Why I Think Franklin Planners Will 'Save Print'

Yup, that's right.

Back in the day, every single salesperson worth his or her quota carried a Franklin planner. Heck, I think HP, IBM, and Canon gave every rep a planner and the "Seven Habits..." in lieu of a PC and printer.

Instead of checking smartphones and pecking the qwerty, we'd unzip and unfold our cool, custom binders, jot down notes, check off tasks, and review calendars.  And by 'jot' I mean, write down...with a pen or pencil...on paper even.

"...sometimes, reps would copy entire months, off the glass, and submit these "reports" to management..."

Scheduling the next appointment was in real-time, face to face, and "...if it didn't make it in my Franklin, it didn't exist..."

Business cards were stuffed in plastic sleeves for easy access and we wrote down phone numbers.

No.  Really...we did.

At the end of the day or week, one might review the past and plan future action items or follow-up tasks.  Again, we wrote on paper.  More advanced users would apply sticky notes, and custom forms. (show-offs)

Leadership loved these things.

Old-school sales managers would surprise audit your Franklin, checking for scheduled meetings over the next couple of weeks - funnel review included handing your planner over to your manager.

Sometimes...and get this...sometimes, reps would copy entire months, off the glass, and submit these "reports" to management.  Penny a click, penny a click...

So here's my plan.

If every single HP, Lexmark, Xerox, Canon, Ricoh, Epson, Samsung, Muratec, or Memjet, sales rep indeed, if every sales, branch, or district manager, each VP, AVP, and C-Suite employee in every manufacturer and dealer ordered a Franklin planner today, the industry would lead by example.  The industry would save itself.

For this to work,  The 'Planner' must be the required tool for funnel reviews and account planning. Follow me here...if the industry is serious about saving itself by repeating the same mistakes over and over, it should drink its own champagne and regress back to paper.

Move off Outlook, turn off the carphones.  Get back to alphanumeric pagers, pink phone message pads, and overhead transparencies.

Fewer screens, more carbon paper.

Worried about productivity? Hear meetings without beeps, whistles, and tweeting sounds.  No more heads buried in a keyboard checking Facebook during your copier technology roadmap presentation.

Nirvana...truly.

Go full tilt.  Stop "selling the cloud" and referring to yourself as a technology company - everybody knows you're just trying to make your MFDs relevant.

Do you want relevance?  Move your entire ordering process back to paper.

CRM? Yeah, it's a 1-30 tickler file.  Slide deck?  Sure, it is a deck of real slides.

If the industry wants to return to the hey-days of 1986, I say, put your value prop where your toner bottle is and get rid of your digital technology.

I dare you.  I double-dog, dare you.  I can't wait to see the direct reps sporting pleather binders and a return of the receptionist!

Require your professional salespeople to scan their Franklin at 7:00 AM and again at 5:30PM.  Penny a click, penny a click...

While you are at it, bring back the original QWERTY and put the receptionist to work, typing up proposals.  And yes, make 20 copies for every meeting.  Penny a click, penny a click...

"Receptionist Wanted:  Must type 120 words per minute and be versed in grammar."

Gosh, the possibilities are endless...

Satire -

We all know nobody in the imaging industry is going to lead into the past by giving up all their paper-reducing technology.

I guess the big question is, how can they expect their clients to do so?

Past 48 months - "I never meant to break my own promises..."

2015

Four years ago, if you told me I would be in Oconomowoc, Wi, helping a VAR go national and rediscovering the future of office print - I would have slugged you in the head.

Well, this is PRECISELY the situation I find myself in.  In a land of fried cheese, beer, and cities named after Indians.

"Sassenach"

Through the hoopla, laughter, and tears, when I look back to 2011, I can't help but shake my head, roll my eyes and ask,

"What in the Seven Hells just happened?"

Never Go Out of Style: Managed print Services Inside a VAR

"You come and pick me up, no headlights

A long drive,

Could end in burning flames or paradise..." - T. Swift 

Mps Practice Managers, salespeople, BDMs, specialists, consultants, experts, evangelists, directors, principals, planning managers, and vice-presidents - I got a question for you:

If you had the chance to build an MPS practice, today, from scratch, inside a VAR,  how would you do it?

Where would you start?  Building a team? Compensation plans?  Assessment tools and DCAs?

What's your visionary statement?  Would you put together another, two-dimensional, old-school, top-down, business plan?  Really?

What about legacy accounting systems, dispatch, vendor relationships, existing BDM mentality, corporate philosophy/culture,  probes, NOC, SLAs, BDR, MS, and customer transformation off paper?  Can you lead or will past mistakes haunt you like the phantoms of Macbeth?

Inside this turbulence,  I'm sure some ask,

The New Salesperson: Essential Traits for Selling in the Modern Era

The world of sales is changing rapidly, and to keep up, sales professionals must continually adapt and improve their approach. In this article, we'll discuss three essential traits for success in modern sales: Partnership, Business Acumen, and Empathy & Disconnect.

Partnership: A Mature Set of Beliefs Anchored in "To Do No Harm"

To be successful in sales, you must first establish a partnership mentality with your prospects. This means that you are there to help them, not to take advantage of them. It's important to find out where they need help and determine if they are willing to accept your assistance.

Pascal's Triangle & The Digitization of the Office - 1/3/2014

2014

In the Beginning -

The workplace has been evolving since the beginning of time. We've moved from farms to churches to castles, to high-rise office buildings and mega-cities. As communication shifted from handwritten documents to print to electronic, so too, did the office and the way we conduct day-to-day business.

Some consider the process started sometime in the 90s - while others imagine true digitization kicked off with the advent of the IPad. 

My observations and research reveal the shift has been occurring since the late 1600s starting with a device invented and built by an 18-year-old, French kid. The mechanism performed addition, subtraction, and multiplication through the manipulation of gears and dials. The teen was helping his father calculate bigger numbers when performing French tax accounting. 

Managed print Services: Choking on Our Own Words...

Unknown source: "I'm glad this happened..."

January 2013, edited 2016

Think about it - in terms of the imaging, printing, and copying industry...and now throw in the Information Technology (IT) industry...

How many technology webinars...are you invited to?  Do 1900 dealers need 500 webinars?

How many managed print services training classes...even come close to connecting with your reality in the field?

How many managed print services programs...teach their views, contradicting or repeating what you already know and may even do already? 

How many conferences, shows...Blah, blah to the blah....does the industry need?  Check out the VAR Guys' top 100 shows for 2013:  Technology Event Calendar: Top 100 Channel Partner Conferences

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?

Join us.

The Underbelly of Managed Print Services & Copier Sales: Last Week'sLanier Rep is Today's Edgeline Rep - Oh, really?

2012

If you've been in this industry for any period of time over 3 years, you either know or have heard of what I call a "Roaming Gnome" - there may even be one a couple of cubes over.

That sales rep who travels from dealer to dealer, employer to employer in search of the perfect sales position. Bringing with him years of experience, a Rolodex chock full of purchasing agents and expiration dates. A pocket full of promises and a wheelbarrow full of "Bravo Sierra".

It's legend - copier reps jump from Ricoh to Ikon to Konica Minolta to Toshiba. Or get out of Toshiba/Ikon/Xerox only to return in a few years.

Old, cromagnum sales interviews start with, "how big of a sales book can you bring with you from "fill in the blank/your current employer"?

Before you go off all half-cocked, accusing me of not understanding, I know this occurs in every industry, especially with salespeople. It is not illegal and it is not uncommon.

As a matter of fact, selling expertise and business acumen can only flourish under the light of many different Suns. And those who grow over time are professionals.

Switching companies isn't normally a bad thing. I am not criticizing the practice, only the occasional method.

The hacks I refer to as "Travelling Copier Gnome" carry not only baggage but character flaws.

They inflict more harm than good, perpetuating the shady side of selling.

In today's economically challenging MPS universe, many MPS and copier reps are looking for jobs; a quick search reveals IKON hiring MPS specialists like crazy all over the country. A floating deckchair in a turbulent sea?

As with most good articles on this tome, writing from personal experience supplants therapy and, I have found, generates plenty of "the same thing happened to me..." emails.

So, I feel the experience of one of my colleagues may have some relevance.

An MPS Practice I know of has gone through major metamorphosis - to date, its third. This recent iteration was characterized as a "bloodbath" resulting in major personnel changes.

People were let go and people left.

It's no secret that I bash the bad in our industry. It's a target-rich environment - there is plenty to bash.

However, I hold a special place, a bull's eye, for the "typical copier sales person".

That churn and burn, rip and replace, 60-month lease recommending, sour-grapes, decision challenging, slick, schlocky, box-moving, toner delivering, non-customer-centric, closed-minded, a square peg in a round hole, never going to change, FUD using, gear slinging, never attracting always selling, jolly, hard-closing, Traveling Gnome types.

Case in point, recently, one of the sales reps, at my colleague's MPS practice, decided to move to greener pastures.

Nothing wrong with that, right?. We've all done it.

As matter of fact, picking up and leaving is a decisive act any one of us can execute. Changing employers is like turning the page, ending another chapter in the book of your life. No biggie.

And when done correctly, there is honor in this; an opportunity to either show some class or reveal to the world your true, sliminess.

Character is what you do when nobody is looking most often exposed under pressure - think about the last time you experienced a death in the family or any other high-stress event. Who remained calm and focused, and who "cracked".

Or how about the last time something went wrong with a customer - who ran around with their hair on fire and who acted like they had been there before?

Character.

Your character is exposed not only in bad times but also in good. Can anyone remember the last time a running back scored a touchdown and simply handed the ball to the ref?

Act like you've been there before.

Back to my colleague.

He found himself in quite a pickle - all the client files were missing.

And by client files, he means, assessments, SOWs, proposals, spreadsheets, orders, quotes, contact records, notes, databases, and laptops.

That's correct, inspection showed very few signed original agreements - nothing left behind, uh, oh.

Again, little surprise, nothing too far out of line, seen it before, been there, got the coffee mug.

But then, they received their first notice of service cancellation.

A quick look into E*Automate revealed this defector-client had been "stocking up" on supplies over the past 3 weeks -capitalizing on confusion and the vacuum - it was obvious the customer had been coached.

And then, this ex-sales ne'er-do-well started reaching out to "his" old clients who are now part of my colleague's current base. Huh.

