A Unique MFP Proposal with the Help of Ben Franklin

Some of us do ROI presentations and some of us don't. For those who don't you're missing opportunities! Do not leave any stone unturned when consulting on current costs for the total cost of operation

Recently, I had the opportunity to quote for two MFP's in two workgroups. First thing I noticed is that every desk had a laser printer on it. Below is a run down of the two work groups:

Workgroup #1 (6 people)

• 6 laser printers


• 1 fax


• 1 large copier (MFP) however it was not connected

Workgroup #2 (8 people)

• 8 laser printers


• 2 fax (one for inbound and one for outbound)


• 1 large copier (MFP) this also was not connected

I did my usual routine, gathered config sheets from every printer, got the meter reads from the copiers and printer along with the reports from the faxes for inbound an outbound pages. Once I gathered all of the information, I went back to office and looked up the cost per page for each device and put together a ROI spreadsheet for the customer.

As per usual, I indicated that the desktops printers and fax machines should be

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!

Why Sell Copier and Managed Print Solutions by the Penny

I'm going to borrow something from This Week in Imaging and Scott Cullen.  Scott reported that while having breakfast with at the Kyocera Dealer Meeting that a Dealer stated that “the truth is 80 percent of the people out there don’t need solutions.”

Mind you I have no clue who the dealer is or if they are a Kyocera Dealer only or have multiple lines, however the statement that "the truth is 80% of the people (think he meant customers) don't need solutions." is just plain wrong! I'm thinking maybe that Dealer Owner (if it was a dealer owner) doesn't go out much in the field anymore and is listening to reps who don't want to sell solutions or just don't understand the solutions that they have.

I'll admit getting the customer to commit to buying, installing, implementing and training on any of the solutions (Equitrac, Ecopy, NSI Autostore, UDOCX, Global Scan, Digi Docflow) is a tall task. I speak about solutions all of the time for every appointment, I'm finding interest, and in some cases I can sell the solution but have had to back down because "we didn't feel comfortable supporting the solution." What I find in the field is at least 50%-60% would like to have the solutions that we offer. The stumbling blocks that I run across are many and I'll list a few from my point of view and from other Print4Pay Hotel members that I've spoken to or communicated with through the Print4Pay Hotel forums.

• Upfront cost of the solution
• The Cost of  the Implementation of Solution (time in the customers eyes)
• Training (what happens when the person or people I have trained leave, retire or are replaced)
• Maintenance/Upgrades (who's going to monitor or keep track of the maintenance costs and upgrade when needed and will I need additional training for an upgrade)
• Change the Process (we're to thin with staff already and to change the process would be a burden on productivity)
• Support (Who do I call, are you/they proactive, can I get them on the phone asap)
• What Solutions Can We Support (this is from the dealers perspective, do I have the personnel that is capable of doing this right, or will we dabble and flounder)

Wide Format ROI Spreadsheet

For all you guys and gals out there sell Ricoh, Xerox, Oce, KIP, KonicaMinolta, Toshiba, GEI, Seiko or Kyocera wide formats (Funny most of these are KIPS). I've developed a wide format ROI spreadsheet for replacing inkjet plotters. All you have to do is the research on how many rolls of paper is being used per month, how many scans are outsourced, outsourced prints or copies, and the cost of the ink for the plotter.

In order to get the spreadsheet you need to register for one of the Print4Pay Message Boards. Once I approve the registration I will send your Wide Format ROI Spreadsheet!

Trust me it's easier to show the customer the savings based on thier usage, and the spreadsheet makes it a no brained as long as they have the volume on the inkjet printer!

-=Good Selling=-