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:

1,000 Ways to Increase MFP Sales

Really, did I say 1,000 Ways to Increase MFP Sales.  Yup indeed I did.  Over at the Print4Pay Hotel forums there are over 100,000 threads related to MFP's from the top sales people in the world.  The Print4Pay Hotel forum was founded back in 2002 and to date we have over 2,300 registered members from around the world!

Now, I didn't say that I had them categorized in a list, however if I did, I'd be getting BIG BUCKS for them. The idea of the forums is for sales people to share information that will help them close additional sales. Let's face it, I've been a down the street rep for 31 years and I still don't have all the answers and even though I work for a large dealer we still don't have all of the answers alss.  However, on the Print4Pay Hotel forums there are expert reps that are willing to help and share information with others.  Let's say that I need  help with a fiery question, I know that I'm not an expert and there are very few resources I can turn to from the dealership that I work for. Realistically some of the answers you get back from the manufacturers don't make a bit of sense either.  This is when I turn to the forums to post the question or questions and in turn can get the responses I'm looking for or get some real world advise as to what will work, will not work or someone else has found a creative workaround!

So, I'm gonna list a few of them here and I urge you to follow this link to be a Print4Pay Hotel member, btw, it's FREE, no charge, nada, all we ask is that you register with correct info and none of the BS info like Mickey Mouse, or 908.555.1211 for a bs phone number. I personally approve every member to make sure we have people in the industry on the forums and not end users. On to....1,000 Ways to Increase MFP Sales!

1. You gotta give it time and stay in the industry for more than three years, this will allow you to upgrade existing accounts.

2. You gotta make at least 100-200 touches per week. A touch can be anything from an email, a phone call, a drop in, or a meeting, the sales will come believe me!

3. You gotta eat, sleep and breath the industry! It will show when you meet with clients and discuss hardware or software solutions.

4. Be creative, think out of the box for hardware and software solutions, just because the customer wants a (5) 45 ppm systems does not mean those are the right systems.

5. Eat, sleep and breath ROI, nothin is finer that being able to save a customer money and be able to place hardware and software solutions without increasing their costs (matter of fact we have ROI spread sheets posted on the forums).

6. Stop with the 60 month leases!! Sell the shorter term and SELL the finance savings, proposing 36 month leases will have you back in the door in the 30 months instead of 44 months!

7.  How about this one, the customer does not want to lease for 36 months, wanted to buy, however they don't have the funds to BUY now! Well suggest a bakers dozen lease (more on this in the forums)

8. - 1,000 That's all I'm gonna give you here, go to the forums get registered, log in and I'm sure you'll find at least 1,000 Ways to Increase MFP Sales.

Print4Pay Hotel Registration

-=Good Selling=-

I Want My....I Want My..... SMART MFP

MTV, the Eighties, what a special place in time for some of us!  So, where am I going with this??  Not really sure yet, however I wanted to give end users a little more insight on today's MFP's (Multifunctional Products/Printers).

Years ago we called them copy machines,  of course they were used to make copies, about ten to twelve years ago we saw the transformation of copy machines (analog) to digital copiers.  The only difference was that the manufacturers had the technology to convert the scanned page to a digital format and then use a laser beam to write the image to the photo conductor (drum).  The old copiers (analog) that were unreliable, service intensive and the butt of office jokes was transformed into reliable hi speed copiers that could scan and print from the network. 

So, a few years back, digital copiers took another leap forward with the ability to add software cards (Java) that would allow the digital copiers to become work flow and information hubs in the office.  This next generation is what I call a SMART MFP, pretty much they are designed to work with software that will enhance productivity and increase efficiencies in the office. 

Today's SMART MFP's will allow users to scan documents as scan2word, scan2excel, scan2ftp, scan2url, scan2sharepoint, scan2folder, scan2drive and process them as search able pdf's, editable pdfs, index, and OCR and that's just the tip of the iceberg.  I could probably bore you to tears with all of the applications that are available today.

