Managed Print Services - Assessment or Marketing Piece...?

11/2010

I guess it isn't any wonder. As we traverse the MPS path, the once vaulted solutions, seem tainted and unfulfilling.

How many of you host your own server in order to capture the everyday activity from your MIF?

Sounded like a great idea at the time, didn't it?

Do you use 100% of the capacity available? Are you, today, utilizing all the functions and tools of this solution; the same ones that triggered your purchase decision in the first place?

Really? Sure, I bet you don't even use the F7 key in Word, let alone the other 99% of functionality MS-Word gets you. And let's not get started on why your 7-year-old can outrun you, smart-phone to smart-phone.

With more and more MPS providers getting smarter about what works and what doesn't, some, well many, are questioning the effectiveness of the "assessment" and re-visiting the purpose of Quarterly Business Reviews(QBRs).

Evolving takes time.

The Assessment is the beginning of every MPS engagement. There are dozens of philosophies, ideas, angles, and tools in the MPS ecosystem at our disposal.

And still, plenty of questions...Billable or non-billable, custom or generated, abound.

It is just a starting point. To bill or not to bill, depends greatly on your definition of MPS. Worse, there really isn't a right or wrong answer.

Here is the secret - if you are confident your MPS expertise will bring value to your prospect, go forward, and bill for your time.

This takes guts. This means the result of your toil will belong to your client, not you.

This also demands you provide value equal to the amount you charge. And there's the rub.

It's easy to do free assessments, there is no demand for value - one gets what one PAYS FOR. I mean, does Xerox charge customers for brochures? (or Konica or Lexmark or anyone) So why should we expect a prospect to pay for nothing more than one of our "buy from us" slicks disguised as an Assessment?

So, know thyself.

If you refresh fleets 1:1, churn older machines and schedule follow-up calls around lease expiration dates, don't bill for assessments. Don't even try. (forget about non-disclosure agreements too) And that's ok.

On the other hand, if all your ducks are in a row, if you staff a level of MPS expertise the copier dealer down the street can only dream about, go for it.

One More Thing: The "M" in "MPS": Management not Marketing

Assessments are the first step in revealing your MPS practice as detailed and results-oriented. It is the first step in MANAGING the engagement - not capturing clicks inside a service agreement.

Simply put, the assessment shows how committed you are to keeping the 'M' in MPS.

What a concept. I know life is so strange, Destination Unknown...


*** UPDATE, 2016 ***

I'm fortunate to have found a product and a company willing to allow me to build a tool I would use, every day in my MpS practice.

From assessments to service dispatch to business reviews ArcDrive embodies my philosophies around assessments(for print or ANY other niche) and running a profitable practice(for print or ANY other niche).

Contact me for details.

*** UPDATE 2020 ***

ArcDrive is on a break.

Click to email me.

What is ElectroWetting: Dipping a Toe into the Future of "Print"?

"...Electrowetting involves modifying the surface tension of liquids on a solid surface using a voltage. By applying a voltage, the wetting properties of a hydrophobic surface can be modified and the surface becomes increasingly hydrophilic (wettable)..."

HUH?

Right. Ok then.

I didn't think "wettable" was a word. Then I looked it up...in a book.

Electrowetting is the science behind low cost, flexible video-rate "e-paper". So cheap as to be considered disposable.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Turkey Day.

Be thankful.

Managed Print Services Blogging - "...What do You Get Out of This?"

Speechless...almost. 

Part Two of the world-famous, PHOTIZO 2010 Managed Print Services Conference interview with Ken Stewart and me, Greg Walters. 

Burning up the Internet? The latest viral phenom? Negative. 

Fun. That's all. 

This was at THE 2010 Managed Print Services Conference in San Antonio - not a Trekkie or Comic or Dragon Con. Copiers, printers, output. Is there any reason at all that could possibly prevent us from having a little fun, celebrating our unique position in history AND learning from our peers, our fellow MPS Pioneers? 

"No, Greg, there is absolutely no reason we shouldn't have fun..." - good answer. 

The 2011 Managed Print Services Conference is slated for May 2, in Orlando. After the show in Barcelona, the Orlando buzz is starting. 

One question - Will Orlando ever be the same? Here is part 2 and 3. Part one is here. If after viewing you need to wash your brain, check out the Kings of Leon vid. 

Great shots of LA at night. Enjoy.

 

Faces of MPS Media (Part 2) from Misty Hamel on Vimeo.

 

Faces of MPS Media Part 3 from Misty Hamel on Vimeo. 

 

Managed Print Services Conference 2010 - See It All, again and again... 

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Managed Print Services: Cost reduction or 30-40% WASTE Reduction

Here's a quick notion.

What's the difference between "cost" and "waste"?
(Not that this question would be part of any DOTC MPS Professional Certification)

Cost - "An amount paid or required in payment for a purchase; a price..."