Again, sad and unprofessional and not at all surprising.

You see, when we sell with passion and believe in the product, service, and company, we can become blinded, falsely believing the client relationship is with us - it's our Ego talking - not reality.

The client relationship, no matter how personal the sales professional makes it, is between the client and company; not the selling professional.

We forget that sometimes, don't we? We fall into the trap of thinking "we" are the only reason clients work with our company.

How foolish, how naive, and how very old-fashioned - quaint, almost.

So, who is at fault here?

The destructive Sales-schmo, The Roaming Gnome? For sure.

"Greener Pastures and New Beginnings" mean just that; a New Beginning can only happen after an Ending of a "period" not a comma. Get over it, move on, and begin fresh. Show some class.

The new employer, absolutely.

What kind of loser organization still hires Sales people under these beliefs? Can this really be? Are we still in the '70s? Has Selling devolved? PUT THAT COFFEE DOWN! Did I miss THAT memo? Show some class.

Any client who follows him? These imbeciles are just as unscrupulous.

I mean really, it's just business, I know, but this is pretty lame.

The Lesson, if there is one?

We in the selling profession take a beating from our prospects, customers, sales managers, and family for engaging in something we love to do; meet new people, take on new challenges and create something out of nothing.

It's a shame when some of us lie to clients, trap customers into deals, push our agenda, and do harm. The bigger shame is these instances hurt all of us in sales.

This sort of thing may never change, unless we start calling out the evil-doers, exposing this ilk for the sham artists and hypocrites they are.

To Boldly Go

And so it has finally come to this - There is nothing new for me to write.  There is nothing I can say, that I haven't said before; Manage Print Services has peaked and it's time to "jump the curve".

Sure, there are plenty of adventures remaining, lots of cold calls, assessments, proposals, and engagements remain to be had.

Have it.

I will certainly NOT stop talking or writing about technology in our little niche - see you at some shows.

But there is more...

Achieve Managed Print Services Immortality "...Simply By Doing One...Great...Thing..." - Keep Walking

1/2011

There is a great deal of "automation" in our little niche; auto - fulfillment, remote monitoring, M2M communication, auto-generated assessments, proposals, SOW's, Twitter-bots, RSS, on and on.

Hi-technology effects the basic tenants of human existence; both eroding basic, physical contact and expanding our "social network".

Doesn't leave all that much room for us humans, eh?

Fear not, take a walk.

Extend that Human Touch

No matter how fast data moves around the globe. From fax to pager to alphanumeric pagers, carphone, bag-phone, brick, mobile, laptop, tablet, to nano-implants, hopefully, it all boils down to two people sitting across a desk from each other engaged in a selling process.

It's only human.







Click to email me.

 

Managed Services - Practice What You Preach

1/2011 -

It's all about the "M".

From the very beginning, I was uncomfortable with the "P" in Managed Print Services" - it is restrictive and a bit misleading.

But, in the beginning, the word "print" seemed a bit more familiar and approachable. Your prospect knows what you mean when you say "print".

The definition simply rolled off your tongue whenever asked, "What does MPS mean?"

"I manage all your print devices..." - You.

"Oh, okay, I understand..." - Prospect.

But wait...how much about Managed Print Services can you honestly identify with?

How familiar are you, personally, with the real-world benefits of MPS?

Sure, you can perform an assessment. And you put together quotes and proposals. Maybe you can even speak to a C-level, peer.

But do you know how it feels when a cartridge doesn't show up?

Do you experience the pain of attempting to de-code an invoice?

One of YOUR INVOICES?

Have you witnessed the positive results of replacing personal, desktop printers with a second monitor?

Specifically, does your place of employment have your MPS Engagement in place?

Are you monitoring your, internal fleet?

What, you don't eat your own dog food?

The cobbler's kids have no shoes?

If so, scamper up to the owner's ivory tower and call Bullshit.

While at IKON, we sold all the best, top-drawer EDM solutions - all of them.

Yup - you guessed it. The order entry pack was a collection of spreadsheets. At times, we actually faxed out meter read sheets.

We printed 45-page proposals - 42 pages of marketing fluff, 1 cover, 1 letter, and a price list. (gasp!)

Now, I won't mention any names but there is an IT VAR, out on the Best Coast who has a small MPS practice.

In 2009, this 145-employee VAR spent $19,000.00 on toner and supplies for MFPs.

Before implementing their MPS, those who could guess estimated an internal fleet size of 19 printers/MFPs. In the end, it was discovered that 43 devices populated the organization.

Most of these, are locally connected.

At the close of 2010, invoice analysis revealed a yearly supply spend of $4,500.00.

Do the math.

Practice what you preach.

Click to email me.

#ManagedPrintServices: What if the OEM's Threw a Party, and Nobody Came?

2010

I had, yet another, epiphany the other day while sitting in front of a prospect, reviewing his fleet over my 8-page "Approach Document", poking through the pain, and proposing an MPS S1 Engagement.

I realized that this and every, single, assessment have had one thing in common - overcapacity.

11x17 at 1% of volume; duplex at 4% of volume; fax machines physically next to MFPs with fax capability next to laser printers; 5-year leases; fuser assemblies and toner sitting next to oh so many client's Canon/Xerox/Ricoh/Konica/Copier-De-Jour.

I thought to myself,

"What's going to happen when everybody realizes they don't need a copier?"

Last week I sat in on a Lexmark MPS webinar - the OEM doesn't matter as much as the customer (always) - Columbia.

As a matter of fact, 60 seconds into the show, I felt I wasn't going to make it past five minutes. I mean, I expect to be "pitched" but a read speech? I swear it was pre-recorded. OMG.

Toughing it out, my staying power was rewarded.

Mike Leeper, Global IT, Columbia, presented a frank, honest, and downright refreshing story of his MPS implementation. Two years into a successful MPS Engagement breaking 10 years of status quo.

Now, I am familiar with the DOW Chemical MPS and Nationwide MPS Project, so I have a good framework for comparison. Both DOW and Nationwide are successful, cost-reducing examples.

I won't bore you with the many details except these:

1. Moved decision process out of Facilities
2. Past decision process was very hardware-centric
3. Print Vendors were just like "...used car salespeople..."
4. Printing was considered boring
5. Success hinged on selling internally and continually communicating
6. Network-only devices considered
7. Project reduced costs by 37%
8. Reduced printed output by 1 million images
9. Effectively "killed" all the previous copiers(DOTC) - zero remained

The last two should send chills up the spine of every OEM and induce the booted, incumbent to hurl - through his nose.

MPS engagements like these are the Pure MPS - how can you commoditize this?

But wait, commoditizing is exactly what the manufacturers want - get all this MPS stuff boiled down to the most basic, simplistic, lowest common denominator. Make it easy enough for a monkey or copier rep(jk!)to sell.

Create tools that kill the art of MPS, and stifle creativity and growth by automatically creating proposals and QBR marketing slicks. Just press F7.

Cram MPS into the old, "slay it and move on" sales model. As long as that MPS engagement includes 11x17, an unused duplex, and a fax machine with every copier.

Back to my prospect.

As happens with like-minded folks, conversations travel the spectrum of technical subjects, tangents really. Some would say, tangents get in the way of the close. Yeah, right.

So we talked about the Agile methodology, Google, SaaS, dual-monitors, MPS(reducing output), CIOtalkRadio.com, and the new control end-users share via social networking.

How, today, the ultimate buyer has more choices and how everybody is collaborating. I told him MPS really expanded around the world because of the new social media - the buzz started online.

I expressed my belief that finally, in my little world of copiers/output devices, the shift from Supply (copier OEM) to Demand-driven(ultimate end-user)is taking place.

The party may not be over but fewer and fewer will be attending...

I think he was being polite when he agreed with me.

Either way, we decided to move forward with an MPS S1 Engagement.

So, now that I have a close, I guess I should strike out and "slay" another one, right?

Takes every kind of people...

Click to email me.

More Than Managed Print Services - Born Free, You and Me

2010

********

"Fast, on a rough road riding

High, through the mountains climbing
twisting, turning further from my home.

Young, like a new moon rising

Fierce, through the rain and lightning

Wandering out into this great unknown. "

--

It's strange, this thing called MPS is really more than an industry, a niche, an occupation.

And then again, it isn't all that different from times long past - one more step towards office/business/process Nirvana.

A new moon rising. No paper, toner, toner bombs, copiers, 60-month leases, or auto-renewals.

A world without Sin.

Yeah, I know...dream on.

Sure, printing is not sexy but that doesn't stop MPS/BPO/BPM/Systems Analysis from becoming a LifeStyle.

Uh-huh. That's right, I said it. I meant it. I'm here to represent it.

Not just an industry, MPS is a LifeStyle.

********

Free, like a river raging
Strong, if the wind I’m facing.
Chasing dreams and racing father time.
Deep like the grandest canon,
Wild like an untamed stallion.
If you can’t see my heart you must be blind.

You can knock me down and watch me bleed
But you can’t keep no chains on me.

--

Some call me an MPS Expert - I don't really want to be an expert. Some say that I'm disruptive, radical, a "John the Baptist" type. (not sure about that one, what happened to John's head?)

Other miscreants have called me disgruntled - out loud, during an MPS Sales Training session - projection at its best.

If anything, I prefer Defiant Idealist. The shame of it is, today, "Defiant Idealist" is considered redundant.

I see MPS as a secular change, not cyclical. I see MPS in the imaging industry today as technology was to the music business a decade ago.

The music didn't die - we changed the way "we" acquire it. The "Control" of the music industry shifted from the fat-cat record companies(establishment) to the individual listener; the ultimate consumer. The Big Guys could no longer control the creative process, the distribution channels, or the DEFINITION of the industry.

Did they fight? Yes.

Did they continue to throw their diminishing weight around, until the very end? Yes.

Did any of them change? No.

Are most of the players, and their advisers around today? Negative.

The pure "providers" of music(bands, songwriters, etc.) shifted their attention from pleasing the record producers to pleasing their ultimate audience - themselves.

You and me, out here in the listening audience simply choose to tag along and enjoy.

In a broad sense, this meant these creatives could once again, produce content they actually wanted to create. No more "Johnny Cougar"'s(the record company changed his name for Mellencamp to "Cougar").

