Close End of The Year Copier Sales with Section 179

Special thanks to a member of the Print4Pay Hotel, who reminded me of the Section 179 of the IRS Tax Code. I'll use his quote here. "Time is limited as the asset must be placed in service by the end of the year. Your customer can capture this deduction under a dollar out lease thus getting a size able reduction in tax liability for 2007 without any money out of their pocket".

There are many small business owners who either forget or are unaware of the advantages of IRS Section 179. Our job is too remind them of the special advantage at this time of year. Personally, I will use this close to give my customers a sense of urgency to buy before the end of the year.

My end of year strategy is too do a mass email to all of my accounts in reference to the Section 179, and then to follow up with "key" companies that I think maybe able to take advantage of the code. You may also want to consider a $1.00 out lease at no interest in your marketing plans. Here's one way of how to do it, take the MSRP purchase price of the machine and divide by the term. So if we take 15,000 and divide by 36 , we have a lease price of $416.66 per month. From there we can "back out" the rate to see what the $416.66 yields to the end sale. In this instance we would get (using the 36 month $1.00 out rate of .03283) funded $12,691.44 . Here we are paying the interest on the lease and the customer is not. Keep in mind that there is no discount with this type of offer, the customer is already getting the benefit of Zero percent financing.

The business is out there, we just can't lay down and have excuses for not prospecting or marketing at this time of year. Excuses or negative thinking such as "who the heck is going to buy Thanksgiving Week, or There's not much going on this week, so I'll just take some time off will not work! Keep pushing, keep knocking on doors and create a sense of urgency for the client!

Good Selling!

Riding the Wave of Wide Format Color Copiers!

Are you riding the wave or still looking for your surf or boogie board? As the demand for scanning (color & monochrome) is at an all time high in the general office, the demand for color scanning is also gaining popularity in the AEC (Architectural, Engineering and Construction).

Recently, a few accounts have asked me for color wide format scanners to complement their existing wide format technology.

We have the a full line of scanners available through Paradigm Imaging, so in search of a solution one day I paid a visit Paradigm Imagings web site and to review all of their wide format scanners. I was in search of a color scanner, with a 36" throat (this would be the widest document that you could insert for scanning). What I found was amazing, a good quality color scanner could retail anywhere from $12,000 to $17,000! Plus, the margins were ok at best.

Now, I've been working with Paradigm Imaging for awhile and never really saw the value of their new EIS models. To tell you the truth, I saw, I read but didn't comprehend the value of these systems! Let me tell you this, if you are selling in the AEC market place and you have not checked out the EIS models (Multifunctional Wide Format), then you're missing the wave for increased sales and solutions!

Paradigm has about 12 different EIS configurations, the one that impressed me most is the Quatra series. The Quartra series is available in three different configurations, the M, C & E.

The one that I needed is the "C" series which includes a 36" color scanner, a 24" wide format ink printer and a Rockect PC Controller. Once installed the customer can color scan, color copy, scan2print or print and this is all controlled from the touch screen UI (User Interface) that comes with the Rocket Controller. BEST OF ALL, the MSRP is only $8,995. Now you can probably guess where I'm going with this.

We now have the ability to add value to our existing wide format placements, make the calls, there is a need for wide format color scanning, & copying. If you've hit a wall with your existing monochrome devices, along with many new players now selling wide format. You now have a real story to tell and solution to sell to your existing wide format accounts. Typically wide format copies can sell for as much as $3.00 per square foot and color wide format scans can be as high as $20 per scan. So, how many square feet or wide format scans do it take to justify one of these? I have done the math, with wide format color scanning, it only takes 9 scans to justify a Quatra, and this may be the easiest path to follow when conducting the ROI.

Go ride the wave, this is really what we needed!!!!

Who Should I Buy from an Authorized Dealer or Direct Branch?

Hmmmmm, should I choose Column A or Column B?

Many years ago you could only buy Copiers from Authorized Dealers. An Authorized Dealer is a privately owned company that is local to your geographic area. 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 that has the best support, the best people, the company that offers more than one manufacturers solutions and the company that change on a dime when your needs change.

Typically you should ask some key questions from your sales person or your service 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.


2. Ask about the the tenure of their service personnel and if you will see the same service technician. Having an experienced service person and the same person servicing the machine is important to quality work and troubleshooting. A company that send inexperienced service reps and multiple reps to the same machine is mot what you want. Too many chefs can spoil the soup and is true with copiers.


3. Ask how long they have been in business. A couple of years may not be what you are looking for, today's machines are highly evolved from yesterdays, go with a company that has a proven track record.


4. Ask if they carry multiple solutions from different manufacturers. No one manufacturer can be everything to everyone. Authorized Dealers will have multiple solutions from multiple manufacturers. While direct branches will only sell their solutions.


5. Ask them how long it takes for a service rep to be on-site and then ask for some references. Doing the research before hand will save you time.


6. Get a copy of the sales contract and service contract to review before you sign, a wishy washy document that was created in a word document is NOT THE CONTRACT! The contract will have many clauses to protect the Direct Branch and allow them to charge you extra for supplies, fuel surcharges and more!

Do you really want to buy from someone who offers the lowest price? Ask yourself, what are you sacrificing when you buy solely on the lowest price? Will it be the service, the training, or the support years down the road.

Typically, Independent Authorized Dealers have longevity with their customers, sales people, service staff and technicians. Typically, Direct Branches have the higher turnover with sales people, service staff, technicians and clients.

Now some of you who know me may say that I work for a Dealer and he doesn't know the other side. That's true, I have only worked for a Dealer and never a Direct Branch. My problem is that with 27 years in the business I don't know one rep who has more than 6 years with a Direct Branch while on the other hand I know 40 or more with Dealers who have over ten years with the same Dealer (they must be doing something right). Plus, why is it, that I will get new service accounts from the Direct Branch and I don't lose any to them.

