BlairBlog

my day with xerox.

Posted on 11. Aug, 2008 by Blair in Uncategorized

gather around children and listen to my tale of woe. not really. just being dramatic. our copier resource assessment panel gathered for lunch and a field trip to xerox for a copier demonstration. we however were treated to so much more! during the course of our two hour tour we got to experience multiple scanning solutions, color copiers and they even provided cookies!

here are some of my thoughts…

• listen to your customers. we specifically requested to hear about the color copiers that we are looking at for the office areas. we did not ask to hear about scanning solutions or production color machines. we got antsy during the first hour of our visit because we were being given content we did not ask for.
• attempt to be interesting. mariners is pretty corporate for a church… but this place took the cake. we entered the colorless, bland conference room and were seated facing a screen. we quickly learned that the first part of our presentation was a webex meeeting… a jigga what? so we sat and stared at a bad powerpoint presentation being given over the phone. seriously… picture this – our team of 5 and the xerox team of 6 all staring at a screen and listenening to 2 people at the other end of the phone. priceless. best line… “i’m now approaching the copier” no joke… they were “demonstrating” the product for us over the phone.
• make sure your product actually works. it’s great that you want to try and show us all the shiny new features of your machine, but when it won’t print the files we sent over LAST WEEK then “houston, we have a problem!”  also the booklet maker did not work, the copies were on glossy paper (which we do not every use), the black toner is just as shiny as ever and the print driver needed to be downloaded and reinstalled.
• pick someone to lead the presentation. of the 6 people in the room with us the whole time, no one ever took the lead. at various points, they were actually talking over one another. now, i understand this is sales and everyone wants in… but for real? one person could have lead the discussion and brought in experts as needed.

at the end of the 2 hours the sales rep had the gaul to ask our team point person if we had gotten everything we needed while we were there. ummmm no. the copier did not print our samples as requested. we had been overloaded with info we did not need and the only reason the demo ended was because we finally said we were leaving.

so what can we learn? learn everything you can about your audience. make sure that your message is designed to mee their needs and not yours. don’t try to sell something unless you are sure it will work. and most of all keep it simple. one clear voice would have gotten much farther than the six mixed messages we received. will we renew our xerox lease? who knows… so much goes into the decision beyond this one visit, but if this was their one chance to impress they would be given a failing grade.

update: turns out that xerox is reading my blog! who knew? anywhoo… spent some time on the phone with the manager of the santa ana branch and discussed in great detail how xerox could meet or exceed our expectations. now only time will tell.