In this month’s ENX magazine we examine what it takes to be successful selling light production and wide format as well as the pitfalls to avoid on the road to success. Here we identify what manufacturers can do to help their dealers be successful. (Note that the manufacturers quoted in the ENX article and here are those that were able to respond to our request for interviews or information by our deadline.)
Toshiba America Business Solutions (TABS) offers its dealers and its Toshiba Business Solutions subsidiaries assistance in penetrating major accounts, ensuring that sales reps have an understanding of what production print is and what the customer is looking to achieve. Overall, explains Larry White, senior vice president of sales, TABS, “It’s about right sizing a company’s fleet to make sure one has the right products in the right place.”
Larry White
TABS dealers have access to TABS product specialists such as Product Manager Robert Covington. “He’s available all the time to handle any technical questions that may arise from a sales rep,” states White. “Sometimes sales reps don’t know the answers [to a customer’s questions] so we need a person who can answer those questions and get back to them quickly. That’s important. It’s an important product and as you know that segment is growing faster than other traditional segments in our marketplace.”
“We’ve put a lot of time and effort into this and where we focused on was preparing our dealers to sell into this market,” adds Sharp’s Senior Product Manager Product Planning and Marketing Kent Villarreal about what Sharp does to help its dealers be successful.
For example, Sharp has partnered with EFI for training and showroom assistance and also offers Pro Certification from EFI. “Now we can offer a package to a dealer that includes a showroom machine, a recommended configuration showing our key strengths and the support for the machine,” says Villarreal.
Kent Villarreal
In addition, Sharp provides in-house sales training on the machine. “We give them a Fiery with all the bells and whistles so they can show all the functionality of the Fiery and the machine itself so they can train on it, demonstrate it for customers, and be able to sell this product to its full potential,” explains Villarreal.
EFI, just like the OEMs, offer dealers plenty of resources to help them be successful. But that doesn’t mean the dealers are taking advantage of those resources.
“That’s the part that frankly amazes me,” says Charles Grace, EFI’s vice president of sales. “We spend a lot of time as an organization developing tools, providing samples, and identifying ROI, which help set our solution apart.”
This wealth of information available from EFI even includes personnel. “We have a ton of resources that can really help our dealers elevate their level of competitiveness in the deal and help drive them to the ultimate solution,” emphasizes Grace.
Charles Grace
EFI spends some $130 million on R&D every year and as a result, its solutions are constantly changing, which is why it’s critical for resellers to take advantage of all the resources an company such as EFI has to offer to keep up with all the changes. “The resellers that reach out and are more proactive are the ones that are more successful,” says Grace.
KIP America has a new dealer program that has proven to be effective in the preparation for a successful market introduction for a new dealer, according to Tim Horn KIP America’s vice president of sales. The company also provides strong dealer support and training to help them analyze the vertical markets within their geographic area as well as their current customer base.
“We’re very proactive, once a dealer becomes a KIP sales and service dealer we’re active right up front getting their demonstration products installed and set up as well as providing them with a good marketing plan approach and training for their sales, technical, and admin staff,” reports Horn. “Everybody needs to understand the wide format product and process to make sure we’re meeting the customer’s expectations.”
Tim Horn
In his response to what Ricoh can do to help dealers be successful, Bill Milde, product manager, wide format, Ricoh, places the onus on the dealer. “Earlier we were talking about how important it is to know your product and your customer. That information isn’t static. Successful dealers keep up to date on trends and changes in the industry. New capabilities for ink colors and formulations, and substrates (including glass, aluminum, metal, and even stone and wood) are opening a new world of possible applications. Customers want to talk to an expert. It’s your job to be that expert.”
Even though Milde doesn’t say so, Ricoh also has resources in place to educate and train its dealers to be successful in the marketplace. Although he’s right that the onus is on the dealer, and most of the responses to our question didn’t break any new ground, the truth of the matter is that both dealers and manufacturers are dependent on each other to be successful and that’s something that will never change.
