The Print VAR Blog is currently written by the Shredder Brothers: Toner and Feedtray, who are each veteran IT professionals and managed print specialists who remind you that their opinions are solely their own, and that they are solely responsible for them. Guest blogging is permitted too, just be nice, and make sure you're a member of the Managed Print Services Community Group which you can join here
August 30, 2010
Customers Should Be Called Dumb - Part Two
I'm going to surprise my ever-expecting-to-be-challenged older brother Toner by actually agreeing with him this time. True, I pander to customers. Anyone who has ever sold anything more complex than groceries knows that there's a serious sales method around helping customers think they're...
Continue reading: Customers Should Be Called Dumb - Part Two »
August 30, 2010
Customers Should Be Called Dumb - Part One
On this stormy Monday, I want to talk seriously about a subject near and dear to my heart, which is making customers feel dumb. Note: I said dumb, not angry or unhappy. Now, my well-over-educated younger brother, Feedtray, has what I often refer to as a severe mental problem. The condition:...
Continue reading: Customers Should Be Called Dumb - Part One »
August 24, 2010
Printer Upsell at XChange - A Case Study
Hey, Feedtray here at XChange in Dallas!Watch this great video and hear how Ray Young of J&J Computer Connection added managed print as an upsell to mainframe work and is now on track to do a million dollars a year in managed print.Great stuff!...
Continue reading: Printer Upsell at XChange - A Case Study »
August 17, 2010
Our Tough Guy, Jerry - Part Three
In regards to this post. As always, my peacenick-flowerpower-embracing younger brother Feedtray is correct in a way. Sugar does attract much better than vinegar. But he misses one important point: Feedtray's nice out-bound reminder calls are not "collections." No way. Our collection...
Continue reading: Our Tough Guy, Jerry - Part Three »
August 17, 2010
Our Tough Guy, Jerry - Part Two
In regards to my brother's post. As the proud father of an 18-month old daughter, I am not ashamed to admit that I make it a point to grab my daughter from her car seat (leaving Mom in the car) when I need to walk into a store and ask for parking meter change without making a purchase. There's...
Continue reading: Our Tough Guy, Jerry - Part Two »
August 17, 2010
Our Tough Guy, Jerry - Part One
Before my younger brother Feedtray was but a glint in our dear mother's eye, our Grandfather introduced me to the fine art of bill collection. Our Grandfather, who owned a Studebaker car dealership and floated his own notes, would take me along with him on stops at homes with new Studebakers parked...
Continue reading: Our Tough Guy, Jerry - Part One »
August 12, 2010
The 58 Second Mark
Listen to what happens 58 seconds into this amazingly honest video of managed print service provider Terry Williams of Advanced Technical Support. Rarely to do get to hear as honest a comparison of competing printer vendors in the market today. And Terry really lets you know where these vendors'...
Continue reading: The 58 Second Mark »
August 11, 2010
Managed Print Services Master Class - On Demand
The Managed Print Master Class series that The Business Transformation Center developed for you over the first half of this year is now on-demand. You can bookmark it right here. At your own pace - when you want - you can take the Business Transformation Managed Print Master Class which was...
Continue reading: Managed Print Services Master Class - On Demand »
August 11, 2010
Failure is H.O.T. - Part Three
In regards to my younger brother's post: In the late 1990s, when things were happy and flexible in business like they are in a funhouse - I noticed this headline above a magazine article: "Failure is H.O.T." I don't remember what the article was actually about, and frankly don't care to even...
Continue reading: Failure is H.O.T. - Part Three »
August 11, 2010
Failure is H.O.T. - Part Two
In regards to my older brother's post. I do indeed recall that fertilizer incident of old, as it has served as a blueprint for the relationship I've had with my older brother Toner ever since. You know I like bullet points. Our print-on-demand business:Brings in at minimum $14,000 a year in...
Continue reading: Failure is H.O.T. - Part Two »
August 11, 2010
Failure is H.O.T. - Part One
When my younger brother Feedtray and I were youthful lads, our now departed father brought home some lawn fertilizer to spread across the green summer grass of our suburban Chicago childhood home. Being the older sibling, Pops told me to delegate the dispersal of the fertilizer across the lawn,...
Continue reading: Failure is H.O.T. - Part One »
August 05, 2010
Security Can Be Crushing - Part Three
In regards to this post by Feedtray, my younger brother who will never gain a security clearance: Feedtray, please read my new best-selling book: Never Tell a Customer They Are Fully Protected. After you read my fictitious literary magnum opus, realize that there are two equally strong reasons...
Continue reading: Security Can Be Crushing - Part Three »
August 05, 2010
Security Can Be Crushing - Part Two
In regards to this post by my always scrutinizing older brother Toner: Why did I only suggest a shredder as the security device of choice for our managed print customer? It's not because "Shredder" is my family name. As my paranoid older brother knows, we already deliver security to our print...
Continue reading: Security Can Be Crushing - Part Two »
August 05, 2010
Security Can Be Crushing - Part One
Why did my adequately educated younger brother Feedtray just tell a customer that all they need is a shredder to ensure that printed documents which must stay within the confines of the company never see the light of day? (Or the sweat of a non-employee's palm?) True, this customer bought two WorkCentre...
Continue reading: Security Can Be Crushing - Part One »
August 04, 2010
Musical Chairs - Part Three
In regards to this post from my younger brother, Feedtray. I must congratulate Feedtray on his exceptionally complex and layered thinking. How unusual of him. And Feedtray is right in a few way: Adding a few pieces of office furniture to save a customer making a small purchase a trip to a...
