New Ricoh MPC8002 & MPC6502 Sneak Peek

On April 25th Ricoh Japan launched the much anticipated launch of their new high speed color MFP. For those of us in the states, we've been waiting along time for the refresh of the current MPC6501 and MPC7501. 

I've been told that the system will not launch in the US until the current inventory of MPC6501's and 7501's have been depleted.  I can hope that this will happen sooner rather than later since we are so far behind the curve of technology with the old systems.

So, what's new?  I've been told (rumor) that the new MPC 8002 and MPC6502 is a new clean sheet design.  What I'll do is post some of the specs for the new systems, because at this point that's about all I know.

COPY Features

Maximum Print Size through by-pass:  13x19 
Memory: 2.5GB
Paper Trays Maximum Thickness: 256 gsm
By-Pass Maximum Thickness: 300 gsm
Duplex Maximum Thickness:  256 gsm
Scan Resolution: 600x600
Print Resolution: 1200dpi x 4800 dpi
First Copy Black Time for MPC8002: 4.8 seconds/Color 6.4 seconds
First Copy Black Time for MPC6502: 6.4 seconds/Color 7.5 seconds
MPC 8002 Speed: 80 letter size pages per minute
MPC 6502 Speed: 65 letter size pages per minute

PRINT Features

Desktop Copier or MFP for Industrial Environment?

Here's another interesting thread that I found on the forums.  This company had purchased a small brother MFP to only find out that the system died in about six months because of the environment that the system was placed in. 

The industrial environment is a Rock Quarry!!  OMG, besides a concrete factory I couldn't think of a worse place to have a copier.  This particular user was asking for direction to what type of system he might be able to get that would give better performance.

Here's my reply:

Rock quarry = very bad environment for any MFP. The Brother that you bought is considered a "throw away" system. Years ago I placed several units at a cement factory equally as bad as the rock quarry or maybe worse. You need to step up to an office system machine take a look here.

All laser based MFP copiers use heat and pressure to fuse the toner on the paper, thus when the system is on, the system is always

Why Buy or Lease from an Authorized Copier Dealer

Many years ago you could only buy copy machines from Authorized Dealers. An Authorized Dealer is usually a privately owned company that is local to your geographic area. That has changed and most copier manufacturers now have direct branches. A Direct Branch is owned by the manufacturer and may or may not be local to your geographic area.

For many years the debate has raged who should I buy from. Too me it plain and simple, you should buy from the company or the sales person that you trust, that has the best support, and the best people.

Local Authorized Dealers can have more that one brand to offer and they can choose which copier/mfp or software solution is best for you.  Typically Manufacturers Direct branches will only offer their brand or their software solution and it just might not be the best fit for you. You can think of it like buying car insurance you can go to the agent that reps for Prudential, Allstate and Farmers and they can find the right insurance solution for you.  The same is true for the Authorized local Copier Dealer, most have two or three brands that they sell, support and service.

Typically you should ask these 8 questions from your sales person.

1. Ask the sales person how long they have worked with their current company. A sales person who has less than 2 years experience may not have the resources nor the knowledge to meet your needs.

Ricoh SPC831DN Print Shop in a Box "The Reveal"

A few years ago when Ricoh introduced the Ricoh SPC811DN, I dubbed that printer as a "print shop in a box".

Funny that Xante is now using the same line with the their new color laser envelope press named IMPRESSA which happens to be OEM'd by Ricoh.  I'm guessing Xante may be ending the relationship with Okidata?  If that's the case I can see why, I've seen two placements of Xante's Illumina (Okidata engine) and both print shops abandoned the systems because they couldn't find a reliable service organization to service the product properly. Enough on Xante.

I fell in love with the first generation model which was the Ricoh C811DN and then the second gen which was the Ricoh C821DN and I'm thinking the Ricoh C831DN will be the color laser printer of choice where users need excellent quality, variety of media than can be used, reliability and backed by a powerful dealer service network.

Actually there are two models to choose from, the SPC830DN (45 page per minute print speed) and the SPC831DM (55 page per minute print speed).  To keep this simple we're going to concentrate on the specs for the Ricoh SPC831DN.

The Specs at a Glance:

Why Copier Manufacturers Need to More Involved w/ Social Media

So you think just because you're using the likes of Facebook, Twitter, MySpace that this is your social media campaign?  Most copier manufacturers seem to tout the latest press releases, product releases, green issues, contests or some off the wall little no facts.    If this is your benchmark for a social media presence then you need to take a step back and understand that most manufacturers are missing the boat with web forums.

