Selling Managed Print Services: The VAR Vs. Us

The oldest profession in the world isn’t prostitution, it’s professional selling. Selling one to one; one to many; many to many; retail; B2B; to that hottie in the corner; to your girlfriend, wife, sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, sales manager, cop, judge, jury; to ourselves – we all sell, and we always have.


Our industry is turning another corner – contracting and expanding at the same time. We’re looking for the next frontier and eyeing the IT cluster.

Thinking about getting into selling servers, storage, networks and network management, aren’t you? Putting all those monitors, PCs, switches and hard drives under a contract and tying that all into a 36-month “rip and replace” strategy, right? Sure.

How hard can it be?

Copiers have been connected now for more than a decade. All your devices scan; you’ve sold or heard of a “fax-server.” Your dealership has at least one “Content Specialist,” and RiKon/Xerox employ thousands of cycle-extending PS peeps – not that there’s anything wrong with that.

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#BoA Bank of America and the Signature Card

Today, I found myself in a Bank of America, finishing up what I figured would be a 15 minute job.

Sixty minutes later, I was out the door; a new signature card in the system, an additional account added to the DOTC one, new BoA online user account, second ATM card secured and activated, checks ordered.

While completing a wire transfer, all my personal information was set up so I would rarely, if ever, need to step foot into another branch again.

Taping out on the Droid,  registration completed and passage confirmed for the upcoming Preo/HP event in Seattle, DOA procedures outlined and initiated for one of lastweeks installs(I was told that HP's never arrived dead, I was misinformed), client confirmation of delivery and invoicing for 3 Edgelines.

All from inside the bank.

No Fax
No PC
No Printing

Photizo in May, Preo/SNi in June, World Expo July, rained out Xerox in August, Muratec/Vegas, SuppliesNetwork/HP Seattle in September, OPS Elite October

What do you say we finish this year out in Australia? Eh?

I spent 2 days and 5 nights in Vegas last week, for my very first Muratec dealer conference.

It was awful nice being invited, on account, I just signed up 30 days ago and haven't sold a single box.

The venue could be called small and intimate relative to the bigger shows, like Photizo, or the other OEM's - I liked it.

A little bit of background.

When I first got into selling technology, there was IBM PS/2's and Compaq desktops; the MicroChannel versus EISA architecture  - #1 and #2.  The Compaq folks were more willing, more attentive, and more fun - their events rocked.

IBM? Unless you're Mike Stramaglio, how much fun can you have in a pinstripe suit at 12:30 AM?

When I served time in IKON, there was Canon at #1 with Ricoh a very close #2.  Again, the Ricoh folks, tried harder, worked with us, and were a hell of a lot more fun, especially in Vegas, at the Wynn.(Jus sayin, I've seen them in action)

Just like Compaq, Ricoh knew their place as well, at number 2. They knew. They didn't pretend to be the largest or most installed. They didn't have big laser beams and fog machines at the national conference.

Point is this, #2 always tries harder - so wouldn't an admitted "third tier" player try even harder?

The answer, Yes.