By David Cameron; CEO, Cameron Consulting Group, March 27th, 2012
Greg Walters is a well-known blogger, rebel, truth-seeker, and now a consultant in the managed services field for print and IT.
This article focuses on his leadership and—at times—exasperating experiences in building an MPS practice inside a large West Coast VAR. Adding managed print services (MPS) was an uneasy fit that didn’t demonstrate its value until after Walters took over. As the MPS practice grew more than $1 million, the plan shifted and the practice was folded into the much larger managed services group to leverage common processes and resources. It is an open question whether the MPS practice will retain its edgy personality and strong growth rate as it goes mainstream as part of the VAR services portfolio.
Greg Walters took over the immature managed print services practice
February 8, 2015 As you know, CISCO plans on connecting every, single thing and Apple looks to connect every single person: a combination beyond comprehension.
In the early days of managed print services, remote monitoring of devices was cutting edge technology - with just a handful of software providers, we knew the internet of things when it was simply the internet of printers and copiers. Our connected realm was the vanguard - the shape of things to come.
Today, the rest of the business world is recognizing a need to shift focus from boxes to relationships, from project based revenue to repeating streams. HVAC, electrical, automotive and even shoe manufactures are grasping the meaning of everything as a service.
We've done this - we've changed business models, our OEMs have struggled against the tide and the independents prevailed. It doesn't matter if companies are managing laser printers or laser guided missiles, toner levels or tire pressure, ROM flashes or app updates, the managed print services niche, all 100 of us, broke through years ago.
Here is my point - print volumes are decreasing and one day soon, "will fall off the cliff", like buggy whips and cotton looms.
But this is not an "extinction level event".
We can pivot out of copiers/MpS into any niche, vertical or industry as providers understand the IoT means "Everything As A Service".
We've had the C-level conversations about 'relationship' and value outside the product/machine/widget. The refrigeration sales-rep has no clue what all that means. Refrigeration, HVAC, home security, plumbing, traffic lights, automotive sales - they are all evolving into recurring revenue and customer centric managed services.
MpS is not evolving into the IoT, the IoT is transitioning into MpS.
Originally post, 9/2013 Too consider one better than the other is to miss the point completely.
Reminiscent of the way some consider MpS and copier service agreements as separate, it seems most regard managed (IT) services and managed print services as two, unique arguments.
Along the same line, this leads me to ponder:
Why isn't Big Data, simply Data?
When will virtual reality, become reality?
Why is social media not simply media?
Why isn't Cloud computing, just computing and mobil print, simply...print?
Smartphone or phone? Hardcopy or copy? Things that make you go, "hmmmm".
If you think about it, all of our offerings are silo'd in some manner.
Monitoring software like PrintFleet is separated from monitoring software from Preton which is separated from N-Able. Copiers are separated from printers. IT services are separated from business services. BPO is different than BPM - "basic" MpS is apart from "advanced" MpS....on and on.
But here is the challenge: Do our prospects and clients think like this?
Today, in the field, Jennifer and I run into these degrees of separation at nearly every turn and we can tell you this: customers don't want to be in the middle of our separation anxieties.
Some of your prospects are telling us they do not understand why their MSP doesn't monitor printers. Indeed, more than a few MSPs won't allow a DCA installation, on 'their network'. What the heck is THAT ? You DO NOT monitor printers and will "not allow" any 'data collection' software on your clients' network? Time to get a new managed services provider.
It's the old story - clients want one throat to choke (I dislike that phrase). They want one invoice and even more, they want one person to talk with regarding their business challenges and answers technology may provide.
They don't care about your quota, the logo on your 'thing', your month end, volume discounts or how many years you've been in the business. You know this.
So, do you have one invoice for both copier and printer usage? Are you calling all this "MPS"?
Great. But when are you going to start referring to your entire offering as "Managed Services" instead of managed print...manage network...or managed IT services?
It's all the same to the ones who really count - your clients.