There are tens of thousands of forums, maybe more.  We run a web forum titled the Print4Pay Hotel, site is dedicated to those of us in the imaging industry. It is a secure forum and you need to register in order to view and post messages.  There are also many non secure forums, these are forums that allows end users to read the messages (threads, posts, replies) but in order to post a message you may need to become a member.  In these forums members/users will ask questions or carry on conversations through the forum, the web forum is an easy way to find out what a product can do or can't do. Many users feel more comfortable talking about a product or service in a third party secure forum.

Let's look at this hypothetical situation, some company bought a XYZ color production system and to date they are not happy with with the system due to print quality not being what they expected.  They've had numerous service calls and still the same result.  As an end user what else can you do?  A lot of end users are turning to web forums where they can find additional information, in the color print production this would be Print Planet (there are others, however I follow this one). Once on the forums the end user can read what others have posted in reference to the same unit, and they may be able to get a workaround or help from another user that has the same system.

What Do You Expect from Sharp but a Grunt

I changed up the title a bit, my Father-in Law has this saying "what do you expect from a pig but a grunt" that he uses when he is annoyed with someone or something.  I'm changing it up a bit to express my annoyance with Sharp.

The other day there was a thread on linkedin that stated something to the effect "look how many dealers have just signed on with Sharp in the past month because they have the best products", plus there were some 5 likes to the thread. 

To give you a little background, I had a call and an email from a marketing company or it might have been from someone at Sharp Marketing a few years ago.  But, I distinctly remember the gist of the call/email, the marketing person stated that they needed to do a better job at getting press releases out to social media.  Since then, I set an alert for Sharp and have posted every press release for Sharp that I came across. Not once in the past three years do I remember reading a press release about Sharp signing on a new dealer in the US.

What gets me, is that within a week or two after the report from Nikkei that Sharp may sell it's copier division, I read a press release from Sharp USA that they had signed on a new dealer.  I really didn't think that much about the release, then a week a later there was another press release stating Sharp had signed a new dealer, and then another and another.  I get it Sharp needs to pump up the volume for Sharp USA, in light of Sharp Corporations debt debacle.  What I don't get is why Sharp USA has waited until things were REALLY BAD to get the word out.  In my eyes Sharp USA with their meager market share should have been doing this years ago.  Why wait until the ship is sinking?  You can check it our on the Sharp USA site, no mention of new dealers before September 2012.

Sharp used to be the bomb of the industry,  when you thought about office copiers in the mid nineties, you thought SHARP! Starting in the mid nineties IKON started buying every Sharp dealer that was breathing in the US. I'm pretty sure IKON bought 97 dealers in or around 1996-1997.  Then one day the shoe dropped, IKON dropped Sharp and reign of dominance for Sharp copiers came to an end.

I've got nothing against Sharp, however Sharp USA should have never waited this long to tell the story of the new dealers they were signing, as a matter of fact when you visit the press release link that I posted Sharp USA never really posted many press releases related to MFP's and copiers.   

Last week press releases had Sharp now laying off 11,000 workers, and they really weren't specific about were the layoffs were.  Just today a report from Bloomberg states that it seems the deal between Hon Hai and Sharp could be dead.  Sharp's stock on the heels of the Sharp bailout from Japanese banks dropped an additional 3% and down to 196 yen.  Sharp borrowed 368 billion yen to stay afloat until June of 2013.

I'd like to see Sharp come out of it, however I think it's time they got out of the MFP and copier business and sell to Kyocera or Toshiba.

-=Good Selling=-

Bad Copier Quote Equals Dishonest Copier Rep

I got a call the other day from an existing customer who leased a color 35 page per minute color system from us two years ago almost to the day. Initially the customer and I had estimated that their color volume would be about 3,000 pages per month.  The call kinda went like this "we're spending too much money on color and we'd like to meet with you and btw, we're entertaining other vendors".

I knew that the customer had leased the system for 60 months and they still had 36 months left on the old lease agreement.  I did not want to go on this call, I thought that maybe Kyo or Xerox were in on it, and it would be agonizing to sell against the tiered color billing systems that they may be offering.

When I arrived at the account, by the way I like people with this account and this can't be said about all of my accounts.  I was prepared with the last four quarters of billing and pretty much instead of the estimated 3,000 pages per month they were pushing twice that.

What I really wanted to write about was the quote I saw from a competitor, most professionals in our industry will do a Total Cost of Analysis for the customer. In most cases I will look at the last year of usage and billing, just because it is indicative of their present volume.