The end result is most Direct Branches (mind you there are a few excellent Direct Branches out there) are out there to capture market share for the manufacturer. They have a high turnover of sales people and support people. Since they have NO "Value" to sell, they typically sell on price. What is "Value"? It could be a number of items, the value of support after the sale, the value of competent support staff to conduct on-site training, the value of troubleshooting a problem and finding a solution. The value of providing the right solution at the right time.

Some of you may be located where there is not a choice between an established Dealer or a Direct Branch, just follow that you should buy from a company that has the best support, the best people and the company that can offer more than one manufacturers and a company that can change on a dime when your needs change.

We all want a good price, however a cheap price is long forgotten after poor service!

Polling Copier Sales People

One of the neat features we have on the p4photel is that we often run many polls throughout the year. We've conducted polls about Color Cost per Page, Do You Think the Manufacturer that you Represent is Fair to Dealers, the Super Bowl and many others. The information provided comes from our members. The p4photel consists of 1,500 members from around the world, our largest group is from the United States.

A recent poll of our membership were asked to answer this question:





Poll #1: How Do You Feel About Your Job?

(17%) My job is Perfect and would not trade it for the world.
(33%) My job is ok, however I need more help from management to be more successful.
(21%) I'm overloaded with work and put in too many hours.
(13%) My job is not pleasant, no support from management or manufacturer.
(17%) I am looking for a new job as I read this poll!

Poll #2: Professional Corporations will offer a "piece" of the company to hold onto valued employees. This usually happens with Architects, Lawyers, Accountants, etc.Leads me to this poll:

Do you think Dealerships should offer "partnerships" to hold onto key employees?
(95%) Yes
(5%) No

Poll #3: What size company do you work for?

(13%) Manufacturers Branch
(13%) Large Dealer 50+
(28%) Medium Dealer 20+
(41%) Small Dealer
(6%) On Your Own

The goal of p4photel is to Inform, Share and Maintain the highest degree of knowledge for the Digital Imaging Industry. Simply put you've got a place on the Internet to share information, increase your knowledge and keep an ear to ground for the latest changes in our industry!

Top Copier Equipment Leasing Companies for Office Dealers

I ask you, what do customers hate more when they are dis-satisfied with Office Equipment Leasing Companies? Yep, it us the sales people that put them into a bad lease. Most reps who have been in the business awhile know about some of the pitfalls of a good equipment leasing company and a not so good one.

Selling the copier system is only the first part of the process, most customers also look to you for financing. Some salespeople do not have choice of what leasing company they can use and some do. Keep in mind that if you what the customer back not only do you need to give them good equipment, and good service, you'll also have to give them a good financial institution that will work with the customer, sales person or dealer! Remember that if you or your customer enters into a FMV (Fair Market Value) lease, it is up to the customer to notify the leasing company of their plans before the end of the term.

There are four basic scenarios at or near the end of the term. (A) Give the equipment back and pay the freight back to the leasing companies desired location. (B) Upgrade the equipment with the same equipment vendor a new one (C) Don't give it back and keep on making monthly payments for x amount of months (look to the Ts & Cs in the lease agreement). (D) Buy the equipment from the leasing company at a Fair Market Value.

When was the last time you read the back of one of those lease documents (whew!)? So what should you as the sales person or end user need to be aware of? To me, end of lease notification is at the top of my list along with the auto renewal. Any leasing company that requires you to contact them within a certain window (Window Clause) of time.... is not the company you want to do business with! Here's an example of a time line windows: Not before 180 days prior to the lease and not less than 120 days before the end of the lease. Not for nothing but a 60 day window is my only choice??? Plus, if you do fall into the Window Clause you may have to pay another year in renewal!!!!!

Now, I haven't read all of the leases from all Leasing Companies, however I can tell you which ones have the easiest end of term options for an FMV Lease and which ones do not have the Window Clause. They all have a renewal (Rollover Clause) clause however it is not for more than 90 days at a time.

Here's my top choices:

CIT Leasing Corporation, US Express Leasing, Clune Equipment Leasing and Great America Leasing Corporation

Lease rates for all of these companies differ, it seems to me that out of these four the higher the lease rate is will dictate the easier it is to deal with them at the end of the term. When it comes right down to it, you can't go wrong with these companies, just make sure that you and your customer are aware of the terms and conditions for each company.

Thus in closing here is a post from the P4P Hotel when it comes to the Dealers using Leasing Companies that have the lowest rates and usually have the heavy hand at the end of the lease with the Window Clause and Rollover Clause.

Great points all but who is to blame here? When one of our prospects does business with an obviously inferior company because their price was cheaper who screwed up? The prospect right? We think,"How could they be so short sighted." Well guess who the customer is in this scenario...WE ARE and the cheaper price comes in the form of lower lease rates. We are the ones doing business with obviously inferior companies because their price was cheaper. We are the ones keeping those inferior companies in business and we want to blame them? There are alternatives that allow us to keep our integrity, we just aren't willing to look at the bigger picture and do what's right.

Ricoh Wide Format Solution Guru's

I'll admit, maybe I couldn't see the ocean through the fog when I pummeled the new Ricoh W2470 printer over Ricohs pricing.

In four recent appointments for wide format, I was asked about color scanning on three occasions. This got me thinking, I don't have an all in one box for wide format color scanning, mono printing and copying. However, not many of my competitors have these either. The OCE TDS 450 combines a scanner and printer along with the Xerox 510DP. I then asked myself why can't I make my own configuration (just what my techs wanted to hear). Heck, I have the relationship with Paradigm Imaging http://www.scantopia.com/ , maybe I should give Eric Hansen a call.

