Copier Stream of Payments Calculator

Over time I became pretty adept at calculating how many payments were left when I needed to trade up a competitors copy machine/MFP's that were leased.  Problem is I would scribble the start date, today's date, and then figure out how many payments the has made to date.  I also then had to calculate the monthly payment times the remaining stream of payments, and then add a return fee.

After years of making a mistake every now and then I moved to calculating the remaining payments in my pricing worksheet (which is a document that can be downloaded on the Print 4Pay Hotel forums).  All was well and good, but I was still having issues with the start date, today's date, when we delivered new equipment. Plain and simple is was a cluster$%^#.

The other day, I decided to do something about it.  I developed my own "Copier Stream of Payments Calculator.  All you need to do is input the start date, today's date and the amount of the monthly payment and the rest if the information is calculated for you with the remaining number of payments, and the total for the remaining stream of payments and return fees.

Usually this file is reserved for Premium Print4Pay Hotel members, however if you register here and include a note in the BIO field stating "send me the Copier Stream of Payments Calculator", I will email that to you for free.  I showed it to a few reps already and all have stated it's a real time saver and awesome to use in the field.

-=Good Selling=-

Death of "The 60 Month Copier/MFP Lease"

As we still struggle to keep margins on equipment, maybe we need to become better advocates of presenting shorter terms for leasing equipment.  Since I've been tracking all of my sales for purchase and leases, 92% of them involve leasing the equipment with a third party leasing provider.  Of that 92%, 89% percent of the leases I've written is for 60 months.  I would tend to think that give or take a few percent this would be applicable most of us.

60 months or 5 years is a long time, right?  Dang, I'm tired of my cell phone after two years and my car in about three. Technology changes so quickly nowadays that I want the latest and greatest new car features whether it's better gas mileage, more comfort, or new technology. The same is true of my cell phone, after only two years I would like to step up to new technology that may enhance my life style of make me more productive.  Wouldn't our customers want the latest technology with their copiers and MFP's also?

Why are we not quoting selling more 24 or 36 month leases?  

Look at it this way, if you put a customer into a 60 month lease, you'll have to wait at least four years until you or the customer has an upgrade path and 54 months would be the prime time to upgrade.  Even at 4 years the upgrade path may not be the rosey of a picture for your customer.  Putting your customer into a 36 month lease means that the upgrade path is now reduced to two years and 30 months would be the prime time to upgrade.

A lot can happen when you have to wait

Top Ten Copier Proposals for December 2012

Alarming it's all I can say about a recent price/proposal I saw from a Kyocera Dealer that was quoting a penny per page for full color!  As I stated in a recent email to Print4Pay Hotel members if you're not aware of this new pricing strategy, well...then you're going to lose every deal!  Take a gander at these recent proposals from Kyocera and you'll see what I mean!

Each month on the Print4Pay Hotel forums we'll upload "Pricing on the Street" quotes, these quotes are certified as accurate since the pricing information is emailed to us from other Print4Pay Hotel members in the field.

We'll also receive and upload quotes and proposals from other Print4Pay Hotel members and these quotes will be "the proposal or quote" that was emailed to the end user.

Each month I'll list those proposals/quotes and "Pricing on the Street" here with the associated links.  You need to be a Premium Member in order to download the documents.  So without further ado here's the top quotes from Decemner 2012.  Enjoy!

• "Pricing on the Street" for Kyocera TASKalfa 3050ci
• "Pricing on the Street" for Kyocera TASKalfa 4550ci Color & Kyocera TASKalpha 4550
• "Pricing on the Street" for Kyocera TASKalfa 4550ci
• "Pricing on the Street" for Kyocera TASKalfa 3500i
• "Pricing on the Street" for kyocera taskalpha 3500i v2
• "Pricing on the Street" for toshiba e-studio 4540C
• Sharp MX-B402SC
• "Pricing on the Street" for ricoh mpc2051sp
• "Pricing on the Street" for ricoh mp4002sp
• "Pricing on the Street" for ricoh mp301pf

-=Good Selling=-

7 Cold Calling Tips for Managed Print Services

Some of us like it and most of us of don’t like it. It’s the COLD CALL.