The quote from the competitor just took a sampling of one quarter of the customers usage for  the year.  They based the ROI to move forward on just three months usage!

KYOTIER Hybrid Color 3-tier Cost Per Page Pricing tool

In recent weeks I've had a couple of blogs referencing a Kycoera Dealer in California that was or is going to start advertising for full service and supplies for color pages @ .02 cents per page.  The kicker of course, is the coverage. How much color coverage will "you"" the dealer allow on the page to charge .02 cents.

A few days ago I had an email from a Print4Pay Hotel member that asked me to forward him any information that I had about the color coverage amounts.  After a few emails I found out that the Print4Pay Hotel member also sold Kyocera, and that they had been doing some research on other Kyocera Dealers that are advertising the customizable tiered pricing for color.  I was sent a dealers advertising document (clicking the link will take you the file on the Print4Pay Hotel forums), KYOTIER, now I'm not sure if this is the name the dealer gave the pricing plan or if it's Kyoceras but I'm thinking it's the dealers. 

This dealers flyer (dealers advertising document) is stating three tiers of color.  The first tier useful color, which states "all black and pages with useful color".  Off to the right is a sample of useful color stated 5% coverage. Basically it's two color images maybe a little bit bigger than a quarter and the cost per page for useful  color is .01 or same cost as black based on a monthly volume of 12,500 pages of black and useful color.

The second tier is everyday color, which states "pages with a little more color". Off to the right is a sample of everyday color stated at 15% coverage. So, color coverage from 5.1% to 15% will cost .025 per page.  The sample coverage shows a color photo that I estimate takes up 20% of the page and then two more color logos that look like they are about a half dollar in size, along with some black large header fonts and some very small black fonts. more on the next page

2 Cents for Color MFP Cost Per Page/Coverage Meter

About a month ago we had a report from Monte Jensen (Premium P4P Hotel Member) that stated that the new Kyocera Color MFP’s were now capable of customizing the meter for page coverage.  Selling Copiers & MFP's "Color Cost Page for 2 Cents" It seems this being kept on the down low especially since I couldn’t find out anything on the Kyocera USA web site.

Monte is back as or guest blogger with some additional information about the customizable meter, I’ve also posted the links for the documents and they’re being kept in the Documents Forum on the Print4Pay Hotel. You can download here. 

I now understand the 2 cent color offering much more.

Every Kyocera Taskafa product now has 3 meters. The first meter is black, the second meter is full color and the third meter is customizable.

We have customized it so that any document with less than 6% cyan magenta yellow bill will click that meter. This is regardless of black fill.

The attached document first page is a printout from the MFP. It is a report of the last page printed. As you can see black was 5.24% and add cyan, magenta and yellow together is 4.41%. This is a report based on the document or page 2. Another words we printed page 2 and page 1 is the coverage result.

We are now gathering customers documents and printing them and getting reports. If a customer is printing a repetitive document such as letterhead we can do a quick analysis of it and advise them if it falls into 6% threshold. We see this is a real game changer and have already beaten our competition many times with this lockout.

As a dealer we are concerned that we are lowering our service margins. In the past when we would charge eight cents for the same document our margin was much greater. If we do not increase our volume of equipment sales or print volume then we will have lowered our profit.

Meters are automatically collected using a tool called pagetrac developed by LMI solutions. This utility is installed on a customer’s network either on a client or server and e-mails meter reads to us. However if the customer changes something on the network pagetrac may malfunction and we will need to reinstall.

Me:  Monte brings out a good point about the concern of lowering their page margin.  However I tend to think that you could also increase your margin by having a cost for color that is over 20%, this could make up the difference or even add additional revenue in some cases.

Will this become the norm in the industry? 

-=Good Selling=-

Selling Copiers & MFP's "Where's the Hard Drives?"

Almost 30 years ago, Clara Peller screamed "Where's the Beef?" to American and Canadian TV viewers.  "Where's the Beef?" was a popular slogan in the Eighties to lure hamburger eaters from the likes of McDonald's and Burger King over to Wendy's.

In recent weeks, Copier Dealers have been asking "Where's the Hard Drives?".  Severe flooding in Thailand has affected shipments of MFP's to the US.  The flooding from October 23rd left many hard drive factories under water. 

Pictures that were posted on the Print4Pay Hotel forums showed massive flooding in several industrial parks.  Just about three weeks after the flooding almost 1,000 Hitachi HDD workers went on strike and further disrupting the supply chain. 

