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.
"...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
There is no (Artificial) Intelligence in Office Technology Today.
Is Artificial Intelligence helping copier dealers increase sales, decrease costs and grow profits? Today? Right now?
No.
Here's the deal:
Everyone is looking for that ‘Killer AI App” – they are
looking at it wrong.
Everyone thinks AI is a great tool for marketing – they are
thinking wrong.
Everyone is biased toward AI regulations – their bias is
misplaced.
There isn’t going to be an “AI Killer AP” because Artificial
Intelligence IS the killer app.
Sure, Ai can generate reams of well structure, grammatically correct, and coherent copy - much like any newspaper up until 1988 - for a fraction of the human cost. And yes, branded images, logos, videos and voice overs are a few clicks away from fruition. But in the end, organic writing will prevail as Ai will level the playing field, making us all the best writers and artists, money can buy.*
We are in the explorer phase of the journey, like da Gamma, Columbus and Luis and Clark. Regulation, guidelines and laws will need to wait until the pioneers and settlers arrive. For now, we are making up behaviors as we go. Any attempt to reign in the fury will only frustrate and irritate our efforts, and stifle innovation. Besides, rules and regs on Ai at this point will not work they will only separate the sheep from the rebels - possibly turning heroes into pariahs.
Recent market data for the global hardcopy peripherals (HCP) market saw a 10.6 percent yearly decline, though MPS growth has continued across the world. HP shows an 18.6% decline in unit shipments, Y/Y. - IDC, 2016
It doesn't need to be said, does it? The office environment has been moving away from print for the past decade. I know it, the OEMs know it, and in your heart, you know it too.
Managed print services is a trailing indicator, 'growth' is a statistic anomaly - expanding in a shrinking pool - there are no new clicks.
You want to survive and thrive in the technology industry. It's easier to sell copiers and implement a managed print services practice than it is to bring a managed services practice but the IT world represents growth and opportunity.
What should you do?
"...Come With Me Now..."
Years ago, I preached the coming of managed print services as the wave of the future.
Then, I saw managed print services as an on-ramp to business process/workflow optimization, teaching simple, workflow analysis embedded in the standard assessment.
Next, evangelizing managed services as the new frontier for copier/printer providers, I recommended third-parties like Collabrance and Continuum.
Today, I've come full circle and looking at managed print services basics. The tools I've seen, and I've seen or worked with almost all of them - are impressive.
Here are some of my observations:
Heavy - cumbersome to use, demand time from MpS practitioner
Print-data, intense - print only, some end-user, but no outside asset data
Sales static - the 'map' and client data remain in the sales silo, or not easily transportable into contracts or service
The Tool 'does the thinking for you' - plug the data in and out comes a current and recommended state in a 300 page Word doc
I see lots of TCO tools, column reports, graphs, and dashboards and I think we can do better. I'm looking at how I conduct assessments and the tools I would use in the field. Additionally, I'm taking a holistic view - I'd like to know how the fleet is performing in terms of service calls and profitability.
Finally, I'd like to be in a position to offer my clients an engagement that includes ANY asset type.
With this in mind, we've designed a tool that:
Collects data from multiple databases: DCA, service desk, dispatch, accounting system
Helps you easily conduct assessments and present mapped proposals
Enables you to create, and doesn't do the thinking for you
Point #1 Real management software displays ANY asset; printers, copiers, desktops, laptops, phones, projectors, oxygen bottles. But more impactful, is our ability to draw together related, yet disconnected data. For instance, we show the number of service calls placed on an asset, the install date, the number of toners delivered, revenue and profit generated; for the universal MIF, client fleet, or individual asset.
The solution must work within your managed print services ecosystem - the 'map' not only supports new sales, but integrates through sales to service to management to ownership; salespeople engage and asses, service utilizes mapping, and management looks into real-time financial information with the tap of a screen.
Point #2
With or without a DCA/Thumb drive, a practitioner conducts interviews and records findings. Manual entry of device data(manufacturer, model, volumes, etc.) is achieved through the use of the onboard survey tool. Machine data files may be uploaded or directly integrated, but is not necessary.
Point #3
Some existing systems deliver everything from a prospect's total cost of operation to a final proposal in Word leaving the "specialist" with nothing more to do than email the proposal or deliver pie.
I cannot tell you how often I’m asked for an ‘assessment’ or ‘mps contract’ sample. I’ve conducted assessments on paper, laptops, and in my head but I still use a basic outline of questions.
“We interviewed 25 employees and 62% of them responded that service calls are not being completed within 72 hours. 87% felt ordering toner required three to four hours to complete.”
