April 2010 Office Technology

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CONTENTS Volume 16 No. 10 G

FEATURE ARTICLES 10

Industry Briefing: Nuance Vendor pursuing recognition technologies for MFPs

24

Equipment Leasing The landscape is changing in today’s economy

by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

Focused on its current and future market opportunities resulting from the company’s 2009 acquisition of eCopy, executives of Nuance Communications Inc. hosted a briefing for industry analysts and editors Feb. 18 in New York City.

by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

Soon after the world economy was slammed by the arrival of what some are now calling the “Great Recession,” office technology dealers quickly turned their attention to the rapid decline in available financing for the hardware and software they sell. Certain customer groups were immediate casualties. Leasing company credit approvals for dealers’ customers in the troubled mortgage, real estate and automotive industries, for example, declined or disappeared.

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COURTS & CAPITOLS Bankruptcy’s Impact Dealing with Chapter 7 & 11 client proceedings

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by Robert C. Goldberg BTA General Counsel

BTA’s ‘Meet & Greet’ Association presents 2010 Channel’s Choice Awards

There are clear signs that the economy is improving, but there have been casualties along the way. Those companies that fail often resort to the bankruptcy laws for protection. There are two types of bankruptcy that you may encounter.

by Brent Hoskins Office Technology Magazine

At the Business Technology Association’s Meet & Greet Reception held March 3 at the Las Vegas Hilton in conjunction with the 2010 ITEX Show, the association presented the 2010 BTA Channel’s Choice Awards. The winners of the awards were determined by ballots cast by office technology dealers, who were asked to rate their primary and secondary line manufacturers in key performance categories. The 2010 BTA Channel’s Choice winners: Copystar, Muratec America Inc. and Toshiba America Business Solutions Inc.

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MPS STRATEGIES MPS Stumbling Blocks Why aren’t dealers launching successful programs?

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by Tom Callinan Strategy Development

Why do companies fail in managed print services (MPS)? The consultants at Strategy Development are frequently asked this question.

Listed in this article are the seven primary stumbling blocks to a successful MPS program.

Tomorrow’s Team Turning your sales costs into bottom-line profit

by Wayne Outlaw Outlaw Group Inc.

Every BTA dealer wants every position filled with a highly productive person and all sales territories at or over budget. Anything less is costing you money. Have you calculated what lowproducing employees and empty sales assignments cost you every month? Staffing cost goes beyond hiring and training — it includes retaining costs. The more productive salespeople you retain, the less time you need to spend to find, hire, train, coach and develop their replacements.

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DEPARTMENTS 27

Business Technology Association G

Education Calendar

G BTA Highlights

6

Executive Director’s Page

8

BTA President’s Message

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Advertiser Index

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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S PAGE

2010 ITEX: Thanks & Congratulations t was great to see so many of you at the ITEX Show, held March 3-4 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The event proved to be very successful for the association. I trust that it was also a rewarding event for those who attended. As we “close the book” on another ITEX Show, I wanted to express both thanks and congratulations to several companies and individuals on behalf of the association.

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Our Thanks To those sponsors who helped make the BTA Meet & Greet Reception a great event.

They were: BERTL Inc., Color Imaging Inc., DocuWare Corp., ECi Software Solutions, FMAudit, Global Printer Services Inc., GreatAmerica Leasing Corp., Image Star, InkCycle, Lexmark International Inc., Miracle Service (Nexent Innovations Inc.), Strategy Development, Supplies Network and Toshiba America Business Solutions Inc. Each of these BTA-member companies is a long-time supporter of the association.

To BTA-member Samsung Electronics, for donating a 46-inch HDTV for our grand prize drawing. Entries were accepted at the reception; the winner’s name was drawn in BTA’s booth the following day. The company was quick to donate the TV, demonstrating a strong level of support for the association.

To those who visited the BTA booth in the exhibit hall and to the many attendees who dropped by the BTA reception at the Las Vegas Hilton. The reception was BTA’s way of saying “thank you” to dealers and vendors who have been supporters of the association through the years.

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Our Congratulations To the winners of the 2010 Channel’s Choice Awards: Toshiba America Business Solutions Inc. (TABS), receiving four awards — Superior Performance as a Primary Product Line Provider (the top award), Corporate Support, Distribution and Inventory; Copystar for Product Line; and Muratec America Inc. for Outstanding Performance as a Secondary Product Line Provider. These awards were determined by the results of ballots cast by office technology dealers asked to rank their primary and secondary line manufacturers in key performance categories.

To Tom Ouellette for being named the 2010 BTA Volunteer of the Year. Tom is very deserving of this recognition. It is a pleasure to work with him.

To the winner of the aforementioned Samsung HDTV: Tim Buscher, president of Business Techs Inc., Twin Falls, Idaho. I had the privilege of meeting Tim and his wife Melissa at the show. I recall Tim saying something like, “I told my wife on the flight to Las Vegas, ‘I’m going to win that TV.’” To the other winners of the prize drawings held in the BTA booth in the exhibit hall: Isaac Brewer, Fax Unlimited Inc. (iPod wireless speakers/docking station); Nathan Burkhalter, Koch Brothers ($50 gift card); Frank Buruma, Unity Business Systems ($25); Melissa Buscher, Business Techs Inc. ($25 gift card); Allen Grenz, OASYS Inc. (iPod); Robert Moore, Lockwood-Moore Inc. ($50); William Moyer, All Pro ($50); Tom Sexton, Hendrix Business Machines Inc. ($25 gift card); and Jay Verno, Hagan Business Machines of Meadville Inc. ($50).

See pages 16-17 for several photos of BTA winners, etc., taken during the ITEX Show.

— Brent Hoskins

Executive Director/BTA Editor/Office Technology Brent Hoskins brent@bta.org (816) 303-4040 Associate Editor Elizabeth Marvel elizabeth@bta.org (816) 303-4060 Contributing Writers Tom Callinan, Strategy Development www.strategydevelopment.org Robert C. Goldberg, General Counsel Business Technology Association Wayne Outlaw, Outlaw Group Inc. www.outlawgroup.com

®

Business Technology Association 12411 Wornall Road Kansas City, MO 64145 (816) 941-3100 www.bta.org Member Services: (800) 505-2821 BTA Legal Hotline: (800) 869-6688 Valerie Briseno Membership & Marketing Manager valerie@bta.org Mary Hopkins Database Administrator mary@bta.org Teresa Leerar Bookkeeper teresa@bta.org Brian Smith Membership Sales Representative brian@bta.org ©2010 by the Business Technology Association. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means without the written permission of the publisher. Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of published material.

