IN THIS MONTH’S NEWSLETTER:
The Feed – Highlights from the 2015 Copier Careers® Sales Representative Salary Survey
The Top 5 – Strategies for successful recruitment
News In Brief – Announcements from Copier Careers®, HP, Canon, and Xerox
Sound Off – Our readers respond to last month’s poll
Poll-of-the-Month – Have you ever quit a job because you didn’t get along with your manager?
THE FEED
Highlights from the 2015 Copier Careers® Sales Representative Salary Survey
The 2015 Copier Careers® Sales Representative Salary Survey is now available! The survey reflects the responses of 10,227 copier channel sales professionals from around the country. Here are a few highlights from this year’s survey:
Average annual compensation for a copier channel sales professional is around $116,000
Since 2014, average annual compensation has risen by only $400
The average monthly quota for MPS/Solution Sales reps is around $45,000
Now that MPS has made recurring revenue a significant portion of most sales comp plans, keeping reps motivated to hunt for new business has become a formidable challenge for dealers.
Read or download the entire 8-page salary survey free online at //copiercareers.com/salary_survey/2015_sales_rep_salary_survey.pdf
THE TOP 5… Strategies for Successful Recruitment
Tips from the trenches to keep your copier career on track
The market for qualified sales and service candidates is tighter than ever. To stay on top of staffing, hiring managers have to make recruiting a priority. Here are some of our secrets for successful recruitment:
- ABR: Always Be Recruiting. Recruiting isn’t something you do only when you have a job opening. Keep your candidate pipeline full by regularly networking with industry professionals.
- Make opportunistic hires. Despite the tight job market, great candidates occasionally become available. When an opportunity arises, make a hire even if you don’t have an immediate opening.
- Maintain healthy staffing levels. In this market, when an employee quits it can take months to replace that person. Wherever possible, hire for “bench strength” so the loss of a few employees won’t send your entire operation into turmoil.
- Identify future staffing needs. Have a short-term, mid-term, and long-term business plan in place, and make sure to identify your staffing needs as part of your business plan. Knowing where you are headed will empower you to make informed hiring decisions more quickly.
- Move fast. In this hiring environment, good candidates don’t remain available for long. The faster you can make a hiring decision and extend a job offer, the better.
For a more in-depth read on this issue, check out our article “Success in Hiring: Successful Recruiting Strategies in Today’s Job Market” in the December issue of Office Technology, The Magazine of the BTA. Or call 888-733-4868 to talk to one of our recruiters.
NEWS IN BRIEF
Copier Careers® 2015 Sales Rep Salary Survey Now Available. Our 2015 Copier Careers® Sales Representative Salary Survey is now available. Read or download it for free at //copiercareers.com/salary_survey/2015_sales_rep_salary_survey.pdf
HP Unveils Five New DesignJet Technical Printers. HP has unveiled five new DesignJet technical printers, including the flagship HP DesignJet T830 Multifunction Printer and the HP DesignJet T730 Printer, designed to help architect, engineering, and construction (AEC) professionals print, scan, and copy. Engineered to withstand tough environments, these new devices make large-format printing faster and easier from the office to the construction site. “Even as AEC and design professionals become increasingly mobile, they prefer making edits and reviewing plans on the printed page,” said Xavier Garcia, vice president and general manager, Large Format Printing, HP. “HP’s innovative new large-format printers and MFPs simplify collaboration with next-level features and mobile printing capabilities to meet this blended reality.”
Canon Inc. Chairman Recognized as Top Performing CEO by Harvard Business Review. Canon Inc’s Chairman and CEO, Fujio Mitarai, has been recognized as one of the top 100 World’s Best-Performing CEOs in 2015 by Harvard Business Review. In recognition of his enduring success and leadership, Mr. Mitarai holds the number 10 spot on this year’s list. In addition to recognizing companies based on financial growth and stability, Harvard Business Review has added measurements for each company’s environmental, social, and governance performance in 2015. This ranking, along with the measurement of each company’s financial performance, determined the final rankings.
