Ricoh Americas Corporation "Unfair to Dealers"?

I'm not one to whine and cry about missed sales, competition and saturated distribution. However, when I run across a quote from Ricoh Business Solutions that is simply outrageous it really gets my hair up.

The potential customer is in New Jersey (massive RBS stomping grounds), we always run into them and some times we win and most times we lose. Due to quotes like the one I'm going to tell you about!

This was not a competitive situation, the customer only had one quote on the table. I found out about the potential purchase through my Brother In Law who does business with this client for other services. When I arrived, the client handed the entire folder, in it were all of the previous bills for service and a copy of the current lease. There was also a quote from RBS for a C3500 with a cabinet. The cost per month for 60 months is $354.76.

Taking a deeper look at this. 354.75 brings back $18,380.08 based on a 60 month rate of .0193. We must then deduct the buy out of $4,754.10 and the cost to return, lets give the cost to return $300, so we have a total of $5054.10. Deducting this from the $18,380.08 leaves a sale for $13,325.90 (THIS i CAN LIVE WITH).

However the quote also includes 552,000 black prints with toner and all service. Let's give the cpp cost .01 (and that is on the lower end for this unit). We then have to deduct another $5,520 from the $13,325.90, this will then leave a sale price of $7,805.90. This is $543 over DMAP level one cost and also includes, delivery, training, cabinet and installation!

Now, I do not mind seeing this in a competitive quote, however with this deal this is the first quote the customer received! RBS was not the incumbent, and seems to be trying to buy business and hope that the customer will may color prints and or copies.

This is not the first quote nor the last that I will see like this, however does MSRP mean anything anymore, especially to RBS? What is the benefit of selling systems at DMAP Level One cost. Who wins (the customer & Ricoh Americas Corporation), who loses RBS? If they are buying at DMAP level 6, that leaves a 10% MU or a profit of $658, or are they buying less than DMAP Level 6. More and more it seems like dealers are subsidizing Direct Sales Operations.

We were told at Vision 2007 that there will be level playing fields for all, how the heck is this a level playing field, when the system is sold under our cost? And where the heck did salesmanship go, and the ability to provide a fair price along with great support.

For those that are interested I have a "Dealer Principal" only Forum now on the RFG P4P Hotel. I suggest you all band together and talk about strategies to help combat the direct channels in your market place.