However, the publisher assumes no liability for errors in articles nor are opinions expressed necessarily those of the publisher.

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BTA PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

®

2009-2010 Board of Directors

BTA Southeast Event Set for June 16-17 f you have not already done so, I encourage you to mark your calendars now to attend BTA Southeast’s Dealer Strategies Summit 2010, scheduled for June 16-17, 2010.

The two-day education and networking event will be held at the Rosen Centre Hotel in Orlando, Fla. You may register for the event on the BTA Web site, www.bta.org. Just click on the “Educating U” logo on the home page.

The event is shaping up to be a great learning opportunity. It will feature two education tracks with 12 powerful sessions ranging from “Multiply Sales Without Adding Salespeople” to “Ending the Declining PageVolume Cycle.” The schedule also includes three sessions on the topic of managed print services — “Service Delivery in the MPS World: Challenges, Pitfalls & Benefits,” “The DNA of the Managed Print Services Salesperson” and “The Need to be in MPS Today.”

The speaker line-up includes industry veterans Sally Brause, GreatAmerica Leasing Corp.; Larry Breed, MarketMentorOnline Inc.; Terry Chapman, Business Electronics Corp.; Teresa Hiatt, Ricoh Americas Corp.; David Ramos, Strategy Development; Bob Sostilio, Sostilio & Associates International; and Mike Woodard, Strategy Development.

In addition, BTA General Counsel Bob Goldberg will present the keynote session, “Twenty Traits of the Successful Dealership.”

Having worked with dealers for more than 30 years, Bob has seen it all and he knows the traits of a successful dealership. In this session, he will share the top 20 traits and explain why each one makes a difference.

Those of you who attended the BTA

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Southeast event held last fall in Waynesville, N.C., will recall that the schedule included several round-table discussions. Based on the positive response from attendees in Waynesville, the upcoming event in Orlando will feature three round-table discussions, on the topics of “Disaster Recovery,” “e-automate” and “Leasing Issues.” It will be my privilege to lead the discussion on the topic of disaster recovery, based on my firsthand experience with Hurricane Katrina.

Beyond the educational opportunities, Dealer Strategies Summit 2010 will also feature the opportunity to visit with several exhibiting sponsors. At press time, they includ e: C o lor Im a gin g In c., D e L a ge Landen, ESP (Electronic Systems Protection), GreatAmerica Leasing Corp., Image Star, PrintMIB LLC, Sharp Electronics Corp. and Supplies Network.

The event will also include plenty of time for networking with your fellow dealers. The schedule includes a cocktail reception and an evening at nearby Universal Studios Florida. There will also be many opportunities to engage in what I like to call “hallway learning” with other attendees. Through the years, I’ve received many great ideas from other attendees at BTA events. The Orlando event will be no different.

Those of you who have attended past BTA Southeast education and networking events know of the immense value they bring you and your dealership. If you have not attended one of the district’s events in the past, now is the time to do so — given the many challenges we all currently face, and the broad range of learning opportunities we have planned for Orlando. I hope to see you June 16-17. I — Bill James

President Bill James WJS Enterprises Inc. 3315 Ridgelake Drive Metairie, LA 70002 bjames@wjsenterprises.com President-Elect Rock Janecek Burtronics Business Systems Inc. 216 S. Arrowhead Ave. San Bernardino, CA 92408 rjanecek@burtronics.com Vice President Tom Ouellette Budget Document Technology 251 Goddard Road Lewiston, ME 04240 touellette@bdtme.com BTA East Todd J. Fitzsimons Network Imaging LLC 122 Spring St. Southington, CT 06489 tjfitzsimons@networkimaging.biz BTA Mid-America Ron Hulett U.S. Business Systems Inc. 3221 Southview Drive Elkhart, IN 46514 ron.hulett@usbus.com BTA Southeast Terry Chapman Business Electronics Corp.

219 Oxmoor Circle Birmingham, AL 35209 tchapman@businesselectronics.com BTA West Lokke Patrick Docutxt Corp.

11110 E. Artesia Blvd., Ste. B Cerritos, CA 90703 lokke@docutxt.com Ex-Officio/Immediate Past President Ronelle Ingram Steven Enterprises Inc. 17952 Sky Park Circle, Ste. E Irvine, CA 92614 ronellei@msn.com Ex-Officio/General Counsel Robert C. Goldberg Schoenberg Finkel Newman & Rosenberg LLC 222 S. Riverside Plaza, Ste. 2100 Chicago, IL 60606 robert.goldberg@sfnr.com

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Equipment Leasing The landscape is changing in today’s economy by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

oon after the world economy was slammed by the arrival of what some are now calling the “Great Recession,” office technology dealers quickly turned their attention to the rapid decline in available financing for the hardware and software they sell. Their reactions ranged from concern to alarm. After all, funds provided through leasing companies are the predominant enabler of product placements.

Certain customer groups were immediate casualties. Leasing company credit approvals for dealers’ customers in the troubled mortgage, real estate and automotive industries, for example, declined or disappeared. Financing approvals for other, less impacted industries did not come as easily as prior to the recession. Some leasing companies reduced their capital commitments to the office technology industry. Others exited the office equipment financing sector altogether. Many dealers were left scrambling to find new leasing partners.

“Initially, as things started to turn sour, all leasing companies saw their delinquencies and bad debt rise,” says David Pohlman, chief operating officer of GreatAmerica Leasing Corp. (www.greatamerica.com), a strategic alliance partner with the Business Technology Association (BTA). “Even if you were pretty consistent in the way you bought over time, you still felt the pain, but it was tolerable. However, those leasing companies that probably bought too aggressively in the good times saw a lot of fallout. Those are the companies that don’t exist in the office technology industry today.”

During the height of the recession, the actions of many sales reps in the office technology industry demonstrated their anxiety, says Phil Buysse, general manager of U.S. Bank Office Equipment Finance Services (www.usbank.com/oefs).

“Salespeople were forced to prospect lower quality accounts

S

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in order to keep their pipelines filled,” he explains. “It was driven more by the desperation of the marketplace. The legitimacy of the transactions coming in wasn’t as strong.”

Is the recession “officially” over? Many economists say that it is. Regardless, dealers should not expect a return to their pre-recession leasing portfolio mix, says Glen Clark, vice president and general manager of GE Capital, Office Imaging (http://ge.leasingsource.com). “We don’t see the economy rebounding back to the same sort of consumption economy we were in two-and-a-half years ago,” he says. “Just taking the mortgage industry as an example, this is an industry that was using a lot of copier/MFPs, but it is certainly not using them as much today. So, from the dealer’s perspective, those kinds of challenges do eliminate some of the dealer’s opportunities in the marketplace.”

