Michael Nadeau

A buyer persona is a composite sketch or bio of a fictional person who represents a key segment of your customer base. It includes demographic information, that person’s role, his or her challenges and goals, and a snapshot of what that person’s typical work day looks like. Most Read More

Laser printers dominate the business landscape. They are durable, fast, and high capacity in terms of paper and consumables. Many models have sophisticated networking and paper-handling features. As a group, inkjet printers are just no match for laser printers for most business Read More

The most successful dealers and resellers understand that they are selling solutions to customers’ problems–that they are not just pushing hardware out the door. In other words, customers will pay a premium if you can show that you have the experience and knowledge to Read More

As someone who has managed millennials (people aged 19 to 35 according to Pew Research), I’ve been puzzled by some stories about how different they are from older generations. No doubt, there are differences, and I believe those differences are the result of millennials Read More

We’ve heard from many dealers and VARs that one of the biggest mistakes they made when first offering managed services was lack of focus on an ideal customer profile. The natural instinct is to sell your services to as many customers as possible, but doing so with managed Read More

Dealers and resellers looking for new revenue sources or enhanced margins should consider selling managed services. There is strong demand in the SMB market for outsourced services such as help desk, application hosting, network operations, or remote monitoring and management. It Read More

Earlier this week, Dell announced that it has sold its Dell Software Group to the private equity firm Francisco Partners and hedge fund firm Elliott Management Corp. for $2 billion. The sale includes the Quest database software, network security company SonicWall, and cloud Read More

Several research projects have required me to spend a lot of time looking at customer reviews of printers and other IT products on sites such as Amazon, BestBuy, and Staples. What I’ve learned is that while these reviews as a whole are informative and useful, you have to Read More

A VP of operations at a large office technology dealer recently told us that one of his biggest achievements of the past year was completely turning over his four-person customer service team. They knew how to do their jobs, but their demeanor tended to escalate problems. When Read More

No matter what part of the office equipment business you are in, finding the right people for your team is probably one of your biggest challenges. That’s because everyone is looking for the same qualities and experience for a given role, and often you are competing with Read More

Anyone who has done B2B marketing for more than 10 years will tell you that traditional lead-generation marketing doesn’t work as well as it used to. Technology has made it easier for prospects to ignore your attempts to contact them by filtering out communication from Read More

Auto-replenishment of printer supplies is one of those true win-win situations for both reseller and customer. On the consumer side, Amazon and HP have popularized the idea with their Dash and SureSupply Auto-Delivery services, respectively. For B2B, Dell began offering its Dell Read More

Expect 2016 to be a big year for 3D printing. Rapid and positive changes in capabilities, performance, materials, service offerings, and cost are converging to generate greater interest in 3D printing and grow the market. That includes new and better opportunities for resellers Read More

The 3D printer market is flooded with inexpensive, easy-to-use desktop products for entry-level professional applications. Some are packaged as complete solutions with all the tools and accessories needed to produce and finish a print. It’s a nice concept, but for Read More

Resellers of hardcopy equipment will have a strong sense of déjà vu once they look at the patent and copyright issues surrounding the 3D printing market. Like their hardcopy siblings, 3D OEMs are using the courts and lobbying for legal interpretations in order to control the Read More