Meeting Customer Demands 

In today’s fast-paced and ever-changing business world, customers are looking for comprehensive solutions that can meet their specific needs. They want to work with vendors who can provide a one-stop-shop for all their technology needs, rather than having to work with multiple vendors to obtain different products and services. By offering a blended solution, office technology dealers can provide customers with a complete and integrated solution that addresses all their needs. 

For example, a customer who is in need of a new printer may also require software to manage printing and document management services to support their day-to-day operations. By offering a complete solution that includes hardware, software, and services, you can meet all their needs and provide added value to the customer. This approach can lead to more satisfied customers, higher customer retention rates, and ultimately increased revenue for your business. 

Increased Profitability 

Selling a complete solution can lead to higher profitability compared to selling individual products. When you offer a comprehensive solution, you can provide added value to the customer, which they are often willing to pay a premium for. Additionally, by bundling services such as installation, training, and support, you can create ongoing revenue streams and build long-term relationships with customers. 

For instance, if you sell a customer a printer and also offer installation and training services, you can charge a premium for the bundled services, which will increase your revenue. Moreover, by offering ongoing support services such as maintenance, repair, and replacement, you can create a positive relationship along with this recurring revenue stream that can boost profitability in the long run. 

For more than 20 years, SalesChain has been the premiere CRM/CPQ platform for office technology dealers. Featuring a used equipment selling desk, IT product selling and leasing support, up-to-date product catalogs, and powerful quoting and documentation tools, SalesChain makes it easier than ever to offer bundled solutions to your customers.  

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Understanding Customers’ Unique Needs and Preferences 

One of the primary benefits of using an industry-specific CRM/CPQ platform is gaining a better understanding of your customers’ unique needs and preferences. For example, you may have customers who are looking to upgrade their printing technology to improve efficiency, reduce costs, or increase security. An industry-specific CRM/CPQ platform can track these preferences and help you tailor your offerings to meet their specific needs. By providing personalized solutions, you can create long-lasting relationships with your customers, which ultimately leads to higher customer retention rates. 

Attracting New Customers 

In addition to customer retention, an industry-specific CRM/CPQ platform can help you attract new customers. By analyzing customer data, an industry-specific CRM/CPQ platform can help you identify potential customers who may be interested in your products or services. This targeted approach can save you time and resources, allowing you to focus on potential customers who are more likely to make a purchase. Furthermore, by understanding the needs of potential customers, you can tailor your marketing efforts to reach the right audience at the right time, leading to increased sales. 

Streamlining Operations 

Another benefit of using an industry-specific CRM/CPQ platform is that it can help you streamline your operations. By automating repetitive tasks, such as data entry or appointment scheduling, you can free up your employees’ time to focus on more critical tasks, such as building relationships with customers. Moreover, an industry-specific CRM/CPQ platform can provide real-time analytics and reports, allowing you to track your performance and make data-driven decisions. This increased efficiency can lead to a more productive and profitable business. 

For office technology dealers, SalesChain is the most specialized and comprehensive CRM/CPQ system on the market. With over 20 years of experience serving dealerships like yours, SalesChain is equipped to help bring your business to the next level. Featuring a used equipment selling module, an IT product selling and leasing desk, industry-best forecasting tools, and an award-winning support team, there’s no better option for office technology dealerships.  

Click here to learn more about SalesChain 

Training, Education, and Support 

To ensure the successful adoption of the CRM system, CRM providers should offer comprehensive training and support services. This should include training programs that cover the basic functionalities of the system, as well as advanced features and use cases. The CRM provider should also offer ongoing support through multiple channels, such as email, phone, and live chat. This ensures that users have access to assistance when they need it, reducing frustration and increasing user satisfaction. 

Integrations and Customization 

Office technology dealers have unique business requirements, and the CRM system must be able to accommodate these requirements. The CRM provider should offer customization and integration capabilities that enable office technology dealers to tailor the system to their specific needs. This includes the ability to integrate the CRM system with existing software applications, such as accounting and marketing automation software, to improve workflow efficiency and data accuracy. 

