I know you're out there trying to sell the latest Sharp, or Ricoh device. And yeah, digital document management is the greatest talk track ever. Don't forget managed print services, remote monitoring, 400 years in the industry, technicians with real first names, and the dozen or so, sales reps before you that managed your territory into oblivion.
I know you've got a quota, love to cold call and think your manager is the greatest the Western Hemisphere has to offer.
There is no (Artificial) Intelligence in Office Technology Today.
Is Artificial Intelligence helping copier dealers increase sales, decrease costs and grow profits? Today? Right now?
No.
Here's the deal:
Everyone is looking for that ‘Killer AI App” – they are
looking at it wrong.
Everyone thinks AI is a great tool for marketing – they are
thinking wrong.
Everyone is biased toward AI regulations – their bias is
misplaced.
There isn’t going to be an “AI Killer AP” because Artificial
Intelligence IS the killer app.
Sure, Ai can generate reams of well structure, grammatically correct, and coherent copy - much like any newspaper up until 1988 - for a fraction of the human cost. And yes, branded images, logos, videos and voice overs are a few clicks away from fruition. But in the end, organic writing will prevail as Ai will level the playing field, making us all the best writers and artists, money can buy.*
We are in the explorer phase of the journey, like da Gamma, Columbus and Luis and Clark. Regulation, guidelines and laws will need to wait until the pioneers and settlers arrive. For now, we are making up behaviors as we go. Any attempt to reign in the fury will only frustrate and irritate our efforts, and stifle innovation. Besides, rules and regs on Ai at this point will not work they will only separate the sheep from the rebels - possibly turning heroes into pariahs.
In this document, we will discuss a proposed MPS S1 Engagement and its benefits. This engagement aims to improve the current printing infrastructure and bring cost savings to the organization.
I've been writing, speaking, and commenting about the copier industry since 2008. I've built dozens of websites, and multiple versions of this blog, spoken at all the major shows and held conversations with thousands of folks in the technology realm. From DOS to the Cloud; from the OCe 3100 to Edgeline and all things between and beyond.
I'm an advocate for change, I've pontificated on the benefits and dangers of technology, and with the support of a select few, I've been fortunate enough to maintain a presence in this crazy mixed-up world of toner and fire.
It is with great pleasure, that I am announcing an alliance with Gap Intelligence a great team of analysts in Office Technology and beyond. I look forward to tapping into the cumulative knowledge this company possesses and bringing to you, the best cutting-edge, relevant office technology content on the planet.
The newsletter is the portal into the future of office technology with relevant, curated content and rapier commentary. We'll submit articles, opinions, and reflections and conduct live streams and podcasts. You may even catch us at a show or two.
For the SMB, “How do I sell my stuff now that pricing has increased?” is a classic question, if not a timeless one. In the post-COVID era, rising costs across the board for everyone is the new reality.
First off, we’re all in the same boat when it comes to cost increases so broaching the subject with your prospect should not be a surprise. But in selling, it all comes back to value balanced against “costs.”
Here are some ideas to help you sell higher price.
Acknowledge the issue – internally.
Your prospect is experiencing higher rates everywhere, so you don’t need to mention supply chain issues or rising fuel expenses as it applies to their specific solution. I’m not suggesting you ignore the realities of the economic challenges; rather, it is safe to assume your prospect already knows about rising expenses, so don’t be intimidated about talking about the stressful concepts...
This is a GREAT illustration of the stark dichotomy of our industry - OEM v Dealer.
You know this, and live this - for decades, the OEMs drove the industry(which is natural) and in doing so, ignored until the very last every issue that diminished the sale of hardware.
Influence has been shifting for a decade as customers find better ways to move data within and outside of their organization without a big copier in the hallway.
The Fear of Covid kicked the transformation into hyper-drive, leaving the OEMs in the rearview mirror.
Back in 2007, MpS was new, on the edge, and a bit contrarian. The year was 2007, copiers were flying off
the shelf, and everybody signed a 60-month lease with an accompanying service agreement. A4 was a dirty word.
MpS didn’t flourish it sputtered and more often failed. Stories
of fallen MPS practices outnumbered the successful.
I, myself, declared
MpS dead in 2011 because the discipline became adulterated into the lowest
price possible. The race to the bottom was inevitable.