Atlas - MpS. Assessment Logic*
We’ve incorporated a survey function that can be administered for each asset. In the case of a non-integrated - no DCA software - simple machine data collected on one screen. This isn't a data dump, the questions included collect relevant information you need to create a compelling proposal. I’ve also included basic workflow questions and sales related queries.
Once the survey is completed, the data is attached to that specific asset - the answers can be used as analysis. For instance, “We interviewed 25 employees and 62% of them responded that service calls are not being completed within 72 hours. 87% felt ordering toner required three to four hours to complete.” could be one of your compelling arguments for change.
Atlas - MpS. Contract Completion*
The sales and service teams rarely communicate but an integral part of a great customer experience is the effortless transition from proposing to implementing. One important issue is to correctly communicate data proposed, like existing device serial numbers, location, point of contact, beginning meter reads, CPI, etc. The information is captured during the assessment and proposal stage - why not simply populate a .PDF of your engagement?
Why not have the digital version of your contract available for signature immediately after the presentation? Atlas - Mps has this capability to complete your contract. Print it if you like, or have your client digitally sign right then and there. Email the completed form to your contracts department and have the account set up before you get back to the office. Ring that bell.
Atlas - MpS. Print Policy Framework*
Ultimately, a fully engaged, high level managed print services engagement results in a Print Policy.
Atlas - MpS, will create the blank Print Policy template and present data to support the generation of content.
Once the print policy is in place, Atlas - MpS helps you managed the engagement against the goals set forth in the policy. The information is real time, specific data points are monitored and statused as either “in or out of policy”.
No more quarterly reviews - review the fleet and goals of the program at any time.
One More thing…
Atlas is adept at integrating disparate databases and managing IT assets. Once you begin to utilize Atlas - MpS, the door opens into the IT realm. We’re not suggesting you invest in a data center, or engage with a third party to provide help desk, end-point monitoring services. We suggest talking with your IT contacts about “Asset Lifecycle Management”. You help track their IT assets, manage technology upgrades and equipment refresh with Atlas all for a monthly subscription. We can help you.
Atlas - MpS is different, simple and dynamic, helping managed print practitioners solidify their position in imaging, while opening opportunities outside of print.
Wow, I guess whining doesn't happen exclusively in the printer channel...
Looks like HP is opening the "wallet" for some HP partners as it has at CDW.
From an article at CRN - "Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) channel executives said Monday that they are willing to fund SMB initiatives for small solution providers, including co-funding employee salaries, in an effort to capture more market share..."
This announced after a little ruckus occurred following HP's announcement to work with CDW.
But as Adrian Jones, HP's vice president and general manager, Americas Solution Partners Organization said, "...give us your ideas. Give us your proposals about how we can work together to co-fund and co-invest in that [SMB] segment and we will gladly listen and gladly work with you. ... we've invested in large partners. We've invested in small partners. And we are going to continue to invest in the SMB market. If we've got partners that feel that they can help us reach the SMB space, please give us a call."
***
I know this to be true. I know partners who work with HP in this capacity.
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?
A longtime Xerox partner has to take on a newbie Xerox dealer.
The Newbie looses the bid. The Newbie plays the "he didn't play fair" card. Ends up representing all that is wrong in copier sales. This article from the Westport News, written by Frank Luongo, explains it all better than I could. ----- Rejected copier bidder protests contract choice By Frank Luongo
In losing the bidding competition for the Westport school system's new contract for photocopier management services, CBS/Xerox (CBS) of Newington has described the outcome as fiscally flawed. "It is without question that this is an irresponsible financial decision to the taxpayers of the Town of Westport, the Westport Board of Education (BOE), as well as the respective teachers, faculty and students," CBS President Wilson Vega expressed in a formal protest on Dec. 18 to Assistant Superintendent for Business Nancy Harris.
Vega said that the school system would be paying $137,168 more over the term of the contract than the CBS bid would have cost, based on what he said would be an annual higher cost of $34,292 in the ACT agreement.
ACT President Gregory Gondek said in a telephone interview Wednesday that the net cost of leasing replacement machines for a 60-month term, together with a run of 5,000,000 copies at a $.0090 cost-per-copy, would be $45,000 per quarter, after a credit to the school system of $3,208 each quarter for the machines replaced.
A review of the bid documents shows that CBS, which is owned by Xerox, had proposed quarterly payments over the course of a 48-month equipment lease, ranging from $39,074 to $39,873, depending on the option chosen, based on a quarterly volume of 5,008,251 copies at a $.0042 cost per copy.