What I see in the field is that most end users still treat the MFP as a commodity, clients looking to buy on price instead of buying on savings . Let me elaborate on the savings, the savings would come from saving countless hours of handling and managing a paper based work flow. If you can cut 10-20 hours a month of labor, that's a big savings. How about if you could cut 5 hours of labor per month per employee?  It can be done with today's SMART MFPs.

If I were an end user I'd want my MFP to process all of those mundane tasks related with the handling of paper. I'd also want my MFP to tell me who is printing what (files) and how many along with having restrictions of what files they can and can't print. If I were using forms, I'd like to be able to have my MFP print onto  NCR paper and auto staple these forms so I don't have to buy them from a print shop.  While I'm at it, why can't I have a virtual (cloud) fax numbers for all of my employees do they can send and received faxes from the PC's without wasting time going to and from the MFP. 

Good news is that everything I mentioned above can be done with SMART MFP's.

-=Good Selling=

Baseball, Sales & MFP's "What Do We Have in Common"?

Right, nine days later my Summer College baseball team on a 5 game winning streak, so what started at 0-6 went to 5-6. However in game 12, found us down 1-0 after 7 innings.   In the top of the 8th we busted out for three runs and took the lead 3-1.  I stayed put with my pitcher because he was getting ground balls and we were making the plays.  The the other team gets a hit, a walk, and we then proceed to make three errors in a row and allow them to tie the game. Our record is now 5-7, guess you figured out how that one ended up.

Errors are a part of the game and no team or player is perfect, it they where there would be no sense in the playing the game, right?

So, this is all to true with sales, everything is going along smooth until, oops, what the heck just happened?  Sales errors can come from talking too much, not listening enough, not knowing your product, publishing the wrong price on a proposal,  or you erred in a certain speed or feature or just trying to bs your way out of a direct question.

The nice thing about errors is that in most cases you can make up for them as long as you're upfront with your customer. Hey, it's a mistake and mistakes are made. You won't see me yelling at my guys during the game for making errors.  But, I will talk to them at the end of the game and tell them that the error was due to a mental mistake, maybe it was not enough concentration, not knowing what the speed the runners have, and not knowing the situation can all lead to mistakes on and off the field.

Over the years, and especially the last couple of years I find my self double and triple checking features, speeds, options, what an MFP can and can't do and also what can and can't be done with the embedded software or third party solutions.  I'm doing my home work and making sure that when we're ready to move forward with an order or a presentation that I won't make the error that could cost us the sale or the game.

The saying is that the game of baseball is 20% skills and 80% mental, dumb ass you gotta think when you're on the field. How true with sales, you gotta think, plan ahead, have what if scenarios.  When you're at the top of your game, it's smooth sailing ahead, when you're making mistakes or making the errors it's a long game or a very rough sales cycle.

So, after all my years I find myself spending more time dotting the i's, crossing the t's to make sure I'm not gonna screw it up in the ninth.  Still, every now and then I find a way to screw something up!!!

BTW, here's neat stuff I never know about "Take Me Out To the Ball Game".

Hope you enjoyed this!

-=Good Selling=-

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 Solutions

Times could not be better for reps that are in tune with technology solutions.  "How can you improve my work flow or efficiencies? is NOT a question we hear from our clients in the field.  Most Copier/MFP reps are selling boxes, selling price and are on gross revenue plans. 

There are many opportunities with third party providers to improve your customers work flow with paper and make then more efficient.  Over the years I've found that if I can offer a solution that enables a company to increase their efficiencies then most likely I'm going to be at the top of the pack when a decision is going to be made.  In most cases I'm the only one with this type of offering and that pretty much secures the order.  Selling a copier is not about speeds and feeds but more about how was document created, who created it, what happens with the document after it's been created, who else handles this documents are just a few of the probing questions.

Solutions that I like to focus on are ones that will have an immediate impact on ROI (return on investment).  I like Fenestrae UDOCX Cloud solution because if I find a user that is using MS share point we can give them a cloud based serverless solution for scanning. Now, not everyone is using sharepoint however UDOCX also has a cloud fax solution.  This is big.....no fax modem is needed in the MFP, plus you can have multiple cloud fax numbers.  This gives me the opportunity to know out the competition and also allows me to offer multiple cloud fax numbers at a low cost.