Today, I look upon the contemporary MpS ecosystem and see customers
calling dealers looking to sign MpS contracts, more MpS press coverage,
INCREASED membership in your MPSA,
ridicule, and criticism from industry "pundits" and “shills” it’s
beginning to feel like the ‘good old days.
Sorta. My optimism is cautionary.
Leasing is math under contract. The dealer buys a device from distribution or manufacturer. The leasing company pays the dealer his cost, all upfront.
The leasing company bills the ultimate customer periodically until the cost of the machine to the dealer and profit is covered.
Benefits to each player:
Lease company - profit
Dealer - profit all upfront
Customer - monthly payment instead of a large, one-time outlay
Example:
A customer wishes to 'own' a large piece of equipment. The purchase price is $20,000.00. Instead of paying 20k all at once, the customer would like to pay over time.
The dealer would like to sell the customer equipment, installation, and software needed for the device to function. The dealer cannot offer pay overtime to the customer directly.
The leasing company approves the client and the sale moves forward.
I've been a work-from-anywhere person since 2009ish - I've presented from Sydney, Starbucks' parking lots, and poolside in Vegas. I've evangelized the lifestyle from Detroit to LA to Charlotte to Oconomowoc, Wi. and points between and beyond.
So when the fear of Covid sent everybody home to work, my environment didn't skip a beat. Remote selling, online marketing, virtual meetings, and Zoom sessions became second nature to the rest of the world.
Welcome to my world.
As #WFH becomes standard, the powers that be will attempt to define, moderate, and ultimately fashion the model into their likeness. That will not work.
This concept is bigger than this small tome. Today, we'll talk about selling copiers(or anything else) in this new land of "work from anywhere". - GW
When one defines Managed print Services as "toner and service for printers on a single invoice..." MpS is dead.
But if you believe that managing devices and the business process associated with output is MpS, especially as organizations are reducing hardcopy, then MpS never went away.
IT folks hate printers and copiers for many reasons. They're big and hot and dirty, connect to their sacred network, pose a security risk, and that's not all. The biggest gripe is out of all the software and hardware an IT department supports, output devices are closest to the End User. And end-user support is the worst - face-to-face conversations are challenging because they usually start off with the word, "Why doesn't...?" IT techs don't like to be challenged or questioned.
This is a vacuum and your MpS prowess helps you fill that void for your clients.
Anti-MPSr's fail to recognize, managed print services was always our way into the IT realm. Real MpS includes optimizing workflows, working with IT resources, removing challenges associated with moving information not delivering toner, and dispatching service technicians.
"We have to start doing what was said we were doing but never did."
We're all talking about the "new" ways to sell.
Covid19 is forcing galactic shifts in the way we do business; from the back-office to the sales trenches. What I find striking is the more we talk about what needs to be done in a post Covid19 sales engagement, the more we find the basic selling skills apply more than ever.
Here are a few of the concepts and skills presented over the decades regarding sales and selling:
Build Trust
Attract Like-Minded Prospects
Consult
Be the Trusted advisor
Increase Your Business Acumen
The books, lectures, and classes of the past decades all told us to be more a consultant and experts in our industry. Lately, in the last decade, salespeople have been told to become thought leaders, create content, find a 'good match', and help the prospect in their purchasing journey.
We've been saying it for decades. These are basic skills. Now is the time to ACTUALLY do what we have been saying we do. Engage the basics, and get to the root of the art of selling. Once we do this, virtual selling will return to 'Selling'.
I started my MpS journey back in 2007 - not as early as some, but before most.
Back then, I saw MpS as a bridge into managed services. In 2008, I proposed my first end-user-based billing program. (similar to the current SBB) We estimated usage based on the job description - front office folks printed more than shop floor, HR printed more than general office and Marketing utilized more color. Pricing was based on the job description.
Soon after, I suggested MpS was BPO because including document management software within an MpS agreement seemed natural.
DOTC espoused end-user data, behavior modification, and workflow in the early days coining the word "BeMod". The phrase did not take hold.
I introduced the idea of fully integrated management systems: we should combine device data like usage and supplies history(DCA) with the number of service calls (ServiceNow) for each device and all costs associated with operating each device(E*Automate) displaying these data points on the floor plan and adhering to the ITAM model.
I pitched the benefits of 'serverless printing before it became a thing in the MpS world, recommending partnerships with PrinterLogic.
