Selling Copiers & MFPs "1 Awesome Way to Increase Profit through Knowledge"

What happens when you have no one to turn to about a specific solution on a piece of hardware? You know what I'm talking about, there always seems to a question or two that you know the exact spec or the workflow involved.

I'll give you a scenario, you were at the customers office and had a great meeting, however some additional questions came out of left field about an "xyz" solution.  You could tell the client was hot on this and if your system had the capability you would have a better chance to demo the solution, propose the solution and close the sale. To add fuel the fire the client wants the answer asap since they are making the decision within the next 24-48 hours.  Typically you'll call your manager, or someone within your organization first, and it's not uncommon that they won't be available (seems to happen all to often) or do not have the answer.  You'll then try the manufacturers dealer or direct channel rep, most times it can be a hot and miss here also especially with the recent reductions in staffing. Plus what happens when you need the answer the next day coming off a late afternoon appointment?

My golden rule is the more knowledge you have the better you chance to close additional sales and increase profit from your knowledge with hardware and solutions.

Let's face it, there are not that many guru's (docusultants) in the copier and MFP business.  These are the guys and gals that eat, sleep and breath the industry.  You could also refer to them as the "geeks" of imaging.

Back in 2003 I created a loose knit group of copier people within MSN communities,  probably eight or nine of us to start, and we grew and grew.  Today sees the Print4Pay Hotel forums as the only forum of it's kind that allows copier & mfp people to share information, discuss hardware, software solutions, comp plans, new products, price quotes, leads, new trends, new solutions along with daily threads on new products in a secure closed forum. There's a  "core" of copier and MFP guru's that help each other, with no strings attached.  There's also a handful of solution manufacturers that monitor the site and provide support through the forums.  The best part about the forums is that they are FREE. The Print4Pay Hotel has over 3,000 followers in the industry.

So, the one awesome tip is to click this link Register for the Print4Pay Hotel forums and get timely information on products and solutions that will help you add value, add profit and close sales.  Here's another link for our testimonial page. Enjoy and have an awesome New Year!

-=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=-

Xerox FREE High Volume Copiers

This is an ongoing topic on the Print4Pay Hotel forums.  I thought I would share some of the threads that were posted by Print4Pay Hotel members.

Me: Dig this. I followed up today with a small print shop here in NJ today, towards the month end for me and this print shop had been in the market for a color printer, however my price was not right for him a few months ago.


Anyway, I'm on the phone with him (he's a good guy and wouldn't bs me), he tells me that he signed and agreement from Xerox for a refurbished 120ppm digital copier and a 25ppm color system with NO Base charges and NO minimums for monthly click charges, along with that he stated the cost per page charge is right in line with new systems!

He has to keep the machine for a minimum of 3 years and if he decides to get rid of the system there is a $500 charge to remove.

To say the least I was shocked and to tell the truth the customer is too! He said he checked the paperwork and all looked well, I asked that he check it again and read all of the fine print because this just seems to good to be true. In addition he stated that one of his other printer buddies did the same deal in NJ. He also stated that he has to wait 4-8 weeks to get the systems.
Has anyone else seen or heard of this in other parts of the country????

Reply from Printfun:

This is legit. It is only open to current non-users. It is as advertised, there really aren't any "catches". The goal is to introduce non-users to Xerox production color machines, allowing smaller print for pay customers to get into the game afford ably.

Reply from Chuck:

Think about it - Xerox places a NEW device in a P4P or School location and picks up perfectly good (these are NOT fast plastic as they call 'em) 120 ppm device and rather than warehouse them they're placed in a NET NEW location generating half the revenue they were getting AND they've got a NET NEW color printer. It's all about the clicks and the aftermarket. In three years (or perhaps much sooner) there's another "great offer" and . . .

This topic has topped a couple of hundred page views over the last week and there are an additional 9 threads from other Print4Pay Hotel members.