And as the Titanic-like music moguls rearranged the deck chairs, they never hesitated to mock the young upstarts and deride the agents of change, the Defiant Ones.

(Are we having a Glenn Beck moment yet? Please, not tears.)

********

"Calm facing danger
Lost, like an unknown stranger
Grateful for my time with no regrets.

Close to my destination
Tired, frail and aching
Waitin patiently for the sun to set."

--

For us, now is that point in time when the entrenched authority has begun to crumble, their influence over the MPS ecosystem fading.

This is part of the reason some think me disgruntled - the establishment, if there is one in our industry, wants to, like the music industry once did, make the rules, create the definitions and they abhor "uncontrolled" change - especially change that starts in the grassroots. Down here with me and you.

I am "of" the grassroots and am not afraid to point out, to you, the naked Emperor. So I must be crazy, unqualified, "disgruntled".

This is heady stuff - the "Imaging Intelligentsia" do not want "us" to be independent in thought or action. The OEMs don't want us looking outside of their box.

Neither seems to be the least bit concerned with the client.

And by "we", today, I mean we in the field selling MPS on a day-to-day basis. We are in the trenches who (hopefully) are strong enough to partner with those prospects who deserve our company.

We who are sent to those "sales training classes" and attend the weekly mentoring sessions only to find little guidance or relevancy when across the desk from a prospect.

We who recognize our own shortcomings now have a growing suspicion of those who say they know the way.

********

"And when its done believe that I will yell it from that mountain highhh!

I was Born Free!
I was borrrrrrn free
I was born free, Born Free.

And I will vow to the shining seas and celebrate God’s Grace on me.

I was Born Free!"

--
There is more to our world. More than OEMs, toner delivery, technicians, proposals, assessments, and quotas - More than Managed Print Services.

And yes, this too shall pass.

So what?

If you are just getting into MPS or have been slugging it out since the beginning, every turn, every setback and every success is yours.

Yours Personally.

Hopefully, revenue-enhancing but most certainly, resume enhancing.

This journey is all about you. Today's MPS "grunt" is tomorrow's MPS Leader.

Explore your boundaries, try MPS things that haven't been tried - right now, THERE ARE NO STANDARDS, no benchmarks, no "proven".

We're free.

Click to email me.

Managed Print Services: The Case Against Auto-Generated Proposals

4/2010

"The heaviest proposal wins..."

"We gotta have the company history in this proposal..."

"And don't forget the spec sheets..."

"This will be easy, I can just use the last proposal we did, and search and replace..."

Sound familiar?

Let me ask you something, do you read books?

What keeps you interested?

It's the story, isn't it?

Somehow, your favorite writer or a nice article you spend time with engages you and tells you something new, yet familiar.

Now, do you think that article or book was boiler-plated into existence?

Do you think Stephen King, goes out, asks a bunch of potential readers what they like and what scares them, imports all that "data" into a tool, clicks "go" and out pops the next best seller?

"No, Greg, I don't think Stephen King clicks on "go" and a best seller pops out." - good answer.

The Recharger Show, Managed Print Services and One Miff'd CEO

A few weeks ago, I ran across a blog entry over at "Adventures in Office Imaging". I know Nathan, the guy who wrote an MPS song, and has sponsored the "Destroy your Printer" contest, these last two years.

What caught my eye was the title, "Skipping this year's Recharger World Expo"

In the second paragraph,

"...The "Summit" is really just a sales pitch camouflaged as an MPS-101 course. It encourages everyone-and-his-uncle to dive into the market, then tells them they need a toner vendor or a printer-copier manufacturer as their "MPS partner..."

HOLY CRAP!

I put a few questions together for the author, the CEO of Expert Laser Services, Luke Carpentier. He was very kind in answering

Managed Print Services and Beyond - I Know One Name? (IKON)

There is a very, very big shoe about to drop in the MPS universe - the "Alan Parson's Project", also known as the Preparation "H", RiKON's - Managed Document Services. 

I have mentioned in various discussions, observing many "want ads" appearing across the country for Managed Document Services Specialist / Managed Print Services posted by IKON. 

Small, interesting point here, the ads are posted by IKON, not Ricoh. At one point, my Google Alerts were bringing 3 to 5 returns from IKON a day. 

I noticed this morning, only one, out here in Irvine. To me, this says they have hired up and are about to roll out the MDS program. It's no secret that IKON, on paper, should have the best MPS talk track in the world. They have an FM - where the standard "assessment" is paramount and software called "TRAC".

Ikon has an EDM division - they know how to craft and sell an SOW. The sales force is huge - feet on the street. A fairly large service footprint - access to multiple manufacturing service parts(debatable, I know) And they should be able to go after business at the Enterprise and SMB level. 

 Indeed, it is my opinion, and I think this is shared by some, that IKON MDS solution has the potential of providing a pallet of services, supported by a very good Professional Services consulting staff, an above-average fulfillment system, and a vendor-agnostic toolset helping clients manage their environment. Of course, every, single, MPS program out there looks fantastic on paper, doesn't it? 

Been there, done that, got the pink slip to prove it. (Well, not me personally, but you get the point...)

IKON MDS is built on Three Phases: 

Total Fleet Managementt – a range of baseline support for deploying and managing diverse fleets of output devices, including supplies, service and maintenance (preventive and restorative), and management reporting. 