 SalesChain is standing by to help your business get the most out of the CRM onboarding process, with comprehensive tutorial and training resources, robust integrations and APIs, and an award-winning U.S.-based support team.  SalesChain is built for office technology dealers, by office technology dealers, and in our 21 years of experience, we’ve developed an efficient, straightforward, and accessible onboarding and user adoption process.  Onboard with confidence knowing your team will have access to a full suite of training resources, essential industry integrations and APIs, smart-phone compatibility, secure data, an intuitive user interface, and more.  

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Reduced Operating Costs  

Re-selling used products can help office technology dealers save money. By flipping existing equipment and even re-using the parts and components of used products, dealers can reduce their waste and avoid the expense of buying new materials. This can help them save on costs and remain competitive in the market.  

Reduce Environmental Impact 

Investing in used technology can also help businesses reduce their environmental footprint. By reusing and recycling products that would otherwise end up in landfills, businesses can help conserve energy and resources. Office technology dealers who sell and recycle used products can help their customers do their part in protecting the environment.  

Lower Risk Than Investing in All New Equipment  

For conservative business owners, used technology can be much less risky than buying new products. By selling and recycling used products, office technology dealers can help avoid the expense and uncertainty of investing in new technology.  

SalesChain is the industry’s only CRM/CPQ platform built specifically for office technology dealers. Featuring a powerful used equipment selling desk, IT product selling and leasing support, comprehensive industry inventory catalogs, and integrations with leading leasing companies such as e-Automate, GreatAmerica, GLL, and more, our team at SalesChain is standing by to help your business reach its potential.  

Click here to learn more about SalesChain 

Increased expertise 

 By specializing in a specific product or service, dealerships can develop a deep understanding and expertise in that area, which can be particularly valuable to customers who are looking for specialized solutions. This increased expertise can also help to attract new customers who are looking for a provider with a high level of knowledge and experience in a specific area. By focusing on a specific product or service, dealerships can become known as a trusted provider in that area, which can help to build customer loyalty and increase repeat business. 

Stand out from the crowd 

Specializing in a defined area of office technology can help dealerships differentiate themselves from the competition and position themselves as a go-to provider for that product or service. This can be particularly important in markets where there is a high level of competition and customers are looking for specialized solutions. By focusing on a specific product or service, dealerships can also become more efficient and effective in their operations, which can help to improve their competitiveness and profitability. 

Higher margins 

By specializing in a specific product or service, dealerships can often negotiate better pricing and terms from suppliers, which can result in higher margins. Additionally, by focusing on a specific product or service, dealerships can streamline their operations and reduce their costs, which can also help to improve their margins. 

Targeted marketing 

By specializing in a specific product or service, dealerships can focus their marketing efforts on a target audience and more effectively reach potential customers. This can help to reduce the costs of marketing and increase the return on investment, as dealerships are able to reach their target audience with more precision and accuracy. 

Niche market opportunities 

By specializing in a specific area of office technology, dealerships can identify and capitalize on new niche market opportunities that may not have been accessible to more generalist dealerships. This can help dealerships to grow their business and expand their customer base, as they are better positioned to meet the needs of a specific target market. Additionally, by focusing on a specific product or service, dealerships can develop a deeper understanding of their customers’ needs and preferences, which can help them to provide more customized and tailored solutions and improve customer satisfaction. 

No matter if your business offers a diverse or concentrated range of products and services, SalesChain is the complete business automation solution for your office technology dealership.  

The SalesChain platform provides automation for each step of your process, from quote and order pricing and document generation to delivery workflow tools. SalesChain puts your team in a position to communicate and collaborate efficiently, removes the need to hassle with redundant data sets, and empowers your people to close more deals. 

Click here to learn more about SalesChain 

“A high-performance team is a cross-functional group of people with complementary skills. Effective work practices are crucial to building high-performing teams.” – Leadership Garden 

In any team, communication is key.  Information must be in a format that is easily accessible and can be easily shared by employees.  Managers need to know what actions their sales representatives have taken on a daily basis to secure an account.  Sales representatives must be able to access information regarding the delivery personnel and the fulfillment process in order to keep their clients informed and happy. Upper management wants to keep tabs on KPIs to inform ongoing business decisions.   