In answering CBS's protest on Dec. 22, Harris did not respond to Vega's claim about the higher costs of ACT's services, but said that his letter "incorrectly" assumed that the "photocopy management services were awarded on the basis of which bidder bid the lowest price."
Rather, Harris said, the school system's request for proposals (RFP) for copier services had made it clear that the BOE at its "sole discretion" would make the award based on a range of considerations "in addition to price.
The BOE, in fact, did not "review or approve the bid responses," according to Marjorie Cion, the executive assistant to the superintendent, who confirmed by e-mail, after consultation with Superintendent of Schools Elliott Landon, that the school board did not take up the copier contract matter at a meeting in public or in executive session.
In a "certificate of fact" for the law firm that represents the school system, Shipman and Goodwin, Landon said that the copier-contract agreement had been "duly authorized and approved" by the action of the school board, authorizing him and Harris "to sign contracts on behalf of the Board of Education."
The certificate notes that there is "no action or other proceeding pending" that could impede the enforcement of the agreement except the CBS protest.
On the basis of Landon's certification and a meeting with CBS on Jan. 6, Shipman and Goodwin said in letter to CBS on Jan. 8 that "the board's decision to award the contract to Advanced Copy Technologies is final. The board deems this matter to be closed."
Cion said in an e-mail message that, according to Landon, Shipman and Goodwin's description of the board's role uses legal "terms of art" to convey the point that Landon and Harris had acted under a BOE authorization for them to sign contracts, not that the board had "decided to award" the contract.
The signing authorization, which eliminates the need for a direct BOE review and approval of contracts, was contested several years ago in a copier-contract dispute over the transfer of the school system's copier services also from a Xerox company to ACT, which has now had its services extended.
In the new contract dispute, Harris maintains that CBS did not satisfy the RFP requirement that the vendor supply only newly manufactured, "latest model" equipment with no "recycled, reconditioned, remanufactured or used parts."
Harris said in the Jan. 8 letter that CBS's response to the RFP "discloses" that the company's proposed equipment "contains recycled components."
CBS had tried to counter that contention, according to a letter from Vega on Dec. 30, by saying that its Xerox machines are new, but "as with most manufactured products today, there are some elements of recycling in order to meet government standards as well as to be environmentally responsible."
"All office product manufacturers have adopted the policy of using recycled parts as a way of reducing their carbon footprint," Vega said, including Lanier/Ricoh, which manufactures ACT's copier machines.
Gondek denied that the machines his company uses have recycled components. He said that he has visited Lanier/Ricoh plants and has seen only totally new copiers, although he acknowledged that the manufacturer does recycle toner cartridges and printer drums.
Harris said that CBS had also failed to prove that it has been a "factory authorized dealer for the products being proposed for a minimum of three years," as she wrote to CBS, pointing out that CBS has been owned by Xerox only since May of 2007, which, she said, fails to meet the school system's service-experience test in its RFP.
In answering that objection, Vega relied on the good reputation of the Xerox product, its standing as a Fortune 500 company and the fact that CBS is currently servicing Xerox products in the public schools of Greenwich, Darien, East Windsor, Guilford, Madison, Old Saybrook Ridgefield, Trumbull, Watertown, Weston and Wilton.
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.
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?
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.
The plan was that, once COVID-19 receded, employees would return to the office, their printers, copiers, coffee machines, and cubicles.
But will they print? Will they copy? Will they return to habits of the past? It really doesn’t matter. Print will happen and your clients are exploring cost-reducing processes and offerings – managed print services can be your vehicle for higher revenues.
Selling MPS and copiers is nothing new. There are thousands of articles and dozens of tools in the market designed to help you find prospects, build a total cost of operation, generate proposals, and close deals.
I’m not going to regurgitate facts and processes a decade old. However, in the new way of selling that is post-COVID-19, I point out one important view: now is the time to expand from transactional selling to experiential selling.
This is a big shift, and it starts between your ears.
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.
Yes, MpS is coming back. I know dozens of successful MpS practices engaging clients, supporting MpS, and making a profit today; it isn't that we've completely abandoned the idea. But, I'm observing that we've left MpS to pursue the latest shiny object, managed services. I'm not deriding that effort - worthy is the quest away of print. And no, clients haven't fallen prey to our hypnotic social media or cold call campaigns - they've heard the "30% savings" mantra and see through the "optimized fleet" scheme. What I see is that we've come full circle. MpS programs, benchmarks, best practices, and philosophies have been rooted and everyone has logged their "10,000 hours. Today, we've got programs and associations: CompTia's Managed Print Services community, Xerox PagePack, Canon MDS, Ricoh MDS, HP MPS, Toshiba Encompass, Lexmark MPS, Sharp MPS, Muratec MPS, Kyocera MDS, Okidata MPS and the grand daddy of them all, your Managed Print Services Association. Today's software, unavailable in 2008, reads devices and spits out proposals in the blink of an eye.
