Conference ilbbak::us_sales_service

    I'm a little technical and work within a sales team so that I see/hear
    the frustrations that they voice. The simplist answer from my
    observation is TRAINING....once we've made our minds up with WHAT tools
    we want to train the rep on.
    
    I've personally been through the Sales Training (5 years ago) and they
    taught little on tools and how to get information (even VTX). There's
    been some attempts to help with publications such as the Yellow Pages.
    Unfortunately, management simultaneously began restricting access for
    Reps that went beyond All-In-1. Recently, for example, the capability
    to get to the infamous $ thru a UDK was blocked.
    
    We should not dump on the sales force for the simple reason that our
    Corporation has done everything possible over the years to prevent the
    Rep from being computer literate. On the brighter side though, I'm
    hearing of efforts from within IM&T and EDU that are aimed at
    correcting some of this. Some of it is automation. Some of it is as
    simple as having a SINGLE repository for online information such as
    OPAL. Let's face it, when we have to tell the field multiple ways to
    obtain information ("From Unix/VMS/Pathworks, etc, etc") what does one
    expect?
    
    Check out VTX lately. Under the Access/Sales Updae Menu, there's the
    banner that Sales Update has been merged with Business Partner update.
    I searched all over for a "Business Partner Update" section on VTX
    (there isn't any). Strangely enough though, the latest (printed) Sales
    Update is no where to be found online under any category. All the
    while, VOGON announces the "new look of VTX"....and of course,
    interesting services such as Order Status go off the air for several
    says.
    
    I'm sure you are doing your best but there's more fixin to the system
    that needs to be done first.

This is a dilemma. I'm the lone Sales Support Consultant in the U.S. for the 
Xerox Account Team, so I'm the one who has to go get the .PS files printed.
A few months ago, when all of the reps were bound to their character-cell 
terminals and ALL-IN-1, I would have said, forget it.

Now, all of the reps I support have 325p notebook PCs with Microsoft Office 
and docking stations. They have done things with them you'd be amazed at 
(considering their lack of computer literacy a few months ago). All of the PCs 
are networked to a Pathworks server when connected to the docking stations, so 
we have file and print services.

Here is what I suggest:

	- Utilize VTX to disseminate as much information as possible, either 
	  through Sales Update or specific product/technology infobases.

	- Setup a mechanism to allow the reps to get access to powerpoint 
	  (.PPT) versions of your presentations/slides. This can be either
	  through a pointer to a directory or via an automated copy that
	  moves the file to the rep's local system.

	- Continue to utilize the notes files. Most reps dont access them now,
	  but I'm seeing more and more start to get into notes and check things 
	  out themselves.

The task of copying a .PS file from some remote directory to a local system 
and printing it is still out of the technical grasp of some of the reps I 
support, but clear instructions from your end and mine can solve that problem.

That is what I suggest based on our account team. I think we're somewhat 
unique, but hopefully the suggestion I listed above will have some universal 
appeal.

regards,

Jim Mickol
Sales Support
Xerox Account Team
Rochester, NY
DTN 252-7106

    Thanks for the suggestions so far. Please could somebody who
    understands the tools from the sales reps end tell me how to clarify
    the instructions in .0. I give the DCL COPY commands. How do I say how
    to print the docs, I've no idea of queue setup on the sales reps
    systems of course. Not to mention of course that what I posted in .0
    involves editing the received mail message and extracting the COPY
    commands from the end.
    
    As you see here is a .PPT filer for one of the presentations. We'll get
    that into OPAL but is just having it in a directory like I've done OK
    as well?
    
    Dave

    The following PostScript Printing Guide was created last year for the 
    PostScript Printer Project and distributed to all field personnel 
    throughout the U.S. via ALL-IN-1.  This guide was created by U.S. 
    Education and Training.  If needed it could be updated.
    
    Let me know if you have any questions.
    
    Holly Rist
    U.S. Sales IM&T 
    
    =======================================================================
       POSTSCRIPT PRINTING WITH ALL-IN-1 V3.0
    =======================================================================

       SECTION I - INTRODUCTION
       The purpose of this guide is to help you print PostScript 
       documents in your ALL-IN-1 environment. The three areas 
       covered are:
    
       - Printing PostScript documents you have obtained from OPAL 
         (Online Presentation Access Library); Section II.

       - Printing PostScript documents mailed to you as attachments to 
         ALL-IN-1 mail messages; Section III.

       - Importing PostScript files from VMS to ALL-IN-1; Section IV.
    
