We’ve all had the experience. You’re pushing a deadline, your anxiety is high, you need to make a few copies and get to a meeting ASAP. There is no time to spare.
Everything is ticking along fine, coming together nicely, until you get to the copier. It jams. A light comes on. It’s out of toner. It’s out of paper. A light is blinking and it won’t budge. You open and close a few drawers. You pop the front panel. You peer around the back. You switch it off and on. Nothing happens. Time is running out. You’re screwed. The copy machine has defeated you again.
I can’t even remember where I picked this up, but it was in my google alerts and thought it would be a good topic about copier karma.
What comes around goes around, and I’m thinking this may be a case of copier karma coming back to haunt the people in the office. Some may ask how do you get copier Karma? For those of us in the industry it’s simple, the copier salesperson put a hex on the copier before he delivered it to you!
Yup there are those of us that have that ability to put a curse on your copier, and we do it for a good reason. Here’s a few tips on how to get a hex put on your next copier.
1. You called the rep and asked for proposal, the rep responded within hours, scheduled an appointment and presented the proposal. You stated all looks well, and we’ll get back to you right away. The sales rep left repeated messages, e-mails and a few stop ins over the course of a month and you never had the courtesy to respond. Committing this act means (automatic curse) that all of your new copiers will be cursed from this day forward.
2. The sales rep was in your office meeting with the CFO and CEO about a new system, you walked by and made a snide comment stating “What, is our machine broke again”? This act puts a hex on you only, and your days of carefree copying, printing and scanning is numbered!
3. You meet with the copier rep, let them go through their entire presentation, and then you drop the bomb stating we are looking at six different systems from six different vendors. Dropping this bomb enables the hex that whatever copier you buy or lease it will always be a piece of crap.
4. You told the copier rep that the only buying criteria you have is price—whoever has the lowest price is who I will buy from and we don’t care about service or brand quality. With this one you’ve just unleashed the Holy Grail of all curses. All of your existing copiers and all new copiers will be forever cursed no matter who you buy from.
5. Your company, and or you signed all of the paperwork to order your new machine. Two hours later you call and tell the salesperson to “hold” the order because you got a better deal from someone else. You and your copier have been cursed for eternity and as a matter of fact we’ve put a curse of every piece of equipment the office—the coffee maker, the water cooler, your phone and the microwave. Ever wonder why you’ve had problems operating all of those devices?
At times I wish I could curse a copier. All we ever ask for in the sales process is to return a call in a timely manner, don’t make any snide comments, think about price (is $20 more a month too much to spend for a quality brand or excellent support); if you were going to buy a car would you really go to six different dealers? Usually the first deal is the best deal plus you signed an “order.” Would you like someone to do that to you or one of your people?
Good selling!
