The Transition of the Copier Industry Part V

What Can Copier/Printers Dealers Do?

You could do nothing and keep stealing pages from other vendors and have other vendors steal your pages.  There's no growth in pages!

Many traditional copier companies are now embracing and moving forward with Managed Network Services.  At one time I asked why the heck would we do that, the other day I got my answer, when it comes to on-site service and support no one does it better than copiers dealers, not IT companies, not phone system dealers nada they all stink. We are the best for on-site support within our channel.

Dealers need to diversify their offerings:

If you're just a traditional copier dealer then I might suggest adding systems where you can also can some maintenance agreement revenue along with break and fix.  Take a look at offering folding machines, folders/inserters, mailing equipment, paper cutters, scoring machines, business card cutters, and pressure sealers. I like the addition of pressure sealers because you can get more bang for your buck, you can sell the media, the pressure sealer and then reap the clicks from higher volume MFP's, light production units and even duplicators.  All of these devices will need service from time to time, most are very mechanical and with trained techs you should be able to garner a some nice margins with service.

Dang, I forgot this one, and it's huge, get on board with 3D printing, it's right up our alley, very little competition, high margins on supplies, high margins on maintenance agreements, the best is that they have to come to you for supplies. Typical users are Colleges, Universities, manufacturing, and Architects, when was the last time someone from a College or niversity call you for a product?  3D printers are on fire right now.

How about just becoming an expert with 3rd party MFP solutions?

I'm hearing and seeing  many dealers looking to add new services, but what about the MFP's that are in the office already. What about all of that neat software that can be embedded within the device that can drive BPO (Business Process Optimization). Many years ago dealers deployed specialized reps to visit accounts and sell the extras such as maintenance agreements, auto document feeders, and finisher/staplers. Why can't this be done with OEM or 3rd party solutions. New accounts are so dang hard to get, but it's your existing accounts where you can sell the extras and make some excellent margins. 

Pick 5 different solutions for 5 different vertical markets, train 5 sales people to sell these 3rd party solutions which could be programs like Print Audit 6, Doculex, Intellenetics, UDOCX. However, you also have depending on what manufacturer you represent all type of business process improvement solutions that can be embedded within the MFP. Before you jump on the MNS/Backup band wagon become and expert with your own solutions from your manufacturer.

One more idea, how about starting an hardware agnostic solution sales team that will go out and sell, install and train on 3rd party solutions. I don't have an accurate number but if I were a betting guy, I would bet that 90% of all mfp devices are not running and embedded software. There's treasure trove of opportunity!

Eat What You Cook:

If you decide to make the jump to offering BPO (Business Process Optimization) then I strongly suggest that you look at your own business processes first.  I'm sure there is pain in your organization with a process.  Look to solve those processes first, one I would fix at the place where I work is the sales process.  Here I would stream line the amount of paper needed and look into developing all of my forms on an ipad or a business type tablet, from here I would want the forms to go to my sale manager for review, he would sign off on them with a digital signature and then send them to order entry. Your company could then become an expert in that particular business process and pitch the solution process to other companies that have the same pain. I could go on and on, but look at your own company first, make the improvements and then sell the heck out of it.

Think about this for a second. you're selling BPO, curing a customers pain and then when they are ready to order you hand them sheets of paper to sign, DUH!


-=Good Selling=-

BPO, MFP, MPS, MNS, MBS, MDS = WTF

Geesh, were do we go from here. 

In recent weeks I've heard more about BPO (Business Process Optimization), MNS (Managed Network Service) and MBS (Managed Backup Service) that I care to know.  However, it is the flavor of the year and the company I work for is excited about bringing these services to our customers.  The company I work for is somewhat unique in that we've been selling MFP's (Multifunctional Products), along with MPS (Managed Print Service)  for many years with MPS coming on board a few years ago. The uniqueness is that we have our own full staff IT division, we've been installing servers, pc, and networks for some time.   That uniqueness now allows us to offer additional services to existing and new customers.

So, not all copier dealerships are created equal.  Thus I would tend to thing there are many more copier dealerships that don't have an IT division compared to ones that do. Many industry pundits are stating the copier dealers need to diversify and offer additional services.   I know of a few dealers who have already added mailing equipment (folders, inserters, tabbers), other dealers that have added 3D printers, Managed Network Services, Business Process Optimization, Managed Document Services (MDS) an Managed Backup Services (MBS).

But can Dealerships and Direct Branches be everything to everyone? Really, what else is left in the office besides the phone system, security and the cleaning service. 

Do you let your existing reps sell these new services?

These are my thoughts,  HELL NO! There are still more than enough additional pages that are available (see my blog on Bucks County "A Case for a Managed Print Service Detective).  Let your imaging reps concentrate on your imaging portfolio for MFP and MPS, you're most senior and advanced reps will probably shine with BPO because they will have the imaging (MFP) knowledge to combine and create new work flows with existing software that your dealership or direct branch maybe selling.  Your new reps should be recruited from local colleges and they should go through an intensive training for MNS, MBS, MDS and MBS and then unleashed into vertical markets such as manufacturing, health care, law, construction etc. As long as you are hiring reps that have a back ground with pc's and servers you should be able to train them rather quickly with your IOP, your pricing, and phone scripts.  In turn,  if you need imaging (MFP) reps than hire for that purpose only.

We want all of my reps to sell the same services?

Well, you maybe in a heep of trouble with your most experienced and senior imaging reps.  From what I've seen the sales cycle for MNS, BPO, MBS and MDS is much longer than imaging, adding to the fact that you need multiple meetings with multiple people from both sides. A sales cycle of 90 days is not out of the ordinary here. Since these services are billed monthly I would expect that commissions are paid monthly, in a previous Blog I had stated that I heard from a rep that told me her commission percentage was 6.5% of the monthly billing.  Selling an MNS and MBS to an SMB account with 10 computers and one server could result in a monthly fee of $700 per month.  Commissions would be around $42 per month.  Take your best rep and let's say he or she gives you an average of $14k per month in GP, that rep is only good for "x" amount of sales per month.  So, lets say there were 7 sales that had $2K of GP for each (hey we're keeping it simple), now we ask that same rep to start selling MNS and MBS.  We could then see 5 imaging sales for a total of $12k GP and then two sales for MNS/MBS, thus the GP would be lowered along with lower commissions (along with $84 commission for the MNS/MBS portion, but the dealership or direct branch picked up $1,400 in monthly billing.  How about this one, the rep only sells 3 imaging units for a total of $6K GP and MNS/MBS, are you and the rep ready to bite the bullet?

My point is that the tenured reps unless they are going after huge accounts and they have a huge draw they will see no money in the MNS/MBS SMB business. WIFM?  Not much..., thus the need to train new reps that are dedicated the new services.

Quota for MNS/MBS:

If you plan on having a dedicated sales team for the new services, YES, by all means. Of course if you want to add to yur imaging reps quota, then NO!

The main gist of "services" is that you can control the network, with that comes the imaging, the BPO and everything else.  I agree that dealers need to diversify but Managed Network Services, Business Process Optimization, Managed Backup Service may not right for every dealership.

-=Good Selling=-