I pondered the ability to sell everything as a service. How about coffee and water, commercial HVAC equipment, energy systems, or even telehealth? Who best to lead this transformation than those designing and selling managed print services?
We made the jump from equipment sales to services long ago...right? Of course, few jumped on the above suggestions (until years later).
Most held on to old-fashioned models - scratching out an existence, hoping for that magical merger. Big dealers got bigger, tripling down on copier sales with outside investment; they started silo'd, managed services practices.
Some OEMs surrendered. Lexmark went to China, Xerox went to pieces, HP self-bifurcated. Ricoh treads, Canon sells cameras, Konica Minolta is gaining, and MpS rolls the stone, resurrected.
Today, how can we widen our scope, yet stay within a safe, low-risk zone? What action can we take, that recognizes the move away from paper, without inciting panic and denial? Medical equipment and energy management were too much.
How about scanning? (Okay, not just scanning)
Studies show copies and prints per device have been falling for a decade or two, I wonder if scans have increased? To transform from paper to digital, there are plenty of paper documents in need of digitization.
Here's my latest recommendation: Embed digital capture into every managed print services engagement you write. (I know, not all THAT revolutionary.)
Today, every business can move into the digital realm at a fraction of the cost. There are plenty of strong capture and document management programs in the ecosystem - Kofax, DocuWare & Nuance to name a few. Not everyone needs these high-end systems, but most need something.
The Benefits
Separate your MpS program from others. The 'down the street' deals address nothing more than cost per page and automatic toner replacement.
Discussing scanning/digitizing is a natural topic within the managed print services engagement, and can help you close more MpS deals.
But how do you get started?
What to look for in a simple solution for your clients:
On July 30, 1976, American Bruce Jenner wins gold in the decathlon at the Montreal Olympics. His 8,617 points set a world record in the event. Previously identifying publicly as male, Jenner revealed her identity as a trans woman in April 2015, publicly announcing her name change from Bruce to Caitlyn in a July 2015 Vanity Fair cover story.
Everything changes, baby that's a fact - when we refuse to see the impact of the shift, we call it 'disruption'. Worse, if we misread the writing on the wall, becoming overly optimistic, expectations do not meet reality. Disappointment ensues. There's so much to say about the consolidation movement going on in our little niche but if you ask me, the future is neither bright nor dark - it is simply the way it was always meant to be.
For years Xerox has been buying up dealerships. Lexmark sold out to a communist country. The toner-dudes jumped to one big ship. Ricoh assimilated Ikon, Canon did Oce, Konica Minolta ate Muratec and ECi is forming the Galactic Empire, collecting software like so many green M&M's.
How will all this impact the everyday salesperson? How about contracts, sales, and service managers? Perhaps a radical makeover is in around the corner?
See Your Future in the Past -
When automotive robots started painting vehicles, some saw this as the end of labor. The machine possessed advantages over their human predecessors - no vacation, no sick time, or union squabbles with consistent performance. Formidable, but we survived.
When the PC/Word processor began to erode typewriter sales, receptionists around the globe disappeared within a decade, and we survived.
When Bruce turned into Jennifer, we survived.
We envision the future as we see ourselves: perhaps through the lens of July 1976, or from the perspective of April 2015. Which is better? Time will tell.
When the world looks back on the Age of Paper, protests, and pontifications lamenting its passing will be nothing more than a footnote.
All I can suggest is in a turbulent world, knowing who you are, is paramount.
In an episode of Seinfeld, Jerry's gorgeous new girlfriend's lovely breasts become the subject of conjecture; are they real or implants. Elaine thinks they're fake so Jerry decides not to see her again. Elaine changes her mind after tripping and falling into the ample bosom.
Again, the "paperless office will never exist" debate is grabbing headlines and copy. Good stuff, if not factually spun.
I've been face-to-face with organizations that significantly reduced the number of copiers, printers, and reams of paper utilized.
A major retail company went from 100 or so devices to 10
Health network(s) go from huge file rooms to no filing cabinets at all
Manufactures shifted away from paper-based job jackets to digital files
These companies didn't feel compelled to save the trees or Chewbaccas. Prospects tell me they squeeze paper out of the process because "paper slows everything."