I called Eric and we started the talk track on the Graphtec line of scanners and then we spoke about the software, I needed some really simple software to act as the middleware so I could replicate what OCE and Xerox were doing with scanning, copying and printing. Paradigm has software however I could only scan2file and then print for copying purposes. Not exactly what I wanted however I was on the right track. I'm not sure who told me to call Rich Hipsky at Ratio, but I called and told him what I was looking for.

As a Ricoh reseller, I am very familiar with Plotbase Software and somewhat familiar with Plotbase PM. Plotbase PM http://www.plotbase.com/ and this is too keep it simple can drive a host of wide format products along with all of the accounting and wide format functionality that you'll ever need. What I did learn from Rich is that they have a four button UI (user interface) software that will allow you to walk up to a monitor and and be able to touch screen for Copy, Scan, Print & More! You can view this demo here http://www.cadstation.com/livedemo/cadstation-scan.html .

Plotbase PM will run on the server along with the UI on the monitor, users can then walk up and perform all of the basic functions for wide format scanning, printing, copying and more!! Just what I was looking for, now its time to crunch the numbers.

I took a look at the W2470 MSRP coming in at $11,565. plus $3,659 for the Dual Roll Feeder and then we'll need the Plotbase PM software. Cost for the software to drive the one LED printer and scanner is $3,800 complete! Now I need to add a scanner, I took a look at the Graphtec IS200 Pro LC 42" wide scanner (It does not do photo color, but spot color will work. It will do OK on graphical stuff that is spot color like signage type stuff or comic book type graphics, but not on "continuous tone" images like photos, skin tones, etc..) The MSRP on this is $13,995. I've now got a system that comes in at a mere $33,015 in MSRP and some very powerful software with Plotbase PM as the backbone of the system. I can now compete with where I could not compete before. I can also rest easy with Plotbase PM software that is reliable and powerful enough that I can compete with confidence with the likes of the OCE and the Xerox.

Another great feature of Plotbase PM is that you can add additional print drivers to the system, there is an additional cost, however in the larger AEC firms I truly mix and match and put on my creative thinking cap for multiple solutions and placements!!

Why Am I Still Selling Copiers?

I'm not!! I'm selling multifunctional systems that can increase your productivity and save time (this way management can pummel you with more work). Yes, the technology of the copier has come a long long way over the past few years.

But to get right down to it, I don't know of any other job that lets me make my own hours, lets me go on vacation without telling anyone (hope my boss is not reading this) , hey as long as you have your phone, pda or pc you're working right, isn't that a rule? I get to travel down roads where I've never been before, and you're looking for the business that's out of the way and that hasn't had six copier salespeople knock on their door that day. Selling in a somewhat rural territory that borders the Atlantic Ocean (New Jersey Beaches) and is littered with farms and office parks, it truly a lot of fun at times.

During the spring I get to pack my waders and fishin pole, in hopes I can find a half hour to drop a line, later in the day I can make sure that I make ALL of my sons baseball games, no matter where they are. You remember the rule, as long as you have your phone, pda or pc you're working!! During the winter I still get in the car to cover every part of my territory. I can remember one year having the digital camera with me during December and I took a day cold calling, however while I was cold calling I also took pictures of homes that were decorated for Christmas. Come on, what other job in the world allows you to do things like this?

More often than not it seems like a quest, the quest to find a new account, or the quest to find someone who actually needs your products, your solutions or your creative ideas. I get up every morning wanting to sell and still have the Desire, Determination and Dedication to succeed in the business.

Over the years I have been offered a Sales Managers job, and have never taken one. Ughhhh, the thought of being in the office from 9AM -5PM would be unbearable along with the traffic, the drive time and the politics in the office! I like being able to wake up at oh lets say 8AM, get my java, and then hit the pc for some early work. Then being out the door by 9AM or so and arriving back home before the traffic starts. I enjoy not being at the office, I am fortunate that I only have to be in once every two or three weeks.

Change is good right? You bet, the technology, the solutions and how we have changed over the years is amazing. Do any of you old timers remember when the prerequisite to getting into copiers sales was that you had to have a station wagon?? Some of you new guys might ask why the heck so you need a station wagon, well there weren't any SUVs back then and you needed something to haul the copiers around in. That's right, back in the old days we would come in in the AM and a load a table top copier in the car, we put them on gurneys then (how morbid was that?). We would then make as many as 20 cold calls a day looking for anyone that was interested in a copier. Back then we had maybe four different models and they all could fit in the station wagon. I can somewhat remember the pitch, I would ask if they were in need a new machine or touch on some of the new features such as reduction and enlargement, and if they were interested, I told then I had one in the car and if they had 10 minutes we could take a look at it right now. WOW, demo on the spot, and then the demo was on to see if we could make the sale and get a check that day. I can remember many days when I didn't come back with the machine and just a check. How awesome was that!

Looking back, I would not change my job for any other job. Yeah, I've called seven letter words, sued (hey it happens) thrown out of places and even ignored the dreaded NO SOLICITATION signs. However along the way, I've been able to attend all of my kids functions, gone fishing, took power naps, traveled down roads I've never been before, gone on extended vacations, hid from the office, hid from the wife, had a few glorious days at the races, enjoyed days out with the wife. Heck, I'll keep on selling copiers (multifunctional systems) as long as they let me!!!

Death of The Copier Salesperson

Having been in the industry for 27 years, I have seen many sales people come and go. Ours is a tough road to pave on a consistent basis, some come into the industry and light a fire in the first few months and then they seem to fall off the wagon. There are the seasoned veterans with 10+ years of experience, salespeople who know what they are doing and were doing it right and they then fell off the wagon. What is that? What makes most beginners and seasoned veterans lose their touch, their skills or their enthusiasm?

Some of the newbies that I’ve seen come and go were force fed with leads and accompanied by managers at the start of their copier sales career. Most of them had the art of communication but just lacked the product knowledge. When accompanied by their manager these newbies excelled, or was it the manager that excelled?

