Only you can prevent MPS from becoming a commodity by expanding your MPS offering to include managing documents, as well as print.
Would you rather sell a commodity or value?
If commodities are your preferred offering, you need to think hard about whether that is a good long-term strategy for your business because you could easily find yourself out in the cold, wondering why some other companies have eaten your lunch and taken business you once counted on away from you.
Far too many MFP and printer dealers have yet to admit that the game has changed. No longer are promises of fast service, charging low click rates, and having the best prices on machines and toner the deciding factors in cementing agreements with customers. MFPs and printers are more reliable than ever, designed so users can do much of their own basic servicing, and toner is readily available from many online sources, often at a fraction of the costs a local dealer offers. And, while that third-party toner is unbranded, it is still pretty much the same ground-up plastic as the pricey stuff that comes in boxes wearing a name brand. Toner, at least for many office-class machines, is increasingly generic, meaning your margins have disappeared and customers can get toner that works from a place with a name that ends in “dot com.”
In fact, some industry experts believe “print” may no longer be the right term for all that is really being done. In this digital age, printing is becoming a less critical part of the document creation and production process, bringing us closer to the time when dealers provide managed document services, as opposed to managed print services
“There continues to be a shift to managed document services because the workflow around a document encompasses more than just printing,””¯explained Sarah Henderson, director of MPS and professional services at Clover Imaging Group.
Henderson noted that dealers who work to better understand their clients can find opportunities for advanced solutions around document management and the implementation of user-based policies versus basic device management. This can be a game-changer for dealers because it repositions them as a more valuable service provider.
So what can you do?
The reflexive or reactive move is to bundle all your services and support managed print services (MPS). This sounds astute and forward-looking, but for many office technology dealers, this is just a way to merge break-fix service, tech support, and toner into a single package. This is a bit like grooming a dog for a big show. The pooch looks a bit better, but it’s still just a dog.
The next step, still something of an old-school MPS, is selling several smaller printers instead of a few larger ones. Usually done under the guise of managed services and involving a topical business analysis, this arrangement gives the illusion of involving a customer’s challenges, but it is actually more likely to hide some underlying issues. Chances are, a customer’s real difficulties are not printing itself, but some related processes that may have nothing to do with putting toner on a page.
Combining the Input and Output
The Managed Print Services of America (MPSA) website, combined with insights from experts on the topic, provides a broader story of how dealers must combine both the input and output ends of production. This begins with electronic receipt of documents through production and shipping, just as many commercial printers already do. The overarching theme is providing multiple business processes that add value for customers””essentially helping make their businesses work better.
A law firm with 25 copiers and printers, for example, has zero interest in becoming an expert in any aspect of printing. To be sure, they need all those machines to work as intended, but they also want””make that need””a complete document management process that ensures every document, printed or not, is stored and managed so that it is available on computers, tablets, or smartphones. And while there is software that helps do those things, law firm staff doesn’t have the bandwidth to become document management experts. They want””make that expect””you to do that for them.
“A document management strategy is a harder sell for both a dealer and its customers, but it is also a stickier sell,” affirmed Tawnya Stone, MPSA president, and vice president for strategic partner technology at GreatAmerica Financial Services Corporation. “When an MPS provider is involved with a customer’s processes, it is much harder to replace them with another provider. They have become too embedded in a company. A dealer coming in with its cheaper toner just commoditizes their business, because even cheaper toner is a couple of click away on the web.”
Get consultative
“I believe dealers need to get back to approaching the managed print services sales process as consultative versus a “˜CPP quote,'” said Clover Imaging’s Henderson.”¯”An assessment helps a dealer understand the needs of its clients. Then, value-added solutions such as document management software, advanced print controls, managed IT services and more will be apparent, and dealers can provide them based on a client’s needs.”
Even so, there can be more than managing the flow of documents though a customer’s operation. For example, the technology company in which you placed 131 MFPs and printers needs a higher level of document management, along with some deep layers of cybersecurity, to keep their work secret from the prying eyes of competitors and larcenous hackers. And, you are no doubt thinking, that law firm probably needs security, too. You’re right. So, would you rather be the go-to supplier for document management and security options, or let that business bypass you completely? After all, you can always schlep cheap toner, right? Wrong.
Improve the CX
“One of the goals of a strong MPS program is finding ways to take the risk out,” said Grad Rosenbaum, vice president and general manager, Americas Solutions, at HP Inc. “Printing appears simple but can be quite complex. But you can put the customer first by redefining the customer experience (CX) and doing more than expected.”
