BoardBoss would like to welcome you to Connectivity Café.

Some of you might remember the domain name from years past as the home of some of the most useful and successful tools ever created for Ricoh products: the Configurators. Jay did a darn fine job on that, didn't he? Why, yes, he did!

There are many sites on the web today that offer some type of support or communication forum for technicians. So, what makes Connectivity Café different?

Connectivity Café is designed, managed, and owned by someone with over 20 years of experience in the industry. Positions have included Field Technician, Marketing Engineer, Sales Engineer, and many others. Over 40 years of total electrical, mechanical, and technical experience.

I believe communication is key, and encourage both technicians AND salespeople to Connect, Communicate, and Respond via Connectivity Café. Why? The typical salesperson thinks the average technician is a geek and wants nothing to do with them. The typical technician thinks the average salesperson knows nothing about the products they sell, and frequently simply "luck into" a sale.

Having served in multiple capacities, I can assure you both points of view have some validity. The key to overcoming these challenges for the common good of an organization is to work together. Sure it sounds like a cliché, but it is true. Organizations that have successfully implemented such a strategy have seen sales increase, even tremendously in some cases.

Harmony is good for everybody. Consider for a moment your organization's prospective customer named David. Jessica from your sales department has an initial meeting with him to discuss his equipment needs, then asks you to go by later to handle the technical details. Suppose you let it slip to David that Jessica really doesn't know that much about the equipment because she's new. Good luck to Jessica in closing that sale!