Later in the month of December came the announcements from many Copier and Printer Manufacturers that there would be disruptions to the supply chain.  There were some reports of disruptions that may last 3 - 6 months. In a recent post on the Print4Pay forums a Hitachi VP claimed that it will take almost a year for the Global Hard Drive industry to recover from the impact of the flooding.

"Where's the Hard Drives?",  seems that 4 hard drive manufacturers have 90% of the market, Western Digital, Seagate, Hitatchi and Toshiba. Almost thirty three percent of all hard drives are manufactured in Thailand.  Read more here

When I first heard about the floods in Thailand, I really didn't think there would be that much of an issue with MFP's in the US.  Goes to show you how much I know.  In recent weeks, I've been alerted to the back order of MFP's due to the flooding.  Again, I thought no big deal a few extra days here and there and it won't be a big thing.   The lasted is that we have four or five MFP models that are projected with 3-6 month back orders, one particular model had a June back order.  Dam, I had just sold 5 of these to one of my accounts!  "Where's the Hard Drives?" Now, I'm hearing from other reps from other manufacturers that they're now seeing additional MFP's  models placed on longer than usual back orders.

Even though Thailand manufacturers almost one third of the worlds hard drives it might be a good bet that they supplied at least or more than 50% of the hard drives to Copier manufacturers (this is just a guess) and that's the reason for the shortages.  Least we forget about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan last year and it seems we've had a perfect storm to really wreak havoc with the Copier Industry.

What good is a digital copier without a hard drive, it's like having a hamburger without the meat, it just doesn't work! Which leads me to this short story, many years ago, we had a local Jack in the Box (just like a Wendy's MickyD's or BurgerKing), however you had to drive up, place your order with a giantic clown head.  One night in particular, I placed my order, got my burgers and to my surprise all I got was the *&($#(* bun! 

-=Good Selling=-

Copier & MFP Color Cost Per Page Poll

Over the years the Print4Pay Hotel has conducted many "secure" polls that are only available to registered members on our forums.

Just yesterday we started our Second Annual Color Cost per page poll.  Within the forums we allow our members to click the Color Cost Per Page that they are charging end users. The poll is anonymous so no one knows who clicked what cost per page and what monthly volume.  After two days we've already posted 156 page views.

It's essential that we as sales people, Dealer Owners, and the Direct Channel can get a view of what is being charged for the Color Cost Per Page.  Here you can see the average cost per page, the low cost per page and the high cost per page, plus you can match them with monthly and quarterly volumes.

In recent days 67% of our members stated that the Color Cost Per Page on a 50 page per minute color MFP doing 5,000 pages per month is below .........yup gonna have to be a member to get that information.  Membership is FREE, you just gotta put up with a weekly email of updates on the latest industry threads from our members.  Keep in mind that our forums are secure, no end users, no bs registrations. So if you can take a trip here, become a member of the worlds largest group of copier, print and mfp professionals in the work.

Here's a sample of one of our Second Annual "Color Cost Per Page Polls"

Question:
Please check your average color cost per page for 10,000 plus pages per month.

Choices:
.08
.075-.079
.070-.074
.065-.069
.060-.064
.055-.059
.050-.054
.045-.049
.040-.044
.035-.039
under .034

Question:
Please check your average color cost per page for 7,000-10,000 pages per month.

Choices:
.08
.075-.079
.070-.074
.065-.069
.060-.064
.055-.059
.050-.054
.045-.049
.040-.044
.035-.039
under .034

Question:
Please check your average color cost per page for 4,000 - 7,000 plus pages per month.

Choices:
.08
.075-.079
.070-.074
.065-.069
.060-.064
.055-.059
.050-.054
.045-.049
.040-.044
.035-.039
under .034

-=Good Selling=-

Weekend Copier & MFP Industry Threads

Thought I'd just take the time to share some of the interesting threads that have been posted on the Print4Pay Hotel forums in the recent week. If you're not familiar with the site, the Print4Pay Hotel forums designed for the Imaging (copiers, mfp, printers, mps) Professionals to seek information, gather knowledge and collaborate with Industry Peers in a secure setting.  To date we have over 2,300 registered members from all almost every country in the world.  Visit the Print4Pay Hotel and then click on the link for forum access (it's FREE).

