November 2021

Recruiters for the Copier Channel® for more than 30 years, Copier Careers® has been the only recruiting firm exclusively dedicated to connecting Copier Channel employers with experienced service technicians, copier sales representatives, sales managers, service & operations managers, controllers, support staff, and MPS/MNS experts. Start your month off right with Newsletter November 2021: Copier Channel news and career advice. Search copier jobs now.

IN THIS MONTH’S NEWSLETTER

Interviewing Service Managers
News from Ricoh
Sound Off: What’s the most important sales manager quality?
Monthly Poll: What’s the most important service manager quality?

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Interviewing Service Managers

The #1 takeaway from our 2021 Mid-Year Update was the resurging job market. Hiring in this industry has never been busier, more competitive or more challenging that it is right now. That makes streamlining the hiring process more important than ever!

Welcome to our Interviewing Prep series, where we share the most important questions employers and candidates need to have answered before the first interview. This month, we’re covering Service Managers/Vice Presidents of Service:

Questions for Employers Before Interviewing Service Managers

• What is the base salary range for this position?
• Is there a bonus program in place? If so, is it related to service metrics or overall revenue?
• Do you offer benefits?
• Do you provide a car allowance, cell phone, and/or laptop?
• Who will the new Service Manager report to directly?
• What is the current size of the service team or department to be managed?
• How many additional techs would you like the new Service Manager to bring on?
• What is the service team’s territory range?
• What OEM experience or certifications are required for this role?
• What networking experience or certifications are required for this role?
• Will this position require ride-alongs with techs?
• How much of this role will be spent out in the field vs. in the office (working on policies, procedures, etc.)?
• What is the current service revenue?
• What is the current profit margin for the service revenue and where do you need it to be?
• Will this role require previous P&L experience?
  • Will this role be responsible for the Service P&L?
  • If so, will there be bonus opportunities based on the profit?
• How has your company expanded your portfolio to keep up with advancing technology? Has that evolution accelerated during the pandemic?
• Are you open to relocating candidates? Would you offer any assistance?
• What is the typical interview process for this role? What is your hiring timeline?
• Does your company do a formal background check and drug screening?
• What is your company culture like? What are you seeking in a candidate to fit with the rest of your team?

Questions for Service Managers Before Their Interview

• What would it take for you to consider a new opportunity?
• What are you looking for in your next position?
• What OEM, networking or software solution certifications or transcripts can you provide?
• How many years of management experience do you have?
• What was your career path to management?
• For your most recent management position, what was your service team’s size when you started? How many new techs did you hire? How many did you let go?
• For your most recent management position, was your service team meeting your company’s benchmarks?
  • If so, what skills helped you and your team achieve this success?
  • If not, why not?
• What sets you apart from other candidates?
• Have you earned any service or management achievement awards?
• What was the most noteworthy service call you were involved with in your most recent service department?
• What are your most successful customer service strategies?
• What are your most successful management strategies?
• Do you have a non-compete? If so, how will it affect your ability to move to a new company?
• How quickly would you be able to switch to a new position?
• Are you open to relocation? If so, is your household on the same page?

Interview Prep Series:

Sales Representatives

Technicians

Sales Managers

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News from Ricoh

Ricoh USA, Inc. and 3D printing solutions leader, Stratasys Ltd announced a partnership to “provide point-of-care anatomic modeling services to healthcare facilities.” Ricoh 3D for Healthcare aims to give “healthcare institutions the opportunity to access patient care tools that they may not have previously had access to.”

“With Ricoh 3D for Healthcare, providers can easily generate 3D printed models of patient specific anatomy using state of the art technology through an on-site managed services or on-demand part approach. This will demonstrate the clinical and economic benefits of anatomic models, while streamlining the historical challenges of establishing 3D printing programs in hospitals.”

Sound Off

Last month, we discussed important questions for candidates and employers to prepare before an interview for a sales manager. This is part of our ongoing Interviewing Prep series to help you get the most out of your next interview (whether in front of the desk or behind it). So we were curious to hear what you thought was the most important sales manager quality. We had a solid turnout of 12,130 votes this month!

Our number 1 answer was decisiveness and good goal setting, taking 42% of the vote. Next came coaching focus with 28% and strong communication with 19% of votes. After that we had integrity taking 10%, reliability taking 5% and transparency with the remaining 1% of the vote.

It makes sense for our readers to prioritize the leadership trait of decisiveness closely followed by more relational traits like coaching and communicating. We had several comments on the low rank of integrity and transparency – we’d like to remind folks that this was the question of most important quality. That doesn’t mean the decisive leaders are inherently dishonest or that you can’t trust a strong communicator, and so on. Transparency has a fair amount of overlap with bother integrity and strong communication so we removed it as an option from our November poll.

POLL QUESTION: