Sidebar: AI will first eliminate Purchasing Agents.
Greg's Words:
One day, much sooner than you can imagine, your past prospects will incorporate an AI Agent to help them, "...optimize their existing business processes and workflows..."
One day, much sooner than you can imagine, your past prospects will build their own "...trusted advisor..."
One day, much sooner than you can imagine, your prospects will revel in experiencing sales without ever speaking to or meeting with You.
One day, much sooner than you can imagine, organizations that build technology solutions, hardware, software, consulting and advisory services will incorporate an AI Agent to communicate and manage, "...the customer experience and selling journey..."
One day, much sooner than you can imagine, providers of IT and Office Technology will have a team of AI Selling Professionals who work 24/7, never get sick, never get emotional, and exceed quota, every single month.
Over time, quotas will go the way of the typewriter.
Looks like TikTok's got 99 problems, but a glitch ain't one
Dancing to a beat,
TikTok takes us on a ride,
Brief moments of joy.
This is arguably the most transparent power move of the decade.
Ironically, many Americans rely on TikTok with direct ties to a communist government for their news. This says more about how much WE DON'T TRUST our own media than the cleverness of the Chinese government. This speaks volumes about the lack of trust in our own media, rather than the ingenuity of the Chinese government.
First, the US congress is full of "Olds" who can barely use email, let alone spell "A I" - there is no way they understand the social impact or technical workings of the "interwebs". And that crusty old-geezer yells at everyone, even the mailman, I mean mailperson, to "Get off my lawn!" just before tumbling off the porch - he doesn't know sh8t about technology.
Second, ban it and they will come. Let me ask a technical question, "is there a way to ban the use of a software internet app?" The day TikTok gets 'banned' is the day the number of users doubles.
Third, Microsoft, Google, Meta, and any other social network aren't coming to defend TikTok's right to exist - no other app comes close to the number of users and popularity. They are losing to TikTok - so why not call in Uncle Sam? If you can't beat em, legislate them out of existence, it's the American way.
The best way to kill TikTok is to mandate everyone born before 1960 download and start using TikTok. Instantly the app is uncool.
I've prompted into existence the following tale. ChPt3.5, inspired by, the WSJ.
Enjoy.
Summary:
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew argues that selling the app to an American owner won't address national security concerns.
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.
Maybe, if you treated employees better when they were working for you, they'd come back to you today.
"We can't find any good employees and we're just starting to come back."
"People do not want to work and who blames them? They can stay at home and make just as much as I would pay them!"
Well then, maybe you should pay them more. Maybe you should have valued them more when they did work for you. Maybe, you shouldn't have demanded they stay late, and miss their kid's soccer game.
"Our employees don't want to come back to the office. They are the least engaged."
Could it be that after nearly 100 years of office work, everyone is recognizing that engagement with a corporation is a one-way escapade?
That corner office, 401k, and 12 days of vacation are all part of the trap.
Companies have convinced employees that long commutes, cube farms, terrible co-workers, hostile working environments, company policies that defy logic, 2.5% pay raises, overtime, water coolers, ping-pong tables, and company half-barrels are worth the cold dinners, missed little league games, red-eye flights, brainless managers, and corporate disloyalty.
They've convinced you that your worth is determined by who you work for, how many hours you put in, and how loudly you tow the company line. They had you believing that if you worked anywhere but under the florescent sting of an open floor plan, you wouldn't get anything done.
Remember the companies who just 12 months ago were saying, "We're all in this together. We want what's best for all our employees." and are now treating the same employees like nothing happened you are shameful. They worked in a completely unfamiliar environment and learned more about technology, human-to-human communications, and getting things done than a dozen of your "corporate training sessions" could ever muster.
Your revenues went through the roof. Company travel costs approached zero - no client visits, no hotel, dinner, or drinks on the expense reports - FOR A YEAR. Sure, bigger companies still paid rent - but utility costs tumbled, and what about all those government loans?
Every one of your employees who worked at home deserves a HUGE increase in salary, a bonus, or both and you know it.
Additionally, the mantra, "Everything has changed because of the fear of COVID-19." is true - so why are you going to manage your workforce the same way you did in 2019?
But if we let our employees work from anywhere, we'll lose that personal touch and will kill our corporate culture."
Personal connection in the business world is a fallacy - it does not and can not exist. Any bond established under the influence of business transactions is by definition, impersonal. All the relationship-building, all the dinners, lunches, and drinks spent with a client or prospect are designed with one goal in mind, get their money into your pocket.
Don't play the "personal touch" card in an effort to force employees back to the cages.
By the way, working from anywhere doesn't kill the corporate culture, it IS corporate culture.
The argument for returning office workers back to the office revolves around:
A need for centralized management is built on mistrust and insecurities.
The Luddite view of "getting back to normal".
An effort to bolster commercial office space return on investments.
We are witnessing the struggle between indenture and freedom; between value and being unvalued.
The good news is that your skills are transferrable to organizations that want to be part of the future and understand monolithic structures of management are part of a bygone era. Find those companies and go work for them - from anywhere on the planet.
I just attended the MPSA webinar, "MPS What Went Wrong?"
Gleaned Tidbits:
1. Comp plans helped kill MpS. It is more difficult to sell MpS when working within a copier-based comp plan. Why don't reps receive residuals on MpS contracts? If you say, "they'll stop selling..." you've got a hiring problem as well as an ineffective compensation plan.
2. Although there is a global decline in output, the panelists, are not seeing a big decrease in the SMB. Actually, some SMBs increase output with new MpS engagements.
3. Not much has changed since 2011. This is my personal observation. Although the panel consisted of some of the brightest minds in MpS, the subject matter was a product of some sort of time loop. We could have and may have, hosted an identical webinar back in 2012. What does this mean? It could reflect new players in the MpS realm or it could mean that few folks jumped on the MpS train back in 2009, or MpS is still elusive.
I was digging around some old stuff when I ran across this interview. This was written and aired back in 2011 on the old "The Imaging Channel" website. Cracks me up! ###
Most of us know Greg Walters … or at least we know a little bit about him. We’re familiar with his blog, The Death of the Copier (DOTC), and the scantily clad ladies of said blog. We recognize his bandana and Harley Davidson. We know he’s opinionated and passionate about MPS. But we here at TIC Talk wanted to know more …
TIC: Do you have a “real” job? If so, what is it?
Greg: Yes, I have a “real” job as the MPS Practice Manager at SIGMAnet, a 25-year-old, West Coast VAR.
The fake "sales revolution" attacks symptoms, not the cause.
"Lannister, Targaryen, Baratheon, Stark, Tyrell. They're all just spokes on a wheel. This one's on top, then that one's on top. And on and on it spins, crushing those on the ground."
Rebels and Revolutions -
When individuals declare independence from tyranny, they put their lives, and the lives of their families on the line, risking everything for revolution, for future generations' independence.
For freedom.
Today, there's talk of a "Sales Revolution". Insurgents take to the nearest pulpit espousing "changing the way sales is done..." by being open, real, authentic, a trusted advisor, partnering to solve client problems - not a con man. Noble efforts.
For them, it's not nine to five; it's always too always, elevator pitches, value propositions, and increasing effort 10 fold.
There are literally THOUSANDS of sales coaches and trainers in the world today.
Here are a few of the folks I respect and follow. Some are calling for sales a "revolution". A few pitch themselves as 'rebels', "Leading the Sales Revolution":
All are passionate and committed to their specialty contributing great content to the realm.
But -
EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF SELLING ADVICE IS MISSING THE POINT.
I'm not recommending the current sales training and consulting efforts are not valid. I'm just saying there is so much more that can be done to 'save the industry'.
Of Smoke and Ice -
"Speeds, Feeds, Quota's, Commissions, Solutions. They're all just spokes on a wheel. This one's on top, then that one's on top. And on and on it spins, crushing those on the ground."
The sales revolution is an insidious movement because it is based on truth. Bad sales skills, low motivation, poor relationship building, aggressive attitudes, boring pitches, tedious corporate introductions, and unoriginal talk tracks, are real, yet each a SYMPTOM of the sickness, not the cause - - indeed, going to war against "bad selling practices" amounts to self-hate.
We're revolting against the wrong enemy.
The Real Monster -
"Xerox, Canon, Ricoh, HP, Lexmark. They're all just spokes on a wheel. This one's on top, then that one's on top. And on and on it spins, crushing those on the ground."
The idea is simple, the mission tragic - manufacturers' selling models must be taken down, defeated. While we fight among ourselves over who can save selling, the real archenemy plods forward, assimilating more and more into its ranks.
Break The Wheel
WE DON'T NEED A SALES TRAINING REVOLUTION, WE NEED A REVOLUTION AGAINST THE ESTABLISHMENT.
It's the OEMs who push equipment quotas down the channel, and not just copier OEMs - every manufacturer has the same, Materials Resource Planning (MRP) based systems.
The model utilizes the following:
MRP based quotas
"Fear Uncertainty and Doubt"
Purposely confusing and ever-shifting, commission plans
"Kill it and Grill it" mentality
Adversarial Selling construct
"Where there is a mystery, there is margin"
"67% of salespeople do not reach quota"
Features and benefits of training
Solution Selling
Sales Techniques...
A real Revolution(with a capital R) doesn't attack the symptoms, it takes on the creators of the Wheel. The hierarchies are organically crumbling, digitally transforming - gravity is drawing the towers down, but they fight.
As long as we continue to harp on old-fashioned ideas, as long as we concentrate on "new", non-standard training topics, we keep the chaos going - and that's just fine with the zombie kings. The dusted-off, selling retreads are like 'opiates for the masses' keeping the "little people" hypnotized in their insecurities.
Do you want to lead a true revolution? Then revolt against:
Stodgy commission structures
Outdated quota schemes
Product-based, solution selling
OEM dogma
Are you a self-proclaimed leader of the revolution? Then:
Produce videos telling the establishment to stop pushing old-fashioned ideas and programs.
Write articles outlining the challenges of terrible infrastructure and processes.
Establish standard, salary influencing, and sales training certifications.
Embark on the battle between independent selling professionals and corporate structures - it is time.
Unfortunately, this two-dimensional skirmish is nothing compared to what's coming. The next titan of turbulence holds enough power to wash away 50% of the sales universe.
The game is changing, but it always has been. The way businesses align purchasing is shifting, but it always has been. New marketing platforms are emerging but always have been. Sales are evolving but always have been.
There is talk of a selling rebellion, but there always has been.
There's chatter about the new selling, the new way businesses are buying, and how the sales professionals of today had better change their ways. We've got to multiply our efforts tenfold, continue to cold call and embrace social media.
Today, "Kings", "Cowboys" and "Warriors" populate our little niche and we've got professionals "saving the industry one copier at a time". Worthy, noble, and authentic efforts - I'm all for self-branding and rebellion. I question the focus of our current emotional revolt.
Words mean things -
Revolt: refuse to acknowledge someone or something as having authority
Revolution: a forcible overthrow of a government or social order, in favor of a new system
So yes, we as a profession, are in the mood for revolt and revolution. It's understood the selling representatives are the Rebels but who are we 'rebelling' against? Who are the bad guys?
Are we taking on the old-school mentality? Assaulting old techniques is one thing, but these are outdated tools, not the root of evil.
Maybe we're rebelling against our prospects and customers - not the brightest idea.
Conducting a revolution against other sales people is self-destructive and most likely a strategy our nemesis relies upon. From the outside, it must look like we're a bunch of self-loathing, never good enough yahoo's running around spewing "transformation, this" and "the new way of that...".
To summarize:
Revolting against prospects and clients is not the way.
We are not our greatest enemy, we will not self-destruct.
The "Evil Empire" is not the past.
Again, who is the enemy?
I know who. If you're a sales trainer, you're not going to like it. If you're a sales manager, you're not going to like it. If you're selling anything through a tiered channel, you are not going to like it. Heck, I don't even like it.
The target of our revolution are those who inflict quotas, false ideals and untrustworthy sales techniques: OEMs, Mega dealers, and vendors of the day are the enemy.
I have moved from certainty to doubt, from devotion to rebellion.
- Phil Donahue
I am the last one to call for unionization - unions kill - but an organized resistance is the only alternative. I'm talking about a guild of selling professionals - similar to the Screen Actor's Guild.
So who is in a position to organize contemporary selling professionals? I have no idea but a great start would be for sales people to think differently:
start selling for yourself
form your own brand
invest in yourself
CAUTION: Rebellions require blood. The cost of freedom is never free and all revolutions, have casualties. Who, in this cause, will give all? Who will create change through sacrifice?
Will any of the new sales trainers step up to form The Guild or continue taking money from the establishment?
Will mega-dealers change the way reps are paid or continue to support an archaic standard?
Will OEMs get rid of their tiered approach?
And who in their right mind would join such a movement, let alone LEAD against these most formidable foes?
I don't have the answer to that question. I can say finding a leader within the Empire(OEM,Trainers, MegaDealers) is at best dubious. Perhaps an older, wiser Rebel will make their way center stage.
Caution: As a metaphor, in the movie Rogue One, can you recall how many of the small rebel team survived?
Heck, you've probably viewed a clip or two during one of your Monday morning sales meetings intended.
I get it.
These Hollywood caricatures display the gumption of legends - cold calling, motivating speeches, wild excesses of the selling life. Success. Power. Influence. Acceptance.
But there's more to the story, isn't there? The movies tell the entire story, but we don't replay those bad bits do we? No manager is going to show Bud's perp-walk in Wall Street. Nobody is getting motivated watching the federal cops pull into the J.T. Marlin parking lot complete with busses and tow trucks(Boiler Room).
And sure as shooting, no one remembers the ending of Glengarry Glen Ross, when Shelly Levene steals those leads.
Consider the following examples:
"Greed is Good"
Major Wall Street player earns millions through purchasing and breaking up family owned companies supported with insider information. Protagonist seduces young upstart anding ends up in prison.
- Wall Street
"Put that coffee down! Coffee is for closers."
Real Estate agents complain about the leads, smart-dressed, hit-man comes in from HQ to deliver a high pressure, all or nothing, speech intended to get sales back on track. Salesman descends into chaos and steals leads.
- Glen Gerry Glenn Ross
"...act as if..."
Sharp dressed, smooth talking broker initiates new employees into the world of shady deals and illegal trading. Cold calling taken to a new low, one scene depicts a broker lying to a prospect, along with a cheering team of cohorts, and bamboozling a victim out of thousands. The movie ends with federal agents storming HQ complete with tow trucks to recover the fleet of ill-gotten automobiles.
- Boiler Room
These stories end in flames, yet sales 'mentors' still run around telling newbies to, "Sell me this pen."
Why do all sales people know "Coffee is for Closers"? Why do we cheer when Vin Diesel lies his way into a sale? Yeah, sure, we'd love to deliver that Alec Baldwin speech, or kill it on the phone like Leonardo DiCaprio. We project ourselves into those situations - understanding the dramatic and sexy scenarios - who wouldn't?
Why?
I'll tell you why. Motivating you to sell more, no matter how, is good for the OEMs and ownership. Sure, it feels good to you, right? That feeling is false and manipulative. I get it, we need to sell to feed our families and survive - that's the way the game is set up - and watching a fictitious "selling animals" provides a fleeting moment of entertainment and hours of motivation. But it is propaganda. It isn't real. If it is for you, chances are, it will end badly.
Showing rundown videos of yesterday's demons is just another symptom of the slow to change selling ecosystem. I'm not sure what we should utilize in place of these video's but there must be something; there must be thousands of quick, 30 second video's of new sales consultants spewing nuggets of re-treads.
Change, real change through turbulence, must occur at ALL LEVELS of the ecosystem, not just in the trenches. Selling will become more relevant, consultative and fulfilling after the pillars of the status quo resign to the future and ceasing to show criminals and thieves as selling examples is just the beginning.
Communism: In political and social sciences, communism is the philosophical, social, political, and economic ideology and movement whose ultimate goal is the establishment of the communist society, which is a socioeconomic order structured upon the common ownership of the means of production and the absence of social classes, money, and the state.
Capitalism: Capitalism is an economic system based on private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Characteristics central to capitalism include private property, capital accumulation, wage labor, voluntary exchange, a price system, and competitive markets.
I've been thinking about this ever since the drywall from China was reported to be radioactive.
We all want cheap stuff - Walmart runs that idea into the ground as does Amazon. But for me, it has been difficult to rationalize the success communist China is experiencing with Capitalism. U.S. Capitalism brought down the Soviet Union and Block; U.S. capitalism succeeded in Viet Nam when our hamstrung military did not. It seems to me that blue jeans, rock and roll and Mcdonald's is enough to dissolve the Great Wall.
Mao Zedong
But Communist China is still Communist China and communism abhors capitalism.
Today, why are we surprised to hear that the Red Chinese have implanted secret spy chips in the motherboards of some of the most widely used servers in the world. How much easier it is to plant a chip anywhere inside a printer or toner cartridge?
In addition to opening up our clouds to Red China, we've purchased killer dog food and poison drywall.
More disturbing, in order to do business in the land of Mao, international companies must share proprietary technology with their Chinese competitors. We've been doing just that for nearly a decade. Is it any wonder the new Chinese fighter jet looks like ours?
What does all this mean? What can we do?
STOP selling toner from Red China.
STOP buying clones from Red China.
Shun everything coming from Red China.
Highlight HP and Xerox's American heritage.
Tell end-users of possible harm resulting from Chinese clones or toner.
Remove Lexmark from all US Federal, State, and local Government contracts - Education as well. This is a difficult notion - I know many good people at Lexmark. But it isn't the same Lexmark, is it? (NineStar).
It seems odd to mix geopolitical issues with managed print services, but here we are. We were always integrated with politics, global issues, and future tech - we could be the first to call out Red China.
Kill it. Chop it up. Let it dry out. Use as fertilizer.
Deja Vu:
a : the illusion of remembering scenes and events when experienced for the first timeb : a feeling that one has seen or heard something before
You're not fooled, are you? You've heard the talking heads. Like those who claimed Trump "would never, ever occupy the White House" - the copier industry has similar know-it-alls.
The establishment talking points are pretty clear:
"Talk about the decrease in images only when necessary and in most cases quote decades-old data."
"Say anything to make your machines relevant - fabricate rationalizations."
"Keep the same processes and 1970's business plan while promoting your new and different business model. "
I know, I know the above doesn't apply to YOUR dealership, does it? You've been expanding while the rest of the industry tanks. You're on a 'growth through acquisition' trajectory and your culture is second to nobody's.
Then why do you still consider A3 and A4 different?
Why don't you commission service contracts?
If you're so cutting edge and ahead of the curve, why do you sell MNS or MIT instead of Managed Services?
They're just questions.
If you're looking to resurrect your MpS, the good news is you recognize a problem - you're not ignorant.
The bad news is, you are probably too late:
Treat A3 and A4 volume the same in every MPS engagement
Find the best MPS vendor for your company. HP, LMI, SNi, PrintSolv, whoever. It doesn't matter, partner with somebody who matches your definition of managed print services.
Roll the MPS infrastructure into Managed IT services
Rename the practice "Managed Services"
Stop calling it 'Managed Print Services'; start referring to Managed Services - even when the only assets under the agreement are output devices
Incorporate an Output Study in every, single network assessment
Rename 'network assessment' to 'Technology Assessment'
Always bill for Technology Assessments
Embed your data collection agent into your network assessment tool
Employe/support a separate team of technicians to service ALL output devices
Separate COMPLETELY, from the existing Service Department
Intake all copier/printer support calls through your IT help desk
Train the Managed Services Team to sell
Fully engage your vendors
Establish Managed Services 'revenue gates' in your sales commission structure
Pay the Managed Services team salaries which make it difficult for them to consider leaving
Pay a monthly residual, for the life of the engagement
Give the MS manager P/L control and responsibility
Compensate the Managed Services Practice managers based on profit(P/L)
Forget about ALL the copier dealership business models
Establish a direct link between the Managed Services practice and your software/document management division. This means incorporating end-user, workflow-oriented questions inside every Technology Assessment. (MpS is BPO)
Insanity:
a : a severely disordered state of the mind usually occurring as a specific disorder b : doing the same thing, expecting different results
Twenty-two suggestions, points of light in the night sky.
How, or even if, your organization can connect the dots, is the biggest query.
I dug this up from the underground vault - archives of days gone by, reflections of the future.
Most of us know Greg Walters … or at least we know a little bit about him. We’re familiar with his blog, The Death of the Copier (DOTC), and the scantily clad ladies of said blog. We recognize his bandana and Harley Davidson. We know he’s opinionated and passionate about MPS.
But we here at TIC Talk wanted to know more …
TIC: Do you have a “real” job? If so, what is it?
Greg: Yes, I have a “real” job as the MPS Practice Manager at SIGMAnet, a 25-year-old, West Coast VAR.
TIC: Do you wear a suit to this “real job,” or ever?
Greg: OK, that’s funny. Yes, 9-5, I can be found usually sporting a suit, with a tie even. Odd thing is, many days I am the only person in the office in such garb. It’s Cali, and I am originally from the Midwest.
TIC: What’s your background?
Greg: I was born in Honolulu, Hawaii – Pearl Harbor, in that great big “coral pink” hospital in 1962.
I grew up in a suburb just outside Detroit, graduating high school in 1980 – the same year of the Miracle on Ice, Mt. St. Helens’ eruption, the Olympics and Ronald Reagan accepting the Republican nomination in Detroit, at Joe Louis Arena.
After college, I worked at INACOMP, making my way through a few other dealerships and VARs over a decade or so, always proposing computerized accounting systems. Those were wild times – PS/2s, COMPAQ, Novell networks and DOS 4.0. Taking a break from technology, I worked uniform sales – ahem, I mean, “Corporate Identity Programs” – for a great company, CINTAS. They transferred me out to Ontario, California, in 1999 to help open a new plant.
We started from scratch – oh, the stories I can tell.
TIC: When did you get into MPS?
Greg: Well, I started with the MPS practice in September of 2007. But while at IKON, I exposed myself to all the EDM I could and even worked intimately on a rather large FM project – MPS before there was such a thing.
TIC: When did you create DOTC, and why?
Greg: My first post was on February 20, 2008, and was about HP Edgeline. I created the blog thinking it would be a good way to put some information up regarding the benefits of Edgeline. We (SIGMAnet) were, and still are, an HP OPS Elite dealer. Edgeline was going to kill all other copiers, hence, “The Death of the Copier” – pretty simple. My second post, made on February 24, 2008, was titled “Managed Print Services, That Hot, New Thing …”
TIC: Did you ever imagine that it would grow into what DOTC has become today?
Greg: Nope. I can still see the looks on all the faces of those copier dudes at Lyra 2009. “Death of the Copier? Just who do you think you are?” LOL!I often comment how happy I was getting just 12 views a day, and most of those from my mom. I built the blog originally as a receptacle for things I was interested in. It evolved into a spot for me to put thoughts down one day and go back to read later. I honestly do write for an audience of one: me — and I crack me up. I must say, I am honored, humbled and thankful for all the great people DOTC has introduced in my life. No plan – just making it up as I go.
TIC: What do you do in your free time?
Greg: Huh – sleep.
And hit the trails, get off the grid in my 2001 LandRover, Disco II – yes, it is a green vehicle. Metallic Forest Green, that is. Ha! By the way, new idea for a bumper sticker on a Prius: “My other car is a … car.” Get it? Sorry, that’s my Detroit showing. Anywho, I also like to get out to the paintball arenas and light up some newbs. I used to golf – had all the stuff. One day I figured I really didn’t need another reason to chase a beer cart around all day.
TIC: Greg Walters is certainly an interesting and busy person, both personally and professionally. In addition to blogging on DOTC, working at SIGMAnet, and sitting on the board of the Managed Print Services Association (he currently serves as secretary), Greg will be joining the TIC Web team as a resident blogger, contributing bi-monthly blogs to The Imaging of Greg.
Be sure to check back on Monday, July 11, for his first post.
Posted by Katherine Fernelius on 07/07/2011 Click to email me.
These thoughts are my personal critique of an industry, not an individual.
Weeks ago, over one hundred leading MpS providers congealed in Park City, Utah to discuss the future of MpS. It was a great educational and entertaining event - recommended.
This event was one of the best I've attended in years - only the MWAi show from last year, stands above. West put together a great agenda and was able to recruit a diverse set of industry luminaries.
Here's a quick list of observations from The Top 100 - "MpS is Changing" conference:
The venue: Superb.
Event organization: Stellar.
Promotion: Unparalleled.
Presenters: Both gargantuan and irrelevant.
Content: Both significant and forgettable.
Off-line conversations: The best in over a decade.
For a detailed tracking of the event, talks, and feedback, see Ken's, Art's, West's, and Andy's most accurate reports.
The video, recorded, edited, and presented on-site, nearly live, is one of the best promotional pieces in the niche. It was organic and fun. See it here.
Enough of us patting each other on the back, like we’re all buds. Here's a two word summary of the show: "Points Missed."
It has been said our niche moves at the speed of an HP Series II - I don't agree with that 100% of the time, but after this conference, I'm having second thoughts.
I've stewed on this for what seems years - why do so many still believe in the old models? Why don't they see what others see?
In a juxtaposition with the best content I've witnessed, the audience comments were befuddling. I sat there, shaking my head, not at the presenters(mostly) but frustrated over the 1970 mentality of the audience. Still!
Here it is. A list of call-outs from my perspective:
"Automatic Toner Fulfillment": 2007 called...
"If you sell hammers, everything looks like a nail" so, if you sell re-man toner, all the world is an empty printer, right?
ARRRG.
Getting toner to the right desk at the right time is something we've cut our teeth on, back in 2007. Staples delivers more toner to more desks, on time, "automatically" than anybody else and they use people. Automation for automation's sake is not visionary.
The fact that we are looking at ATF as a new advantage, in 2015, is trite - Clients expect every MpS program can 'get toner to the user' as a mundane function.
There is no such thing as "MNS": Really.
This irks me on a personal basis. Nobody in real IT refers to anything as managed network services; it is simply managed services. Whenever we say "MNS", we look like wanna-be, IT knuckleheads. If you're IT contacts don't flinch or roll their eyes every time you say "MNS" they are being polite.
When the Epson dude referred to his ink bags as "disruptive", I think most in the room assumed it was we doing the disrupting.
Immediately, calls of, "how can I make money the old fashion way, when I sell the machine and lifetime ink all upfront?"
The answer is, "you can't make money the old-fashioned way..."
But here's the miss: we won't be using ink-bags to disrupt, this disrupts Managed print Services.
It's the other way around: bags-o-ink AND "Instant Ink"(DOTC, 2011) will move the channel closer to irrelevancy. Not because wet-toner is better than dry-toner - the iceberg here is "Lifetime Supply". Buy a printer and never purchase toner or ink again. All the costs, revenue, and profit are upfront. An offering, so simple a monkey could sell it.
The 'lifetime' model will remove MpS from the lexicon because there is no need for a relationship.
Those MPS consultants and OEM programs that stress toner as "the most important component" of MpS have led us down the primrose path.
This one issue, redefined as "MpS" is slipping from the dealer channel into the hands of surviving mother-ships.
"Toner" is not a relationship and the biggest reason OEMs say they need an independent dealer channel is to maintain the relationship. Well. The relationship is getting thinner every month.
Think about it, the 'lifetime ink' business model eliminates:
Meter reads - no billing
Monthly billings - see above
Deliveries - UPS
Phone orders - machines phone home
Service calls - these things don't break
Quarterly reviews - why?
Contracts
Independent Dealers
Etc.
If I were getting into managed print services today, I would become an Epson reseller and push those guys to start releasing model after model, ASAP, before HP kicks their super-duper, closed loop MpS machine into gear.
I mentioned this during the Q&A, and nobody understood what I was saying.
...chunks...blown...
points...missed...
Watch Epson. Watch HP MPS.
In The End: It's Not Me, It's You
I've seen great things in our niche. I've seen companies make the leap, shun the old ways, and thrive.
I've also seen organizations espouse the future, make cosmetic changes and fail - the road back to 1991 is littered with used-up MPS Directors. Settling into the old ways of selling copiers, hiring sales managers from yesterday's enterprise, 'trapping customers', paying salespeople a pittance yet expecting them to be professionals, and forcing equipment quotas on their customers - is the easy thing to do.
I've been ringing the bell for years - "MPS is the gateway to something bigger than toner and copiers...". I evangelized the new ways only to see big equipment manufacturers hijack and kill innovation, searching for more shelf space and stickier schemes.
It is the way of things.
But it doesn't need to be your way. Many have made the shift, pivoting off the copier and into fertile markets. It isn't easy to break free the ordinary ways, but it's got to be done.
Conferences that break the mold, separate the future from the past are few and far between - this Top 100 is one of the less ordinary get-togethers. If you were there, you are one of the less ordinary people and nowadays, the Life Less Ordinary is the life evolutionary...
"One of the iPad's biggest competitors has been paper," said Nick Bilton, a tech columnist at The New York Times, "and now this is better than paper."
So many books and so little printing-
I was somewhat dismayed to learn Britannica is no longer going to print its encyclopedia.
I was a bit vexed when I read that printed, pulp-erotica isn't as hot as it once was.
My confusion cleared upon discovering the hottest thing on E*Readers is ladies' romance/erotica - women and their dirty little Nook's. This makes perfect sense; nobody can tell what you're reading while sucking a caramel macchiato, head down on a Kindle. Poor Fabio.
Those who are able to see beyond the shadows and lies of their culture will never be understood, let alone believed, by the masses. - Plato
Leaders are able to discern what's sustainable and valuable from the past and what's not. It is the will of leaders to align, focus, and build cadence while releasing expectations, and tendencies to copy, compare and compete with others. Those behaviors are survival, reptilian and short-term ways of the past; weak and unsustainable in an increasingly innovative world.
True story. There is a guy in the industry that serves as a leader by copying others. He copies ideas, conversations, presentations, websites, and even locations for training with hopes of being more than he is. We'd like to thank him for being so ostentatious in his copying. He's helped us in some sort of backward way.
Have you ever seen a copy come out better than the original? No.
It's time for the death of copiers all around. Not just the machines, but how we behave, lead, act, and do. We're tasting a bit of our own medicine, and becoming uncomfortable. It's time to kill and experience the death of the...mundane. No more webinars, training classes, programs, conferences, and shows pushed out to the masses. We'll work one to one or one to a few. Intimate. Creative. Productive.
Here's the rub -
If you are a company that hosts trade shows, your revenue streams may include charging attendees and presenters - all fine and dandy. But how transparent, let alone honest, are you if you sell tickets to an 'educational' session, that ends up being nothing more than a paid 90-minute commercial?
"That's the way it's always been done..." is not your core value, is it?
If you're a research company, one would think you would make a living conducting research and presenting findings. Then why host trade shows and train salespeople? Aren't you selling content and hosting symposiums?
Associations should derive revenue in an effort to support the improvement of their members, not chase big OEM "sponsorship".
If you're an industry publication, should you pay for content, charge for the opportunity to submit content, or take all the content you can, for free, and charge for advertising?
There's nothing unusual about any of these models, but they've become mundane; tedious, and fatiguing.
Think deeply - trades shows, white papers, copier training, MpS Seminars, and buzz are examples of us talking to ourselves.
Focus.
I've been working with end-users, and IT departments in various industries, helping them reign in costs, evaluate vendors and enhance the productivity of their IT services.
This gives us a great view of ourselves through the eyes of your customers. We've reviewed proposals from large MpS/MDS providers as well as some of the best-known IT/VARs.
We're not only listening to the presentations, but we're also hearing the "backstory". And they're not pretty. It's embarrassing.
Our industry is in a "turnaround" period, reversing, backpedaling, and on a downward turn - if anyone tells you differently, they're lying not only to you but to themselves as well.
People made this niche great.
You do know teaching people how to increase a 'share of wallet' is not sustainable, right?
It ain't mobile print(last gasp of a dying niche) but which iTEX exhibitor might just get printing (not all of it) relevant again...?
It's no secret, iTEX has been taking it on the chin lately with bad venues, obvious 60-minute commercials camouflaged as Power Hours, and empty-headed booth-drones claiming to have been in MpS for 25 years.
Heck, some of the presentations were given a stage worthy of side-show-Bob carnival barkers - "step right up, see the bearded lady..." where is my bamboo stick?
Well, at least somebody got new shoes and it was Vegas, right?
Just kidding - the show was a success. A big success.
Those Who Stay, Will Be Champions
Without a doubt, hands down, shorter hours and everything, the show was a good time. I saw business being conducted in the booths, everyone I talked with was not only positive, but most were also buoyant, almost - dare I say - giddy.
No, really. People in this dying industry are smiling.
And do you know why?
The ones I spoke with are lined up perfectly to be survivors. And this time, the power brokers are the agile, defiant, independents. That's not to say the OEMs are eunuchs - well not all of them. It just means that the role of the OEM is changing, transforming from a large, centrally based command and control center, to a more flexible responsive entity.
Well, one can dream.
We've all been there, "...whatever doesn't kill me, makes me stronger..." - the smart have utilized MpS, the quick are moving beyond marks on paper and the strong are forging their way without blaming anyone.
Staying the course, taking responsibility, and not wasting energy on bitching. The Heart, it still beats...
MpS whiners need not apply.
With the puffed-up and contrived angst around the "false promises of MpS" it was refreshing to find more than a few successful MpS providers. Even though I understand and support the notion, I won't call them Hybrids. I call them businesspeople.
It is my personal belief, that if you're a copier dealer and have half a brain, you can be successful with MpS. Yes, I know, the two may be mutually exclusive (wait for it...wait...)
One reseller I spoke with explained how he analyzed the market, looked at his strengths, calculated a plan, articulated his MpS vision both internally and with his existing clients, and executed his plan.
Today, his revenue consists of around 47% MpS services. He is satisfied with his progress, but moving forward, honing his value prop around his customers' needs, not those of his mainline, OEMs. That's called customer-centric vs. OEM-centric. Huh.
Oh, and are you ready for this - he came from outside the industry, bought a dealership, and whipped it into shape, like a real business, raising both the bar and the curve.
And when things were tough, he didn't look around and ask, "...what happened to all those promises..."
Get Used To Disappointment
If I detected any displeasure, it was with the Power Hours(again).
You can't please everybody, all the time, and no matter which show I've been to, I hear people lament over the class/workshop/seminars. The gripes typically go like this:
"The content was too basic."
"The content was too complex."
"The guy tried to sell me his system."
"We heard all that 6 years ago."
"That session was nothing more than a rolling commercial, describing his product, not a process."
"I walked out."
Now, just because these are common statements, it doesn't make them less valid. Indeed, one of the MpS workshops I sat in really was a 60-minute commercial. And I spoke with one person who walked out of TWO sessions because the content was "stale, dated and inaccurate". (not my words)
Ouch.
But this reaction was rare and presented by people I consider to be rather advanced in the art that is MpS. The overwhelming majority of the people I asked said they enjoyed the show and came away with many 'golden nuggets'.
Well done, ITex/Questex. Well done.
ITex - Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Who's the Fairest of them All...
With Lyra, Transform, World Ex, and other shows, you can count on seeing people from each organization working the rows, the booths, and speaking. Charlie, Ed, and Patricia could be doing everything from hobnobbing with the elites to chasing down HDMI cables for the next presentation.
It's their show.
Not so with Questex - and that's okay. Questex does not sell MpS. Questex has never provided remote meter reads or automatic service dispatch; they don't know of or give a hoot about the three stages of MpS.
Again, that is okay.
Questex publishes trade magazines and manages events - and they do that well.
In a very real sense, Questex/ITex is simply a platform for us in the industry to display our wares, pontificate about ourselves, and generally show off.
But it doesn't end there. ITex is just the name of the stage that Questex Media manages - what happens on that stage is not only our responsibility it is a reflection of who we are.
So last year, people reported the venue sucked and "nobody attended" - well, last year, our industry was sucking and nobody had a presence.
This year, the show was fantastic, attendees positive and upbeat, right now, the independents are cheerful and looking toward the future. The show is reflecting the mood.
For the life of me, I don't totally understand this joviality - every indicator is down with no rebound in sight. The largest print OEM in the world is getting out of print and the next generation of end-users barely read off paper, let alone send print to it.
Be that as it may, I am as sick of the negativity as I am of the blatant "ignore that" mentality.
I say we rock. Let's persevere or go down fighting.
Print can be relevant, again.
A week ago, if you told me the most impressive thing I would see at ITex was a piece of hardware I saw 4 years ago, I would have laughed.
And after I stopped laughing, had you mentioned to me that 'not only could this piece of hardware bring print back into the spotlight, it may even save mobile print' I woulda dropped you right where you stood.
Well, I stand corrected. How so?
The goal is to make print easy, not available on every street corner for a price - what most mobility models miss is the cost to the end-user. Sure there is a laser printer down in the business center, but it takes longer and costs a dime a sheet.
What I witnessed could make over-charging customers for print, a thing of the past. I saw an MFP that is blazing fast at 60ppm, performing this speed at 5% or 100% coverage, black and white or color, full-bleed no less - it just didn't matter.
And cheap. Four cents for color, penny B/W. And cheap. $700.00 cost.
As the pie of available prints shrinks, the big, centrally located, 11x17 copiers are too expensive, too loud, too slow, and too old-fashioned.
And they require a service agreement.
Also, today's printers are slow, expensive to feed, suck too much energy, and have left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. The machines and their toner cartridges are fading yet not all the prints will go away, it's an example of the Long Tail.
So who will be there to print all those buggy-whip designs? The lowest, almost disposable, devices, that's who.
Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it.
At those prices, $900.00 for a 60 page per minute, full color, printer, with very low operational cost, barely any moving parts - why would anybody ever want to purchase a service agreement?
And let's say, just for giggles, each purchased unit included ink refills at half price. Let's just say.
Why wouldn't every hotel on the planet have one of these? Why wouldn't every Starbucks? Hell, why wouldn't you have one to print Christmas pics right then and there for Grandpapa and Grandmama?
There you have it. Mobile print everywhere and not a dime to show for it - no CPI, MpS, no margin or service calls. Nadda, zip, zero.
Have a nice day.
The Belle of the Ball - Sindoh/MemJet
And there it was. Sitting there unassuming. Back in 2009, I saw the MemJet engine spitting out A4 color prints on some guy's couch in a hotel room somewhere. It was cool and for the next 3 years we all waited for the 'real thing'.
Like a ghost, MemJet haunted the halls of Lyra and trade shows across the country. We heard of desperate deals consummated with the devil - and still no device.
From San Diego to Sydney to Oklahoma City - the rumor mill and paper trail churned on.
It's real, not a wraith. I saw it. Touched it and even videotaped it working Lawsuits aside, Sindoh the Korean concern utilizing MemJet in their machine has got a tiger by the tail on this one.
Stay tuned for more as I get more on them...
So in the End...
ITex 2012 is in the rearview. MpS is all over the globe and the copier dealer is on the rebound.
Just when you think you're getting out, they pull you right back in...
For you, dear reader, my personal top 12 for 2012.
A list of what I see happening in the coming year, for us, our industry, and our world.
In a moment of pure randomness, a stream of consciousness, my off-the-cuff opinion - feel free to disagree:
12. Content
Content is everything. And it grows. Not simply printed content, Tweets, cable/digital TV, cellphone calls, dead-emails, texts, sexts, DropBox, utility bills - bumper stickers, ATM transactions: Everything.
And there is the DarkContent/DarkMatter - the "metadata" - the stuff we can't forget because we've never seen it. For example, if you are running FourSquare, your every step is recorded, not just the cute 'check-ins'. Your movement is recorded and filed off into the great Rift that is DarkConent. Same with your NetFlix orders and cable TV viewing patterns, your Visa spends, and the digital footprint that follows your every search, view, post, comment, and click.
All there, all Dark and unseen. Collective.
The Age of Content is engaged, 2012 will reveal more.
11. Social Everything
Everybody is touching everyone, everywhere - Twitter is going to kill news collectors and email; and not a printer in sight. DropBox/BoxNet makes sharing large, exchange-choking files a snap. Tablets will be faster, . PDFs will download instantly(almost) and the screen will be the new 'paper'.
10. Less Copiers
That's right, less 11x17, less off the glass copying. 'Nuff said...
A couple of weekends ago, I was fortunate enough to squeeze off a few rounds from a Sharps 1874 - you may remember the 1990 movie, "Quigley Down Under" with Tom Selleck.
The weapon had a prominent role.
At its peak, the Sharps was considered one of the best, long-range firearms in the world.
"...In 1874, after 700 Comanche warriors attacked 30 buffalo hunters in the Texas panhandle, the hunters used their Sharps rifles to exact a punishing toll. By the early 1880s, the long-range models had become the favorites of professional buffalo hunters because of their long-range capability..."
Indeed, even today, the long-gun is a fully functional, work of art: double triggers, lever action, 34" barrel, 15 pounds she delivers a good kick, our black powder loads were clustering in 8 inches, 300 yards - we aren't that good.
The Sharps is cool - but the movie/sales metaphor?
Rugged individualism in the face of despotic ownership and management; Analog Guy, in a digital world full of other analog guys who think they're digital.
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