Great Lakes Computer Corporation

Managed Service Provider

You are here: Home / Great Lakes Blog

Great Lakes Blog

By

SMB Best Practices: 7 Key Practices to Sales Success

IT SupportAccording to Pipeline Deals, “If you’re in a small or medium-sized business, you’re always looking for an edge to maximize your sales success.”  No doubt for every SMB we encounter, especially when we are providing IT support to mission critical applications in the sales cycle. Pipeline recently hosted the Accelerate Sales Conference to bring together the top minds in sales and marketing to share what high growth companies were doing to excel. Seven best practices emerged from the keynotes and sessions as the difference makers for sales excellence in SMB, and we thought we would share those with our readers:

1. Help… don’t sell
Be on the customer’s side. Focus conversations on customers’ needs and goals by listening and answering questions.

2. Collect the right intelligence to strengthen the pipeline
Work smarter, not harder. Understand people change roles and jobs. Keep an eye on these changes to find new leads and maintain existing customer relationships.

3, Focus on what’s in it for them
Stop selling products and start selling outcomes. Focus on what leads and customers can accomplish with the product to meet their bottom line. It’s about their needs, not sales compensation plans.

4. Show up early
No, not getting up at the crack dawn, but arriving at the beginning of the decision-making process. Focusing on prospects that are ready to buy now is starting too late. Engage in conversations earlier to learn about their needs for the best sales pitch possible.

5. Use the 3 P’s: Preparation, practice and planning
Get a system down. Prepare by spending a bit of time researching a company or person before contact. Remember that practice makes perfect. Constantly rehearse pitches and anticipate questions to improve it over time. Plan with measureable goals and create a system of accountability to stay on track. Each meeting should have a desired end-state to measure success rates.

6. Prioritize by understanding the quality of a lead
Time is money. Invest it on the sales leads with the most potential first. Referral and word of mouth are best, followed by those generated by direct outreach programs, with website and marketing programs next.

7. Establish fans for life
Sales is like a relay race. Getting a meeting or closing a new deal is only the first leg. Strong customer relationships have long-term benefits, including repeat business, referrals, and positive market perception.

 

By

5 Things People Don’t Know about Thermal Printers

Thermal Printing Unlike traditional printing mechanisms, which use a ribbon to apply ink to surfaces, direct thermal printing uses heat sensitive paper that produces an image when it is heated. The thermal print head heats parts of the paper selectively to produce symbols, images and barcodes. Thermal transfer printers, on the other hand, do use ink as well as heat.

Since many people don’t know how thermal printers work, let alone these other fun facts, we thought we’d share a few more details about thermal printers.

1. Thermal Printing Is Taking Off

Demand for thermal printers is blowing up, in large part due to the growing demand for printable labels and barcodes in the desktop, mobile and industrial retail industries. This growth chart shows the actual and predicted growth from 2012 to 2020, in which time the use of thermal printers is estimated to nearly double. In that time, the majority of their use is predicted to remain confined to industrial applications.

2. Thermal Printers Make Labels Crisp

Okay, this is one fact you likely did know if you’ve used thermal printers before. Unlike traditional printers, which apply ink to paper – whereupon it bleeds and runs – thermal printers confine ink much more effectively. That’s why they are so frequently used in applications where a crisp, clean image is necessary.

3. Barcode Issues Mean You Need Repairs

Unfortunately, even when you use the best technology, barcode issues do crop up from time to time, usually when your printer needs service. If you begin to notice your barcodes look fine but don’t scan, read poorly much of the time, read fine for horizontal barcodes but fair for vertical barcodes, have incorrect width, are smeared or generally aren’t performing their duty, it’s probably time for maintenance.

Unlike other industries and applications, you can’t eke by with outmoded or broken parts, because your barcodes will simply stop working, making it impossible to do your job. If you notice any of these problems, call in a repairman today.

4. You Can Use Two Colors

Although thermal printing is automatically relegated to very functional uses (such as barcodes) due to the fact that the printed products are usually only available in black, it is also possible to get two-tone thermal printers. They use paper that can be heated to two different temperatures, one of which products black and the other red.

5. They’re Applicable to a Variety of Industries

No matter what kind of business you run, chances are you have a use for thermal printers. They are helpful in warehouses, street parking meters, retail stores, theaters, sports arenas and venues, hospitals and parcel carrier industries. Any industry that relies on scanning will benefit from printed labels whose bars and characters remain crisp and clear over the long haul.

Still wondering about thermal printers or printer repair? Be sure to call in the experts next time you’re looking to purchase a new system or update an old one.