Pohlman describes a resource at GreatAmerica that is now helping dealers more quickly target new, credit-worthy customers. “Dealers are saying, ‘Look, I need to know that I have approvable credit before I can have my salesperson out there investing two or three weeks of time trying to sell something to a prospective customer,’” he says. “What we are doing now with a few dealers — and we will continue to expand this — is providing a Web-based pre-screening tool for them to enter a few bits of data. They will then receive feedback on whether this account is likely to be approved or not likely to be approved. Once it is a ‘real deal’ the dealer can submit it to us and we will have a credit analyst review it to provide a formal decision.”

Similarly, GE Capital is now emphasizing its ability to expedite the lease approval process and keep dealers from spending valuable time on customers that are not credit worthy, says Clark, citing a tool available on the company’s

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bundled transactions, says dealer Web site. “It is a short“We’ve seen a couple of Buysse, noting that the comened application where the leasing companies leave pany actively encourages its dealer can enter a particular dealers to take advantage of customer’s information , this marketplace in the its ability to handle cussend it to us and get a reply last year; and they were tomer billing from an MPS as to whether the customer big, strong names. So, I perspective. “This can lead is approved or declined,” he think the biggest trait the dealership into being explains. “We are encourdealers need to seek in a able to take advantage of all aging dealers to run their leasing company is stability ... ” that MPS of fers, ranging prospects through this proc— Phil Buysse from securing customers to ess in order to quickly know U.S. Bank Office Equipment Finance Services the attractive margins,” he who is approved so they can says. “This reflects our mesmove forward with the transaction. It is our hope that we have created a means for sage of ‘Don’t Settle for Lease’ and our branded MPS product, which we call ‘Bundled Print Management.’” dealers to be more successful.”

A focus on encouraging the development of MPS proBeyond the tools to expedite the lease approval process, leasing companies are increasingly providing learning grams, coupled with the ability to handle the bundled opportunities and other resources to dealers. Great- billing, only makes sense for today’s leasing companies, says America, for example, now offers MPS (managed print serv- Pohlman. “Service and supplies are the lifeblood of the dealices) training classes for its dealer customers at its Cedar ership,” he says. “So, it is not prudent to leave that exposed, Rapids, Iowa, headquarters. Among the company’s other especially in a market where, for example, there are three or product offerings for dealers is FleetView, a remote device four other dealerships that could service the equipment. We monitoring software that helps dealers reduce administra- are firm believers that dealers need to protect this valuable tive costs, increase sales, proactively service fleets and asset — the customer and the affiliated service and supply manage supply fulfillment. FleetView is the customized revenue. We are deeply focused on doing anything we can to GreatAmerica corporate brand of PrintFleet Enterprise help the dealer protect that asset.”

For those dealers seeking to align themselves with a System, a remote print management system.

Jennie Fisher, senior vice president and general manager leasing company that can assist in facilitating an effective of GreatAmerica, notes that the company also strives to con- MPS program, Pohlman advises dealers to be wary of those tinually educate its own sales reps in order to better serve companies that are only equipped to provide full funding of the dealer community. “We often hold training sessions for the maintenance up front, rather than as a pass-through on our reps through webinars and on-site visits from industry a monthly basis throughout the life of the lease. “It is a bad experts to educate them [GreatAmerica’s reps] on all aspects strategy for the dealer,” he says. “When service is prepaid for of the dealer community,” she says. “This sort of training three to five years, those dollars are often spent on other helps our reps better understand how the dealer’s business things, leaving no funds to cover the maintenance costs.”

To guide dealers as they move forward in the post-recesoperates so that we can bring more value to dealers.”

As GreatAmerica’s dealer training classes demonstrate, sion economy, the leasing company representatives offer an emphasis on embracing the MPS opportunity has additional advice: Don’t just seek the lowest rate. “Avoid the scenarios become common among leasing companies. Today, many of the fair-market-value leases — the most prevalent offered by where there is a really low rate and really high credit the companies — are written to accommodate the dealer’s appetite, because you simply cannot sustain that over time,” cost-per-copy programs, core to MPS. “Anywhere between says Pohlman. “Either one of those is the recipe for a short 90 to 95 percent of our transactions are fair-market-value timer in this industry.” leases,” says Clark. “But, as a sub-category, probably about a Seek companies that demonstrate stability and comthird of our leasing volume is for cost-per-copy — or bun- mitment to the marketplace. “We’ve seen a couple of leasing dled — transactions.” companies leave this marketplace in the last year; and they At U.S. Bank, more than 60 percent of its leases are now were big, strong names,” says Buysse. “So, I think the biggest 12 | w w w . o f f i c e t e c h n o l o g y m a g . c o m | A p r i l 2 0 1 0

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trait dealers need to seek in Confirm that the leas“I think one of the most a leasing company is stai n g c o m p a ny v i e w s t h e important things is that bility and commitment to end user as the dealer’s we understand who our the marketplace.” customer, not its own. “I Nurture relationships think one of the most imcustomer is — it is the with leasing companies. “I portant things is that we dealer. We are here to think that it is important for understand who our cusform relationships and dealers to maintain and tomer is — it is the dealer,” create solutions to help build relationships with one says Fisher. “We are here to our dealer customers ... ” or more leasing companies,” f o r m re l a t i o n s h i p s a n d — Jennie Fisher says Clark. “I have seen some create solutions to help our GreatAmerica Leasing Corp. dealers who have gotten dealer customers keep their themselves in trouble and customers have fallen down immediately because they failed to nurture — the end users.” a relationship with their lease provider. There will be times Brent Hoskins, executive director of the when the dealer will need to leverage that relationship. If the Business Technology Association, is editor of relationship isn’t there, it’s more difficult to get things done, Office Technology magazine. He can be particularly in a difficult economy.” reached at brent@bta.org.

Leasing Company Relations Recommendations Below are some of the issues that should be addressed by office technology dealers when entering a relationship with a leasing company, as recommended by BTA General Counsel Robert C. Goldberg.

The best time to establish these points is prior to entering, rather than upon exiting, the relationship.

End-Users: Establish that the identity of the end user is “confidential information” of your company and cannot be provided to a third party or used by the leasing company for any competitive purpose including marketing and sales purposes. This provision should extend beyond the length of the agreement and for at least one year beyond the conclusion of the last lease entered under the agreement.