Click here to become a member of the largest social group of copier professionals in the world!!

-=Good Selling=-

Selling Copiers "Ask Art" Digital Duplicators Not Dead Yet!

I had this email from someone who read one of my posts on Print Planet.  Thought I would share this and also comment on the HQ9000.  Enjoy!

Good afternoon,



I have reviewed your comments on Print Planet and searched the reviews and am very interested in the unit. I am a single operator print shop. My son was operating my offset presses and now has moved onto a better paying job with better benefits. My husband, who founded our company, has many health issues and is not able to back up on the presses. Since I do not have a full time position for a press operator, I am at a real handicap and am looking for something more efficient and cost effective. My concern is the quality of print for text and screens (grayscales) in comparison to the offset press. We run about 15-20% 2-Color work and the rest as black only. We do a lot of Letter, Legal, Tabloid and NCR as well as a lot of envelopes with stock consisting of 20# Bond, 24# Bond, 60#, 70#, & 80# offset, carbonless, and 24# Envelopes from A-2 to #12. On the 2-color is the registration pretty accurate as well as the registration on 2-sided card stock (110# Index)?


I will do more research on your product.


If there is anything else you can offer me for advice and direction, it will be greatly appreciated. I now run (2) Ricoh printers. I have the AP3850C (about 8 years now) and recently purchased the Ricoh CL3500N. The AP3850C is having some color quality issues plus does not have the speed for smaller run booklets of 8-1/2 x 11 size. I was presently looking at the Xerox 7655 but was very concerned about the cost and consumables and efficiency so looking at other options. I am looking to have something in place within the next 2 weeks. We do have the Mac G3 (with OS 9.2) and a Mac G4 (with OS 10) as well as standard Windows XP and believe it or not the Win98.


I do look forward to hearing from you.


Thanks for your time and consideration!
 
My Response
 
As long as you have the PSIII print option you'll be able to control the dot size for the halftones. Everything else including envelopes and NCR should run very well!


There is a two color option called the TCII, that system will run two colors in one pass and will give adequate registration for printing in two colors.

I've had print shops run up to 12 point stock in the system with no issues. Keep in mind that this system has a press roller similar to a printing press. The only maintenance required on the unit is a feed roller to be replaced every 250k or so. I recommend the HQ9000 since it is 600 dpi and the HQ7000 is only 400dpi.

The cost of the consumables is very inexpensive, based on runs of 500 or more expect to spend .002 for black ink and then the cost of the master (plate), which I think is under $1.00. There's no heat, no pressure, to fix the image thus there are no consumables other than the ink and the master (plate), the image cylinder (drum) is designed for 1 million impressions and will cost around $1,200 to replaced or $600 or so to refurbish with a new screen.

You can't run coated stock, the ink just can't set up on that that of stock. Otherwise you can run almost anything and everything through the unit. As far as a maintenance agreement on the system, that's up to you, my recommendation is to take the 90 days parts & labor and see how the system runs. Odds are you'll see that one is not needed.

Each color requires a dedicated image cylinder (drum), one black comes with the system and most of my printers have a total of three on hand, reflex blue, red and black. You can get other colors but you'll need another drum for each one. Ink has a shelf life of about one year also.

Basically, you and I have the most concerning eye when it comes to quality of prints, the HQ9000 does an excellent job, it's not offset, however it's pretty darn close and your client will not be able to tell the difference in probably 85% of the media that you print.

You can't go wrong the system is easy to use, easy to maintain and does not require much service except for a cleaning every now and then.

-=Good Selling=-

PS  Digital Duplicators are a great fit for a print shop, especially since Pressman are getting harder to find.  I placed a call to a print shop the other day and they asked me if I knew of any pressman that could come in and run a job for them.  I offered up a trial on the duplicator, they passed, I guess they were afraid that they may buy something that could really help them out, save them countless hours and get jobs out quicker instead of finding a fly by night pressman!