Learn more about our Thermal Printer Sales, Supplies and Support

By

Physical Security is Crucial to Your Data Security

Data SecurityWe write about data security in our blog posts often as it is a topic that goes hand in hand with any IT Support discussion. One aspect that often is overlooked is the actual physical security of your serves and systems.  Having a lock on a door to your office simply isn’t enough.  No amount of anti-virus software will keep a thief from physically stealing your hard drives on a break in.  We are sharing a post from Corporate Technologies Group today entitled: 5 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Ignore Physical Security.

Threats to your data come in all forms. Companies should have network and infrastructure security in place. But few consider physical security. How many times on television shows do you see a character slyly stick an external hard drive into a computer and download critical information just in time to escape? This isn’t all that much of an over-dramatization. Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Carnegie Mellon University, CSO magazine and the U.S. Secret Service reported that “Only 49% of companies have a plan to address and respond to insider security threats — even though 32% of the same companies agree that crimes perpetrated by insiders are more costly and damaging than those committed by outsiders.”

The following advice from an article on computerworld.com is a good reminder of why physical security measures shouldn’t be ignored. As the author, Robert C. Covington states, “If insiders can walk into your data center and grab a removable hard drive, they have no need to break into your servers.”

1. The open lobby

Companies with open lobbies often rely on a receptionist to be the gatekeeper, but receptionists can get busy and distracted. A few weeks ago, I visited a company with an open lobby. Had the receptionist been distracted, and with the few people walking in the halls, I could have easily made it through the building to the unlocked data center. A locked door between the lobby and inside of a facility is very important.

2. The unlocked data center

Someone with physical access to a system can do many things that a network intruder could not. I helped a church blank the local admin password on a PC this week, something I could only do with hands-on access to the system. If you have a data center of any size, it needs to be securely locked, with access restricted to those with a need to be there.

3. Poorly secured doors

Systems requiring a proximity card for entry are now quite common, and with good reason. They provide tight granularity of access control for individual doors and a detailed audit trail. They are important, and should be used more than they are. That being said, they are not the answer to tight access control that many think, given the ease with which access information can be captured and used by bad actors. One of my customers recently described an audit by a major corporate customer that included an attempt to capture badge data using inexpensive, off-the-shelf hardware and software. The auditor arrived 30 minutes early and rode up and down the elevators with arriving employees. After 30 minutes, the auditor had captured enough data to easily enter almost any office in the building.

4. Lack of surveillance

Cameras are very inexpensive today, and yet they can do double duty, not only detecting possible threats in progress, but allowing for forensic review of incidents. What a bargain! And yet, surprisingly few companies use them, and many that do, install and ignore them. Cameras should be installed at all entry points to a facility, and in key areas such as data centers and telecom closets. The video should be recorded and retained, with a live monitor placed on the desk of someone who can keep an eye on it.

5. Inadequate intruder detection

The good news is that intrusion alarms are in very common use today. There is much opportunity for improvement, however. Many smaller offices in multitenant buildings do not bother with them, because a guard is often present in the lobby. If you refer to the badge paragraph above, you will realize just how easy it can be for someone to get into such a building. Further, these offices often share a common wall with other tenants. You don’t have to watch many home improvement shows to realize just how easy it is to get through drywall. You need an intrusion system, and you need one supporting unique codes for each individual for audit trail purposes.

The bottom line: It is appropriate to pay attention to logical security threats, but overlook physical security at your own peril.

Learn more about our Data Security Product Suite

By

Beginners Guide to Cloud Computing

Cloud ComputingIt is imperative when transitioning to the cloud to know what questions to ask, as well as what information is necessary to share with your possible cloud computing service provider.  Some businesses make the switch with some ambiguity and no clear understanding of data, business and budgetary needs. These few tips could possibly save you and your company time and hassle before committing to the cloud:

1.  Know why you’re making your move to the cloud?

Have a reason as to why you are transitioning to the cloud. Define why it is practical to make this switch while weighing the pros and cons. Decide whether the switch can support your specific IT plan, cost and IT security that is needed to run a successful business.

Download Cloud Computing 101

2.  Remember to budget

As with any upgrade, the transition to cloud computing requires some additional expenses. For example, expenses may be in the form of education for the IT team regarding cloud computing. Agree upon the costs both with your IT team as well as your cloud computing provider.

3.  Prepare your IT team to switch

As mentioned above, education for the IT team for the transition is essential. The team will need both time and training to make the transition a successful one, therefore the introduction to the cloud must happen before the switch occurs. It is also important that the IT managers have a wide skill set that encompasses network monitoring.