Intelligent Device Rationalization – a strategic assessment of current assets, business processes and workflows to help organizations achieve a balanced deployment utilizing the right device at the right time. 

Optimized Business Processes – a consultative approach to design, plan and implement improved business processes. 

 If the above seems vaguely familiar, see the chart below: 

It's the same - Another interesting point, the job description for an MDS Specialist at RiKON includes:

"...Performs complex business analyses of customer’s business communication requirements and develops benchmark demonstrations, proposals and value propositions that exceed customers’ requirements resulting in the development of new customers and retention of existing Managed Print Services account by applying a consultative approach...

" Wow - ok...does this sound like a "copier sales guy"? I know the MDS project, ahem I mean the "Alan Parsons Project" was initiated a while back; back when MPS was hot. Before all the other copier dealers tried and failed. 

So it will be with great interest we watch the press releases as RiKON/RBS/Ricoh start to announce all the "big MDS" wins that will undoubtedly occur between now and the end of the summer. 

One thing - I wonder if there will be a hardware gate inside the MDS commission structure. 

  Click to email me.

Photizo Group Announces Call for Speakers for 2010 Managed Print

2009

If you don't know by now, Photizo is the leader in MPS related research and stuff; it's all they do.

I doubt very much they will be buying a knitting or supply chain research company in the very near future.

I shall be in Austin, attending, and speaking at the MPS Conference.

Of course, just like all other conferences, the best conversations and discussions occur "after hours" over "adult beverages" but the day-walker sessions are very informative.

If you have something to contribute to the MPS Ecosystem, drop them a line and get behind the podium.

Otherwise, make sure you reserve a spot and a hotel room early - and don't worry, the river isn't that deep should you fall in, you can walk to the shore.
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Opportunity to contribute thought leadership in billion dollar MPS
market

Lexington, KY – December 3, 2009 – Managed Print Services end users and channel partners are invited to share their best practices and successful case studies at the 2010 North American MPS Conference May 3-5 in San Antonio, TX. The Photizo Group is accepting proposals for panels and sessions at this premier industry event. The deadline for speaker submissions is January 15, 2010.

The conference is designed for all types of MPS experience and interest. MPS decision makers, vendors and channel partners benefit from the rich agenda of relevant topics. CIOs, CFOs, IT managers, facilities managers and purchasing departments who have implemented MPS or are considering it can learn from best practices, case studies and how-to guides. Vendors, resellers and infrastructure providers gain information on the emerging hybrid channel, infrastructure, best practices, research and market projections.

The 2010 MPS Conference will also include the popular pre-conference workshops for end users and channel partners having limited MPS background and experience. The pre-conference sessions focus on establishing a solid foundation of MPS knowledge.

“We welcome session ideas from anyone in the MPS marketplace. Given the wide range of topics that can be accommodated by the two track format and the pre-conference workshops, we expect an enthusiastic response from speakers who would like to share their knowledge with this audience,” said Ed Crowley, Founder and Senior Partner of the Photizo Group.

The Photizo Group hosts the annual MPS Conference.

The MPS Conferences address the urgent need for information about the fast-growing managed print services market. The Photizo Group estimates the MPS market is now worth over $25 billion globally and projects a $60 billion industry by 2013. Signaling strong market support for the second annual North American MPS Conference, industry leaders OKI Printing Solutions and Ricoh have already signed on as
Platinum Sponsors for the 2010 event. Print Audit has joined as a Silver Sponsor for the event.

Speaker forms and topic information can be found at Http://www.mpsconference.com/forms/2010NA_speaker_app.html.

Applications for speakers must be submitted by January 15, 2010. For information about MPS 2010 sponsorship and exhibiting opportunities, agendas and registration, visit www.mpsconference.com.

# # #

Media contact:
Misty Hamel
+1-617-921-5725
mhamel@photizogroup.com

2010: The Year of the Tablet, The Year of the E-Book

When Dan Brown’s latest blockbuster, The Lost Symbol, was released recently by Random House, digital sales of the book on the Kindle were rivaling paper sales on Amazon.com.

On campuses all around the country, students can download "one time use" digital versions of chapters or complete text books.

Are publishers shaking in their boots, eye to eye with yet another"nail in the coffin" - one more milestone on the downward spiral of the DeathOfPrint?

Or could this next technological mash-up SAVE publishers; save the "Dead-Tree Media"?

Will some pitch against the tide like so many music executives had against iTUNES?

Apple is preparing to make a big splash in tablets early next year - this one a little bigger than the Kindle some think this to be a title wave to rival the iPod.

And Xerox thinks paper will never go away.

But what does this mean for us?

It means that instead of carrying around a pad of paper, or a Franklin - by the way, do Selling Professionals still use Franklin Planners? - we will be checking email, forwarding proposals and reading the latest internal HP "constraint report" on our half-inch thick "digital readers".

And there is more.

If Apple can pull it off, you will see publications go directly to consumers through iTunes - by the magazine, newspaper, author, or subject matter.

Cheap subscriptions - perhaps "by the article" or even, by the author -

I haven't read about this angle yet - before iTunes, how many of us would purchase a CD(or if you remember vinyl) to be dissappointed that more then a couple of songs really didn't float your boat?

