Hi, all! I have learned recently that envelopes are a weakness of Ricoh machines. So now I am wondering what weaknesses the other brands (KM, Toshiba, etc) have. I know color on Ricoh is supposed to be the best, but besides that, are there any specific problems with other machines that I can point to when selling Ricohs? Thanks!
Here's my response:
k, I'll chime in, when it comes to speeds and features I don't see many weakness from any of the manufacturers. That's not to say there aren't any.
Over the years, I learned to dig a little deeper than the brochure and the spec page. Of course one of the main resources has been to go here on the Print4Pay Hotel forums and ask a question about a certain model or manufacturer. Another tip is to download the print driver and the operators manual, believe it or not you'll be able to pick a system apart with the op manual as long as you also have a good understanding of the device you are trying to sell. Another decent resource is to search YouTube and see if there are any videos that describe "How to" do this or that with the device.
Over the years I relied less on trying to beat the machine specs, and more on how to beat my competitors, whether it's a dealer or a direct manufacturer. Look for weaknesses in the sales agreement, the maintenance agreement or the leasing company that they use, try to know more about how they do business and you'll be able to sell against them.
Just and FYI, I ran across a sales contract from a major direct branch in my market area. The contract was left for the customer to review and I was able to secure a copy for myself. At first glance there was nothing special, nothing glaring, just an average contract for sale, however when I went back to read it a second time I found three major points where I could make my case.
The first is that on the sales agreement there is also a section for the maintenance agreement. There was a guarantee that stated they would credit the customers account $25.00 for every hour that they were not there after the 8 hour default. What that tells me is that I can explain to the customer that 8 hours is the normal turn around for service and not 4. If 4 was the normal, then state it like they did with 8 hours.
The second was that their fantastic guarantee did not cover any units slower than 28 pages per minute. (all of this was in the small print).
There was one more, however I need to keep that close to home and not make them aware that I know another weakness in their contract.
Just to review, sell yourself, sell your services, find a knock out feature, or a knock out workflow (meaning on the zebra xyz copier, they may have to use 15 click through's of the mouse for a certain print setting, or they may have to go through 5 sub menus to get to a much used mfp feature). Do, the homework and remember the harder you work, the luckier you get.
BTW, I've revealed that on the Print4Pay Hotel Forums, click and become a member of the largest social network of Imaging Professionals in the World!
-=Good Selling=-
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