Like cities in the dark, MpS programs dot the landscape: Supplies Network, Digitec, LMI, Clover, Synnex and more provide sales training, assessment/TCO tools, and automatic toner fulfillment. These managed print services pillars are proven, standardized and in place. In other words, managed print services is the status quo. The establishment is MpS.
Consider the following: MpS is part of a stale and complacent offering. Is there anything staler than copiers, printers, and paper? No. There is nothing more old-fashioned than marks on paper. Don't believe me? Ask your customers. The providers are not in touch with customers. While we've been promoting OEM-specific solutions and telling prospects about our 14 new models, businesses have been shifting from copying to scanning, relieving themselves of those big, nasty A3 copiers, and going paperless - without our help. Think I'm wrong? Check Xerox's earnings for the past 3 years; review HP's numbers for the same period and feel for those Lexmark CxOs, crash-coursing Mandarin. They all lost touch years ago. These shinny offerings are wedged into old business models. I've had paying clients tell me, "...if it(managed services) doesn't fit into the 'blah, blah, blah', copier dealer business model, it will never work..." Indeed, even successful managed print services practices utilize yesteryear's example; contractual services tied to equipment placements. What once was our strength, is now our greatest weakness. "Complacent, out of touch, old business models"- I challenge you to google, "How to Recognize an Industry Ready for Disruption" - you'll find that we are sitting on the bubble. The niche is primed for major turbulence; bigger than experienced at the beginning of MpS, and separate from current consolidations(OEM/Dealer). I suggest that you and I are on the cusp of a Revelation and Revolution. The MpS 'third day'. Resurrection. This time, the MpS revolution will be carried forward by in-the-field, MpS practitioners, free of stifling processes and discombobulated compensation plans... This time, executives who've forgotten how to sell, aren't fashioning a strategy designed to secure more self space, create equipmentquotas then calling it 'managed print services'...
This time, we help our clients move away from ink, away from printers, away from copiers, without the promise of 30% savings...
Who's coming with me? This moment will be the moment of "....something real and fun and inspiring in this God-forsaken business and we will do it, together..."
Are you a copier salesperson looking to boost your sales and enhance your client engagement?
Join us for an exclusive online session on Thursday, April 6 at 11:00 AM EST, where we will reveal how to harness the power of ChatGPT to revolutionize your copier, document management, and IT services sales strategy. Discover how this advanced AI tool can help you craft personalized and compelling content, generate insightful findings documents, and proposals, and create engaging email campaigns that will captivate your prospects and clients.
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".
Out with the old, in with the AI: Copier sales just got a techy upgrade
In the ever-evolving world of copier sales, the digital age and AI are reshaping how we approach our prospects. Dive into how these changes are impacting the industry and what it means for the future of sales.
Executive Bullet Points:
The digital age has transformed prospects from passive recipients to active participants, conducting their own product assessments.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing copier sales, offering real-time insights, and enhancing sales strategies.
Modern sales training must evolve, focusing on experiential selling and leveraging AI to meet the needs of informed customers
"What's old is new." A statement uttered by countless generations before and leagues to come. For me, and I am sure many timeline-compatriots, today's world seems eerily reminiscent. Certainly not identical, and more than nostalgic. More like a Renaissance.
Managed Print Services is still alive and experiencing a bump. Partly due to some pent-up demand and a reduction of IT resources.
The demand is provisional. I still believe pivoting into IT services is possible, not strictly because of an existing print-centric relationship as much as the supporting infrastructure of MPS practices is a solid foundation for the transition.
Sales and marketing will shift demographics and talk tracks, but needs assessments and proposals are parallel paths. But again, the demand for IT services has a shelf life.
Consolidation runs rampant, and the larger, establishments remain overconfident in their temporary position.
Smaller, more agile companies bite at their ankles, stirring up turbulence and poised to disrupt the onetime disruptors.
On a more celestial stage, the Webb telescope released stunning photos of our both crowded and sparse galactic neighborhood. The pictures are sure to give a great perspective.
The DOTC Office Technology Partnership Ecosystem continues to grow as we welcome All Associates to the realm. These guys have been measuring office output usage and Running Up That Hill, since the 80s.
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.
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
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?
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.
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