    
       SECTION II - PRINTING DOCUMENTS FROM OPAL (ONLINE PRESENTATION 
       ACCESS LIBRARY)
       There are two types of documents you can mail to your ALL-IN-1 
       account from OPAL and print:
 
       - Text-only documents: These documents, such as descriptions 
         and scripts for slide presentations, do not require the use 
         of a PostScript printer.
       
       - Text and graphics documents: These documents, such as slide 
         presentations, contain text and graphics and require a 
         PostScript printer to be printed. NOTE: These documents tend 
         to be very large and can possibly exceed the ALL-IN-1 account 
         quotas. If the document is too large to mail, contact your 
         Help Desk for assistance.    
    
       STEP 1: Obtaining the Document from OPAL
       	         	  					          
       A. Select the documents you want mailed to your ALL-IN-1 mail 
          account.
       B. Be sure that the mail address you specify in OPAL is your 
          ALL-IN-1 address, for example: Jane Brown @TTB.

       STEP 2: Printing to a PostScript Printer

       A. In the current item block, display the document to be printed. 
          Alternately, you can place the pointer next to the document in 
          an index.
       B. Enter P (Print) and press <RETURN>.
       C. Enter the name of the print queue in the Document Destination 
          field and press <TAB> to move the cursor in the Print Style 
          field. NOTE: To view the available print queues, clear the 
          Document Destination field and press GOLD/L or the <FIND> key.  
       D. If printing to a PostScript printer, enter PS in the Print Style 
          field and press <RETURN>. NOTE: This field can be left blank If 
          you are printing to a non-PostScript printer.
    
       SECTION III - PRINTING POSTSCRIPT ATTACHMENTS RECEIVED IN 
       ALL-IN-1 MAIL       
       The following steps describe how to print a PostScript document 
       received as an attachment to an ALL-IN-1 mail message.
    
       STEP 1: Filing the PostScript Attachment
       When you receive an ALL-IN-1 mail message with a PostScript 
       attachment, file the attachment and assign it folder and title 
       names that are meaningful to you as follows:
    
       A. In the current item block, display the document you received that 
          contains the PostScript attachment. Alternately, you can place 
          the pointer next to the document in an index.
       B. Enter FA (File Attachment) and press <RETURN>.   	
       C. Enter a folder name (e.g. PostScript Documents) and press <TAB> 
          to move the cursor to the Title field.  	
       D. Enter a Title name (e.g. Filed Document) and press <RETURN>.	  
                    
       STEP 2: Printing to a PostScript Printer
       Once the PostScript attachment has been filed, print it as 
       follows:   
       	         
       A. In the current item block, display the document to be 
          printed. Alternately, you can place the pointer next to the 
          document in an index.      	
       B. Enter P (Print) and press <RETURN>	
       C. Enter the name of a PostScript print queue in the Document 
          Destination field and Press <RETURN>. NOTE: To view the 
          available print queues, clear the Document Destination field 
          and press GOLD/L or the <FIND> key.
       D. Enter PS in the Print Style field and press <RETURN>.
       
       SECTION IV - IMPORTING POSTSCRIPT FILES FROM VMS to ALL-IN-1
       When importing PostScript files from VMS to ALL-IN-1, use the 
       following steps:

       A. Select DT (Document Transfer)
       B. From the Document Transfer menu, select RVC (Receive without 
          Conversion). NOTE: If you select RV instead of RVC, you will 
          get an error message indicating that a PostScript file cannot 
          be converted to WPS-PLUS format.	
       C. Enter the file specification of the VMS PostScript file to be 
          imported and press <RETURN>.
       D. Enter a Title and use the <UP ARROW> to move the cursor to 
          the Folder field.
       E. Enter a Folder name and press <RETURN>
       F. The message DOCUMENT CREATED indicates that the PostScript 
          file now resides in your ALL-IN-1 account. NOTE: You can now 
          attach this file to an ALL-IN-1 mail message.

    





    

    To be honest, 100 lines of instructions is too complex for the average
    sales rep who's focused on getting answers quick and selling. For an
    ASCII file, the way to print is a simple "p". Can't this process be
    automated in some fashion?
    
    The instructions may be clear and seem simple but too lengthy tobe
    filed in the bag of a rep for "quick reference".

    
    First of all I'd like to thank Curtis Martin and Holly Rist of US Sales
    IM&T for following up on .0 to me offline and also for the reply in
    this file. Attached is the response I sent to their offline followup.
    
    Apparently for the future there is a great system of Powerpoint being
    put in place so that we will no longer have to leave postscript files
    around. But of course the problem there will that few in engineering/PM
    will have access to powerpoint. I'm still trying to get my VP's
    signature for getting the $50 Powerpoint software through the SSB (see
    my story in DIGITAL.NOTE if interested under a "A tale of two
    companies").
    