Term of Agreement: The term of the agreement should extend for a set period and not cease when potential leases are no longer referred.

The agreement’s terms should extend to the conclusion of the term of the final lease referred. Of course, certain provisions, such as confidentiality, would extend even beyond the term of the final lease transaction.

Indemnifications: The leasing company should indemnify and hold dealers harmless from any claims resulting from the administration of the lease. Likewise, dealers should indemnify and hold leasing companies harmless from any claims resulting from the equipment and service thereof. Too often, the indemnification is limited as being from the dealer to the leasing company only.

Buyout/Upgrade Terms: Ideally, these would only be available to you, but legally they have to be disclosed to the end user as well. The agreement should set forth all the buyout terms with specificity. Buyout/upgrade terms should only be disclosed upon written request and supplied in writing. If the end user requests end-of-lease terms, the information should be supplied to the dealer for communication to the end user.

Returns: In those instances where a lease permits return of equipment, the precise procedures should be established. Dealers are

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encouraged to take a video of the equipment prior to return showing all sides of the equipment as well as the machine passing paper.

Receipt of Funds: Allocation of funds received to lease and for cost per copy and maintenance is important to both parties. This becomes more important if the end user falls behind in payments. The fairest resolution is to allocate any funds received on a proportionately equal basis.

Prepayment: Establish the formula for early buyouts and upgrades of equipment.

Automatic Renewal: Establish the dealer’s right only to terminate during the renewal period. Thus, if the end user fails to cancel the lease during the prescribed period, you would be in a position to move the end user into new equipment for an exclusive 12-month period.

Prefunding: Certain leasing companies will prefund a dealer’s anticipated monthly leases. This is much better than traditional bank financing and should be considered.

Lease Verification: The script used to verify the lease with the end user should be reviewed by the dealer and be subject to the leasing company and dealer’s mutual agreement. The content of this communication is important to maintenance of customer goodwill.

Executed Document: How many manufacturers and leasing companies have received your executed agreement, but failed to execute it themselves and return your copy? Ideally, both parties should sign the agreement at the same time and exchange copies. If not, establish a “tickler” file to remind you to follow up on obtaining a fully executed agreement.

Lease Payments on Renewal: If the end user allows the lease to renew, the dealer and the leasing company should share equally the amount previously allocated solely to the lease payment.

Sometimes this may not occur for one or two months due to the initial rate. The dealer should continue to receive full payment on any portion allocated to maintenance and/or supplies.

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BTA’s ‘Meet & Greet’ Association presents 2010 Channel’s Choice Awards by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

t the Business Technology Association’s Meet & Greet Reception held March 3 at the Las Vegas Hilton in conjunction with the 2010 ITEX Show, the association presented the 2010 BTA Channel’s Choice Awards. The winners of the awards were determined by ballots cast by office technology dealers, who were asked to rate their primary and secondary line manufacturers in key performance categories.

The 2010 BTA Channel’s Choice Award winners: Toshiba America Business Solutions Inc. (TABS), receiving four awards — Superior Performance as a Primary Product Line Provider (the top award), Corporate Support, Distribution and Inventory; Copystar for Product Line; and Muratec America Inc. for Outstanding Performance as a Secondary Product Line Provider.

TABS received the top award for the 11th time. “Above all else, we are extremely proud of the consistency with which we have received these prestigious accolades,” said Mark Mathews, president and chief operating officer of TABS. “While we’ve proudly earned the award 11 times, there is added significance in the recognition our independent dealers are giving us during some of the most challenging economic times our industry has faced. The Toshiba team truly comes to work every day thinking of new programs, products and processes to help our dealer partners succeed, so it is especially rewarding to be acknowledged for those efforts with this awards program.”

In addition to presenting the Channel’s Choice Awards, BTA President Bill James announced the recipient of the 2010 Volunteer of the Year Award during the BTA reception. “Our association is made up of dealers, vendors and staff, but the ‘ingredient’ that has ensured BTA’s ongoing success through the years is the ‘volunteer,’” he said. “Our volunteers dedicate many hours to guide the association toward developing the right programs and services to serve the dealer channel. This year, [BTA vice president] Tom Ouellette has distinguished

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Tom Walter (left), director of aftermarket sales, marketing and operations at Toshiba America Business Solutions Inc., accepts Toshiba’s Channel’s Choice Awards from BTA President Bill James. The company won the top Superior Performance Award, in addition to awards for Corporate Support, Distribution and Inventory. himself among his peers as a volunteer. He has been very instrumental in the development of the BTA East education and networking event that has taken place in White Plains, N.Y., the past two years and remains involved as planning for the 2010 BTA East event is underway. Tom has also helped to bring a number of new members to the association. Certainly, we are grateful that Tom stepped forward to give back to the association through his leadership.”

During the show, BTA also held several prize drawings, including a drawing for an HDTV courtesy of Samsung.

Brent Hoskins, executive director of the Business Technology Association, is editor of Office Technology magazine. He can be reached at brent@bta.org.

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BTA Reception Sponsors

Above: Kevin Reidy, vice president of sales at Copystar (center), accepts the Channel’s Choice Award for Product Line on behalf of his company from BTA Vice President Tom Ouellette (left) and BTA President Bill James.

Above Right: Jim D’Emidio (left), president of Muratec America Inc., accepts the Channel’s Choice Award for Outstanding Performance as a Secondary Product Line Provider on behalf of his company from James.

Right: Ouellette, who has been instrumental in planning recent BTA East events and bringing new members to BTA, expresses appreciation for being named 2010 BTA Volunteer of the Year.

BTA Membership and Marketing Manager Valerie Briseno presents Allen Grenz, president of OASYS Inc., Burlington, Wash., with his winning prize — an iPod nano.

The BTA Meet & Greet Reception, held in a suite at the Las Vegas Hilton on the ITEX Show’s opening day, drew a capacity crowd.

BTA President-Elect Rock Janecek co-presents “Creating the Ideal Service & IT Teams,” one of the ITEX Show’s Power Hours.

Tim Buscher, president of Business Techs Inc., Twin Falls, Idaho, and his wife Melissa with the winning entry form for a 46-inch HDTV, courtesy of Samsung. w w w . o f f i c e t e c h n o l o g y m a g . c o m | A p r i l 2 0 1 0 | 17

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Tomorrow’s Team Turning your sales costs into bottom-line profit by: Wayne Outlaw, Outlaw Group Inc.

very BTA dealer wants every position filled with a highly productive person and all sales territories at or over budget. Anything less is costing you money. Have you calculated what lowproducing employees and empty sales assignments cost you every month?