Another is Stethos,  I recently came across this solution that will enable customers to print their own forms on NCR paper. Basically the software will manipulate the print stream and allow for the printer to pull un collated NCR paper from each paper draw and then staple!  This is big too.....a basic two part pre printed form can cost as much as 25 cents each, do the math it's a home run and you can offer an immediate ROI to the customer.

Speaking about solutions brings me to Ricoh's new equill tablet, not to be confused with all of the other tablets on the market today. Ricoh's equill is designed to improve work flow and is basically replacing paper on the tablet.  Great for sales orders, insurance docs, medical forms, service tickets and much more.  This should be an awesome talk topic when in any account!

It's late I'm done, hope this helps!!

-=Good Selling=-

Weekend Copier & Multifunctional Print4Pay Hotel Notes

Well.......I've been busy!!! Memorial Day kicks off my Summer Collegiate Baseball Season and I'm sorry to tell everyone we dropped both ends of the DH!!  Argggghh!  The first we dropped 3-1 and the 2nd game 9-6, and dam we were down in the second game 7-1  going into the 7th inning.  The guys could have quit however they didn't and I was impressed with one pitcher who pitched with a "tude" and brushed back a hitter who thought he owned the plate! It's a long season and we'll see how we do. 

So for all our Print4Pay Hotel Members and Members to be, here's some links of our latest and greatest threads.

Recent Document Uploads:
A Message to CFO's (Another Letter)
Are you aware of your printing environment?
Synopsis of business case for businesses
A Predator’s Guide to Selling

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

Leads, RFP's RFQ's:
50 plus Copier Bid in California
32 MFPs up for Grabs in Southeast USA
13 plus MFP's in Mid Atlantic State USA
Color Copier RFP in Louisana
Lease of Production Copier in Mid West USA

Many more of these also!!!

Recent Interesting Threads from P4P'ers:
Rumor has it.....
MPS And Profit
question on powerline adapter
Fax Machines, let's have some fun!
KGB returns broken copier to United Civic Party's activists in Homyel

MFP Cloud Threads:
Print email from the cloud (Video)
Generic advantages and differences of UDOCX vs.in house installs
Toshiba Canada launches new Colour Line

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"

Ricoh Convergence "A Smash Hit"

It's late, just got back from the Ricoh party event at Universal in Orlando and to date everything has been awesome!  No one, has an event like Ricoh and that's not coming from me it comes from the dealer community!

From the Monday night reception, then the opening ceremony, the seminars, the tech expo and the night at Universal all is well in Ricoh land.

I got a chance to keep catch up many many P4P'ers, make some new friends and enjoy the comradery of others in the copier industry.  It was one big happy family!

I must say that Ricoh's commitment to the channel and the products that are coming in the future will keep Ricoh atop of the MFP industry and a major commitment to MDS will enable us to retain existing customer and attract new customers. 

It's late, I'll be posting more on the P4P forums, Youtube  in the near future.  BTW the way, the highlight of the night was Yoshi singing a Bon Jovi song. I thought I captured the whole video, however when I checked I only had the first 30 seconds, dam memory. If anyone has it please upload or send me a link, it was awesome!!

-=Good Selling=-

Pennies from Ricoh

Thirty Two years in the down the street sales of copiers will teach you a few things along the way.  I tend to think that I've become an expert in many areas, not only am I an expert with copiers but I've also progressed to be an expert (professional) in others things.

Professional Directions Giver:  Where do you need to go in New Jersey?  With all my years behind the wheel who the heck needs map quest or one of those fancy GPS's.  I can get you from point A to point B with all the short cuts and no tolls.  When traveling with the wife there's no need for me to get lost or get off the beaten track because I'm embarrassed to ask for directions!