I know, back in the day, the songs on the album actually were there because the artist felt his/her creation included the COMPLETE work, all 12 tracks, not just the commercially viable tunes. Remember Johnny Cougar, "...the record company's changin my name now..."

Today, musical content is sold, and consumed, one, 99 cent song, at a time. Apply this to the Wall Street Journal - the Mother of all Newspapers(debatable). Other than corporate titans who have 2 hours in the morning, probably because they are a prison cell somewhere, who else can easily read the complete issue every, single, day?

But maybe I would pay, a very small yearly fee, to receive the "left" column. Perhaps I could have my new searches all end up on a custom formated and downloaded on my new iTab.

And not just print. Video as well. All on one 11x17x0.50, water resistant, digital, place mat.

More Copier Leasing Crime: How Would You Like to Be Sued By SEVEN Leasing Companies?

There is plenty of blame to go around.

I am starting to get Deja Vu with all this.


Just for kicks, here is a list of some of the articles here on DOTC dealing with "wrong turn leasing":

Governor French Academy files another suit alleging fraud in copier lease: Marlin Leasing

Another "GACKED" Sales Forecast: Idaho School District Reneges on Xerox Deal

Why Your Customer Should Re-Write Your Lease Agreement: It's About Them, Not You.

Managed Print Services Appointment - Another Ticked Off Konica/Minolta Client:Leasing and "Integrity"

New York City Dept of ED. - Xerox Contract Starts at $36 million - ends up at more than $67 Million - UPDATED 4/6/09

Copier Selling to Schools- Let's Get Down and Dirty in the Mud!!!!

Bad Experiences with Leasing - Toshiba, IKON, Canon, Saxon

WOW -!

The Governor French Academy is on the "list" of SEVEN leasing companies - and you think you have problems?

According to school founder, Phillip Paeltz, the school's next step is to reach out to the seven companies to settle the dispute.

"If they accept it, then I guess this is over," Paeltz said. "If they don't accept it, we will file for Chapter 11 protections."

OMG! You mean to tell me that a copier deal gone bad may bring down an educational institution?

Let's look at Governor French.

Mission Statement:

Governor French Academy's mission is quite simple. We provide:

1. The finest preparation for college-level educational work
2. Complete preparation for college testing procedures, including interviews
3. Thoughtful assistance in obtaining financial aid for college-level education

They bill themselves as a college preparatory school complete with a challenging curriculum, "...young men and women in their crested blazers..." and their site exudes a quiet professionalism.

So how could something like this happen? How could an organization charged with molding these young minds full of mush end up in such a predicament?

They just weren't paying attention - happens all the time.

Full, latest article, cut and pasted to follow.








BELLEVILLE -- Governor French Academy may have to file for bankruptcy to protect itself financially from a dispute involving copy machines, the school's headmaster said Thursday.

"We started to receive bills out of the blue for copiers we don't have," said Governor French founder Phillip Paeltz.

Paeltz said the school has done business with Kevin Welch, of Okawville, for nine years, leasing copying machines from various companies the school staff thought Welch represented. The school staff was under the impression the leases were terminated when they returned the copiers to Welch but discovered later that some of the machines were never returned to the companies, according to Paeltz.

Welch could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Now seven leasing companies are suing the private K-12 school, accusing it of being in possession of 14 copiers. Paeltz said the value of the leases and the machines comes to an estimated $500,000.

Paeltz said the school tried to work through the situation with Welch in April, when school officials first started getting erroneous bills from the copy machine companies, and Welch, according to Paeltz, told the school he would take out a loan to pay the money owed. When he failed to do so, the school filed a civil fraud lawsuit against Welch in July. The lawsuit is pending.

Paeltz said he knows of at least two similar incidents occurring in Illinois, one at a church in Madison County and one at a senior citizens center in Okawville.

Paeltz said the school's next step is to send proposals to the seven companies to settle the dispute.

"If they accept it, then I guess this is over," Paeltz said. "If they don't accept it, we will file for Chapter 11 protections."

Paeltz said a judge will determine the exact amount of the damages in court Wednesday.

Managed Print Services Appointment - Another Ticked Off Konica/Minolta Client:Leasing and "Integrity"

It's sounding like a broken record, she wasn't upset with the service, the response time, or even the performance of her eight Konica Minolta copiers.

I mean, the organization generates 179,000 images a month, why wouldn't they have FOUR, FULL BLOWN 1050'S? Right?

And of course, 36 months into this 60 month, why WOULDN'T the K/M rep come in to upgrade to "bigger, better, faster..." for less?

What?

Do you think this is wrong?

It's a little gift from Mother Nature.

I had a first appointment with a prospective MPS Engagement the other day.

Our primary contact was kind enough to send her current spending and three active proposals - all on one spreadsheet. The more perceptive of you will no doubt see the red flags associated with a prospect dumping this data prior to a first appointment.

It ended up better than I had expected. Although, I do not believe we will sell them anything more than a few small machines over the next 18 months.

Try explaining an 18-month cycle to your sales manager.

The Basic Problems - "This is like Deja Vu all over again."

