Continuing with our Partnering with Xerox series of video interviews, I was able to catch up with Jeff Horn of Benchmark Business Solutions a Xerox Authorized Agent based in Texas.
I had heard that Jeff and the Benchmark Business Solutions team have been very successful with adapting their sales management processes to capture the Managed Print Services (MPS) opportunity so I wanted to find out more. Watch the video interview below and read along with the transcript underneath the video.
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Hi, Jeff, you’re the owner of Benchmark Business Solutions in Texas and a very good Agent for a number of years, tell me what’s one of the keys to your success?
JH
Well Dan I think there are several, we have great people but when you execute a business plan, great people is only part of it – you have to have a roadmap to success and you’ll find the key to our success is layered into our sales management process.
DM
Are there any key factors with your sales management process that you feel are worth highlighting?
JH
It all revolves around [sales] rep productivity and the activities that it takes to be successful, and not focussing on the month end goal, or the quarterly goal, or the year-end goal. Instead, focusing on – what is going to make the rep more productive today, tomorrow, the day after that? It’s the old adage that you eat an elephant one bite at a time.
DM
So you are investing in your people and your reps on a continuous basis?
JH
Yeah, that’s right. One of our seven core principles is continuous improvement and we believe that through sales management processes, and through training, that even your best reps can always get better.
DM
Is compensation a big part of your business focus and goals?
JH
You know, compensation is something that you don’t have to spend a lot of time on when you are developing your plan. At Benchmark we typically start with where we want to head [to] as a company and work backwards to layer that down to the sales rep in order to drive the kind of activity and results that we are looking for.
One of the things that Benchmark saw as an opportunity in our market was to expand our managed print portfolio. We didn’t have our reps really hunting for pages because, typical legacy compensation plans have focused heavily on compensating the reps for the equipment that they sold.
One of the things that we recognised was that if we had the reps compensated for going out and trying to win the pages in an account and not necessarily the equipment, we’ll win the equipment as well. But it’s the additional focus on gaining that page revenue – that would better align with the company goals than just focusing on the equipment only. We’ve seen really great success as our managed print business continues to grow on an annual basis.
DM
That’s terrific Jeff well thanks for taking a few minutes with us this morning and best of luck to you as you finish out the quarter.
Change the pay plan – change the outcome
It was Jeff’s last point that made complete sense to me. By compensating his reps on delivering page revenue, Jeff has fundamentally shifted the mindset of the rep and his entire business.
If you are thinking about adding managed print services to your portfolio – and of course I’d advise you to sell Xerox Managed Print Services – do what Jeff did. Start with your business goals and then work backwards so that you can be sure that you reward your sales reps for the type of activity and results you are looking for – in this case, managed print services growth.
Take a look at the Benchmark Business Solutions managed print service page to see how their website matches their managed print aspirations.
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