You never know who may end up sitting next to on the bus ride over.
This year some of the offline talk revolved around the OEMs - indeed, we had Xerox, HP, Ricoh, and Canon all on one stage fielding questions. I don't think this has ever happened before.
One conversation that struck me was about 'control' or better yet, the lack of control the OEMs have relative to just 2 years ago. Control over the industry, over the channel, over the customer.
I detected a bit of anxiety, bitterness. Granted, the relationship between dealer and OEM has always been strained, right? And over the years, we've all heard the common complaints, the same gripes -
I detected a bit of anxiety, bitterness. Granted, the relationship between dealer and OEM has always been strained, right? And over the years, we've all heard the common complaints, the same gripes -
- "manufacturers quotas are unrealistic and they keep changing"
- "they are shifting their warehousing cost to us"
- "why is your service rate so high"
- "how can I compete when your toner pricing is so high?"
- "CBS vs. the Canon dealer"
- "RBS vs. the Ricoh dealer"
- "direct vs. the dealer'
- "Are they redefining an Enterprise Level Account, again?"
- "thank goodness for back-end and MDF..."
But this time it was different. This time, as I listened, waftng through the angst was something different. A bad smell.
Difficult to pinpoint. But then it hit me. It was the stench of fear.
You see, these self-proclaimed 'independents', were not simply complaining, they were scared. For a second, I felt badly as they seemed to prefer ignorance over fear.
In the end, all I felt was pity.
Difficult to pinpoint. But then it hit me. It was the stench of fear.
You see, these self-proclaimed 'independents', were not simply complaining, they were scared. For a second, I felt badly as they seemed to prefer ignorance over fear.
In the end, all I felt was pity.