All these components are, by nature, interconnected. When information is communicated effectively, responsibilities can be clearly outlined, and performance can be measured and trackable. The same should be true for any software platform your team uses to stay synchronized. To be their most successful, many teams utilize a central platform for critical processes such as storing and sharing data and information, activity tracking and planning, lead and deal creation and management, and more. If your team uses multiple platforms, it is critical that they can integrate with one another to cut down on redundant data entries, miscommunications, and mistakes.  

Synchronizing your team often facilitates a uniform process for: 

• Creating sales leads   
• Booking meetings and sharing information  
• Assigning and tracking tasks and performance  
• Consolidating and concentrating important data 
• Creating and closing deals   
• Billing/documenting orders  
• Distributing delivery/back-end documentation  
• Creating commissions packages  

“Effective teamwork practices include good software platforms! High-performing teams are nimble and focused — which requires clear, timely, and streamlined communication.” – Leadership Garden 

No doubt, syncing your team can be a complex and multifaceted challenge. Business teams today use a wide variety of digital platforms to synchronize their processes and boost their efficiency. Software platforms like Slack, Salesforce, Monday, Jira, ConnectWise, e-Automate, and more provide business teams with an unprecedented range of options and solutions to their needs. But not all platforms are built the same. With so many options available, how do office technology and IT product dealers know what is right for them? 

SalesChain is the only solution in the office technology and IT product industry to offer a comprehensive solution to the problem of successful synchronization. Our platform serves as a complete business automation software, connecting the front and back-office staff and boosting your team’s efficiency.  

Project success engenders team trust, cooperation, and the motivation for continued collaboration – sharing skills, ideas, and data to produce the best result. SalesChain is the project management software platform needed to do this. Remember – a TEAM means “Together Everyone Achieves More”. Sync your team today with SalesChain! 

The goal of drawing effective sales territories is to optimize revenue while making efficient use of reps as the most important sales resource.  Challenges that dealers face include: 

• Upgrading technology infrastructure to take advantage of electronic mapping and database demographics. 
• Creating balanced workloads for sales representatives with territories. 
• Matching sales representatives to clients who speak to their strengths and experience. 
• Putting in place an effective business management system to correctly track progress and evaluate the effectiveness of territory boundaries.  

Additionally, the post-pandemic landscape for the office technology channel reflects a major change in print sales. With the expansion of work-from-home situations for many dealerships’ clients, residential solutions have become more profitable, and client offices are not all doing the same print volume they once were. Dealerships are having to re-draw a lot of territories because of this to balance the playing field for their sales reps.   

SalesChain’s software goes beyond just partitioning territories by zip code rules. It can help dealers fine-tune their sales opportunities and balance sales reps’ customer base in an area by providing population averages, business density, customer density, and the number of leases with corresponding information. Sales managers and leadership teams may run scenarios to help make calculated decisions to effectively distribute territory customer bases and accounts. Lease data gives them important information on the “size of opportunity” in a given territory. Revenue analytics allow for a spot-in-time analysis of sales data and help managers keep balanced territories in a dynamic sales environment.  

Ready to assess your prospect and account quality more accurately and improve your sales plan? SalesChain can help! 

Looking only a few days or weeks down the road is short sighted in business. Management should prioritize a mindset of future growth and take advantage of any tools available to project sales trajectories. The ability to accurately forecast upcoming sales and revenue is the basis for a sound business plan. “Sales forecasts help set benchmarks for future trends and allow leaders to course correct early” – Aviso  

If you know the direction your business is going, you can allocate available resources the most effectively. Optimizing cash flow is easier when a sales forecast accurately provides margins. Decisions to spend, hire, invest in inventory, or conserve funds are informed by sound data. 

Sales forecasting also provides managers with a way to evaluate the performance of their sales teams. This can provide the foundation for substantive evaluations and encourage employees to set realistic and achievable goals that align with sales metrics.  

But what steps are copier dealerships taking to forecast completely and accurately in a timely manner?  

Having a central system of data as well as the tools to process that data supports the ability to generate quality forecasting reports in a timely manner. SalesChain provides high quality forecasting tools which can generate accurate and complete reports of what sales representatives are pricing in the system. Monetary values of leads, proposals and orders are automatically aggregated into a comprehensive forecasting report, based on the expected close date. These reports are searchable by a large number of categories, to help filter large data sets down to manageable sizes for analysis by all users.  