Professional Cold Caller:  Right, what the bloody hell, are companies going to shoot me or call me nasty names for calling them on the phone or stopping in. Over the years I learned what I need to get from a stop in, how to  track down Mrs. or Mr. Right, and been thrown out of more places than I can remember.  Full speed ahead!

Professed Expert with Ricoh Equipment:  With 13 years of selling the Ricoh product line, I know more than most and generally smarter than the average bear with configurations and what can and can't be done!

Professional Driver:  Over 20,000 miles per year for 32 two years is ..........(need the calculator for this one) for 640,000 miles travel in the beautiful State of New Jersey.  My wife tells me I'm a horrible driver, I tell her that....she needs to mind her own business and let me drive!  If I'm still doing this in 18 years I'll have a million miles under my belt and will be absolutely insane.

Professional Penny Counter:  Tell me, where else can you count pennies or tenths of pennies in your head and give the correct answer for volumes of 600,000 pages at .005 or .008.  Better yet add them up for 5 years and have the correct answer.  I've seen some really weird looks from customers when give them the numbers with out the aid of a calculator!  I'm always telling the wife and others that I'm in the penny business and make over six figures a year!!

Professional Finder of Lavatories:  When you're on the road as much as I am, you always have your fav spots for relief whether inside or outside!

Professional Lie Dectector:  Believe it or not, I can tell when your BS'ing me. I've learned to listen very carefully and can pick apart inconsistencies in your story, and your body language.  So, whether you're a potential client, sales person, or sales manager I know when your feeding me bull.

Just one other note, I named the blog "Pennies from Ricoh" because in the last 13 years of selling Ricoh products have been excellent years, and the popularity of customers who engage in cost per page maintenance agreements, again it's made me and expert in the penny counting business.  Boy, do those pennies add up, especially when you get a 1% overage on a cost per page of .008!

-=Good Selling=-

Scan to the Cloud for eCopy & Salesforce.com

This is Hot!  Finally an ecopy connector for salesforce.com, I'm sure this can be an additional product for all of us to focus us.

Announcing the connector for Salesforce.com for Nuance eCopy Sharescan. Partnering with Nuance a company called 2112 http://www.scan-to-salesforce.com has announced they have released a “connector” for eCopy Sharescan that will allow users to scan documents directly into Salesforce.com accounts using an eCopy enabled MFP or scanner. Batch scan using barcode cover pages will allow users to scan batches of documents that will then be converted to individual PDF files and automatically uploaded to the correct Salesforce account.

Salesforce.com is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with regional headquarters around the world. Salesforce.com has its services translated into 16] different languages and currently has 82,400 customers and over 2,100,000 subscribers. The application runs in the cloud, so the user can access it anywhere through an Internet-enabled mobile device or a connected computer. The Sales Cloud includes a real-time sales collaborative tool called Chatter, provides sales representatives with a complete customer profile and account history, allows the user to manage marketing campaign spending and performance across a variety of channels from a single application, tracks all opportunity-related data including milestones, decision makers, customer communications, and any other information unique to the company's sales process. Other activities can be done on the Salesforce cloud. These include using the Jigsaw business data to access over 20 million complete and current business contacts from right inside Salesforce CRM, and designing and automating any process in Salesforce CRM.

VP Shashi Klamath “We see a great need in the marketplace to scan and store documents directly into Salesforce.com accounts leveraging a company’s existing infrastructure. This simplifies and automates that process saving companies thousands of dollars in paper document storage and labor.”
 
-=Good Selling=-

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=-

MFP's & Cost Per Page Agreements

It's that time of year for me and my apologies!  I've been very busy trying to get my summer Collegiate baseball team ready for opening day.  We open Memorial Day Weekend and then play 30 games in 60 days.

I had an email the other day from a rep that was new to the industry.  I was asked "Can you tell me what information I can read to understand cost per copy to figure contracts for my customers for toner and service. "

The first thought that came to me is that this rep is really new and possibly there is nothing in place from management to help this rep sell. He may be the only rep, and he may be working for a small mom and pop that may be selling other things such as furniture, postage machines, shredders and office supplies.

