Speaking as somebody from the industry; we've cold called, assessed, proposed, Powerpointed, scrubbed MIF and yes, even closed a few equipment, EDM, ECM, SFA, FM, Mps and MS deals - I can tell you, most of us take ourselves WAY TOO SERIOUSLY. Print, even managed print services, just ain't all that important to customers. Remember them?
We've always thought we've known more about what customers want than the customers. For instance, one OEM had a thought, more like a million dollar wild hair, that customers would embrace a copier which saves paper by erasing it's toner. While others calculate 3D printing is the future dealer model because of a sketchy adjacency...as if...
From the client's perspective; remember we work with endusers(customers of OEMs) everyday - we do not care about your brand until we use it to leverage your competitors, we don't care about the difference between laser and inkjet, OEM toner or re-filled, history of your behaviour modification software, or printing from iPads. Some of us act like we care because we want you to feel comfortable while you present your scan-once, print-many "solution".
We have very low expectations of you.