Businesses need to manage revenue by managing sales data. Forecasting is the tool that makes this possible and SalesChain has an outstanding tool designed by experts specifically for the office technology industry. It offers eight different forecasting screens that users can choose from, to fine tune their view of the order pipeline and generate precise financial predictions based on quality data. “The ability to forecast sales (accurately) is pivotal in enabling a company’s leadership to future-proof its strategic vision and run its day-to-day operations effectively.” – Aviso 

The cyclical nature of copier sales means that competitive equipment/opportunity tracking is critical, along with maintaining your own lease portfolio. Automating your tracking with software ensures that sales representatives will never overlook a chance to check in with current and potential customers in their territory, lessening the chances of their competitors reaching out to them first. For example, SalesChain’s software lets you choose the workflow timing, so you don’t miss a client’s lease expiration date. Having the ability to track these competitive opportunities with lease expiration dates and as much data as possible can help break your competitor’s cycle and give you the opportunity.

Focusing on these opportunities for repeat business can be of tremendous benefit to your company. Since you already have an established professional relationship with them, they are going to be easier to sell to.  This reduces the larger cost outlays associated with acquiring new customers, as well as the cost of marketing. Repeat customers are more likely to spend more money with you, especially if you offer the opportunity to use lease financing tools. SalesChain’s lease desk gives comprehensive views of each lease, including meter reads and usage data to help close that deal again. Satisfied customers are loyal and will promote your business. Customer retention will increase your company’s profitability. You can even track the health of your customer base using SalesChain’s data and analytics dashboarding tool.

With so many products to choose from, it’s hard for small dealerships to keep up. A quality software tool is vital for collating the enormous manufacturer catalog databases. The SalesChain software platform includes a cohesive, comprehensive, and readily searchable database of catalog entries for use by  sales representatives. Our catalog marketing and maintenance team is committed to continuous updates which include the latest models, as well as machines that are still available for sale as refurbished units or off-lease options. With integrations to Ingram Micro, Supplies Network and TD Synnex, SalesChain also imports major IT product distributor catalogs into SalesChain’s proposal and order pricing tool daily.

Workflow can mean many things for different industries. It’s important that the workflow tool your business implements aligns with the goals that you have and meets or exceeds your business’ needs.

SalesChain has developed a software platform uniquely aligned with the office technology industry. We are familiar with the industry, including the latest technological innovations and expansions into related products.

Your business needs a workflow that automates all the steps in the sales cycle, including fulfillment, in an intuitive and easy-to-learn format. We work directly with our client companies to clearly define their specific needs. The result is an automated workflow system within the SalesChain platform that supports all aspects of your business sales cycle: from prospecting for leads and new opportunities to pricing, documenting, and delivery of products and services. SalesChain allows you to define customized workflows that best represent the working steps needed to fulfill each type of product or service that your business offers.

SalesChain’s delivery workflow automation system is not only a comprehensive set of tools to organize and automate your sales cycle. It also had embedded tools to measure the efficiency of your fulfillment processes. Advanced business intelligence tools provide easy-to-read metrics for sales and management to evaluate effectiveness and promote growth.

The SalesChain platform also has tools to integrate with other core systems like leasing companies, e-Automate, or ConnectWise Manage. Throughout the sales cycle, each step of assignment and completion is time-stamped so that the timeliness of your process may also be evaluated. Your whole team will be better informed and able to perform tasks more efficiently.

Any software tool, including industry-targeted products, is only of value if it can be used consistently and effectively by your employees. Purchasing software should not be the end of the relationship between your business and the vendor. Ongoing support services for training, troubleshooting, implementation, and improvements should be readily available and approachable.

You need an industry-specific product that comes with a focused support staff. When your organization partners with an industry-specific software solution, such as SalesChain, you’re presented with a set of tools that are specific to the functions of your business, as well as support personnel who are trained and operate in the same industry that the software serves. This naturally engenders a much higher level of competency and service.

SalesChain prides itself on its service. Our help desk staff is trained on our system, from its most basic functions to its most advanced utilities. They can help employees at our client companies with any issues they are facing. Our professional help desk staff is US-based, English-speaking, and trained in the intricacies of the office technology industry.