Cost Per Page and Cost Per Copy, both mean the same.  Usually if a rep states a cost per page or a cost per copy it means that all consumables (toner, developer, drums), parts, labor and maintenance is included for that price.  Cost Per Page for multifunctional copiers (that's what we're gonna call it from here on in) for black pages can be anywhere from .004 (usually reserved for print production) all the way to .03.  Pretty much depends on the speed and volume of the unit. An average cost per page should be somewhere around .0125 for a black page. 

Since color multifunctional copiers are gaining more acceptance most dealers and direct that offer Cost Per Page Contracts have a separate charge for black like .0125 and then a separate cost for color (average color is in the are .075), again Print Production units will have the lowest Cost Per Page and the low volume Multifunctional Copiers will have the highest Cost Per Page. 

Most Dealers and Direct Branches will make you commit to an annual volume for the pages, and then bill monthly or quarterly.  The billing could be in arrears or in advance.  Overage charges apply when you've made more than your contracting volume for any month, quarter or year.

Lately, there's seems to be a growing trend to incorporate the copier lease and the Cost Per Page on the lease agreement.  What that means is that you have two charges from the leasing company one for the basic lease of the copier and then the Cost Per Page Agreement.  I'm kinda wishy washy about this, in one hand this type of agreement protects my customers from upgrades and  on the other hand my customer is contracting for all of the pages to be copied or printed upfront (there's no way of getting out of it), and then are automatic increases for the Cost Per Page built in every year.

One other side note for the newbie is that most manufactures have a wholesale Cost Per Page "fact" sheet, this information details the yields of the consumables, yield of certain parts and the estimated "meantime before failure" with that they then associate an average labor charge.  In essence the manufacturer is going you a delta at your cost and you can process from there.

In the end Cost Per Page or Cost Per Copy are two of the same.  There are hundreds of variations for cost per page agreements, make sure you read your agreement and understand your agreement.  From there you can consult with your customer for the best plan of action.

-=Good Selling=-

Death of the Fax Machine "Finally"

I borrowed a line from Greg Walters from The Death of the Copier here.


It's my firm belief that the fax machine as we know it will cease to exist. Now, if you would have asked me three months ago, I would have told you never, ever, fax will always be here.

What's changed my mind? A few things, one I'm gonna keep to myself because I'm not sure if the person I spoke wants me to release that information to the public at this time. The other item would be emergence of "smart" MFP’s (multi functional product) that are capable of communicating to the "cloud".

In my way of selling and I'm always thinking about how to reduce a clients cost and how to get an immediate ROI so a decision can be made in a timely manner.

Here's my thinking with faxing when it comes to existing MFP's. Let's say I'm on an appointment for a new SMB (small to medium business) account, one of their requirements is that they need a fax option on the MFP. Depending on the cost of the MFP would also dictate the cost of the fax option. Most faxes for me are in between $995 & $1,375. We’ll take the middle of the road at $1,200; putting this on a 36 month lease we’d have a payment of $35.52 plus tax for a total of $38 even.

Since most fax lines in SMB accounts are dedicated and not VOIP (Voice over IP), typically the cost of the line, dialing plan, Federal Excise Tax, State Tax and other BS fees. An average fax line can cost $45-$78 (Verizon came in a $78 with unlimited local and long distance) per month. Here’s an interesting fact I found out when researching the “additional charges”, the Federal Excise Tax was passed in 1898 to fund the Spanish American War, and it’s not gone away. World War I saw the establishment of the Long Distance Tax and World War II saw in an increase in both Taxes and they’ve never gone away!!!

So, if you’re going to add a fax option to an MFP you have the monthly cost of the fax module at $38 and let’s call the monthly fee to have the line with $55.00. I think I’m being fair in calculating a total cost of $93 per month.

Let’s move onto a “smart” MFP, which is any MFP that can communicate through its browser with Cloud Services. The one that I have in mind is Fenestrae UDOCX Fax application. I’m mentioning them because I’m more familiar with that product than any other and at this time I don’t know of any other Cloud based Fax Solution.