There are nearly 100 employees in this organization and I expected her to say that they owned 90 plus desktop printers - instead, they have 9. So, that's eight copiers and nine "laser" based desktop units for around 100 users. Very good.

Also, as is my style, I challenged her on some of her internal findings which she quickly and assertively defended - not out of insecurity but because she knew them to be true. It was obvious that the copier dealers hadn't questioned her findings - they ignored them altogether.

Ok, that's TWO in the "plus" column, her stock was rising.

And then the clincher - the lease has two years remaining, these "copier guys are...ripping me off...and I don't know what to do about it". She wants to get out of her lease(impossible), she wants to combine the service volume on all the machines into one invoice(pool volume) and she believes that she does not need so many 1050's(Duh).

And to add insult to injury, she shopped out their existing equipment configurations as if she was engaging today, discovering she is paying double what they "should be paying"(times were different 3 years ago when the lease was initiated)

By now, everyone could see the huge chip on her shoulder, even her.

To make things more interesting, I asked her how it went when she presented all this to Konica/Minolta. Yeah, I know, it's like taking a stick and poking her with it - it's fun and sent her off.

An almost audible 'Click' goes off in my mind. Three check marks in the good column. I decided I could work with her.

So we sold nothing.

For the next 45 minutes, we discussed the Konica Minolta lease. Because she didn't have her copy handy, I pulled out my copy.(Yes, I have copies of almost everyone's lease) and we reviewed it together.

We outline the termination process - "...you mean to tell me when the lease termination date is reached, the lease doesn't really end?", she said, "My rep never told me this. As a matter of fact, when I was asking her and her boss questions about being oversold and their unwillingness to work with me, he said I had just questioned his integrity! Which is improbable, I doubt he has any to question." 

Ouch.

I was considering poking her again with that same stick but decided against it. A mans got to know his limitations.

When we landed on the subject of pooled volume, her attention piqued. You see, she has a minimum on the 1050s that is never reached and minimums on each of the smaller(750's)that they are always over. So if K/M were to put the entire fleet under one min and a single agreement, there would only be one invoice, no overages, and a slightly happier client.

My prospect could only hope, but hope is not a plan, is it?

We instructed her on what to negotiate for, who to negotiate with over what. (Service Manager for service, Sales director for lease) and to always line out whatever you do not like. Again, this point was illustrated with copies of some service agreements, showing bright, red lines through blocks of text.

This is not the first time I have had to do this - in this month alone, I have tutored 3 separate clients with three different copier manufactures in the Dark Art of lease and S.A. negotiation.

The Take-Aways -

This is a classic example of the kind of sales activity that will drive copier dealers bananas, make sales managers question your talent, and ultimately gain you LIFE LONG clients.

We didn't engage around lease payments, volume levels, CPC, CPI, or SLA's. Our discussion, and make no mistake, this was a discussion, revolved around solving problems - the benefits of one simple invoice, the reason to move from capital expenditures to operational, customer service beyond the one hour response time, and especially how a lease should be a lease, not a customer retention device.

And especially. When a copier Vendor's(or anyone's) only move is to argue his "integrity" - put down the pen, the point at him, and laugh in his face.
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Side Note:

It seems lately that I have slammed copier salespeople. I know plenty of really good copier guys/ladies; people who sell openly and upfront, who don't present anything more than what they are. They are professional and committed to helping their customers.

I do not dislike copier people, I like them. 

This is why it is important to point out the bad apples and terrible practices - they make my job so much more difficult.

The bad ones erode the already small amount of trust in the world today- we must confront them, when they are on the other side of an RFP or on the other side of a cubicle wall - fight them.

Check out these:

Again With The "Leasing"! Enough!

"Beware of DLL, a business nightmare..."

Bad Experiences with Leasing - Toshiba, IKON, Canon, Saxon

LeasingCopiers/Output Devices - UnMasked, Revealed, Cracked Open - EXPOSED

Click to email me.

Managed Print Services Assessments - They Do Not Work, Stop Doing Them

2/2009

My first assessment was for 1,100 units. The next one was for 823. And my third assessment was for 523 devices.

A 25 machines assessment took 30 days.

That was over a year ago.

Insanity.

You would think I would have learned.

An early Photizo study revealed that doing an assessment gave you a 50% chance of closing the engagement.

While at the Managed Print Services Conference in San Antonio I agreed with this statistic and mentioned that I closed 50% of the studies/assessments that I performed.

I neglected to say that after no longer doing Assessments, my closing rate went up to 94%.

Interesting, eh?

With just about everybody pitching MPS and free assessments - one needs to ask how much value can something that is free honestly carry?

And let me tell you this, if I do get into a position to be the "second" one in a deal, I get all the data that the person before me obtained - all of it, the spreadsheet, costs, and everything.

So what to do, what to do...

Ask questions, don't do an "assessment".

Take a tour of the complex, don't perform a "survey".

Install your "Supplies Monitoring" software, not your "Data Collection Agent".

Write your findings down and discuss them with your client, in two pages or less; don't let your software generate a stodgy, canned, boilerplate with spreadsheets. Run from PowerPoint.

Use your brain. Use your mind, not a spreadsheet. Present ideas, not proposals.

Just my 0.020 worth, but after all, it is my blog.

Sell-On!

The Single Most Important Tool In Managed Print Services

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