What about the seasoned sales people that had stellar sales cycles and then loses it. I have seen some of them lose it forever and just decide to get out of the industry altogether.

Most of us on the Print 4 Pay Hotel http://www.p4photel.com/ knows what it takes to sell on a daily basis; they are the ABCs of selling in any industry.

I will touch my own experiences in the field and experiences from others in the industry, it’s more or less what not to do to kill a salesperson.

Our job is not easy, I spend many countless hours researching account volume history, service history and the costs they have incurred over the life cycle of their piece of equipment. For some, selling the customer is easy (great closers), for others they must rely on grunt work, crunching the numbers and making them happen for the customer and presenting the customer with effective ROI’s. Sometimes, it gets old when you have negotiated with the customer, closed the sale and then have to negotiate with management to secure the order. I realize most of this will probably only happen on the dealer side of the channel. However, this tends to be on the top of my list.

Industry Trends: Not all but most Managements inability to know current industry trends, whether they are cpc’s, or document technology. Your competition, what they are doing and how they are marketing themselves. Management that cannot change on a dime or Management that has not done their homework with new technologies and services that can be offered. Management has a tendency to move slowly. I’ve noticed that there are many proactive dealerships that are putting the time and money into becoming the leading Dealers in the merging technology of copiers, printers and document management. Management more than ever needs to be experts in the industry, they need to eat, sleep, and breathe all aspects of the industry.

Vertical Market Selling: New salespeople are not focusing on vertical market applications or selling. Too many dealerships give their salespeople Carte Blanch and let them sell every product to every market! This creates a sales person that does not have enough product or solution knowledge to be effective in selling for gross profit. Gross profit is needed for the health of the dealership! The salesperson is then forced to selling boxes on price rather than solving a problem for a customer or saving them time with new technologies and software.

Training: Many dealerships offer little or no training at all. How can we put people on the street and ask them to sell solutions or be successful when they must decipher the products, features, advantages and benefits on their own time? Time is the key element in sales, time is needed to prospect effectively and find the customers who are ripe for the new services and products that dealerships offer. A true sales person prospects by day and quotes by night!

Selling: Owners in small to mid-size dealers selling machines or taking leads when there are capable sales people to handle the business. Selling Owners must get out of the selling business and focus on financing and marketing of their company. From a first hand experience from two different dealerships, I’ve seen Selling Owners not focus on their business! Taking leads away from competent salespeople and either making the sale or not. Talk about killing someone’s ego, or hurting them financially, nothing lowers the moral more than a salesperson finding out the owner took a lead in that territory. Owners (as long as they have a sales staff) need to focus on vendor or bank financing, expanding profit margins and the marketing of their company.

Commissions: More salespeople come and go because they do not get paid on time or the rules are changed during sales cycles. Some salespeople are paid commissions monthly, some bi-weekly and others earn bonuses either at the end of the sales quarter or the sales year. Changing pay schedules or changing how and when commissions are paid whether it starts bi-weekly and migrates to monthly or the other way around has got be one of the most frustrating times for sales people. Most of us earn 80% of the money we make in commissions or bonuses, changing or upsetting the commission flow may and can cause financial woes with any salesperson. Make a plan and stick to it.

Salespeople: Most sales people in our industry treat the job as a 9-4; most will blame someone else when they lose a sale or a customer. Most will never achieve their quarterly or yearly sales quotas. Most will find a job outside of the industry. Most of them could not care less what happens in their industry after 4PM in the afternoon. Most of them find time to hide and say they are producing work. Most of them will not last two quarters in this business.Yet there are many that are on top of their game and continue to further their knowledge to support themselves and their family and a lot of them make a very good living in the office equipment industry.

My article started out as to how a salesperson can “die” in our industry. How stellar achievers that were once on top were now designated to the trash heap or decided to leave their company for greener pastures. I felt like this story is more about the typical grind that we go through on a day-to-day basis. The great high’s we can get when we’ve closed a deal that we have been working on for months or years or the feeling when you meet someone for the first time and get the order that day, plus getting the price you deserve. Why is it when a customer needs info or a quote we call them ASAP and get them the information RIGHT AWAY. Then after trying to close the customer on numerous occasions you get an answer from the customer stating that they’ll call you in a week. Well it’s been five damn years and I’m still waiting for you to call me back!

In order not to let a salesperson die, companies need to focus on where their company wants or need to go. From there they need to give direction to the sales team for monthly, quarterly or yearly goals. Goals need to focus on new accounts, satisfied accounts and referrals from old accounts.

Copy Machine Sales Suicide with The 3-5 Plan

Over the years there have been a few articles in reference to why the 3-5 plan is bad for Dealers and I admit there are some pros and cons. However, I'm going to tell you why the 3-5 is bad for the customer and bad for the sales person!

The 3-5 is basically three years of service and supplies rolled into a 5 (60 month) year lease plan. What's wrong with the plan?

Lets look at this from the sales persons view.

The sales person may be able to get the upgrade in the First Upgrade option, however securing additional business after the first renewal will not happen. Here's and example. Customer A: Enters into a lease agreement for a Multifunctional Copier System where the MSRP is $15,000, and for five years the payment for the lease is $300 per month, the customer also agrees to service and supplies for three years or 720,000 pages. The cost per page is .0125, the total cost for service and supplies is $9,000. The lease cost for the $9,000 is $180, the lease payment for the 3-5 then becomes $480 per month.