Most Viewed Threads
Monocomponent vs. Dual Component
Comments on the Canon 1730/1740/1750 Models
Sharp MX-2310U/MX4111N
Western Digital Factory Under Water
Question for everyone..... with leasing are any of
Kodak & Possible Buyers?
Rumor has it.....
New Rep needs encouragement

Most Popular

Ricoh SP5200 Brochure
Top Color Production Systems?
Check this ^%$^ out!
Cloud Poll
HDD Wiping/Reformatting
Toner Save Software to Get MPS CPCs Down
Q. How does your company handle networking charges?

Request for Proposals

Purchase of one (1) unit Taskalfa Kyocera-Mita
Pennslyvania
New Mexico
South Carolina
STATEWIDE IT PROCUREMENT OFFICE (NC)

Selling Copiers & MPF's "The Perfect Storm"

Since 2007 our industry has been tested with the Great Recession, many of the companies we did bsuiness with are now out of business or just fighting to stay alive.

Some say the Great Recession is over, I'm not buying it, I think we've never come out of it.

The Great Recession is one part of the Perfect Storm that's humbled our industry.  Years ago, talk was that the copier industry was always the least affected when there was an economic slowdown.  Those days are gone...probably forever. 

In early March the Great Tohoku Earthquake of 8.9 devastated Northern Japan with a Sunami, failure of the Fukushima Nuclear reactors and caused severe supply chain issues for companies like Ricoh, Canon, Toshiba, Fuji Xerox along with all of the secondary tech companies that supported the copier/printer industry. We're still feeling the effects of certain MFP models that are on the "constrained" list. Some toner supplies are still in short supply and some key factories were closed in Northern Japan to never open again.

Just last week, seems I was not even aware of this until a Print4Pay Hotel member posted a thread on the forums about the sever flooding in Thailand.  A quote for Storage Newsletter "The HDD industry never encounters such a natural disaster in its history. Earthquakes in Japan had a minor effect compared to what's happening in Thailand."

25% of all Hard Drive assembly plants are located in Thailand, 95% of all Copiers and MFP's are equipted with Hard Drives.  The shortage looms on the copier industry again, in addition another company named Nidec was hit hard.  Here's a thread from a Print4Pay Hotel member about Nidec "And everyone better hope that Nidec's factories that were hit by the flood were not its printing related factories. Few know Nidec, but they make a solid portion of the motors and brushes found in copiers."

I admit I knew nothing of the flood, and how devastating the flood is for the people of Thailand and the effect on the Bang Pa Industrial Park.

It seems it been one thing after another, the economy, the devastation in Japan and now the historic flooding in Thailand.  I'll be watching the situation with Nidec and the Hard Factories closely and I'm sure there will be additional threads posted on the Print4Pay Hotel forums from other P4P'ers.

Anyone have anything they can add on the situation in Thailand??

-=Good Selling=-

Daily Copier & MFP Industry Notes from around the World

I love reading all of the press releases, it keeps me up on the new stuff and I get a chance to read about emerging technologies.  I thoroughly enjoy reading about 3D printing and all of the applications that have been developed so far.  It seems with 3D printers the sky is the limit or maybe we can know say the Clouds are the limit.

3D printers can and will be the replicators that you saw on the Star Trek TV serious, if you get a chance check out all of the applications for 3D printing via google.

BRUSSELS, Belgium, Sept. 28, 2011 -- Labelexpo -- EFI™ (Nasdaq:EFII) today launched the Jetrion 4900, a revolutionary UV inkjet digital printing system that combines high-quality digital printing with in-line laser finishing for label converters. The new system makes short-run digital label jobs even more efficient and profitable by eliminating set-up time, substrate waste and inventory requirements associated with the label finishing process. It produces eye...need to know more?

Last fall, Konica Minolta Canada (KM Canada) was preparing to introduce a new high-speed color digital press—the bizhub Press C8000—that would mark the company's entry into the offset printing market. The product would debut at the Canadian 2010 Print World trade show, and KM Canada wanted to entice as many potential buyers as possible to come check out the new press in person. And although the company had done one-off emailing in the...want more?

Konica Minolta Presents: Dr. Mark Bohan......video...

Konica Minolta Presents G7......video......