The key to a successful transition is a successful planning of the transition. Another contributor to a prosperous move is the IT team as well as the cloud computing provider.

By

SMB Best Practices: Why Do You Procrastinate?

Small Business Best PracticesToday we share a post from our guest bloggers at Organizing4u.com as part of our Small Business Best Practices series. SMB owners have a lot on their plates, to say the least.  Procrastination can harm the success of your organization. Do you find yourself frequently procrastinating? Here are 10 strategies that may be helpful for you:

1. Have a lot of things on your to-do list so you can be productive while you procrastinate.

2. Have a sense of how long the things on your to-do list take.

3. Learn what helps you focus – lyricless music, a cafe away from your house, etc. Surround yourself with or put yourself wherever it is that makes you focus.

4. Don’t go app crazy. Collect all of your tasks in one place so that you can see them all and prioritize them.

5. Practice self-manipulation. Treat your future self like a teenager — set up the structure she needs to get things done.

6. Empathize with your future self. Distancing yourself from him makes you less invested in how things will go for him and will lead to poor decisions.

7. Recognize your emotions. “Priority is short term mood repair,” says Timothy Pychyl. Often intentions to complete a task are displaced by the desire to feel better and avoid an emotion such as anxiety.

8. Remember, you have power. You are making a choice. “This is all desire based,” said Joshua Zerkel. ‘I don’t want to do that task, I’m going to do this one instead.’ That, in of itself, is a choice.”

9. Recognize the type of delay you are participating in. Recent research identified six key types of delays including purposeful delay, inevitable delay, and hedonistic delay. “There are lots of different kinds of delay that we need to understand,” said Pychyl. “Then I think we can take some of the weight off of that one-word, ‘procrastination,’ which I want to keep for a really self-defeating form of delay.”

10. Know if you have something bigger going on, like depression. “If I know that someone is depressed, I don’t even talk about procrastination,” said Pychyl. “If you have some sort of mental disorder, choice is more ellusive. You’re not feeling the same sense of agency. Certainly, if you’re depressed, look into getting that treated first, and after that you can look at your work habits.”

By

Thermal Printers: Heating Up The Print Industry

thermal printingThermal printing is a process where images are generated digitally by applying heat to heat-sensitive thermal paper. The heat applied to the paper causes certain chemicals to change color, resulting in the desired images being transferred to the thermal paper. Due primarily to its relatively low cost and high speed of operation, thermal printing has experienced a significant and sustained growth phase, particularly in the manufacturing sector where companies need to produce labels quickly in bulk.

While worldwide sales of thermal printers neared $33 billion in 2014, they are projected to continue growing to an estimated $41 billion by 2019. The market is going to continue to expand, but with that growth comes questions and uncertainty. New technology requires new hardware, new repair specialists, and new replacement parts. But it’s not all about potential pitfalls; learn how you can take advantage of the thermal printing phenomenon to optimize your processes and increase productivity.

Advantages of Thermal Printers

The rise of thermal printers can be tied to several distinct advantages of the format. They are generally inexpensive, they can complete jobs more quickly than their traditional high-capacity laser or inkjet counterparts, and the quality of the print is usually considered to be high.

This makes thermal printers ideal for manufacturing sectors such as retail, where the companies ship large amounts of similar items that are often delayed by the label printing process. Thermal printers also have fewer working parts than other printing formats, resulting in less maintenance and easier repairs.

Current Market Snapshot

The current market outlook is strong, as a diverse array of industries are benefiting from thermal printing and the technology continues to improve. Of the $32.8 billion in worldwide sales accounted for in the thermal printing market for 2014, 31% of that revenue was generated by printers themselves, while the remaining 69% comes from sales of supplies and accessories.

Thermal printing has cemented its presence in industries as diverse as transportation, retail, manufacturing, healthcare, government, and security. Regionally, the market has mostly been dominated by North America, although that is expected to change rapidly in the coming decade.

Drivers of Future Market Growth

Thermal printer manufacturers are able to market their product as a productivity tool, allowing B2B clients to calculate return on investment associated with adopting thermal printing as a company standard. This, along with improvements in near-field communications and cloud computing, will make thermal printing technology attractive to an even larger field of companies. This robust growth is expected to continue well into the next decade, with exponential growth forecast especially for the burgeoning Asia Pacific market.

Advice for the Future

Any company would be wise to analyze the strengths, weaknesses, and costs of implementing a thermal printing system to determine if it’s right for them. A managed print services company, which offers regular maintenance and repair as well as scheduled supply refills, can help to keep you on track of your thermal printing needs and ensure that you get the most out of your investment.

Download our Managed Print Brochure

Contact Us