Our June state of the industry look at smart office/future office innovations provided a glimpse of tools off the beaten MFP path, from interactive white boards to virtual receptionists, cloud-based services, VoIP and conference room management solutions.
To further the conversation, we asked our dealer panel to provide insight as to how these technologies fit within their company’s sales framework, along with the challenges of selling modern tools that help bolster a client’s efficiencies.
Chelsey Bode, president of Pearson-Kelly Technology in Springfield, Missouri, notes that when the dealer is calling on prospects for the first time, the strategy is to not open with the customary “when is your lease up, and who makes the decision for copiers?” The dealer’s solutions specialist has provided reps with the confidence to lead with solution selling, and arming them with the right talk track.
“It’s more about developing a case study that has solved a problem and trying to identify which clients may naturally have a similar pain point,” Bode said. “We’ve had lots of success in cloud fax solutions. Nobody likes to spend money on antiquated technologies and we have a great solution backed by even greater support.”
She feels Pearson-Kelly’s greatest success has been less about selling the technologies and more about a “pattern interrupt” to get a foot in the door and become a total solutions partner. “We may start the relationship with some hot-topic dialogue and we sell something we didn’t realize we’d end up discussing,” she added.
Product Awareness
Creating awareness around the availability of technologies and their ability to address pain points is the driver for DOCUmation of San Antonio, Texas. According to Hunter Woolfolk, co-president, the dealer’s goal is to create a partnership with business technology by providing that insight and identifying opportunities for the client. There are no hard and fast rules with sales; sometimes they’re independent conversations, and other times they’re broached along with IT and print inquiries.
Interactive flat-panel displays from Ricoh have made for valuable conversation starters. “For branches that have mobile users, home users and multiple facilities, this is an absolute pain point for them,” he said. “These give me the ability to be home with my family and jump on these smart boards and have the same effect as if I was across the table from employees.”
While Woodhull LLC of Springboro, Ohio, is not looking to divest itself of the MFP anytime soon, it enjoys taking a different route toward the box narrative. It boasts the highest revenue in commercial imaging and scanning services among Ricoh resellers, which dovetails nicely into the IFPDs for multiple verticals.
“It’s nice to offer robust technologies that help provide more profitability and help your direct revenue and cost savings,” said Robert Woodhull, marketing director. “When you can expand to positively affect the process, the relationship that we develop with the customer is drastically different than taking an old vendor approach.”
However, the digital transformation conversation can be a messy one, particularly with scanning, involving process mapping and a consultative approach, Woodhull notes. Such conversations also lead to a longer sales process, and reps have to be more diligent with understanding what outcomes the client desires.
“We’re addressing issues with companies that they might have purposely avoided, or stuck to a methodology they were used to, or swept under the rug,” he said. “We start to uncover things that are a little messier than intended. It’s like stripping your walls and finding black mold. You didn’t want to find it, but you did and now you have to address it. That’s where the benefit of our service approach comes in.”
Showroom Addition
Plus Inc. of Greenville, South Carolina, recently began offering IFPDs earlier this year, having renovated some office space into a 2,300-square-foot showroom. David Carson, Plus president, noted his company is going to make a big push with them over the next six months to go wider with existing clients while enticing prospects.
In regards to selling, Carson tells employees that one-quarter of customers make decisions based on price, and another quarter
“If you can talk to them and get a product in there, and have a good company behind you, then you’ve just started the relationship,” he said. “We’ve found that we converted a lot of copier customers to IT customers, and a lot of IT customers to copier customers, strictly because of our relationships. You want them to be able to earn the rest of that client’s business where all the recurring revenue lies.”
Impact of Lake Forest, IL, trains all of its account managers, sales reps and solutions experts to recognize the challenges that exist in modern office and speak to the dealer’s ability to help. While an initial conversation may center on MFPs, a consultation may yield that the biggest challenge a client faces is an IT issue.
“We aren’t looking to sell any one specific thing; we are looking to solve challenges and transform organizations, to build relationships that will last through an entire roadmap,” said Jon Evans, director of solutions architecture.
Some topics better lend themselves to a transition into other technologies, adds Mark Sengstock, director of enterprise solutions. “Specifically for our EPR offering, it can be challenging to segue from MFP to ERP, but for our other offerings, we can usually migrate an MIT, BPA, or D&M conversation to ERP,” he said. “For example, an MIT conversation revolving around old servers can lead to replacing the current ERP that is requiring those servers