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Staffing Costs How do you fill an open assignment to replace a low performer? Sure, you can have someone place an ad, have someone screen the applicants, have the sales manager interview the best of the bunch and pick one to hire, and your cost per hire would be low. However, if the person hired does not possess the attributes necessary for success, significant time is needlessly invested in training, coaching and directing. And, if the person sells little, he (or she) has to be replaced. This turnover starts the cycle again and the cost per hire is not a good measure of your investment.

A far better measure of staffing cost is the time, effort and money spent to fill a territory with a person who is meeting (or exceeding) quota, budget or performance expectations.

The annual staffing cost of hiring, training and compensating an individual until he is productive in the assignment is a much better measurement than cost per hire. Staffing cost goes beyond hiring and training — it includes retaining costs. The more productive salespeople you retain, the less time you need to spend to find, hire, train, coach and develop their replacements.

Lack Cost A hidden cost of staffing is “lack cost.” This is the cost, or lack of revenue, that results from an existing territory that is open, or lack of productive sales assignments the organization could have based on the real potential of the marketplace. Your lack cost of an assignment includes the sales 18 | w w w . o f f i c e t e c h n o l o g y m a g . c o m | A p r i l 2 0 1 0

gross profit after commission and administrative costs, but mostly the profit from future service, supplies and support each year for the life of the typical sale, or the custom er ’s Total Cost of O wn ership (TCO). On the low side, if a sales assignment expected to produce a minimum of $50,000 per month at 20 percent margin is left open for a month, the costs would be approximately $10,000 (or $7,500 if you account for sales compensation) just for that month. Remember that loss is not just for the month, but extends over years. How many open sales assignments or potential additional sales assignments do you have? How many can you afford? Even if you have someone work it as an open territory, he is only getting the easy orders.

Low Productivity Cost Most people look at sales staff cost as gross profit (GP) generated compared to the direct cost of the individual’s salary, benefits and expenses. Some even justify keeping low-productivity salespeople, saying, “Even if his gross profit doesn’t really pay for him, we will get the residual revenue for the sales he does produce down the road.” The real cost of low productivity is the difference between actual GP produced and the potential GP that assignment could produce.

If a sales assignment has a budget of $40,000, at a minimum margin of 20 percent, but its real potential is $100,000 at 25 percent, and a low-performing salesperson is producing only $30,000 at 20 percent, the cost of the low productivity of the salesperson is not $2,000, but $19,000 per month before commissions and administrative costs. If you include the resulting loss of future revenues from service, supplies and support over the next three to five years, low productivity costs are staggering. You also lose control of the customer and contract so the next upgrade is lost.

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These low productivity costs have been calculated using conventional marketing approaches, but they will probably accelerate as the industry moves to more complex and longer sales cycle approaches, such as managed print services. Failure to have productive salespeople and effective sales managers costs customers, revenue and profit today and in the future.

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Improving Staffing When you consider the cost of hiring mistakes or living with low performance, it makes sense to do a better job of staffing the sales organization. Hiring the right kind of candidate, and making sure that he is prepared and ready to assume assignments when needed, pays dividends and boosts the bottom line. But, how do you do that? Let’s look at a strategic approach to ensuring that each sales assignment is productive for your organization.

Determine Candidate Mix To fill sales assignments, you have a choice of several different types of candidates. A logical approach uses a mix of three types of sales candidates. These include: a successful individual with industry experience; a proven business-tobusiness sales professional with experience selling to customers similar to yours; and a new college hire. Each type of candidate has his own strengths and weaknesses.

While everyone would love to immediately fill all territories with proven industry professionals who can produce sales immediately, that is not always possible. Even a person with a proven track record at a previous company may not be successful with a new company in a different assignment.

Many people can be successful in an established assignment or territory, but when they are asked to replicate that success, they may fall short because it is more difficult to develop new business, cope with new technology or even be able to succeed in today’s more demanding environment.

Even if a person can replicate his previous success in a new company, that does not consider the potential problems of working within a restrictive non-compete agreement. Many times, non-compete agreements may be more difficult to work with than originally thought and you may find yourself employing an individual and not receiving the full benefit of his talents or productivity, at least for the period of time in which the non-compete agreement is in place.

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Can They Do the Job? Regardless of whether you are hiring an experienced industry salesperson, proven business-to-business sales professional or a new college graduate, you have to ensure that the candidate has the attributes to do the job. Because the job is challenging, even people who have been successful in other positions may not have the ability to learn as quickly as needed or possess the appropriate behaviors, the drive to establish success, the strong work ethic, the degree of reliability and even the integrity needed.

As the industry is evolving and complexity is increasing, the attributes needed for success are not just shifting — even those that remain consistent are increasing. This makes being able to identify and measure these attributes in a candidate even more important. There are reliable tools that can easily and accurately measure these attributes and benchmark them to top performers in your company or the industry.

Today, there is no need to hire someone and find out later the attributes you thought you saw in the interview are either not there or not strong enough for the individual to be successful.

Just remember, even a mediocre salesperson can portray himself as a really good salesperson during an interview. An objective, accurate assessment of behavior, thinking style and values can provide you a realistic view of the quality of the candidate. In today’s economy, the individual may be more motivated to get the job than to do the job.

Failure to have productive salespeople and effective sales managers costs customers, revenue and profit today and in the future.

Do They Have the Skills to Do the Job? When an individual changes companies, or even assumes a new sales assignment, it exposes weaknesses in his skills. Salespeople moving into a new position cannot rely on previous relationships and many have trouble with the task of generating new prospects. In today’s connected world, it can be extremely difficult to generate prospects if the salesperson is not skilled with basic productivity tools such as Excel, Word, PowerPoint or database software. On the application or in the interview, he may claim a high level of skill he does not have. Today, it is easy to measure these commonly used skills before you make that critical decision.

A simple online skills test can verify if the skill level the individual claimed on the application is accurate.

Verify Performance Even people who have the attributes and skills necessary

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Have you lost accounts to Managed Print?

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At InkCycle, we don’t just know remanufacturing - we know how to help you get traction in a slippery market.

