Print4Pay Hotel Member "Biggest Deal of My Life!"

I had the opportunity to meet Brian, geez back in 2002 or 03 at a Ricoh event titled "Sell the Solution" in New Jersey.

We were all there to see who would win a trip to Japan. I won the trip, however Brian banged it out with this HUGE order!! Kudos to Brian. Brian has also been a member and proud contributor to the Print4Pay Hotel Forums and web site. If you're reading this, awesome job and congrats wish I had something like this to hang my hat on!!!

Allegheny County / City of Pittsburgh / and Allegheny County Airport Authority.

Worked on for approximately 5 Years. When first approached they were mid way through a 5 year Contract with TOSHIBA Equipment. The contract reached its maturity and was extended for 3 additional years. The people in charge of the purchasing for this constantly changed. When a solid team was in place, they went through a year long process to gather current needs from department heads and create a co-op for this bid between the three entities.

I had several meetings with their buying and influencing team before a formal RFP was sent out. We learned first what they felt was important to them, and then helped to educate their people on the specifics of their needs, learn about the difference between products, but more importantly providers. We had several discussions regarding different manufactures of products and helped to educate on the importance of realizing what is available not only at the time of the sale but during the entire contract period. There were also many discussions about the different type of dealerships, distributors, and arms of Manufactures; and how they operated. Most importantly how this would translate to their needs over the term of the agreement.

Two bids were executed. The first bid included a 15 day walk away clause to protect the buyer. At the last minute my powers decided not to bid. Due to a lack of response because of that verbiage a new RFP was sent out with a verbiage retraction.

With 12 days to complete a 350 Page Bid Response, we got busy. We competed against every manufacturer that you can imagine.

RICOH BUSINESS SYSTEMS
IKON – RICOH
TOSHIBA
SHARP – COMDOC and VAN DYK
VAN DYK was the incumbent.

The end result was the award to Amcom Office Systems for the value proposition that was delivered. The initial contact includes:

310 - 35 ppm XEROX MFEs

201 - 55 ppm XEROX MFE’s

16 - 75ppm XEROX MFE’s

7 - 95ppm XEROX MFE’s

7 - Vend Machines

Main Buying Criteria:

GREEN INITIATIVES:
Xerox Smart Kit Technology, EA Toner, Total Green Initiatives
Provide equipment defaulted to double sided print
Scanning in an intelligent format with a developed plan to decrease the amount of paper that was to be distributed, used, and reduce O-Zone emissions, and packaging from excess re-print.

TECHNOLOGICAL DELIVER ABLES
EIP Platform, Post Script Std Accessory, Job Build

SOLUTION TO PROVIDE DESKTOP PRINT REDIRECTION
All systems

SCALABLE SOLUTION
All Systems include print copy scan and fax where needed. All systems available to be upgraded with additional features as needed.


CHALLENGES:

Due to the nature of the size of this bid, and being a government agency, the most difficult piece of this was having to defend the proposed solution against slanderous accusations by defeated vendors. They had the right to review and challenge any piece. We had 12 days to put the package together and everything from using the right color pen to not missing a signature had to be absolutely correct.

Delivery:

The County had requested delivery be completed for the first leg which included 406 machines in 60 days.
We completed delivery and installation from Aug 10th to September 3rd.

BACKGROUND ON AMCOM:

Amcom Office Systems, located in Imperial Pa – a suburb of Pittsburgh, is a fully owned Subsidiary of Xerox Corporation. Amcom was founded in the late 70’s and operated as a privately held company until 1994 when GLOBAL IMAGING SYSTEMS acquired Amcom as core company.

Amcom has grown to a $25,000,000.00 Organization with 101 employees. Amcom maintains 2 Buildings with an inventory level of $3,000,000.000. Although Amcom is a subsidiary of XEROX, they operate under the Decentralized Business Model that GLOBAL IMAGING established.

All Decision Making, Inventory, Service, Supplies, Dispatch, Accounting, and Sales are located and managed locally. Amcom’s President, Anthony Massari, and Regional President for Global Imaging Systems, Dick Peterson, work out of this office as well as Amcom’s full team of executives.

BACKGROUND on Brian Miller

Brian Miller is employed by Amcom Office Systems as a Major Account Executive, where he has worked for 5 years. His career in copiers began in 2002 in Wilmington, North Carolina. Brian is 32 Years old and is an accomplished musician as well as business professional. He has and continues to serve on committees as a board member for different for Non Profit organizations; currently working with the United Cerebral Palsy Foundation. He is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and holds a Bachelors degree in Jazz Music Performance with a Concentration on the Drums. Brian resides in Pittsburgh with his wife and two daughters.

-=Good Selling=-