The move into managed services is well on its way and traditional copier reps are getting caught in the middle between selling boxes and selling services. Pundits and consultants lament "copier people cannot sell managed services" unless they attend a day of specialized sales training.
It is true, I've seen plenty of managed services or IT sales destroyed by copier sales reps - from Cali to N.C. I've written about a couple of instances.
The thing is, for all the challenges and failures, the rep is not to blame. We train them to always be closing, find pain and twist, to hunt, take-down, close, trap and "increase share of wallet" - armed with this mentality, its a miracle anybody sells anything, let alone a nuanced offering like managed services.
So, as a copier rep, what can you do to secure more managed services contracts/agreements? Should you heed your sales manager's advice and treat help desk like a fax board? Does your OEM offer any clues? How about a few days of off-site training followed up with a phone blitz?
There we were, sitting shoulder to shoulder with a freshly minted copier rep talking to a prospect. The rep was leading the team in monthly revenue and looking to lock it all up with this opportunity.
The five of us, three on the provider side, and two on the prospect were discussing the benefits of managed services. Our prospect was lamenting the many challenges with the current IT services provider:
- "Never hear from them"
- "Whenever they come out, they charge us. And they always come out."
- "I asked them if our backup was secure and found out it wasn't last week when we lost power"
- "He only does hardware and knows nothing about printers"
- "What are we paying for, again?"
The pain was there waiting for us to isolate and trial close. We knew how much they were paying and they wanted to work with one company, for all their technology needs.
Yes - we could have closed right then and there...
But we didn’t.
Out of my mouth came the following words,
"Well, we can certainly remove all your current issues. Our managed services program is designed to address everything you mentioned...but for now, let's concentrate on getting your copiers squared away, and then talk about managed services...don't let a managed services decision get in the way of new copiers..."
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.
On one side, "Managed Service Providers(MSP's) Should Get into Managed Print Services", on the other, "MSPs Shouldn't Bother." I didn’t get the hype - maybe because I’ve done it from the front and behind - saved an MpS practice inside a VAR/MSP and created an MSP within a copier dealer.
Still, I was intrigued...
From the imaging side, I believe if you can create and run a profitable MpS practice, you can handle an MSP.
I thought to myself, "Maybe there was something to this…perhaps the MSPs in the room DO want to learn more about MpS and are thinking about getting into the realm." I started to pay attention.
From the IT side, I’ve felt adding printers to a screen in your NOC is no big deal; I’ve done it, and you can too. Indeed, in the beginning, I wrote about how we on this side should beware of the possible invasion of our little niche by all those independent VARs.
It didn’t happen that way, did it?
Why So Crowded?
Based on the number of people in the room, it was apparent others were interested in this subject. For a managed print services meeting at a computer convention, there were more people than I had anticipated. I thought to myself, "Maybe there was something to this. Perhaps MSPs want to learn more about MpS and are thinking about getting into the realm."
WRONG. DEAD WRONG.
"...a Konica technician asked my customer how they were handling IT..." with a waive of his hand he dismissed a meager attempt to take HIS customer.
The debate attracted a cadre of MSPs more to support their MSP leader, less to explore the possibilities. Like every VAR/IT/MSP/ITOEM I’ve ever talked with about managed print services, their mind was made up. Anything to do with printing "is below them” and getting into MPS would be “a step backward”.
Yes, those are quotes, and here are some other talk tracks uttered by the MSP dude:
"Not going to add to my already full plate of vendors…" "The market is not that big…" "My customers are reducing print, why would I get into a diminishing market…" "I don't like printers. Should I be selling huge systems or filling a 'toner quota' - thanks HP…"
Have you ever been to an event or party and at some point, realize you're not in the right place? Sure, you've received an invitation, but you feel completely outside the discourse. Not because the conversation is over your head, but more due to a crystallized moment in time when you can clearly see everyone else off on their own voyage - apart from you.
Well, that's the flavor of epiphany I experienced - that and a bit of deja vu.
