Managed Print Services Survey Over at P4PHotel: Xerox Didn't Sponser It, So Gartner Won't Cover It.

Art at P4PHotel has had a poll running for around a month - interesting and not so surprising results.

I have cut and pasted his entire article. You can find it here.

To me, this is a timely reveal, for I have, at this very moment, two separate "doom and gloom" MPS articles almost ready for post as part of my "Decade's End" run of pontifications.

Enjoy this.

Managed Print Service Poll "Review"

We've had this poll running for about a month now, or is it more like three weeks.

Ah, can't remember it's the end of the month, the quarter and the year and I'm being hammered every day about sales!!!!

Ok, back to the poll. We asked: You're now selling Managed Print Services "Your thoughts now". Basically tell us, it is working for you or not!

Here's the choices that vendors had to choose from and the percentages:

It's been a great success for us 27%
It's been ok for us 26%
It's not reaping the profits we thought it would 37%
If we had to do it over, we would not have gotten into MPS 10%

Very interesting to say the least, it seems to me that 47% or almost 1 out of every two vendors are not happy with the move. I thought it would have been more like 80% would have agreed with "It's been a great success for us".

I'm a follower of MPS, I believe it has it's place, however if 47% are unhappy, why is that? It's obvious that I can't answer that question, so I reached out to a friend of mine Greg Walters with Death of the Copier in Southern Cal, here's what he had to say......check back here in a few hours for the response!!

Here's Greg's opine:

You5 study does not surprise me. I know of a few very successful MPS Practices. But I have been taking many, many questions in the past 5 months all around getting an MPS Practice "going".

It seems that most MPS practices are set up on the wrong premise. Whether MPS is thought of as a marketing ploy to move more equipment, a strategic motion to secure existing accounts or a way to capture ongoing, single function volumes, most attention has been focused on "programs" and internal tactics.

We are ignoring or missing the Client in all this.

And...

All the MPS momentum gained from MPS ideas and programs and goals and potential is being bled off before it gets to the Selling Professional. Either the MPS philosophy is so weak, the sales person ignores and continues as always or the MPS philosophy is so complicated and nebulous, the sales person ignores and continues as always.

Here's the secret - Your study does note reflect MANAGED PRINT SERVICES problems, your study reveals basic, selling problems.

Put that on your whiteboard and gaze upon genius...

LOL!

Greg Walters
-=Good Selling=-