It’s time that ancillary offerings get their just due as a primary talking point when dealer reps are discussing how they can provide additive solutions to their clients. But are we kidding ourselves?
The term, by its definition, would suggest otherwise. Ancillary, as an adjective, is described as providing necessary support to the primary activities or operations of an organization. In a sense, everything in a dealer’s catalog provides a support function to a client’s main objectives. And while MFPs and managed services are largely viewed as primary offerings, it does not necessarily follow that they must be the leading conversation point.
After all, some clients may already be on board with you or another dealer for MPS, as an example, but that doesn’t, and shouldn’t, close off other avenues to provide a product or service.
Thus, the answer to the question posed by the above headline is a resounding yes in most cases. In this week’s State of the Industry look at ancillary products, our dealer panel provides insight as to how and why these conversations are crafted as an entry point with a client as opposed to a downstream opportunity to round out an engagement.
There are certain ancillary offerings that, by their nature, tend to stand on their own, and shredding services fit the bill. Marco of St. Cloud, Minnesota, utilizes a third-party service to generate many of its leads, and its website contains a quote tool to help entice clients.
Jeff Olson, director of project management for Marco, notes shredding provides an excellent cross-selling opportunity for current print clients in the areas it serves. “We hope to generate additional revenue with seasonal purge projects or adding hard drive destruction and e-waste recycling with each client,” he said.
Office furniture and design can be a tricky proposition for dealers whose main thrust is IT or MPS, as getting in the door can often be problematic. Chip Miceli, CEO of Pulse Technology in Schaumburg, Illinois, feels companies that handle multiple products and services are most successful when they operate from the vantage point that talented salespeople can sell anything.
“These generalists in sales can help open the doors and then, if needed, turn the opportunity over to someone else on the team experienced in that specific field,” Miceli added.
MFP-Free Propositions
When an ancillary product is completely unrelated to the dealer’s core product and service offering, such as janitorial and sanitation (jan/san) products, it frees a company such as Eakes Office Solutions of Grand Island, Nebraska, to focus on end-users that may have no need for MFPs, notes Nate Schaf, director of marketing. That opens the prospect list to any office with people.
“It is a comprehensive category and is another opportunity to partner with a prospect even if we do not have business in other categories,” he said. “We have successfully used jan/san to open doors for our categories just like we do with any other category.”
In positioning business process outsourcing as a solution that can help clients improve their operations and drive business results, KDI Office Technology of Aston, Pennsylvania, is able to create a compelling value proposition that can generate interest and engagement from clients, notes Rick Salcedo, president and CEO. KDI recognizes the importance of leveraging existing relationships and its portfolio of solutions to generate interest and awareness for its ancillary offerings.
“By highlighting our expertise and experience in delivering high-quality solutions, we are able to build trust and credibility with our clients and position our ancillary offerings as natural extensions of our core capabilities,” Salcedo said.
Certain ancillaries can also stake claims to environments where MFPs dare not tread. Take Stone’s Office Equipment (SOE) of Richmond, Virginia, and its bottle-less water systems from Wellsys. The offering can piggyback with other foundational offerings in a client engagement, but there are scenarios in which it definitely calls for a stand-alone proposition, according to Carson Stone, product and solutions specialist.
“We offer water to existing clients but also recognize there are some accounts we cannot penetrate with copiers, but we can with water,” he said. “For example, we don’t usually place copiers in auto mechanic locations, but they use a lot of water. Also, we’ve placed water in national chains in which we can’t sell copiers or printers.”