Now, lets say that the customer reaches the three years on the lease and the 720,000 pages at the same time (36 months) LOL!. You want to upgrade them, at this point in time, you have a balance on the old lease for $480 x 24 or $11,500. You then lease them another machine for $15,000 or $300 per month, now you'll have to add in what they owe plus another $9,000 for 720,000 copies. The customers new payment is based on $15,000 for the new machine, $9,000 for the NEW 720,000 pages and $11,500 for what they owe. The new payment then becomes a whopping $710 per month! So, this is the first upgrade after 3 years, what happens when the customer needs to upgrade again? Well, the same scenario takes place, the new machine for $15,000 = $300 per month, $710 x 24 is owed which equals $17,040 = $340.80 and then another $9,000 for 720,000 pages for $180. Payments have now escalated to $820.00 per month for a $15,000 piece of equipment. TRUST ME, I HAVE DONE THIS WHEN I DIDN'T KNOW ANY BETTER AND I LOST EVERY CUSTOMER THAT I SOLD THIS PLAN TO!

Now, do I have to tell you why this is bad for the customer? Not only is it bad, but it borders on sales suicide! Also, with the leasing companies not excepting deals over 175% of MSRP, you may not even be able to upgrade them at all! With the above scenario I was being kind and assuming that the customer would not run out of service and supplies before three years. What happens when they run out in two years and still have three years of payments left and now you have to add an additional 240,000 copies to cover them for the next three years? It can get real ugly!

There are many spins on the 3-5, there's a 4-5, a 2-3, they all don't work! So, if you're in the business for the long haul and you want to keep your accounts and keep them coming back to you, then stay away from the 3-5 or anything like it!

Ricoh Americas Eliminates COO Position along with Tom Salierno

Ask me if I am shocked! NO, however it was a piece of interesting news. Eliminating a position to me is a polite way of saying you services are no longer required.

Rumors have been rampant the past few months of huge financial losses coming from the Direct Channel, along with Dealers up in arms about the Direct Channel selling boxes below Dealer Cost. Couple this with recent surveys sent to Dealer Salespeople asking about the downward sales of Segment One machines, and they just don't get it yet, A3 vs A4 machines, 11x17 mfps vs non 11x17 mfps.

So, now enters Martin Brodigan, currently President of Ricoh Canada, assumes the position of CFO of Ricoh US. Was there a CFO of Ricoh Americas before this and if so did someone else get eliminated?

Keeping with tradition of my blogs, I still believe Ricoh Japan and Ricoh Americas Corp has "relaxed" during the last 18 months and has been resting on their laurels. Out went the talk about TDV (Total Document Volume), and in came we're Ricoh we have the best equipment and you should have to pay more. This was the talk track to the dealers and then comes the Direct Channel trying to save its own market share by selling equipment below cost.

Enough said, I for one still believe that Ricoh makes the finest products in the world, however they have to straighten out their Direct Channel and make them a profit center. Dealers can no longer subsidize the Direct Channel.

Copier Sales Forums

For those of you who don't know, the p4photel www.p4photel.org operates 1 unique message board that cater to Copier Sales People, Dealer Owners, Dealer Principals, Support, Manufacturers Reps and Copier Service Engineers. We have dedicated message forums for Ricoh Family Group (Gestetner, Lanier, Ricoh, Savin and Infoprint), along with Canon/Oce, KonicaMinolta, Toshiba, Kyocera and the just released Xerox board.

We keep the boards dedicated to the manufacturer for a few reasons:

1. Not many sales people like to share share their secrets with the competition especially when they are in your back yard.
2. A greater sense of camaraderie is achieved over time when communicating with other reps that are experiencing the same success, greater success or failure.
3. Sharing information among sales reps global! Whats working in one market may not work in another.
4. The ability to get information on a timely basis, and when your customer needs it! There are too many products now for me to be an expert, however with the resources of others, I can rely on their knowledge and expertise to help!

So, whether you are the new rep, the seasoned rep or the expert, we all have a place on the Internet to share your experiences, and ask your sales questions. Hey, we're all in the same boat so we might as well row together!

-=Good Selling=-

Track Your MFP Sales Data!

How many of you write the MFP Sales order and then complete all of the paperwork that's needed to get the machine installed and then WHEW! You're glad that you finished the paperwork . If you're like me we have a Sales order, Lease doc, Bill of Lading, RGA (for lease return), Site Survey (God forbid if someone didn't know there was a few steps or stairs), Network Survey, Connectivity Cafe Doc, Commission Doc and any addendum's that may have to deal with the lease returns. Man that's a lot of paperwork!

Well, you're still not done, any sales rep worth their weight in gold, will also have a Sales Data Spreadsheet! Within this spreadsheet they will input Customer Name, Term of Lease or Buy, Lease Payment Amount, Name of Leasing Company, Gross Sale, Units, Model Numbers, Gross Profit, What type of Pricing Plan from Manufacturer, Cash Spiffs, MU to you the sales person, the wholesale cost of the unit, the profit on the entire deal, the amount of pages captures for each system and percentage of new business compared to old business.


Most of you may ask why do all of this extra work when my company tracks all of this data? I would say to you that the company tracks the data for themselves and will not ever give it to you, you think they want you to know what type of profit you are making for them? Plus there are many other benefits to tracking you own data. Within seconds you can go back years and get a better handle of you is ready for an upgrade, or do you have enough commissions coming through to take care of bills.


However, the single most reason to track your data is that most owners of Dealerships will state that sales never makes them any money! Certainly, I believe this is hogwash! However, when you are in need of a raise or looking for greener pastures your MFP Sales Data Tracker is your road to negotiating a better deal with your current employer or you future employer. Percentage of Profit, and Percentage of New Business along with New Pages Captured will put you in the drivers seat and will help you negotiate a customer comp package.


Dealerships need to act quickly with reps who are not making the numbers, and sales guys who are not making the numbers might want to think about getting another job, maybe taking orders for cars.

Ricoh SP W2470 Pricing Blunder?

Could the SP W2470 be the biggest pricing blunder by Ricoh Co. in Japan?

A few months ago, I thought the pricing for their new Ricoh W2400 was out of whack (and I still think so), and now the SP W2470 comes along with an MSRP $11,545 and you HAVE to buy a dual roll feeder for the unit! That's right no single roll feeder is available! This is a MAJOR fault! Ricoh should have offered both a single and a dual and let the customer decide what they need, NOT THE MANUFACTURER!