The cost to buy the UDOCX fax application is $30 per month. For the $30 per month you don’t need the fax module for the MFP and you can do away with the fax line, thus a savings of $68 per month! Plus there’s a heck of a lot of additional features that are offered that can help improve any companies efficiencies. If you’re the Big Brother type and you want to see all inbound and outbound faxes, or send faxes and have notifications in your mailbox, then you’re in luck.

The main point I’m trying to make is that in today’s economy more clients want simple cost saving solutions. If you’re on the cutting edge of selling solutions, you can take this information and solution to bank. You won’t have to discount your hardware because you’re already $2,400 or so less the competition with a “smart” MFP Fax based Cloud Solution. So, I ask you who’s gonna get the sale, the rep with pick axe or the rep with the jackhammer?

There was a post on the Print4Pay Hotel forums many years ago, in the thread was this statement “Peter Drucker says, "Every business needs to prepare for the total abandonment of everything that it does."

Lastly, I had a conversation with someone today who spoke with a manufacturers rep and something to this effect was said “Why would we do this, we’ll lose all of our fax module revenue”. Pretty dumb huh?

Sell cost savings solutions, find ways to give a client and immediate ROI without sacrificing service, or productivity and increase their efficiencies, it’s a no brainer!!!

-=Good Selling=-

Top 40 Most Infuential in the Imaging Industry

The Week in Imaging just released their Top 40 Most Influential in the Imaging Industry.  Each week for the next four weeks they will be posting ten of the Top 40.  What a great way to get readers coming back, I like it!

So, who's in the first group of 10?  Well, it's pretty much the who's who in the Imaging Industry.  Mentioned were Frank Canata (President and Founder MRC Consultants), Ed McLaughlin, President, Sharp, Carlyle Singer, President & CEO, Katun Corp., Rick Taylor, President & CEO of KonicaMinolta USA, Bob Goldberg, BTA General Counsel, Art Post, Print4Pay Hotel & Print4Pay Hotel’s MFP Solutions Blog, Jerry Blaine, CEO, LDI Color Toolbox, Ed Crowley, President & CEO, Photizo Group, Frank Gaspari, CEO, FlexPrint, Jim Cerkleski, CEO, Clover Holdings, Inc.

The Week in Imaging also states that all of these Industry Guru's were nominated based on comments that were emailed to them others in the industry.  None of the top 40 new about be honored in advance.

For me, well.....I'm honored that my name was passed along to The Week in Imaging and I'd like to thank those that passed my name along with recommendation.  A lot of time and effort goes into the Print4Pay Hotel forums and the MFP Solutions Blog.  Countless hours researching, reading, and thinking of ways to improve the way we communicate as a group has always been a goal of mine. 

Take some time and read about each of the honorees, and I'll be looking forward to next weeks publication.

-=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!

Selling Copiers "Making Sense of the Madness" #3

WHOA!  I had a gigantic headache after I ended a call with an incumbent customer. If this customer did not have 20-30 units I would have told the guy to....  well you know and I know.

Making a long story short (here I go again), an incumbent account had an old 1013 Ricoh system. The system has over 145K on it and is about 10 years old. I tell you that Ricoh engine 1013/1515/171/201 is an excellent engine. Anyway, the 1013 has seen better days and the incumbent account is on a "break and fix" program. Lately the 1013 has more getting more repairs and calls. 

I get the lead from my service department, do some number crunching, mind you I'm familiar with the account, they can't see past the purchase price, however I'm a persistent person and ran a spreadsheet for them with the MP171 and a small inexpensive MFP (one for around $300), of course there was a huge savings with the MP171 because of the low toner price.  A few days ago I made a follow up call to the PA and then heard back from a different manager, he wanted me to quote a Ricoh 3400, now this is a low cost 30ppm system that uses and AIO cartridge and the cost per page is .033 for Ricoh toner and through Internet it was something like .021.  The .021 includes no parts, no service, no maintenance.