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Even when the best individual is for success may not perform. We have all Sales managers must hired and does his best work, he will not seen people who are very successful have achieve his full potential if he is not a significant change in their performensure the salesperson coached and managed. If sales manance. Do not assume that because a has the appropriate agers do not routinely coach the salesperson was successful years ago, he will level of sales activity person during the actual sales call and continue to be successful. Significant necessary for the sales continue to coach the salesperson on events may have occurred in his life that assignment to be how to sell or manage an account, he affect his drive for success, motivation for consistently productive. will not develop the level of skill necesperformance and even the time he has sary to be a consistently productive available to work. Carefully verifying performance, not just with one position or one person, but over salesperson. Sales managers must ensure the salesperson the entire career with multiple individuals, will give you an has the appropriate level of sales activity necessary for the excellent picture of the individual and allow you to uncover if sales assignment to be consistently productive. Managing that person has the drive, motivation and tenacity to be suc- territories and sales activity are the keys to success. cessful. While the best indication of future performance is past performance, do not automatically assume good per- Summary formance several years ago means good performance today.

Looking at the cost per hire is only looking at the tip of the staffing iceberg. The real costs to consider are what it takes to Protect Yourself & Your Company hire and maintain productivity in all sales assignments and Even a top sales performer can represent a risk to you and the lack cost of not having a productive sales force to capture your company. Since employees of your organization will the true potential of your marketplace, which is far more than typically be driving company vehicles, entering other places you could ever spend to build a productive sales force. Take of business and having significant contact with other em- the time to examine your organization strategically and see ployees, it is incumbent that your company performs its due what it will take to capture your potential. (To assist you, we diligence to ensure the individual hired does not pose a have posted cost calculators and other staffing tools at potential threat to those he is in contact with. A national www.outlawgroup.com/btastaffing.htm.) criminal background check, checking professional referBuilding a productive sales organization is just like building ences, as well as a motor vehicle check, are key ways to iden- any other structure. If you are building a house, it would be tify problems and help protect your company and yourself wise to begin with high-quality building materials. If the from litigation. Some organizations not only conduct pre- lumber is not straight or smooth, it is difficult for the caremployment drug screens and criminal background checks, penter to build a good-looking, sturdy and long-lasting finbut also do these periodically to continue to protect those ished product. The same is true when building a productive with whom the employees are in contact. sales organization. Begin with high-quality staff and the sales manager’s job training, coaching, managing and retaining is Develop Knowledge & Skills easier and the finished product is more productive.

Once a hiring decision is made, the job of ensuring the sales Wayne Outlaw is president of the Outlaw Group Inc. assignment is filled with a productive salesperson has only just (www.outlawgroup.com), a management consulting company begun. The individual must learn industry information, hardwith more than 25 years experience assisting clients in making ware, software and, most importantly, the selling skills necesbetter staffing decisions, improving sales productivity and sary to generate business. While manufacturers have excellent increasing customers’ perception of value to increase the client’s learning systems, they generally focus on the products they bottom line. The organization provides innovative staffing sell. Because the dealership environment consists of primarily services and sales productivity systems for multi-line dealers, generally the burden of training salespeople office technology companies. Outlaw provides beyond product-specific knowledge falls on the dealer. Many speaking, training and consulting for highly talented and motivated employees fail to achieve their associations and companies. potential because they do not have the selling or territory He can be reached at (800) 347-9361 management skills needed for success. or wayne@outlawgroup.com.

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Industry Briefing: Nuance Vendor pursuing recognition technologies for MFPs by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine

ocused on its current and future market opportunities resulting from the company’s 2009 acquisition of eCopy, executives of Nuance Communications Inc. hosted a briefing for industry analysts and editors Feb. 18 in New York City. The one-day event was held at the Times Square location Robert Weideman of LDI Color ToolBox, an authorized Canon dealership. Nuance is the number-one selling software product worldwide for Canon.

The network scanning solutions from eCopy provide organizations with a touch-screen application at the MFP that has a consistent user experience across devices. eCopy’s solutions Chris Strammiello support document connectivity to more than 100 enterprise applications, such as Microsoft Sharepoint, EMC Documentum and Oracle. The solutions are offered through various MFP vendors, including Canon, Hewlett-Packard, Konica Minolta, Ricoh, Toshiba and Xerox.

Robert Weideman, senior vice president and general manager of the Nuance Document Imaging Division, welcomed attendees, providing an overview of eCopy’s new parent company and its primary product focus. “Nuance uses recognition technologies to make it easier to use devices and interface with services, making it more productive to work in an office environment,” he explained. “The main recognition technologies that we have are our imaging recognition [OCR, etc.], speech recognition and predictive text technologies.”

Weideman emphasized the broad reach of the technologies provided by the worldwide, 6,000-employee company.

Nuance technology, he said, is currently used in 4,000 healthcare institutions, more than three billion phones, cars and navigation systems, and has more than eight billion customer

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care interactions annually. Today, he said, there are more than 21 million registered desktop users of Nuance software.

Going forward, the functionality of recognition technology in MFPs will be broadened as Nuance seeks new ways to use its technology to make it easier to interact with the MFP, said Weideman. “There are things that the MFP can’t do today; we’re going to determine whether these things are valuable,” he said. “ Will it really work, for example, for people to walk up to the MFP and say, ‘I want five copies, collated and stapled’? ScanStation [the eCopy free-standing touch screen and keyboard that connects to virtually any office MFP] is going to be our platform to prove out whether advanced recognition technologies [at the MFP] really do deliver productivity benefits to the end user.”

During the briefing, Nuance demonstrated user authentication at a Canon MFP using speech recognition. Chris Strammiello, vice president of marketing and product strategy of the Nuance Document Imaging Division, said “Voiceprint Authentication” is but one example of how the company’s recognition technology could be used at an MFP. “So many of the [MFP] service calls today are driven by really simple fixes; things that require a quick action that the end user theoretically should be able to figure out,” he explained, noting that he sees a day when the MFP will use automated speech to guide the user to complete the simple fixes. “I think this is something you will see brought to bear — the ‘OnStar’ for the MFP.” Strammiello also described how predictive text [where the device narrows down the available menu options from the initial touches or keystrokes] could add value at the MFP. “It could actually ‘flatten’ the menus on the MFP,” he said. “So, with just three touches, the user could get deep into the menu, where it took 10 or 11 touches to do that before.”

Brent Hoskins, executive director of the Business Technology Association, is editor of Office Technology magazine. He can be reached at brent@bta.org.

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COURTS & CAPITOLS

Bankruptcy’s Impact Dealing with Chapter 7 & 11 client proceedings by: Robert C. Goldberg, General Counsel for the Business Technology Association

here are clear signs that the economy is improving, but there have been casualties along the way. Hard-hit industries include the auto industr y, real estate, mortgage lending, construction and banking. Those companies that fail often resort to the bankruptcy laws for protection.