The company, which is wholly owned by Ricoh UK Holdings, specialises in producing printers, fax machines and copiers.  In the year to 31 March 2011, the company recorded a drop in pre-tax profit from £12.5m to £4.5m. Ricoh UK Products' directors' said its 2010 results had been returned with the "positive impact of the curtailment gain" resulting from modifications to its final salary pension scheme...more here

Axion Business Technologies announces acquisitionIt is Axion's fifth purchase in the last eight years, having acquired Commercial Business, Copier Supply, Copyrite and Bruno's. “From a geography standpoint [RPB Systems & Services] was a nice contiguous acquisition,” said Robert Ferland, Axion CEO and ...get the rest

Imaging technologies from Canon (News - Alert) will be now integrated with software products from Oracle (News - Alert). These products include Oracle Database, Oracle WebLogic Server, Oracle SOA Suite, Oracle WebCenter, and Java Platform Micro Edition among others. A joint announcement in this regard has been made by Canon Inc., Canon IT Solutions, Oracle and Oracle Japan...more here

-=Good Selling=-

Daily Copier & MFP Industry Notes from around the World

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Sep 21, 2011 -- Conexant Systems Inc., a leading supplier of innovative semiconductor solutions for imaging, audio, embedded modem, and video surveillance applications, today announced the CX92161, a highly integrated system-on-chip (SoC) optimized for laser...read more

FOSTER CITY, Calif., Sept. 22, 2011  -- EFI™ (Nasdaq:EFII) concluded a very successful GRAPH EXPO 2011 last week, with high visitor attendance, strong orders on the show floor, hundreds of qualified leads, and the most awards won by a single company in the Must See 'em award program's history...read more

The combined serial inkjet and page printer, copier and multifunction product (MFP) market in India totalled 666,859 units in the second quarter of 2011, a 0.8% decline vis-a-vis the same period of the previous calendar year, according to research firm Gartner, Inc. Some of the ripples caused by... need to know more? 

Mayberry R.F.D. (S1E05) - The Copy Machine...watch the video

-=Good Selling=-

Copiers, MFPs and "The Power of the .001 (one thousands of a penny)"

The Power of the .001 (one thousands of a penny)

It's getting kind of late but thought I'd give a stab at this.  The lowly penny and the power of profit that can be collected from Copiers, Printers and MFP's that are under maintenance contract is astounding.  

Years ago, with out the aid of copier maintenance software it was interesting to see what machines were pulling a profit and which were not.  When I was a newbie in the industry I can remember the service manager coming to me with a service card that outlined the cost that incurred with "x" machine and he had to make the call either try and get the system out of the field (thanx for the lead, just what I wanted to deal with a customer whose machine was breaking all the time) or to lose money on the system and raise the maintenance contract next year.

Today, maintenance software to monitor and track profits is now the norm for all dealers and manufacturers.  Thus with low profit systems or those systems producing a loss can be identified ASAP and measures can be put in place to make the system profitable.  The easiest way to make them profitable is to raise the cost of the maintenance agreement.  Most maintenance agreements sold now are all inclusive, meaning all parts, PM kits, consumables (toner, developer) and labor are included. Thus the cost per copy (I call it the cost per page) now rules the industry for most contracts.

So, what the heck does a penny get you?  Not much anymore, can you add a penny per page to a cost per page program, well you can if you 'd like to lose customers!

Here's some quick calculations on the power of the penny or in this case .001 (one thousands of a penny).  We'll deal with assumptions here for easy math.

XYZ Dealership has 500 systems that are on a cost per page contract. Each system generates 5,000 pages per month on average for a total of 2.5 million pages per month.  The XYZ dealership needs to generate additional profit because the owner needs a new boat. By adding .001 to each renewing contract each month, the added profit is $2,500 per month. Over the course of a year that's $30,000.  That's enough for the boat payments!  Really, if your current contract cost was .01 (penny) would you (the customer) be upset if the monthly increase was .001(one thousands of a penny) = $5 per month (Don't think so). What about an increase of .002 for each page, well now we're talking $5,000 per month and gee the owner can get an even bigger BOAT!

Now, here's some really crazy numbers for you.  The XYZ Dealership has 3,000 systems that are under a cost per page contract and each machine averages 10,000 pages per month.  The average monthly page volume is 30 million pages!  Adding just .001(one thousands of a penny) per page will give a profit of $30,000 dollars per month and a cool $360,000 dollars for the year. Now we're talking about a really really big boat!

Can the 3,000 systems averaging 10,000 pages a month be achieved, you betcha, it may take awhile but the opportunities are there especially with the emergence of managed print services in the last few years. 

Most profits from dealers go right back into the company, higher wages, additional people, new technology, cost of living.  I just thought it was neat run the numbers and see where they came out and have some fun!!

-=Good Selling=-

Copier Dealership Gone BAD!!