He stated his volume was 1,200 per month, my records indicate it's 1,500 per month, so I'm trying to tell him that this system is not for them.  This guy is thinking the system will never need service, it's faster and will be less expensive, well he was right to a point because I had a maintenance agreement in place for full coverage.  So, I went back to dropping the maintenance agreement and just showed the same consumables as the 3400.  He couldn't see the forest through the trees!    Even though the cost of the 171 was over $1,300 there was still some savings and a much more reliable system.

I sent him a different spreadsheet and I'm hoping he goes and buys one of those pieces of crap low end machines and  I'll  be praying that the machine fails a few times a year and they need service, parts and labor.

Penny wise, Dollar Foolish!!!

-=Good Selling=-

MFP Weekend Industry Notes 5/1/2011

Can you beleive it we've posted leads for over 2,500 copier in the Print4Pay Hotel forums!

What's Hot!!  Scan2Cloud, and Scan2Shorepoint MFP's!!  Click one of the threads below and learn how to turn your MFP into a "SMART" MFP!
Below are some of the threads that were posted for discussion on the Print4Pay Hotel forums. Enjoy!

Announcements & Discussions Forums:

Tohoku Earthquake Wreaks Havoc on Printer Industry Supply Chain

Average Monthly Page Volumes
Xerox Marketing Campaign April2011
List your favorite funny copier moments
The Office Copier turns 50!
Rumor has it.....
Invitation Webinar from UDOCX

Print4Pay Hotel's Document Library:

Sharp Dealer Meeting
MPS White Paper
Copier Security Booklet
HP Cost Per Page Chart
Toner Page Cover Examples

Print4Pay Hotel's Industry Proposals & Quotes:

Anyone have any contracts/pricing info for Ricohs new color A4s?
mp6501 c
Ricoh Aficio PRO C901 "Pricing on the Street"
Ricoh Pro 720S
KonicaMinolta bizhub 360
savin 9240SP lease n sales order

RFp's, RFQ's & Leads:

Copier Lease Agreement
76 plus MFP's in Southern Cal
School District
Arizona
HARPSWELL


Copier Stuff We Found on the Web:

Arkansas Politics Secretary of state lowers copy charges
Buonomo to collect pension while serving time
According to an article in “The Imaging Channel” magazine, Canon’s Precision, Chemica
In 2009, it refinanced that lease, providing new copiers and lowering the monthly
State Legislation to Address Privacy Risks of Digital Copiers


The Print4Pay Hotel forums are closed to the public and only accessible for industry professionals. To date we have over 2,300 registered members that consists of Dealer Owners, Dealer and Direct Sales Managers, Dealer & Direct Account Representatives, Manufacturers Direct Reps, and Industry Analysts. Log in here to become a member of the largest social group of imaging professionals in the world!

-=Good Selling=-

Selling Copiers "Making Sense of the Madness" #2

Just a short note tonight, btw I've been watching my revolver world map for hits from Northern Japan, since the quake it's been at zero.  Please keep these people in our prayers.

There's handful of copier (oops) multifunctional copier manufacturers that have A4 MFP devices with the A3 cost per page model. One that comes to mind is the new Ricoh MP201spf (I sell Ricoh so I'm familiar with this unit, my apologies for not posting the others now, will try to do so in the future).  Some may ask what's an A3 cost per page model. What it means to me is a low cost for for the toner, usually toner not costing more than .004 or less and or a total cost per page of not more than .02 for ON-SITE service, supplies (drum, fuser, developer..etc) and parts. The Ricoh MP201spf prints or copies at 21 pages per minute.

In our business, we're always told.... it's about the clicks man..., you've got to keep capturing additional clicks. Dam, this may turn into a logger blog than I wanted!