There are two types of bankruptcy that you may encounter. A Chapter 7 proceeding, which is often referred to as a “straight bankruptcy” or “liquidation bankruptcy,” involves a business that ceases operations with the remaining assets being sold for the benefit of creditors. Those assets will be allocated in a defined order beginning with secured or lien creditors, followed by unsecured creditors. Often the amounts left for unsecured creditors is a fraction of what is owed.

The second form of bankruptcy is known as a Chapter 11 proceeding or a “reorganization.” In this instance, the debtor continues to operate the business in an effort to work out the financial difficulties. A successful reorganization will most often result in a greater recovery for the creditors. In a Chapter 11, you may be requested to continue servicing and providing supplies for the debtor’s equipment even though past due amounts are owed to you. In those instances, you should carefully monitor payments and be prepared to cease providing services and supplies if timely payment is not received.

Immediately following a debtor’s bankruptcy petition, there exists an “automatic stay,” which limits what you can do in regard to the debtor and his (or her) property. This stay applies to all legal proceedings in the event you had filed suit against the debtor prior to the bankruptcy. There is an overlooked exception to the stay that could benefit you if acted upon promptly. Under the bankruptcy code, a seller has the right to reclaim goods that it sold to a debtor within 45 days prior to the commencement of the bankruptcy. To do so, you must make written demand for the goods no later than 20 days after the commencement of the bankruptcy case. In addition, the following conditions must be satisfied: The goods must have been

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sold to the debtor in the ordinary course of business; the debtor must have been insolvent when the goods were received; the debtor must have received the goods within the 45-day period prior to commencement of the case; and the goods must still be in the debtor’s possession and identifiable. If you meet these requirements, the bankruptcy code can place your claim at the head of the line if you act quickly.

Perhaps the only thing worse than having a customer file for bankruptcy while owing you money is having to return amounts that you received from a debtor prior to its bankruptcy. These amounts, known as “preference claims,” must be returned if paid within 90 days of the commencement of the bankruptcy and cannot be set off by sums the debtor owes you.

There are defenses to preference claims and many apply in our industry. One defense is to show that the payment was made in the “ordinary course of business.” This defense requires evidence that the payment was made and received in a manner consistent with the parties’ established practice.

Thus, if the debtor normally paid you “net 60 days,” that practice could establish the ordinary course of business between you. A second defense is to demonstrate “new value.” This defense would show that additional goods of value were provided after the payment alleged as a preference. Another defense is to show that the payment was received contemporaneous for the goods such as the case of a COD sale. It is important to keep these defenses in mind when confronted in an adversary proceeding for a preference payment.

Bankruptcies happen, but knowing the rules of bankruptcy can help soften the impact. Exercise sound financial and credit management for your business. In bankruptcy proceedings, it always appears that nice guys finish last.

Robert C. Goldberg is general counsel for the Business Technology Association.

He can be reached at robert.goldberg@sfnr.com.

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EDUCATION CALENDAR May 10-11 BTA MPS Sales Workshop

Chicago, IL Taught by consultants with Strategy Development, this two-day educational workshop is designed to provide dealerships with the tools they need to establish a managed print services strategy that will allow them to significantly increase the quantity of captured prints, lock in customers, distinguish themselves from competitors and, ultimately, sell more hardware.

11

Building My Business Webinar — “Grow Sales with a Common Process” Only 23 percent of sales organizations adhere to the use of a formal sales process. Eightynine percent of companies that deploy a formal process experience revenue growth. Further research demonstrates that top-performing sales professionals use a consistent sales process.

Yet many sales representatives believe that sales is a big smile, firm handshake and manipulative tactics. In this webinar, free to BTA members, David Ramos of Strategy Development will show how a consistent sales process will help you develop and retain your sales professionals.

19-20 BTA Managed Network Services Workshop

Dallas, TX The managed network services (MNS) opportunity provides a tremendous market for MFP dealers. The small- to medium-sized business (SMB) customer is receptive to a new way of supporting its internal IT environment. The shift is occurring now, and forward-looking dealers have an opportunity to build a customer base in this growing market today. Once the shift occurs, winning new business will mean replacing the incumbent provider. In this workshop, Mitch Morgan of CEO Focus will teach attendees how to set up MNS programs in their dealerships.

June 7

BTA MPS Operations & Service Workshop Las Vegas, NV With entry into the print management/MPS space, you add complexity to your back-office operations and to your service department. Taught by Jim Boulden and Mike Woodard of Strategy Development, this course is designed to jump-start your understanding of how to set up and manage all operational and service aspects of an MPS agreement.

7-8

BTA MPS Sales Workshop Las Vegas, NV Taught by consultants with Strategy Development, this two-day educational workshop is designed to provide dealerships with the tools they need to establish a managed print services strategy that will allow them to significantly increase the quantity of captured prints, lock in customers, distinguish themselves from competitors and, ultimately, sell more hardware.

For additional information or to register for courses or events, visit www.bta.org or call (800) 843-5059.

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BTA HIGHLIGHTS BTA would like to welcome the following new members to the association:

Dealer Members A & B Business Equipment Inc., Sioux Falls, SD Advanced Business Machines Inc., Lincoln, RI All Pro Office Technology Inc., Alton, IL American Copy Equipment, Independence, OH Copier World, Chicago, IL Digicomm Document Solutions, Shelton, CT Hughes Xerographics, Bellaire, OH Jamie’s Office Equipment & Supplies, Glenwood Springs, CO Milner Inc., Norcross, GA Northern Business Machines, Burlington, MA Protek Systems, London, ON, Canada Vendor Associate Members Express Sales Corp., Cerritos, CA Marlin Leasing Corp., Mt. Laurel, NJ Service Associate Members Sales Recruiters Network, Hartford, WI US Fleet Tracking, Oklahoma City, OK For full contact information of these new members, visit www.bta.org.

BTA’s Channel’s Choice Awards Report Each year, BTA provides a comprehensive look at the performance of office technology vendors/hardware manufacturers, based on the balloting of independent dealers. The results are presented from an indepth analysis compiled by Industry Analysts Inc. in the 2010 BTA Channel’s Choice Awards Report, now available to BTA members for download at www.bta.org.

For more information on BTA member benefits, visit www.bta.org.

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For the benefit of its dealer members, each month, BTA features two of its Vendor or Service Associate members in this space.