MSRP with Dual Roll Feeder and the base machine is $15,204, I thought they should have come in around $12K tops, and they would be able to capture more TDV and increase placements while increasing consumable revenues. My thoughts is that many of the existing Ricoh 240W customers would add this unit as a extra and or a backup unit. However, not at this price!

Which leads me to this, I could offer my customer a Ricoh W2400 with copy and print with a single roll feeder for a list of $16,593. There's a difference here of $1,389. Now you tell me, what would the customer rather have just a printer that would lease for $296 (60 month rate factor) per month or a copier and printer for $323.56 per month? Right, for $27.56 I'll steer them to the copier printer all of the time! It amounts to less than a DOLLAR a day to have the copy feature! Oh, and by the way! Where is the form feed key on the Ricoh W2400???? If you send a wrong paper size to the printer you can not force feed the job, you must delete the entire print job.

Last year I sold 19 Ricoh 240W units, while only two had dual roll feeders attached. For me almost 95% of my units had a single roll feeder. Give the customers what they want!

Now on the other hand it would be nice to have the Ricoh SP W2470 in a 6ppm configuration, clients could justify the cost to add a standalone 6ppm system in addition to their existing machines.

On another note seems to me that there is still another segment of the market that is untapped. A market where there are 3 to 8 employees and all they need to do is print. They are out sourcing some 40 - 80 prints a month and can't afford payments of $296 and they are buying ink plotters whether HP or Canon. It would be nice to capture these customer also.

My general opinion is that Ricoh Wide Format is resting on their laurels with the Ricoh SP W2400. Their concern was to not capture more TDV, but to hold pricing similar to the outdated technology of the their competitors. And, while I'm on the subject, most of my customers could not give three hoots about the Document Server, Web Image Monitor, and Desktop Binder Lite. Thus with the launch of the Ricoh SP W2470 they have priced these units so they will not sell!

How many will I sell this year, one, yeah one might be right.

Padded Lease Rates! Ethical or Unethical, Where do You Stand!

Ethical or Unethical? Some companies use em and some don't. For those of you who are new to the business, I'll try to make some sense of the "padded" lease rates. "Padding" means to increase the lease rate factor from what the leasing companies published rate is. Meaning, the leasing company will provide the Direct Branch or Dealer with a rate factor of .0276 for a 36 month fair market value lease, thus a $10,000 piece of equipment would cost $276.00 per month to lease. Dollar amount times rate factor equals cost per month.

Now, here comes the sneaky part (geez, I hope I do not get phone calls from attorneys with pointy sticks!). The Direct Branch or Dealer will raise the rates to the reps, such as the rate going from .0276 (36 month FMV) to .0289 (36 month FMV), thus a $10,000 piece of equipment will now cost the customer $289.00 per month. The Direct Branch or the Dealer will then "back out" the rate. Meaning, take the payment and divide by the real rate factor (.0276) which will then equal the total dollar amount that is paid to the dealer by the leasing company. In this case the dealer would receive $10,471.01 or an increased revenue of $471.01 by "padding" the rate!

What's unethical about this you might ask? For me there are a few items that bother me. (A) If I am the sales person and I wrote a sale price of $10,000 for the system it would not be true, because we would actually be receiving $10,471.01 and not $10,000. (B) The fact that it is an FMV rates means the customer would have the buy-out price assessed at $10,470.01 and not $10,000 as stated on the sales order. So, if the customer wanted to purchase the equipment at the end of the lease they would be asked to pay the FMV for the $10,470.01 and not $10,000.

Many reps just quote a price per month and never show the customer the actual cost of the unit, so would they then be ethical because they never quoted the actual sale price for the piece of equipment? In other instances the leasing companies will actually give a percentage of the total dollar amount back to the Direct Branch or Dealer by giving them higher rates, thus the "padding" comes directly from the leasing company.

My beef is why do we (Direct Branches and Dealers) use "padded" rates at all? If you want more profit for your box just increase the cost of the box to the reps and let them do their thing. Padding rates in the long run may lose more sales, because the monthly payment will be higher than your competitor if you are both at the same dollar amount. What happens when a smart rep looks at a competitors quote and realizes that the rates are "padded". Surely he will tell the customer that they are be over charged in the monthly cost and the Direct Branch or the Dealer is not what they seem to be.

I'm sure there are many arguments to this, however it seems to me that there is no place for "padded" rates in our industry.

Whats Wrong With Equipment Leasing Companies?

Geez, I would have a shorter blog if I asked "Whats Right With Equipment Leasing Companies"? Keep in mind that when signing any legal document, the buyer needs to read the terms and conditions, however what happens is that most signers forget the Ts and Cs.

Here's a few gripes that have and the reasons why most leasing companies fail to make the cut of taking care of the customer.

1. End of lease notification: Why must there be only a "window" of time when the customer can notify the leasing company that they would like to return the equipment. There are a few that will allow any time 30 days prior to the end of the lease, however most will have a "window" and if you do not meet that window, the customer will be caught in a "roll over" scenario that could be as little as 30 days and as much as one year!!! Wells Fargo will "Roll over" for one year!
2. Restocking Fee: This has got to be the worst! Charging to restock the copier when it was never in their stock in the first place! Citi Capital was the main culprit here, and I'm sure there are others.
3. Call for Remaining Payments: When a customer calls about the remaining stream of payments, the leasing company always quotes the buy-out price, never do they quote the remaining stream of payments! Most leasing companies do not make the cut with this one.
4. Payments: There are a few leasing companies that will actually tell the customer what number payment is being made on the monthly statement. Most never do this and are anticipating the the customer will get caught in a roll over and then make more payments after the lease has expired!
5. Poor Billing Practice: Invoices sent late giving the customer only a few days to make the payment, taking too long to remove insurance charges, billing the wrong tax amount and not corrected mistakes in a timely manner.
6. Fair Market Value: When a system sells for $20,000 and the leasing company quotes $6,000 to own the equipment to either the vendor or the customer. Lets go! The equipment is 5 years old and should only be worth a few thousand if that.

