May 28, 2017

Despite low interest rates and plenty of available capital, the market for leased or financed office equipment has been flat for the past few years. The missing ingredient has been confidence in the economy, the lack of which has caused some business owners to scale back or put Read More

For Xerox Docucolor 240, 250, 242, 252, 260, WorkCentre 7655, 7665, 7675, 7755, 7765, 7775, Xerox Color 550/560/570, C60/C70, DCP-700/700i/770, Color Press C75/J75 Xerox deserves some serious kudos where their service manuals are concerned. For most of the decent-sized machines, Read More

Too many times companies fail to consider the impact of customer service decisions. It seems that many believe that doing what is expedient, rather than taking care of their customers, is the best choice. We have had numerous examples of that in the airline industry lately. Have Read More

Last year, as part of a financial forum, I sat on a panel to discuss budgeting and forecasting methods with a room full of head financial managers of their businesses. I was surprised at the number of businesses that do not have a formal process in place to do an annual budget. Read More

Recently, in a workshop at the Las Vegas ITEX trade show, I shared my high-level process to successfully transform a dealership from traditional hardware sales to managed services. I have refined my transformation process over the last 10 years, and for most dealers it takes Read More

People of a certain age fondly recall the days when their parents would pull into a service station primarily to fill up the gas tank. A small cadre of service attendees would storm the car like a NASCAR pit crew, washing the windshield, checking fluid levels, and ensuring the Read More

Ask an independent copier dealership what sets them apart and you get a consistent answer: “We deliver outstanding customer service.” There’s no question that the key value we bring is great customer service. Excellent customer service is the lifeblood of growth, sales Read More

Fifty years is a long time for a shingle to hang in an evolving business climate, but Bob Gobin has his mother—who grew so bored with playing bridge in the afternoon that she opened her own small office supply company—to thank for planting the seeds of what would become Gobin’s Read More

Business as usual. That was the prime takeaway delivered in Phoenix during Samsung Electronics America’s Printing Solutions National Dealer Meeting in March. The 1,000-lb. gorilla in the room was HP’s acquisition of Samsung’s printing business, which is expected to be completed Read More

Dealers have several choices for funding sources: a financial firm that specializes in equipment leasing, a bank, or in-house. Most dealers use a combination of these options as it gives them the greatest flexibility in meeting their customers’ needs, and it sets up a little Read More