    Re .-1 I agree this procedure does seem overly complex to just
    remember. Also as you can see from my response below it is missing the
    step to actually get the .PS file to the local system.
    
    Dave
    
From:	SMAUG::GARROD "An Englishman's mind works best when it is almost too late  05-May-1993 0946 -0400"  5-MAY-1993 09:46:47.04
To:	GARROD
CC:	
Subj:	Follow up message

I'd like to thank you both for your phone messages and mail replies. I
tried to call you back but only got voicemail so didn't leave a message,
hence this message.

I like the approach you are taking for the future around Powerpoint. Of
course my only disappointment is that it is not in place now. Some suggestions
on making sure people know about it in the future. Key thing is to make sure
that both information providers and information eaters both know. Since one
of the problems is that sales and engineering tend to run in parallel universes
sometimes you need to make sure that you publish clearly how to put information
into the system. Also don't make it hard to get info into the system. Ie don't
put too many gatekeepers in front of it. Ie things like call xxx to get access
to system yyy and then register with person zzz if you can get hold of them.

Holly, regarding the ALL-IN-1 instructions for getting postscript files
across the network into ALL-IN-1. I think you're missing an important
step. You say how to get the postscript files into ALL-IN-1 from VMS but
that assumes they are local. You leave it unsaid how to move the postscript
files from wherever they are on the network to the local sales rep's system.
This is key. Not knowing what their ALL-IN-1 environment looks like I
can't give instructions. What they really need is FTSV installed on their
ststem so that from DCL they can issue the command:

SPOOL COPY remote::interesting-file.PS local-file.PS
or even just:
COPY remote::interesting-file.PS local-file.PS

Then they can do the ALL-In-1 magic that you detail in your instructions.
But without that first bit I think they're still out of luck. And also I 
understand that for some reason I totally don't understand they're not allowed
to getr a DCL prompt. Given that how are they meant to transfer the .PS files?

Again I thank you for the fact that you followed up on this and obviously
recognize the problem.

Thanks,

Dave

Dave was too quick for me, but here's the reply I sent him via mail:



Dave:  

Obviously, this problem is not new & is complicated by the current
business practice (on most systems) to prevent All-in-1 users from
getting DCL access.  

However, there is good news.  With the deployment of notebook PCs to the
US Sales Force last year, we began work on a PC infrastructure that would
simplify the process of taping into information such as yours.

Based on our pilot experiences with EPSS (Electronic Performance Support
Systems), we are creating a "core" PC utility called the Catalog
Librarian.  This tool, combined with a world-wide initiative to create
corss-database catalogs & indexes (focusing on VTX infobases first, but
expanding beyond that), will allow a Sales PC user to point and click to
browse the information that's available (using keywords, categories,
etc.).  They can then request the information.  If the user is connected
to the network, a request will go out over Pathworks.  If not, the modem
will be used to dial into a central server and make the request.  

The user can "queue up" a request for several information sources and,
whenever it's convenient, connect to the network.  At that time, the
requests will be submitted to the supplier sources, wherever they are
located on the EasyNet.  The user can wait online or, if the request is
expected to take a while to build, hang up and reconnect at a later time.

As a "information publisher", all you'll have to do is "register" your
information in the central catalog.  We've deployed MS Word, Excel, &
Powerpoint as the primary tools, so that's what you'd want to "publish"
your information in (shifting away from Postscript).

We hope to build the entire Sales PC application portfolio around this
architecture.  (It will be critical for product managers like yourself to
support this approach for information delivery by "publishing" in the
catalog.  If not, we'll end up with a nice looking tool that's
"content-free".)

That's the good news.  The not-so-good news is that we're still several
months away from being able to deploy and there are still a couple key
operational infrastructure prerequisites, but we're moving.  We'll be
piloting this with the HealthCare CBU in Q1.  If all goes well, we should
then be able to begin deployment in Q2.

In the meantime, we're pretty much stuck with All-in-1 as the least
common denominator for information dissemination.  Although you and many
others have experienced frustrations, things have actually gotten better
there as well.

Last year, we surveyed the field and provided many additional Postscript
printers to ensure everyone had access to one.  In addition, Kermit is
now available on all All-in-1 systems so that users can download to their
PCs.  Although technically possible, we still need to provide
direction and training.

At this stage, I'd recommend that you provide a "cheat sheet" that can
walk sales users through the copy & print (or download) process in a
step-by-step fashion.  

I've already asked one of my team members, Holly Rist, to contact you to
help develop a set of directions that will work on the field production
All-in-1 systems.

Please call me if you have any questions or suggestions.

Curtis Martin
Selling Productivity Tools Portfolio Manger
US Sales IM&T