer and our company all the time. It is normal for something to go wrong at some stage in the game. The more experience you have and the better you get just means that you deal with these situations quicker and with more style. I like to think that I am pretty good at what I do and that many times it looks like everything is under control even when I am about to come unglued.

Customers don’t know your business like you do, and they have no clue as to what happens after they sign the “magical documents” you provide them. Many start to get excited about all of the business problems their new purchase is going to solve and start to believe all the reasons why they signed the paperwork you gave them in order to feel good about what they have done. Once things start to come down they start to have feelings of uncertainty that unravel their thoughts and give them fears that create new objections you must over come.

It is in your best interest to soft sell your timeline and to build in some help for yourself by selling your customer some of the potential pitfalls upfront so that they know there will probably be some things that go wrong and how you have overcome them in the past. When they realize that this is part of the overall process and that you have prepared for it, they tend to be a bit more forgiving.

What happens many times is that deals that we have been working for a while or deals that came up suddenly many times mature quicker than we had originally expected, as the customer comes to the decision that he or she is going to move forward. Many times this happens at the end of a month, quarter etc and then the pressure is on within the company to find product and people to do the service functions that surround it. Supply chain demands push everything to the limit. Backorders are commonplace and technicians and analysts are booked out weeks in advance. No one is available for that new order you just brought in at the last second.

But no one is going to stop an order they simply let nature take its course and everyone plays the “quiet game” till the customer breaks the silence just to inform everyone that they are about to pull the plug on the deal. If the proper expectations are set up front and the order coordinators stay in contact with the customer as the order in entered and processed to that the customer knows what to expect and what is going on many of the issues could be avoided. All to often the customer sets the salesperson up but trying to hold them to the fire on deadlines and time schedules.

This actually works against the customer in many ways. It sets an unrealistic expectation and pushes the salesperson away to their quiet place. This refuge is where all sales people go to “hide” from the potential negative responses that come from a client that is awaiting action from someone. When the desired actions don’t take place the typical response is the “pull” the order and look for a new vendor that can fulfill the order as they expected the process to proceed.

Communication and preparation are necessary to keep the customer engaged in the process and to ensure that they never feel caught unawares. Sometimes the simplest things make the greatest difference. Even a quick email sometimes can fend off the wrath of an unfulfilled order. Customers need to be able to plan and make arrangements so they do not look foolish in front of their supervisors and customers.

Often time’s promises are made on their behalf to others and no one wants to look the fool. We must protect our customers from themselves and set proper expectations so that we can over deliver what we have under promised. The reverse can be deadly to the highly sought after “new business.”

I am a hunter, and I am always looking for a “clean kill.” I like many salespeople hate to get messy. I am the type of person that pays close attention to details and can get lost in the minutia if not careful. I have to make sure that I keep myself out of the office and in the field or I will stay busy and not productive.

This is why it is 9:30 pm and I am still working. I am targeting this rip to be done by 10:00 pm and that means I will be able to go home by midnight. I will have enough time to get some sleep so that I can hit it hard tomorrow and start another hunt for my next customer.

Pirate Mike…


P.S. It is 12:11am and it turns out that the press I was going to use is having technical difficulties.

The sea of emotions,

I have found the emotion of life is what fuels the heart, mind and soul. Without it we would not perceive our accomplishments or failures. Absent of the highest of highs and the lowest of lows we surely would take for granted our consciousness. It is to this end that we strive to feel and decipher the addiction that is our daily emotional fix. I have been “off the wagon” for some time now, and now in a weakened state I feel that it is time to check myself into rehab.
.. ..
It is now time to rehabilitate my heart, mind and soul from the daily bingeing that comes from a high pressure sales job selling capital goods for a global company. Just as coffee and cigarettes seem to be a prerequisite for a salesperson so to is his or her addiction to a high level of emotions a requirement. These emotions fuel us and drive us to our ultimate end. They are what makes us champions and like a lead weight takes us to our graves at the bottom of the ocean.
.. ..
Months after the initial shock that turned out to be a turning point in my mental career, I am still stunned. I wake up each day hoping the tidal surge will subside so that I can take residence back in my mind where my consciousness calls home. My heart is still heavy with the current that carries me along. Like the tides of the ocean, my soul is heavy from the flow of information that ebbs and floods from my mind to my heart and back. Waiting for a slack tide so that my heart can rest enough to pick back up when the information overload returns.
.. ..
Now a survivor of two corporate mergers I feel the pain of those whom have had to change their way of life over the greed of share holders and corporate executives. After watching first hand the inflation of egos and the supposition of truth for what surely was an advertisement of the worst kind. Mental marketing coming from all directions to sooth the savage salesperson and keep him or her at bay. Restricting the freedom of understanding and knowledge to minimize the impact of the truth was their only goal.
.. ..
Now I stand alone looking at the aftermath of their greed and manipulation wondering where this new direction will take me. I plot my course and compensate for the deviation that can be accounted for. With the hope that my calculations are correct I carefully proceed. With so many unforeseen reefs and barriers, I know that ultimately I am responsible for my destination and safety. With a heavy sigh I look to the North hoping the winds will subside. I too need a break like many of those that crew along side me. With the warmth that only a South wind can bring I look for a sunrise signifying that a new day has begun and again my opportunities are anew.
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I need to believe that my course is well thought out and that my helmsmanship is sure. We only get one chance to do this right and I do not want to wash up on a lea shore with no one to assist in my rescue. Even as a rudder can turn a massive ship, we as individuals have great influence on those around us and can take the team to new heights or destroy any good that is among the crew. With so many lives and families at stake I hope that those that are in power take into consideration their actions and direction.
Bringing new blood onto the ship I see new deck hands daily. Shining their shoes and straightening their uniforms I see them proudly walk around in blissful ignorance. Ahh to be ignorant again and walk hand in hand with the honeymoon that only a newbie can embrace. For those that start up this adventure under the knowledge of the new owners it is a simple task. For those that started under the old captain a new charge could mean a rough trip for everyone.
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Just as we clean the decks and keep order of the lines we must tend to the corners of our minds. Holding to the truths that we know and leaving room for new understandings that will come from experience and the enlightenments of others. Consistent effort is the key to success and I too must manage the emotions that rule my head and heart. Just as adrenaline keeps us alert in the midst of a storm we must carefully watch ourselves as the storm subsides. Sleep comes to those that take refuge in the lull of action, only to be rudely awakened to dangerous seas as the storm’s anger builds anew.
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So to in our sales career we must maintain the pressure, even when the storm seems to subside. If we take the pressure off we will find ourselves in a dangerous position as our pipeline comes to an ugly end. We must be diligent and keep alert to the ever increasing dangers that lurk around every point. In this age of technology we are constantly being bombarded with information that can overload our emotions and carry us off like a tidal wave.
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As the immediate storm system subsides I wait to clearly take inventory during the daylight to reconcile the reports. I am also curious to see the changing of the watch that is to come so that I may know whom I will report to in the coming hours and days. What we do know is we have survived the first wave, but we do not know what is behind it. Only time will tell us what our true fate is to be. I for one am eager to meet my destiny.
.. ..

Pirate Mike