Waste - "To use, consume, spend, or expend thoughtlessly or carelessly..."

Cost is the 'acceptable' amount of money you will pay for the water bill each month; waste is the act of leaving the water hose on over the weekend.

Do you see the difference?

Let's continue.

Consider: did all this 30-40% savings simply show up with the advent of MPS?

Weren't there closets full of toner cartridges, back in 2006?

Weren't companies leasing machines with 11x17 capacity, and never using 11x17, back in 2005?

How long has scanning been available? How about ECM and EDM? Or fax servers?

Waste vs. Cost.

Skyline - Don't Look!

Opens today.

If trailers were movies, this one would be Two Toes Up! Way up!

Happy Veteran's Day - Find a Vet, Buy him/her a drink and say thanks...

This is getting disturbing - fewer and fewer people, Americans, don't know the difference between, Memorial Day, Veteran's Day, December 7th, VJ Day, VE Day and the Fourth of July - we forget what happened on Monday, August 6, 1945 and again six days later (Google-itize it for God's sake).

How long until 911 and the Towers fall away - out of the American History text books - hell, do we still teach AMERICAN HISTORY???

Vietnam vets returned home to be spat upon.

Today, some of our fallen come home for their final rest, only to have their families assaulted by the likes of Code Pink and crazy, whacked-out, 6 person congregation, churches.

The F is wrong with this picture?

Because of what they, and generations before them did, we get the honor of being beaten down by goofy Purchasing Agents as we try to save the world with MPS.

Anyway - find a vet and tell him you remember.

'Nuff said...take it away, Kid...






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Who The Hell is Peter Sheahan and what does HE know about MPS?

Peter Sheahan: Keynote MPS Conference Barcelona from Misty Hamel on Vimeo.

I'll tell you who - this guy is from outside our industry, heck outside every industry - HE GETS MPS! MPS is 'anchored in the experience we've garnered to date...'

Somebody, and by 'somebody' I mean PHOTIZO, recognizes that MPS is not all that different from any other disruptive event; not specific to the imaging industry.

Outside perspective, it is not all about us - it’s all about me. (J/k)

I will miss Barcelona and will suffer for it.

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ConnectWise CEO tips hat to MPS: “build the modern office”

At the ConnectWise IT Nation Conference in Orlando, CEO Arnie Bellini talked about his vision.

Here, at the MSPmentor, are 15 points of Arinie's keynote.

Are You Looking For a Good Managed Print Services Provider? How Would you Tell?

Congratulations, you see that you can reduce the costs associated with printing by 30-40% - now what?

Nestled out here, are some very good MPS providers.

Behind the device manufacturers' flowery marketing and dense poser-like foliage, the real MPSr's are here.

Here holding true to customer-centric values - evangelizing MPS as a process not a collection of machines.

Your search is challenging.

Should you call your current IT VAR, have purchasing get with your office supplies vendor, or, god forbid, call the copier dealer who roped you in for 60 months?

Do you really want to be negotiated into an agreement?

How about product demo's or assessments worth exactly what you pay for them?

Honestly, should Purchasing, who is probably responsible for the 30-40% waste in the first place, be in charge of an MPS project? Really?

No - REALLY?

HP's Hurd - Wall Street Journal Timelines the Fall...

In an article by Rubert A. Guth, Ben Worthen and Justin Scheck, at WSJ.COM, new details of the Fall Of Hurd are exposed.(yes, the above is a picture of Jodie, Playboy, 1980)

Even though we are at the tailend of the escapade, the WSJ story is a great summary revolving around the letter sent to Hurd on behalf of Ms. Fisher, from her lawyer, the one and only, Gloria Allred.

Some felt the HP bent Mr. Hurd over, but the seriousness of the allegations apparently made the board stand up and notice.

Ms. Fisher claimed Mr. Hurd revealed to her, HP's intention to purchase EDS prior to publicly announcing - an obvious premature release.

Additionally, Mr. Hurd claims he and Ms. Fisher watched a Minnesota/Green Bay football game, first in the hotel bar and later together in his hotel room. Scurrying off at the "two minute warning."

Well, judging from this shot, she likes Texas, and everybody in Texas is a football fan - correct?

Wow.

The Faces of MPS? "continue...please, with your mockery..."

I have had this linked here for a few weeks now. 

To be honest, I find it a bit puzzling. People seem to like this kinda stuff, this banter. 

Ken is a great guy - one of the first and best - he is greatly involved over at Photizo working on the dealer channel program and contributes to the positive advancement of Managed Print Services, as an MPSA board member. 

 As for me, I am still scratching out an existence as an MPS Practice manager and scheming ways to move DOTC from PG-13 to R. For now, "continue...please, with your mockery..." 

 

Faces of MPS Media Part 3 from Photizo Group on Vimeo.

Faces of MPS Media (Part 2) from Photizo Group on Vimeo.

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