What Are a Few Key Advantages of Selling a Managed Print Services Solution?

Let’s begin with the obvious; every one of us are in this to make a few bucks and that will happen by earning our customers business.   To that end, we need to be providing real value; through helping to indentify and lower hard direct and indirect costs and/or soft cost savings; hopefully, a blend of the two. If reductions can be achieved through a combination of the two, it will ultimately keep more margins in the game.  With Managed Print Services, you are able to take control; and with control, come ownership over your customer’s entire print environment. This will enable you to divert risk and incremental margins from multiple pieces of business as opposed to one primary piece. If you’re selling the toner, then get the parts; and if you’re getting the parts, sell them the repair services’ etc. And while not providing a bundle solution is no longer an option, remember the old adage. “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” – diversify! Control how and where your margins are derived and your expenses are allocated.

Next, Managed Print Services closes the door on your competitors; and there is nothing more rewarding than that! By taking full responsibility for all the print needs of your customer, there will be no reason for anyone to contact your customer for any reason; at anytime. They are no longer buying a toner, part, or labor hour; all “purchases” now go through you since they’re all bundled into your Managed Print offering! And with the right technology in place, you will be responding to all these buying needs before the customer even knows about the event; all adding to your value and embedding you into the account. All decisions are now being made by you, in consultation with your customer.

You can now transition your sales focus from one that focuses on buyers in a purchasing or IT department, responding to RFPs and RFQs, to one that now addresses the concerns of a company’s CFO, CEO, CIO’s. Your focus is now about helping to identify real business problems, problems that are costing the company more than they realize; from toner, parts, labor, and over and underutilized print assets, to IT and administrative support costs; inventory carrying and transaction costs. Your audience is now comprised of key executives; decision makers whose job it is to care, indentify and quantify costs and inefficiencies; individuals focused on cost avoidance and process improvement. Remember that Managed Print Services is strategic ‐ you are no longer selling a commodity; you’re selling a solution! You move beyond having to compete solely on cost to something much more strategic! You move from the status of vendor to one of trusted business partner.

Last, a well executed Managed Print Services Solution will drive greater operational efficiencies. From account management to service fulfillment, operational efficiencies will lead to improvements in profit margins. You reduce expenses through on‐going analysis and process improvement, from tech‐to‐call ratios to right‐sizing a print environment, from improving yield‐to‐cost ratios of your consumables to extending the life of the equipment you manage. At the end of the day, it will be about who can manage the process better than the next; so make sure that you select a Solution that puts you in the driver’s seat, one that keeps you in control of your solution, and one that is process management driven.

Managed Print Services is about greater responsibility and control! Deliver exceptional value; solve real business problems, and make sure that you are in control.