Selling Copiers "Making Sense of the Madness" #1

While in the office today I overheard one of the newbies tell a short tale of appointment that they thought was going to be sale on the last day of the month and it did not come to fruition.

It kinda went like this, the account was an incumbent and has a 35ppm color device.  Color volume was low about 1k per month and black volume was 3k per month.  The decision maker had claimed that they would upgrade if we would be able to save them $100 per month on the present lease. They also needed to print 11x17 color.

The system that was proposed in order to get to the max savings of $85 per month that we could offer was a 30ppm color system.  The decision maker balked at moving to s slower system, and that's we're going to start.  First and foremost some additional questions should have been asked about the volume or how the prints and copies are made.

With a volume of only 1,000 color pages per month and black in the 2,000 a month range, one of the first questions I would have asked after hearing the statement of "I don't want a slower system". 1) In reference to your color volume would you save that you print 200-300 pages at a time? (I'm thinking with an average monthly volume of 1,000 pages this is not true), if the answer was no, then I would have asked this 2) Would you then say that most of your prints are onesies and twosies? (Here, I would expect the answer to be yes), with a yes answer I would have then explained to the customer the FPOT (First Print Out Time) for his existing unit and the proposed unit.  Keep in mind that a 35ppm system is not 35ppm if all your print or copy is onesies and twosies.  The customer would then realize that their would be no loss in print speed, because the new system actually has a faster FPOT. AS a matter of fact, we may be able to move them down to a 25ppm color to meet the needs of saving $100 per month. Thus and opportunity to close!

Over the years, it's not only about speeds and feeds but the ability to find out exactly what they print, how they print (single sided or two sided), how often they print, and how many they prints they need for certain documents.  Years ago we didn't have an affordable 25ppm color system or maybe the customer had different needs four years ago and they've changed.  In order to be successful, you've got to ask these types of questions, it's going to help you narrow the field to the system that fits and feels right for the customer.

From what I also heard is that this DM was a tough cookie and a little hard to handle.  You've got to have a list of prepared questions whether in your head or on paper, asking these questions will keep you in control of the talk track.

-=Good Selling=-