As I see it there's a tremendous opportunity to capture or steal clicks from the low end A4 printers. Most of these printers from HP, Brother, Lexmark, Oki..etc have an extremely high cost per page when compared to an A4 MFP, in most cases when you add the parts, the service, supplies (drum, fuser, developer) and if you can get ON-SITE service, the cost per page can be anywhere from .04 per page to .08 per page.  So, what drives customers to purchase these $200 -$300 systems?  It's price, it's much easier to cut a check for a $250 laser printer than to lay down $2,000 or more for the Ricoh MP201SPF, and no ones thinking about the total cost of operation for the $250 machine over a period of 5 years (if it will last than long).  Plus there is no low cost A4 printer on the market that has the cost per page model of the A4 Ricoh 201spf.

What if?  You did a chop shop on the Ricoh MP201SPF, cut the top half of the machine off, save the printer engine, the paper trays, the PSIII and the network card. What you'd have is an A4 printer with the A3 cost per page model.  How many of these could we place in the field?  Me, I'm thinking at least 30% of my accounts would have these, even if they cost $500 I could still present a cost savings image solution. Plus, I could tell the story of being green, why buy two or three low cost printers and throw them out when they break, spend a little more, save a lot and have one printer for 5 years!

Here's a short example. Small A4 laser printer doing 1,000 pages at .045 which includes ON-SITE service,  maintenance all parts, and supplies (toner, fuser and developer if any). Which means you'll spend $45 per month and at 60 months you'll have spent $2,700 plus the cost of the printer, so we can all it $3,000.

Take the Ricoh with a proposed purchase price of $500 and then $20 per month which includes ON-SITE service,  maintenance all parts, and supplies (toner, fuser and developer if any). The cost for 60 months would be $1,200 and then the cost of the CHOPPED Ricoh would be $1,700. What's that mean??  A mere savings of $1,700.  Plus I think I being fair because there's no way that $250 printer will last 5 years, if it breaks, the customer will just go buy another one, and then that would push the cost even higher for the small A4 laser printer. 

For a company that has 8 or 9 printers this could be LARGE!  Plus, how many of these unit could be placed for MPS?

So, why hasn't this A4 model with A3 cpp model been adapted in our industry?

-=Good Selling=-

Selling Copiers "Making Sense of the Madness" #1

While in the office today I overheard one of the newbies tell a short tale of appointment that they thought was going to be sale on the last day of the month and it did not come to fruition.

It kinda went like this, the account was an incumbent and has a 35ppm color device.  Color volume was low about 1k per month and black volume was 3k per month.  The decision maker had claimed that they would upgrade if we would be able to save them $100 per month on the present lease. They also needed to print 11x17 color.

The system that was proposed in order to get to the max savings of $85 per month that we could offer was a 30ppm color system.  The decision maker balked at moving to s slower system, and that's we're going to start.  First and foremost some additional questions should have been asked about the volume or how the prints and copies are made.

With a volume of only 1,000 color pages per month and black in the 2,000 a month range, one of the first questions I would have asked after hearing the statement of "I don't want a slower system". 1) In reference to your color volume would you save that you print 200-300 pages at a time? (I'm thinking with an average monthly volume of 1,000 pages this is not true), if the answer was no, then I would have asked this 2) Would you then say that most of your prints are onesies and twosies? (Here, I would expect the answer to be yes), with a yes answer I would have then explained to the customer the FPOT (First Print Out Time) for his existing unit and the proposed unit.  Keep in mind that a 35ppm system is not 35ppm if all your print or copy is onesies and twosies.  The customer would then realize that their would be no loss in print speed, because the new system actually has a faster FPOT. AS a matter of fact, we may be able to move them down to a 25ppm color to meet the needs of saving $100 per month. Thus and opportunity to close!

Over the years, it's not only about speeds and feeds but the ability to find out exactly what they print, how they print (single sided or two sided), how often they print, and how many they prints they need for certain documents.  Years ago we didn't have an affordable 25ppm color system or maybe the customer had different needs four years ago and they've changed.  In order to be successful, you've got to ask these types of questions, it's going to help you narrow the field to the system that fits and feels right for the customer.

From what I also heard is that this DM was a tough cookie and a little hard to handle.  You've got to have a list of prepared questions whether in your head or on paper, asking these questions will keep you in control of the talk track.

-=Good Selling=-