Rosenbaum believes it’s important to move from products to outcomes, for example, how smoothly and easily multiple relevant documents can be combined, managed, printed, and distributed so they can be used to help a customer achieve its goals.
“This is a moving target, so we review each account every 90 days to make sure we are aligned with what the customer needs,” he said. “This is important because those needs are continuously evolving and the review process helps ensure we stay aligned with customers’ requirements.”
This proactive approach also addresses customers’ learning curves. For instance, as a customer adopts new aspects of document management, they may ask if an additional, perhaps more sophisticated, capability is available. If it is, then maybe it can be implemented and improve the customer experience. While this may be a relatively simple process for a dealer with the requisite expertise, the result can be almost magical to customers who may place a high value on the new service.
The Critical Part
“The critical word is “˜managed,'” affirmed Kevin DeYoung, president of QualPath, a dealer that is a leader in providing state-of-the-art MPS. “Some dealers pass all the risk onto the customer, claiming they can’t make money providing services. But when you dig into how they operate and what they offer, you find they are in a race to the bottom””selling everything for as little as possible. It’s hard to make money that way.”
This is a pervasive tendency across many service businesses. Someone will always be willing to do what you need for less. And while a company can survive being the lowest priced, or even the lowest cost provider, it is not a strategy for success.
“Instead, talk with your customer and learn about the pain points, the things that keep him awake at night,” said DeYoung. “This gives you a deeper understanding of his needs and the places where you can provide solutions. Then, you can craft a true managed services program attuned to that customer’s needs.”
No matter how you proceed, though, no true MPS is a cookie-cutter solution. While all MPS strategies share the strategies of managing the many aspects of printing, each customer has different needs. Some may have workflow problems, others may need to integrate complex document management processes across multiple locations, and still others may need both internal and external security protocols put in place. And nearly all will need to include internet and mobile capabilities for a relentlessly interconnected 24/7 world. And if you don’t provide it, because you are busy selling commodities, someone else will.
The first steps can be assessing customer needs, selecting the right mix of equipment, and packaging a competitively priced plan, but the real value lies in being a partner that supports each customer’s unique needs. The customer expects your MPS program to make the document production portion of their business easier.
“That’s what they are buying,” said GreatAmerica’s Stone. “We don’t necessarily print a lot at GreatAmerica, but we have an enormous number of documents flowing around the company digitally. We need all that managed so we don’t have to think about it. That’s why we pay a dealer for a top-notch MPS that does the things that are important to us.”
“To differentiate an MPS program, dealers must get back to the basics of taking time to do a discovery of their current print environment, understand pain points, and sell customized solutions,” said Henderson. “Be a consultant to your client.”
Pricing and Partnering
West McDonald, now with Tigerpaw Software, and one of the industry’s leading MPS thought leaders, maintains there are three types of dealers these days:
- Those that are looking (and hoping) to be purchased;
- Those who are frustrated with the dealer and print markets and are looking for alternatives (or ways out); and
- Ones who want to manage customer information more efficiently and add more value, and gain a bigger share of each customer’s wallet.
The last group, he says, are the ones who will be successful because they know they can no longer sell based on price.
“More and more data is being produced every day and it’s all digital,” he noted. “But that doesn’t mean it will all be printed. In fact, much of it won’t. So if a dealer is looking ahead, he will be seeking ways to help customers print when they need to, while also managing all the documents and data so the customer doesn’t need to think about it.”
This means, continued McDonald, that a dealer must learn many things that have little to do with printing, but that solve customer problems.
Obviously, this can be hard to do in a vacuum. So how and where do you gain the skills you need to raise the bar on the services you offer?
By partnering.
The pace of technology is so fast that catching up is like trying to get aboard a plane that is already halfway down the runway. So, you look for companies with expertise in the areas where you are weak. If document management and digital workflows aren’t in your wheelhouse, find companies who specialize in these areas and join forces with them. The same approach works for sophisticated areas like cybersecurity. The sales dogs from companies specializing in these areas are probably not calling on the same people your sales guys are and will likely welcome new opportunities.
Begin by talking with your customers to gain a real sense of their issues. Then, for those you can’t address, look for partners with the expertise you need. Together, there is success with continued business viability and money on the table.
What is interesting to note is that only about 30% of office technology dealers offer any type of true MPS where they are managing a range of customers’ document processes. That means there is a lot of room for smart, forward-looking dealers to transform the market.
Are you one of them? After all, would you rather sell a commodity or value?
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