Xerox Announces New Tools for Mobile Devices and MFPs. Xerox’s new tools for mobile devices and MFPs are designed to help mobile workers recreate the same workflows they use in the office. These include Xerox Mobile Print Cloud v. 3.0, which enables secure mobile printing; Xerox Mobile Print Solution, which allows workers to print from their devices to any networked printer; Xerox Wireless Print Solutions Adapter, which adds wireless and mobile printing capabilities to legacy printers; Mobile App Link, which has been enhanced with new capabilities for Android and iOS devices; and PrintSafe Sofware, which provides authentication security for MFPs. “Working on the go often brings unneeded complexity and workflow jams,” said Jim Rise, Senior VP, Office and Solutions Business Group, Xerox. “These five easy-to-use tools help break down the barriers of working remotely because employees shouldn’t see diminished productivity when they’re outside the four walls of their office.”
SOUND OFF: Our readers speak
Last month, we asked you if the shortage of qualified staff is holding your company back. Out of 2,789 respondents, an overwhelming 92 percent said the problem has affected your ability to grow. The full results are below:
- Yes, the shortage of qualified people is holding us back (92%, 2,580 Votes)
- No, we haven’t had trouble finding experienced people to hire (8%, 212 Votes)
Total Voters: 2,792 (October 25, 2015 @ 3:52 am - November 26, 2015 @ 3:52 am)
Loading ...Here’s what you had to say about the issue:
“The OEMs in our town keep laying people off. Finding talented people is not a problem if you wait until March. That’s when they conduct layoffs to get people off the books.”
“The ability to grow or not to grow depends on the manager’s ability to lead. With good training and motivation you can get the best out of any human being. It’s up to management to direct and guide the team to success.”
“Still unable to find people who consider sales a viable career choice. For most, it’s a stopgap until they find a ‘real job,’ so their efforts are limited.”
“Yes, it’s very hard to find OEM-certified techs with MPS skill sets.”
“Qualified techs that can troubleshoot are becoming hard to find.”
“It’s impossible to find anyone with OEM training on the tech side and hunters on the sales side.”
“I voted yes specific to qualified field service technician and service management candidates.”
“This industry is aging. New hires are few and far between because they lack experience and are, quite frankly, not interested in a ‘trade’ job. More than a few technicians I’ve met have language, culture, and skill set challenges, but they’re the ones applying for the jobs.”
“Yes, it is difficult to grow our untapped territories when we can’t find qualified candidates to fill open positions.”
“The office equipment industry has been like this since, well, forever.”
“Computer networking people are abundant, but actual copier technicians are in limited supply.”
“It is not really that people aren’t qualified, it’s more the state of their work ethic. They think coming in late and playing social hour is more important than getting the work done. So we hire and then see a revolving door as people give up.”
“Not only is a lack of experienced staff holding our company back, it is also costing us money, as we need to send experienced staff back to poorly serviced clients.”
“What the industry wants is a technician who can fix machines and networks and also keep up with the new software applications that seem to come out every week. We lose the people that have networking ability after they see there are too many demands for productivity to fix machines and software/networking problems. Young technicians come in, get training, and then leave when they see the demands put on them. We are always buried in work because we can’t keep people around for what we’re willing to pay. The industry has to treat technicians with more respect and better pay, or this shortage of qualified people will only increase.”
“There is never enough talent in the pool.”
THE COPIER CAREERS® NEWSLETTER POLL OF THE MONTH
- Sort of—the manager was one reason for quitting, but not the only reason (34%, 973 Votes)
- No, I have never quit a job because I didn’t get along with the manager (33%, 948 Votes)
- Yes, I’ve quit solely because of the manager (33%, 926 Votes)
Total Voters: 2,847 (November 25, 2015 @ 3:55 am - December 26, 2015 @ 3:55 am)
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