I like to call it GOLD CALLING!  It's usually the day from hell or the day to have find some GOLDEN accounts. If you've been doing it as long as I have, you've had success and have found some of your best accounts this way!

I must say the most daunting task is to open a door where you can’t see what is on the other side, will there be rejection or jubilation! Most times it will be rejection. Get use to it, its part of the job and comes with the territory. Attitude, Attitude and more tude will help you overcome the rejection and plow ahead. You always must keep in mind that you are there to give them a better solution or a better way of doing things, and if they are not interested then that’s their loss!

What, I hate most is a NO SOLICITING sign on the door. I think it’s rude and vulgar, every single one of these companies sell something to someone. Full speed ahead right? You may want to think twice about this and send the owner or CEO a fedex letter or package. That will get their attention.
Here are a few tips to get you going.

Tip: If someone won't provide you with a business card, get out your phone and take a picture of the company name on the business directory.

Make Quality Cold Calls

Make a plan to visit those companies you'd like to do business with. Before you’re on your merry way, do some research on those companies via the Internet. Find out the name of the CEO, CFO or the principal, find out what they do and who they do business with. When you're in the office, ask for help. “Can you help me? I like to know who is the person who takes care of your managing your documents”, then ask for additional help such as “When I speak to him or her, can you help with some additional information so I can be prepared when we speak” Your main objective is to get the “right” name and you also may want to ask what the best time to contact that person is.

Send Literature

As soon as you get back to the office, send an opening letter and some literature. Be specific when you are going to call that person such as naming the date and the time of the phone call. Get more attention by ending the letter next day air, it may cost a little however for the right account it may well open the door!

Follow up call

Remember that date and time that you gave them for the follow up call. Use it to your advantage and stage your call at the precise time you said you would. Even if you don’t get through, the message will leave a big impression that you followed up when you said you would.

Create Interest in the first 5 seconds

Hello Mr. or Mrs. Smith. Our company specializes in the cost reduction with managing the printed page. Most companies do not know how much document printing is costing them. We'd like to present a cost free analysis of your existing costs and make recommendations for improvement if needed.

ABC (Always Be Cold Calling)

Over the years I have found Cold Calling to be the best way to find new business. Try some vertical market cold calling next time. For instance let’s say you want to focus on the Managed Print Services. Do the research on the Internet in your territory and pick out ten firms that you think would need your services. Vertical Market Cold Calls are awesome, the more you do, the more you’ll become proficient in their needs and applications.

Tip: Ask the receptionist for help, state that you're new and your objective is to just get the name of the correct contact person. Always as for help!


-=Good Selling=-

Managing Print Costs for Wide Format Ink Plotters

Over the weekend I took the time to finish one of my spreadsheets that enables us (Print4Pay Hotel members) to identify the cost per square foot for HP inkjet plotters.  Let me tell you this was no easy task.  Why in the world is there no information from HP that states how many mililiters of black ink is used to print one square foot for a CAD drawing?  Every time I searched the HP web site for additional information about cost per page for Designjet plotters I was stymied by a notice that stated there was no information.

I was able to find a few documents that related to color use, but nothing related to CAD drawings.  Each HP plotter cartridge tells us how much ink is in the cartridge, but you'll never use all of the ink due to evaporation, ink head cleaning/purging and some residual ink left in the cartridge.  For example one cartridge has 69ml (mililiters) of ink.  Thus I was curious as to how much ink is a mililiter.   A mililiter measure to be one thousandth of a liter.  I know liters because that's because most of the soda bottles are now measured in liters, but how about a mililiter?  Is that less than a shot glass, more than a tablespoon? I found this handy document that tells us 1ml is also equal to 1cc, 2.5 ml is equal to a half of teaspoon, 5ml is a teaspoon, and 30ml equal two tablespoons or 1 fluid ounce.  Ok, I get it so the HP cartridge that hold 69 mililiters of ink is equal to a little more than 2 ounces.  Since the cartridge resells for $69, the price per mililiter is $1.00.

As I stated the key was to

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.