I gonna try and keep this short. Visited a new account, could not get them for hardware since they just contracted for a new copier, however they stated they were unhappy with that dealer and already moved forward with another dealer because "we have a special relationship with bankone leasing and we can eliminate the old lease", hmmmmm, sounded hokie to me, but I was able to book them for a network service appointment because they were looking for a new IT provider.


Two weeks later, myself and our IT SE are there for the network appointment. On first glance I saw the new Savin copier, and I thought, gee guess all is well and we went in for the network meeting. I handed off to my IT SE and he did most of the talking, we then needed to make a copy of an inventory sheet of the PC's and what the customers issues. Off I went to the Savin, when I arrived, I was thinking to myself, dam, I should have made the stop two weeks prior and I would have gotten this nice 65ppm color device instead of the other dealer.

So, I put the originals on the finisher and I ran my hand across the finisher as to say "nice machine" (I gotta stop that), but something felt wrong... I looked at the model number and it was a Savin 6045 (odd), my suspicions were up, so I then checked the meter. Well the meter read 300 color and like 500 black. Ok, somethings still not right, I opened the front panel to check inside and low and behold on the inside of the door was the graphic instructions on how to install toner and remove a paper jam. One thing though, the instructions were "yellowed", %$#% I thought, this dam thing is used and they set the meter back to zero (rotten bastards), so I did another check on the document feeder just to see if the unit may have been refurbished/used/cleaned, thus the reason to turn back the meter. The inside of the document feeder was dirty, thus the machine was probably PM'd and cleaned.

When I went back to the administrator I question her on the system. "Do you know you received a used system"? She hesitated and then stated that they never discussed whether the systems (you means there's more than one) were to be new or used, they just needed a different solution. Ok, by her look when I stated the "used" question I think she very surprised.

So, I left well enough alone, later we went downstairs to look at additional pc's and there was the other copier. I went and checked that one also. That meter had been reset, and it was also used.

Later we were back upstairs and I noticed another copier, however it was being used as a fax (Ricoh 201SPF with SAvin label), so I asked why the separate machine for the fax, why couldn't they just put the fax option in the new color system? I was then told that they had called and the machine couldn't be configured with a fax option and they would have to add this other system. Alright I thought, you really got taken.

So, here's my beef, if the systems were suppose to be used then why would the dealer reset the meters to zero? In my eyes there's no need for that unless you are truly buying or leasing a "refurbished system". There's no way these systems were refurbished.

My gut feeling is that they (dealer) saw an opportunity and exploited the customer. let's face it NO ONE, can eliminate a lease that is three months old, unless you build it into the price. In this case they probably started with new pricing for a 65ppm color and 50ppm black and then went to used units to cover the amount on the old lease. Thus, I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that the lease they signed does not state the equipment is USED.

But, what a shame it is that something like this happens in our industry, I know the dealer who did this, not personally but know of them (would never work for them). Plus, the account is a church.

As the Administrator stated that "they never discussed new or used". I'm thinking she's covering her own ass, but why the dealer turn the meters back to zero unless they are hiding or misrepresenting something!!!

SHAME ON THEM!!

-=Good Selling=-

"What I Like About" Leasing MFP's & Copiers

In the previous blog, I had a response from a reader that he could not find anything on the Print4Pay Hotel forums in reference to a Bakers Dozen lease.


Back in the Eighties I got hooked up with one of the best leasing reps in the business, he taught me the in's and out's of leasing and I haven't forgotten them. Kudos to Dennis G, at the time he was working for Hertz Commercial Leasing (HCL), and pretty much every couple of months he would pay a visit to our office to teach us on how to sell leasing. Dennis is now with LCA (Lease Corporation of America) and I highly recommend him and his company.

Today’s reps are handed rate sheets and shown how to figure out a payment and how to write the lease and that's about it! You know..., that’s BS, there's so much you can learn from qualified veterans like Dennis and others. Such as the Bakers Dozen lease, which was very popular in the late Eighties and early Nineties. I mention the Bakers Dozen lease in the office every once in awhile and all I get is "whoa, what's that", you mean there's other types of leases other than FMV (Fair Market Value) and a 60 month term? Sad but true, there's not many dealerships of leasing companies that teach leasing to their new reps and even keep up with the old reps.

Here's the Bakers Dozen for you:

Weekend Copier & Multifunctional Print4Pay Hotel Notes 6/11/2011

My apologies for not posting as many blogs,  it's been very busy with selling and baseball.  My summer Collegiate Baseball Team is now 0-6, not a good way to start the season, however we have only one place to go and that's up!

