I have been in the office automation environment for over 15 years and I still love what I do. From the early days of calling on customers to sell remanufactured laser print cartridges, to our current focus on selling a win-win outcomes-based solution, I am amazed at how this industry has progressed and I am excited about the road ahead.
In my ongoing drive to deliver on customer needs and solve problems in the office automation environment, I have learnt many things about business that I can share:
- When delivering a service, the people in your team are your priority
- Through execution and delivery of your promise, build solid relationships based on trust
- Learn from your mistakes, they define you and shape your growth path
- Listen carefully to your customers
- Sometimes business is not fair
- Be resilient in the quest to reach your goal
- An unwavering belief in what you set out to achieve is essential
- Make sure you know why you are getting up in the morning and doing what you do
- Define your purpose
The above 8 things will go a long way in making sure that when your career comes to an end, you can look back at your contribution with pride and fulfillment.
In addition to what I have learnt about business in general, here are the lessons I have learnt about the Office Automation Industry in particular:
- Not many people have a print strategy in place
- Office printing does not get much attention
- If it works, you and your customers will be happy
- Office printing is at bottom of the food chain/pecking order
- Relationships are key to the sale of equipment
- Very few people understand what they are paying for
- Contracts are always complicated and onerous
- People sign contracts based on trust
- Costs are very high (a lot higher than you think)
- Finance contracts have some funny clauses
- People in mid-sized businesses don’t know how many devices they have
When you are trying to disrupt a market and develop a new, more efficient and sustainable way of doing things, learning and fixing these problems makes you different, and more people will want to do business with you ultimately improving your Business.
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