If the leasing companies would charge a "fair" rate for their services, drop long term roll overs, notify customers of their end of lease options, drop re-stocking fees and offer deep discounts to dealers to buy the equipment at the end of the term. This would allow dealers to maintain a fleet of used machines, have a better relationship with the customer and the leasing company and would stop the waste of having tens of thousands of used copiers stacked in warehouses all over the world.

John Reiling Retires from Ricoh Americas Corporation

After many years of dedication to the Duplicator Market, John Reiling (Duplicator Marketing) is now retiring. After knowing John for about ten years, I'm aware that Ricoh will miss one of the GOOD GUYS in the industry.

I first meet John in about 11 years ago while attending a Ricoh duplicator sales training course at Ricoh U. I was impressed with Johns knowledge, dedication and desire for duplicators market place. His Dedication, Determination and Desire inspired me to sell many duplicators and seek out new markets in my territory. I can remember countless times having questions and not being able to reach my DSM, each and every time I contacted John he was always pleasant, knowledgeable and treated me with respect that he always returned a phone call.

I looked forward to the trade shows, whether Ricohs Dealer Shows or Print On Demand, because I was sure that John would be there and he would have some great stuff to tell me, whether business or family.

Kudos John! Good Luck with Retirement and All of us at The P4PHotel wish you good health and happiness!

What Can Third Party Solution Provers do to Increase Business?

With my 27 years of experience in "down the street" sales, I for one can say that one of these old rules are true "Out of Site, is Out of Mind"! Lets take a look at the average reps day. Arrive in the AM, get settled in, from there you are either going on appointments or trying to get appointments whether from phone calls or cold calls. When we're not doing that we are up to our ears in paper work, or taking questions from customers in reference supplies, machine ops, billing, preparing quotes, and trying to close deals. Oops , I left one out, we also have to research speeds, feeds, pricing and solutions.

Recently, I was at a manufacturers one day training session for the Ricoh W2400 and Ricoh w3600 where they introduced the new system where we were informed about all of the new features. At most of these training sessions you may or may not have a rep from a third party solution provider show his wares and tout thier solution. This solution provider is an industry leader cost tracking and recovery technology for service professionals and their providers. We watched the slide show make some notes, asked some questions and to tell you the truth, most of us forgot 90% of what we heard. The meeting was then over and the "Out of Sight, Out of Mind" fell into place.

So, what went wrong? Was the rep boring, not knowledgeable? No, most of these reps do a fine job, its that the third party providers do not take into account is that we as reps have a full plate everyday.

The third party solutions providers like Print Audit, Captiva, Kofax, Doculex, Fabsoft, Ecopy, Zetafax and many others need to have a daily or weekly presence for the rep. It's impossible to call all of the reps, and since 20% of the reps do 80% of the business this would be a terrible waste of time. So, how about print advertising, not a bad idea however most reps do not get to see the dealer magazines, plus they are read today and gone tomorrow. Again, how can these companies maintain a daily or weekly presence? For me the answer is simple, go to where the reps are, and where are most reps, well the 20% of the best reps are researching and gaining knowledge through the Internet.

The best reps are doing research before 9:00am and after 5:00pm, whether working from the office or working at home. Ours is not a 9-5 job and we know it!

Advertising on the P4PHotel http://www.p4photel.com/ is a great way to stay in front of 1,500 reps every hour of the day and week. Brand awareness is key along with having the reps see your solution every day. The P4P Hotel averages 100,000 hits per month and has an average of 100 reps a day visiting the site. Take it from someone who knows if I see your ad on a daily basis, you'll be getting a call from me sometime in the near future.

Can SeriPrinters Revitalize Digital Duplicators?

Hear yee, Here yee, "duplicators are dead". With cpc's eroding lower and lower, and the onset of hi-speed cheap ink printers will digital duplicators go the way of the horse and buggy?

Mike Scott (Business Development and Marketing Executive) of DRYPrint http://www.dryprint.com/ tends to think that SeriPrinters may move Digital Duplicators to a niche market for production printing!

Recently, I had the chance to speak to Mike in reference to SeriPrinters, the serprinter actually attaches to the end of a digital duplicator and performs a basic function that drys the ink from a digital duplicator (using UV light) . The Seri also requires dedicated ink, or Seri UV ink, nice thing about the dedicated ink is that it can only be purchased from DRYPrint, therefor Seri Dealers have a captive ink market and a great revenue stream for years and years. But, the key to the Seri is that it will let a duplicator print onto virtually any stock! I've personally sold two units where the client needed to print lot numbers onto a gloss stock that had a varnish. They tried many laser printers and all failed, the printers could not handle the stock and the varnish caused premature failure of the fuser units. In came the Seri, and a Ricoh Duplicator and all of the problems were solved, the system was laying down black lot numbers on 120lb stock on top of a varnish finish! The customer was happy and that made me happy.

Mike states that there are many vertical markets for the Seri such as Associations, Colleges, Universities, Non-Profit Groups, Pharmacuetical, Print Shops along with Production Print Houses (in Plant Print Shops).

So, what else is Seri up to, well another model is the Seri25VDP, the VDP is for Variable Data Printing. Connecting is a snap with the built in Ethernet. Seri incorporated an ink print engine to lay down the variable data once at the end of the print cycle. The process runs smooth and adding VDP at 120 pages a minute is exactly what Associations, College and Universities need. Not only can you add a text but you can also print and image along with multiple lines of text and in different colors. As of right now Seri offers Black, Red, Reflex Blue and Green. Plus, get this the Seri even print postage prepaid on envelopes!

