Selling new equipment is a lot like trying to lose weight. Suggesting to someone who’s trying to trim down that they need to “eat right and exercise” is accurate (if trite) advice. Anyone who has shed a fair amount of pounds can attest that there is more than a few fine details that accompany “take in less and exercise more”: calorie limit and counting, best exercise options and frequency, ideal weight for height, expectation-setting, optimal loss per month, etc.
It’s a lot like diversification. With unit placements and page outputs trending down, a colleague could tell you “add (insert product) or offer managed services” which, on the surface, is correct. But we can’t just say, “make more money selling something else” and leave you hanging, right?
Obviously, a couple of paragraphs from fellow dealers who sell what we call “hidden gems” isn’t exactly going to rescue anyone. But as we put the wraps on our State of the Industry report on non-traditional offerings, the idea is to get you thinking along different lines. What fits within the parameters of your current offerings? Is it a product/service that your primary or secondary OEM offers? Do you know anyone else who sells it, perhaps within your peer group, who can offer insight? What percentage of your current book of business might buy into this new offering?
The following examples can be a bit granular, but as you consider them and your own circumstances, maybe you can connect the dots toward an entirely different possibility. Once an idea takes hold, it can lead you down the path of research, and perhaps, enlightenment.
Gaining Consensus
As with any offering, it’s imperative to get a complete commitment/buy-in from your account representatives. T.J. DeBello, vice president of sales for Houston-based Stargel Office solutions, underscores the importance of education and training when it comes to a catalog addition such as label printers. He uses monthly touch points with reps to tout the possibilities for recurring revenue. As it’s not as lucrative an opportunity as a copier would yield, a dealer needs to bake minimums into quotas. Incenting with a bonus at year’s end will strengthen that approach.
A $500 thermal printer that yields a 20% margin may not excite a rep, but the 40% take on substrates, ribbons and other monthly supplies makes it a more attractive proposition. “We’ve got to compensate those reps, and we pay them 10% on the monthly recurring revenue for 12 months of a 36-month contract,” DeBello noted. “It’s important to not have them overlook the thousands of dollars we can get on the back end from a $500 thermal printer.”
Taking the plunge into business process optimization need not be an actual “plunge,” according to Kyle Elliott, president of El Paso, Texas-based Spectrum Technologies. Those dealers wishing to enter that realm can do so slowly, and it doesn’t necessarily mean taking on a client’s end-to-end workflow on the first engagement. Or ever, for that matter.
“Start simple. Focus on one departmental inefficiency that if you could fix, it would be a win for them,” he said. “One example is helping an HR department map out a more efficient way to onboard and offboard their people through a workflow.”
The decision to branch out into IT in an effort to snare more clients is certainly an avenue for those who can absorb the initial costs and are patient with their ROI expectations. The full managed IT catalog, however, can be a tall task, and Adam Ramberg—director of IT consulting for Marco of St. Cloud, Minnesota—suggests a scaled back and more focused approach.
Choosing one’s partners carefully cannot be overstated, particularly when it comes to security protocols. “A client that doesn’t take cybersecurity seriously and refuses to take reasonable action to protect themselves may also be the same type of client to blame you when they get themselves into trouble,” he cautioned. “Long-term IT relationships are different than long-term print relationships, and dealers should understand this before rushing into one.”
Partner Prowess
While we’re on the subject of managed IT, the technology provider a dealer chooses to align with is no less important. A dealer such as Novatech, which markets a managed office platform, wholeheartedly endorses ConnectWise as its partner of choice. The Nashville, Tennessee-based dealer has conducted webinars in conjunction with the IT software and services specialist, and purchases many of security technologies through ConnectWise.
According to Novatech President and CISO Dave Moorman, a dealer can partner with a firm like ConnectWise while in the process of developing their own internal competencies and platform. Novatech has a dedicated security team and relies on ConnectWise for software, training and other elements.
“One of our strategies is there’s certain things that require a specific level of complexity,” he said. “If we can partner with a company that handles that level of complexity, it gives us more time to be out talking to customers, building solutions, deploying and maintaining.”
