Making a long story short (here I go again), an incumbent account had an old 1013 Ricoh system. The system has over 145K on it and is about 10 years old. I tell you that Ricoh engine 1013/1515/171/201 is an excellent engine. Anyway, the 1013 has seen better days and the incumbent account is on a "break and fix" program. Lately the 1013 has more getting more repairs and calls.
I get the lead from my service department, do some number crunching, mind you I'm familiar with the account, they can't see past the purchase price, however I'm a persistent person and ran a spreadsheet for them with the MP171 and a small inexpensive MFP (one for around $300), of course there was a huge savings with the MP171 because of the low toner price. A few days ago I made a follow up call to the PA and then heard back from a different manager, he wanted me to quote a Ricoh 3400, now this is a low cost 30ppm system that uses and AIO cartridge and the cost per page is .033 for Ricoh toner and through Internet it was something like .021. The .021 includes no parts, no service, no maintenance.
He stated his volume was 1,200 per month, my records indicate it's 1,500 per month, so I'm trying to tell him that this system is not for them. This guy is thinking the system will never need service, it's faster and will be less expensive, well he was right to a point because I had a maintenance agreement in place for full coverage. So, I went back to dropping the maintenance agreement and just showed the same consumables as the 3400. He couldn't see the forest through the trees! Even though the cost of the 171 was over $1,300 there was still some savings and a much more reliable system.
I sent him a different spreadsheet and I'm hoping he goes and buys one of those pieces of crap low end machines and I'll be praying that the machine fails a few times a year and they need service, parts and labor.
Penny wise, Dollar Foolish!!!
-=Good Selling=-
2 comments:
This is a very interesting and informative article. As a small business owner who produces a pretty sizable amount of color copy per month, I have been inclined to outsource my color needs to online services (see link), and it has worked well for me. However, now that business is picking up, I am exploring the option of keeping print jobs in house. I would need a printer capable of handling 1300-1700 copies per month, and perhaps more in the coming months. Minimal service, with good quality is optimal. How much, approximately, would such a machine cost me? Thanks in advance for any input!
Gene:
Thanx for the response, there are many factors when considering a new system.
1 Do you need to print on 11x17 paper.
2 Do you want single sided or double sided prints?
3. Do you need these documents to be stapled?
4. Do you need color scanning or mono chrome faxing (from the cloud)
Getting a handle on these needs will dictate the size and speed of the unit. Please advise and would be more than happy to make a suggestion for you.
art
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