As Mike and I were talking, it seemed to me that reps who take on the product need to sell the Features, Advantages and Benefits of the SeriPrinter, there is no need to talk about the Duplicator, sell the SERI and the Duplicator will follow. Cool, similar to Solution Sales, sell the solution and the hardware will follow.

With the eroding GP's and lower Gross Margins, Solution Guru and Print Gurus should give the SeriPrinter serious consideration in their solution selling process. No competition, great margins and a protected ink revenue stream that will last many years.

So, when you think about the next solution think about where a Seri may fit in, think about the solution and think about the locking out the competition. Take a trip to http://www.dryprint.com/ and see what they've got going on!

E-Copy 9.0 "What Are You Waiting For"?

Selling MFP's is a competitive business and it seems to be getting tougher every day..... for the reps who are only selling boxes or just upgrading existing clients! If can't separate yourself from the competition, your sales will and probably are in a downward spiral!

Let me tell you a quick story, we have five reps at our place. we represent Ricoh, Oki and Muratec. The guy with the least experience is 8 years in the business and then ten years and then the other three with over twenty years in the business. We have been an ecopy dealer for the last two years, at the end of the meeting I posed a question to all of the reps and then asked this one question. "What does ecopy desktop software do"? His response, "it scans...." I stopped him right there and told him he was wrong. I then made the statement that if we as reps can't start selling simple fantastic solutions, then you will be going the way of the Edsel!

E-Copy Desktop 9.0 Desktop software (Desktop Printer) is a great solution for merging electronic files from MS Word, Excel or other Windows applications along with scanned files to create a single document! You can move pages from any application to any position in the document. You can then email, LAN fax or print the document in the correct collated order. No more printing from multiple applications and then hand collated and then bring them to the copier. If you do not think that this has value in the office, YOU ARE MISTAKEN! Productivity in the office is probably in the top three when it comes to cost efficiency.

As a solutions guru, you need to bundle a 5 user license with every mfp, and stop talking about speeds and feeds and start talking about increasing productivity in the office! Start the talk track off with the software first, tell them the FAB (Features Advantage and Benefits) of E-Copy first. By doing this you will separate yourself from your competitor.

Here's another great thing about e-copy and my clients agree with me about this. The last time you created a document, think about how many different applications you used, MS Word, Excel, PDF's and maybe a scanned image or two? Ok, now you have printed all of you pages, hand collated them and then walked them to the copier for additional sets or you just needed one and did not make a copy. Tell me, what happens when you need to recreate that document in the future, arg!, you'll have to remember the file name from each application and then start the whole process over again. When you're using e-copy it can save the whole document as a pdf and can be saved in one folder! This is a great time saving for the average office user!

While in offices, I have found that a great number if SMB accounts do not have the full version of Adobe, at $400-$500 per license it is expensive. So, most of them are creating documents that way that I outlined.

Tip: Sell the solution and not the box, ecopy also has many other features which I enjoy. You can download a free 45 day evaluation here http://www.ecopy.com/eval/Products_eCopy_Desktop_Evaluation.aspx

Samsung 6345N Review from the Street!

Its been about six months since the Samsung 6345N was introduced and about 4 months or so since it has been on the street. For those of you who do not know the 6345N is a 45ppm MFP that can scan, print copy & fax (optional) all for a retail price of $2,995. The system can take an optional fax module along with a finisher/stapler and upto three additional 550 sheet paper trays.I have sold six of these units since they came out and have captured about 50,000 pages per month for all of the devices.

Here's what I like about the 6345N:

• Auto Doc Feeder is fast and copy and print speed is as advertised!


• Large 550 sheet paper trays for letter or legal.


• MSRP


• Duplex Print Speed


• Footprint


• Color Scanning
  


• Document Server


• Simple Easy to Navigate Touch Screen


• Easy Print Driver Navigation


• Fax Forward to Email as PDF


• Print Quality (Awesome)All in all well built, easy to use and will serve the needs well of illiterate MFP users. Not many bells and whistles, just down and dirty simple functionality.

Here goes what I don't like:

• Can't receive letter and legal faxes, everything must go to letter or legal.


• Accounting Package will not work, Samsung has stated that they are aware of the flaw and are developing a firmware upgrade.


• Every time you replace or add paper you have to confirm the paper size.


• Touch Screen seems like its not calibrated correctly and you have to select functions on most occasions more than once.


• Halftone copy quality is horrible from a printer document, no adjustments seem to work well.


• Extremely hard to make scan2email connections.Advanced Copy functionality such as duplex, collate, mixed sizes can not be selected until original documents have been loaded in the document feeder.

Summary:

For the price there is alot of bang for the buck for the print, and copy speed. Illiterate MFP users will like this machine and it will perform fine up to 10,000 pages per month. Vertical Markets are Realty, Mortgage, Title and Attorneys if they need to receive both letter and legal faxes you need to talk them into faxforward2email, this will work well and eliminate the problem of not being able to receive and print letter and legal at the same time.

Were I would not sell this machine, is to advanced MFP users that are used to all of the functionality and ease of use of our current machines, if you do place one of these with advanced users, I guarantee you'll be removing it with in a weeks time!

Bringing me to the final point, I believe that these types of units from Samsung, HP, Xerox (relabeled Samsung) and Muratec (relabeled Samsung) are needed and their should be more of them. There is no need for an 11x17 foot print for the vertical markets that I described. Ricoh, and Canon need to step up to plate and give the customers what they need and want. It's said that 77% of all MFP users do not need 11x17.

One other note, for the price these systems allowed me to place units and beat the competition badly. I heard that a few reps stated they did not no anything about the unit, another rep stated that they only make phones. Bottom line was that in a competitive deal this system can capture your TDV each an every time.

If anyone else has anything to add, please do so!