The baseball season is very long and it's not all about winning, it's about having the right attitude, playing the game the right way, working hard to improve your skills, working with a team, and trying to out think the other player (hitter or pitcher) and the other team. I follow the three D's of Baseball which are Desire, Dedication and Determination, believe it or not these three core values can take you through life to be the best at any sports and can help you through your selling career also.

Desire to be the best and a true professional in what you do.
Dedication to the industry or the sport. Eat, sleep and breath everything you do.
Determination to get back on your feet and never ever give up, out work everyone else and you'll be in a winner in whatever you do!

So for all our Print4Pay Hotel Members and Members to be, here's some links of our latest and greatest threads. Check out the new beta portal here.

Recent Document Uploads:
FINALLY, AN AFFORDABLE LOW-VOLUME, WIDE-FORMAT SOLUTION (intro letter)
HP new MFPs M4555 & CM4540 MFP
"The Final Frontier in Cost Control"
"Pricing on the Street" for Canon iR6065
"Pricing on the Street" for KonicaMinolta BizHub 751
"Pricing on the Street" for Xerox 5775PT
"Pricing on the Street" for Canon iR6075
"Pricing on the Street" for Konica Minolta BizHub 950
Sharp 4101n street price and service cpc


There's many more, just the latest from today!

Leads, RFP's RFQ's:
Arizona town needs copiers
Request for Proposal - Black and White Copier/Printer
Copier lease & purchase in Mid Atlantic USA
RFP for 3 Print Production Units in Richmond
RFP for two color systems in Canada
Many more of these also!!!

Recent Interesting Threads from P4P'ers:
Rumor has it.....
Intro Letters that have been successful
Interesting Take Over by Xerox...

JOINT STATEMENT BY SHARP ELECTRONICS CORPORATION AND EDWARD MCLAUGHLIN
MFP's & Cost Per Page Agreements

MFP Cloud Threads:
UDOCX in hybrid environments
Print email from the cloud (Video)
Generic advantages and differences of UDOCX vs.in house installs

These are just some samples of the threads from this week alone!! The Print4Pay has over 2,300 world wide members that are dedicated Imaging Professionals. Take a trip here www.p4photel.com/eve (registration link, don't worry man, it's FREE) and become a part of the largest social group of Imaging Professionals in the work and the opportunity to discuss solutions, best practices, rumors, and make new friends in the industry (it's nice to have a secure forum that's not out there for the public, eh?)

-=Good Selling=-


Art Post
"One of the Top 40 Most Influential People in the Imaging Business"

Selling Copiers and MFP's "Ask Art"

I am looking for some good talk tracks that work, when dealing with non Xerox prospects. It seems like when I call every non Xerox customer is completely "happy" and no need to see me. Any suggestions?

This was a post on one of the forums of the Print4Pay Hotel today. I'm always more than happy to help someone new or someone in need in our industry.  The Print4Pay Hotel offers many forums for all manufacturers reps to discuss solutions, ask questions and get sales help!

Here's the repsone I posted on the P4P Hotel forums.

For starters, everyone is happy to say they are happy with their current provider to get you off the phone!



Believe nothing of what you hear and half of what you see is something my father always said, doesn't make much sense but he always said it!

Selling today is a lot more complicated than years ago. When I started, you would whip out the yellow pages, pick a type of business and just start making cold calls. The pitch was simple something to effect "Hi this is so and so, and I'm calling to see you have the need for a new copier". That was it, plain and simple and believe it or not you really, really wanted a no, so you could hang up and get the next dial in. Sooner or later you were going to find someone that would take a look at a demonstrator unit from you.


If I used that pitch today, I'm sure all of my answers would be NO, GO AWAY, and a hang up.


Today I find my self making multiple calls to find the "right" person, and then many calls to finally get the "right" person on the phone. I find that these words will help spark some interest:


We may be able to lower your costs
We may be able to manage your documents that will result in increased productivity.
Decrease the smount of pages copied or printed
Manage your printing to move prints to lower cost systems


These are just a few, it's a numbers game and you've gotta make the dials to find who is unhappy, who's looking to save, or who needs additional or new systems.


Look for these signs:


Companies moving
Companies hiring
Companies where the parking lot is overflowing
Companies that were awarded a major contract


Do these:


Join your locate chamber of commerce or networking club and attend the meetings
be involved (volunteer)locally for sports, politics and religious orginazations
Make 200-300 calls a week


It's not easy work, it's hard work and you have be dedicated. Hope this helps!

-=Good Selling=-