One night at the bar, while attending the MWAi Executive Summit, I was in a rather animated discussion about women in the industry and your MPSA.
a remarkable aspect of the copier industry is how some men regard some women.
During the conversation when I mentioned out loud, "The Managed Print Services Association", one of the more elderly industry participants replied, "Managed Print Services Assholes" as he walked away.
It isn't that difficult...to sell managed services. As a matter of fact, selling managed services is a lot easier than convincing a 'board of elders' to lease your new color device...with saddle stitch, no less.
First things first, if your leadership is so wrapped up in themselves they think:
A) copiers will be around forever or
B) Managed services is akin to adding a duplexer or fax board
- keep your resume up to date.
Unless you're in some backwater market where they still lease copiers for 72 months, hardware sales are about to fall off a cliff (slight exaggeration). Maybe your guys don't see it coming - it is already here, so the sooner you get your personal act together about services, not hardware, the better.
Just between you and I, there are hundreds of hints and tips around selling managed services. In the end, the advice is nothing more than a shuffle of what you've already been told.
There isn't ONE training course, consultant or "MNS" expert who will mention any one of these tips:
1. Stop being afraid
2. Forget everything you know about hardware
3. Ignore your quota and in some cases...Ignore your boss
Your Fears
If there's one thing I've seen from coast to coast is whenever somebody on the copier side starts to talk about Managed IT Services, they backtrack into, "well, I need to know more about that business before I dive in..." Horse Pucky.
Who would buy a product which openly insults?
We're taught to believe that the computer guys know so much more than we. We've got memories of feeling dumb because we called IT only to have them come up, reboot and head back.
"Reboot? That's it????!...arrrrg..."
IT folks were strange, anti-social, and difficult to understand. They fixed our problems and they made us feel like dummies.
Stop worrying about what you think you don't know, stop Facebooking and use the inter-web to learn about what CIOs think is important.
"You know what Mr. Prospect...every, single, copier is exactly the same..."
Yeah, we used that line all the time at IKON. Of course, we sold almost every brand back then...
The same goes for servers, cloud, backup disaster recovery, switches, firewalls, help desk, anti-virus - your prospect does not care how many awards your hardware has earned. They do not care how much you've invested in R/D or how long you've been in the industry.
They don't...and when your OEM rep tells you to build credibility by dropping their name, let the words go in one ear and out the other.
Tell your prospect how your stuff solves problems. Printers, copiers, luxury submersibles and can openers solve problems. If you can find a problem duplexing solves, I'm sure you can find an issue BDR(googlitize it) addresses.
Stop Selling and Start Solving.
Ignore Your Boss - "On the 1st of the Month we Sell Solutions. On the 20th, we push boxes..."
Careful here.
If I had a dime for every sales manager I've met, that wasn't worth a dime, I'd have a lot of dimes - a March of Dimes, actually. I'm not saying ALL sales managers are worthless...and I know YOUR manager is Fortune 100 material. I am not recommending you blatantly mock your boss - not overtly - just understand his perspective.
Here's the deal, typical sales managers are compensated on the team's hardware sales and most dealerships are driven to quota by their OEM - it is the way of things.
When you hear your manager say things like, "Everybody better start learning MNS, because these copiers aren't going to be around for long...""its a numbers game, kid..." or "you can't sign deals on the phone..." or "...why don't you get a new car/suit/wife/credit card/house..." take it with a grain of salt.
Don't get me wrong, if this style matches your core values, stop reading and get back to those 100 dials, 10 contacts, 1 appointment - there's a church out there dying to buy a copier!
Otherwise, let's talk about you.
I've always said and felt that pure managed print services has little to do devices and nothing related to logo's - its a service, not a cartridge or machine. Managed services is an extension of the same ideal, its a service not a server or firewall.
Most managers do not understand this because they are not compensated for services. Indeed, some ignore services all together figuring that's "the service department's responsibility" - point, missed.
I know you didn't grow up wanting to be a copier rep - NOBODY DOES. I understand how difficult it can be describing what you do to your parents - been there, done that, got the therapy to prove it.
And here we are, in the heart of the jungle...
Do anything to improve yourself every, single day. Polish up on your knowledge of the Cloud, nod during your next sales training session, and then go buy my book. Write in the margins, read it from your iPad on the bus ride home...(?). Cut and paste passages into emails and Tweets - put the cover on your desktop.
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