BTA Vendor Associate member Lexmark International Inc. was founded in 1991 in Lexington, Ky., after separating from IBM. Lexmark’s product line includes laser printers, inkjet printers and MFPs, as well as associated supplies, solutions and services. Lexmark’s vertically focused workflow solutions, combined with award-winning products and valueadded service offerings help its customers be more efficient and effective and can provide excellent opportunities for partners to grow their businesses. www.lexmark.com BTA Service Associate member Sales Recruiters Network has been recruiting sales, management, support and service professionals in the business products and managed print services arena throughout the United States for more than 20 years.

Sales Recruiters Network’s Jack Alexander worked as a regional sales manager for one of the largest manufacturers of consumer business products in the world and has also directed a sales team for a local business products company, working as the sales/ general manager. www.salesrecruitersnetwork.com A full list of BTA Vendor and Service Associate members can be found online at www.bta.org.

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MPS STRATEGIES

MPS Stumbling Blocks Why aren’t dealers launching successful programs? by: Tom Callinan, Strategy Development

hy do c omp ani e s fai l in managed print ser vices (MPS)? The consultants at Strategy Development are frequently asked this question. Listed below are the seven primary stumbling blocks to a successful MPS program.

No business plan. The numberone reason that a company does not experience success in MPS is the lack of a business plan. With many dealers, there is the desire to get into MPS, but the dealer does not take the time to actually develop a business plan with milestones. With a sound business plan, there will be no surprises relative to cash flow and you will be able to clearly measure progress to make timely adjustments.

Lack of financial commitment. If all of the companies that entered the MPS space took the time to develop a business plan, this second item would not be an issue. It takes an investment to get into any new business and MPS is no exception. The ROI is high and the payback period is short, but you will need to commit capital to the program. The ironic aspect of this issue is that the same company that wants to get into MPS for free is more than willing to add another copier/MFP salesperson or two, chasing a declining market. But when it comes to the highest growth area in more than a decade, the investment becomes a major decision.

Tr ying to launch an MPS program through the general-line sales representatives. This issue is partially associated with lack of financial commitment and partially with a desire to keep the core salespeople happy. Opinions run to extremes on this subject, but I will put it as simply as I possibly can : I have never seen a successful MPS program launched through the general-line sales force, and Strategy Development has been consulting in the space for more than four years. Make the investment in specialists to ensure your success in this high-profit, high-growth space.

Launching MPS as an equipment-led program. Many early adapters of MPS were simply employing a modified version of the print migration approach that was launched with the introduction of digital copiers. The modification is

W

that th e MP S prov i d er s ol d b oth copier- and printer-based devices, but th ey sti l l employed th e c overage model approach to justify selling new equipment. Other providers led with a program of moving prints to their lower-cost-to-operate printers. The genesis of both of these approaches can b e traced back to m easuring success by hardware revenue. In the MPS space, you should measure health by growth in aftermarket billing. If you control the devices, you will sell the equipment. But if you focus on the equipment, you will be missing a significant aftermarket opportunity.

Believing software is MPS. You probably use OMD, eautomate or LaCrosse as your management software. You absolutely depend on this software to make management decisions and to provide efficiency in operations. But do you think that they define the copier/MFP business? You will absolutely want remote monitoring software to provide efficiency similar to your management software; it will help you get meter reads and provide you with service and toner alerts. If you were not in the MPS space, the software would benefit you on the copier/MFP side of the business since (I hope) your leases are bundled in the copier/MFP space. So I do not classify remote monitoring software as “MPS software.� Put the investment in your business plan, but realize it is a product that provides efficiency, and not an entry into MPS. Being overly selective about the types of printers you will put under contract. You cannot limit your program to network-connected Hewlett-Packard (HP) printers. I realize you want to keep expenses low and having the printer connected to the network ensures that you can capture the meter read. And only servicing HP means you have fewer parts to stock, less service training and fewer product codes in your management system. The first issue is that most companies have as many locally connected printers as they do network connected. How will you know if that cartridge you sent out for the network printer does not make its way to the local printer? How about when the local printer breaks and the customer does not realize until after your technician arrives that w w w . o f f i c e t e c h n o l o g y m a g . c o m | A p r i l 2 0 1 0 | 29

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simply the stumbling blocks to actually the printer is not covered under your conAt this point you are launching a successful program. tract? Moreover, you will be missing imAt this point you are probably asking: portant data about the customer’s printprobably asking: “What “What does success look like?” Growing ing behavior. When it comes to limiting does success look like?” aftermarket is the measurement Strategy brands, say the customer has 47 HP, six Growing aftermarket Development advocates. At the end of the Lexmark and two Xerox Phaser printers. is the measurement first year, an MPS sales specialist should be You sell them on the benefits of MPS Strategy Development managing $24,500 in monthly aftermarket including being the “one-stop shop” for all advocates. revenue. If you started with two MPS sales of the imaging and print-related devices, specialists, at the end of the first year your exc e pt for th e si x L exmark and tw o Phasers. That’s not the best approach and you lose credibility. company would be managing $49,000 in monthly aftermarket The only printers we recommend you avoid are drum-based revenue. At the end of the second year, each MPS specialist (copier-based) printers you are not authorized to sell and, should be managing $64,500 in monthly aftermarket revenue.

So, if you started with two MPS sales specialists, your company therefore, will not be able to get trained to service.

Launching MPS without education on back-office would have $129,000 in monthly recurring aftermarket operations and service. MPS will affect your back office sig- revenue; you would be a $1.5 million-plus business without nificantly and will impact your service department. Your taking into consideration the equipment or software revenue normal copier/MFP sale is one or a few pieces of equipment, you would enjoy from the contracts you are managing. usually the same brand and maybe even the same model. You I hope this list helps you make the correct decisions to suctake over a fleet of printers and there are four different brands cessfully launch an MPS program. and 23 different models. Copier/MFPs change location inside Tom Callinan is the founding principal of Strategy Development, of an account once in a while, but printers change frequently. a consulting and advanced sales training firm that Plus, new devices appear and old devices disappear, somedeveloped and delivers the BTA MPS Sales Workshop and times to reappear at a future time. Service employees wonder BTA MPS Operations & Service Workshop how to get trained on the products and where to get parts, to help dealers enter the MPS space. along with dozens of other concerns. You need to get these He can be reached at folks trained to handle all aspects of MPS. callinan@strategydevelopment.org This list does not include management of the program after or (610) 527-3317. implementation to ensure that you maximize profit — it is Visit www.strategydevelopment.org.

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