These IT guys just do not like printers and think copier folks can't compete with their real computer expertise. One MSP mentioned how "...a Konica technician asked my customer how they were handling IT..." with a wave of his hand he dismissed a meager attempt to take HIS customer.
"How droFor IT Providers: Managed Print Services Could be the 24th Chromosomele..."
They do not respect printers and the people who derive a living from this industry. If you think about it deeply, you know what I say is true. Seasoned MPS reps are numb to IT people talking down to us but it is there...always has been.
I am done trying to evangelize to the IT community about managed print services for three, basic reasons:
1. They are too prideful (snobs)
2. Print is declining
3. The IT/VAR/MSP niche will decline FASTER than office print
Call Great America, today or buy out one of the smaller MSPs in your neighborhood.Today. Now. Stop fooling around. This is one of those cases that supports the, "go out and sell it now, we'll figure the rest out tomorrow."
Pride goeth before...
Sure, there will be a few VARs/IT/MSP organizations who dabble in MPS if HP takes the deal and the paper, but for the most part, they are not going to deploy an ‘engineer’ into the field to clear a jam. This is a cost and emotional issue.
Going, going...
Dave Ramos, a colleague, and friend presented interesting findings about print decline, sighting one of our favorite slides from International Paper and linking the latest paper plant closing in Alabama. A4 paper is in such decline IP had to close a plant whose primary output was 8x11 - this one location supplied 8% of the office-sized paper.
They've Got Their Own Kettle of Fish...
Here's the big reason - the IT world is going through a much bigger transformation than we are. The 'cloud' represents a move away from hardware - Zero Client and IAAS both support the realization that organizations DO NOT NEED HARDWARE-CENTRIC VALUE ADD. Today's IT providers are blind to this and in no position to adapt. The biggest shift is going to be elimination and evacuation. For example, they're talking about 'moving to a service-based' business model with 'recurring revenue streams' as though they've just heard of it.
Don't expect to see copier techs badged up by your local MSP anytime soon. They're not coming to the MPS party. Just like retail computer stores dissolved overnight, so too, will your trusty down-the-street VAR/MSP. Bottom Line...
What about you, the copier dealer, the toner supplier, and the printer organization? Think of it this way, managed print services manages the decline in print, managed services helps customers manage down their dependence on local servers, software, hardware, and the people(local) who provide value-add.
Now is the time to get into managed services - the low barrier of entry and distracted fragmented competitors. Don't overstudy. Forget about heavy evaluation.
Call Great America, today or buy out one of the smaller MSPs in your neighborhood.
Today. Now. Stop fooling around. This is one of those cases that supports the, "go out and sell it now, we'll figure the rest out tomorrow."
One more thing...
Forget about getting all your reps trained on "IT Services", like it's different from managed print services - well, I should say, the offering is different, but the approach is similar. There are too many managed services sales experts who have never sold, proposed, or closed a complex, all-inclusive engagement.
The outsiders from the IT realm coming into the copier world don't get us, they've hired the wrong 'advisors' to help them grow their share of our wallet and some are increasing their value for the next round of VC or prospective buyer.
Go out there and learn it the best way - in front of prospects.
Your reps don't need some other guy's super secret sauce and you shouldn't measure yourself against somebody else's benchmarks
7/2012 Do We Live With Technology, For Technology or Under Technology?
There was a day, back in the 80s, when I was almost embarrassed to use a mobile phone in a car - it just felt weird.
I remember getting my first alpha-numeric pager and no longer needing to pick up messages on those little pink sheets.
Back then, a laptop was what the stripper danced on, and a tablet was medicine.
Cold calls referred to walking your territory, stepping right past the "no soliciting" sign, and asking for an appointment. No metal detectors or bullet-proof glass.
We met at clubs, church, work, and house parties.
We asked people out, face to face, not on Facebook.
And we waited by the phone...
What the hell happened?
Technology baby, that's what happened.
Technology seduces. She moves with you, around you, off your fingertips, by your command.
