ENX Magazine September 2015 Issue

VOLUME 22 NO. 9 SEPTEMBER 2015

Connecting People, Ideas and Products in the Document Imaging Industry since 1994 Connecting People, Ideas and Products in the Document Imaging Industry since 1994

Diversification in the Aftermarket and Supplies Markets

Legal Risks in the 3D Printing Market

10

Most Wanted Topics Business Profile

engage ‘n exchange engage ‘n exchange Disrupting the Status Quo:

The Face of the 21st Century Document Imaging Dealer

Office Technology Service Excellence Award

DIAMOND LEVEL

Bishop Business Equipment Tradeshows and Conferences: Lessons in Sales

Foreign Buyers: Myth or Reality?

ENX Magazine ENX Magazine PO Box 2240 Suite 729 PO Box 2240 Suite 729 Toluca Lake, CA 91610-0240 USALake, CA 91610-0240 USA Toluca tel: 818-505-0022 / fax: 818-505-9972 tel: 818-505-0022 email: enx@pacbell.net fax: 818-505-9972 www.enxmag.com email: enx@pacbell.net www.enxmag.com

We would like to thank those of you who have sent us address change information.

HELP US CONSERVE NATURAL RESOURCES To correct or delete your address from our subscription list, please call, fax or email us.

2

You’re paying good money for aftermarket color toner cartridges...

So why are you having so many problems?

GROW YOUR BUSINESS | GROW YOUR PROFITS Top Quality Cartridges

Remanufactured Printers

MPS Infrastructure

MPS Training & Marketing

Zero Landfill Recycling

The choice of over 700 dealers.

Boost your MPS profits.

Voted #1 in North America.

Start & WIN more deals.

Leverage our R2 certification.

GROW YOUR BUSINESS | GROW YOUR PROFITS Join hundreds of dealers now using the industries undisputed leader for top quality aftermarket color toner cartridges that outperform OEM at a fraction of the cost. Now is time to grow your business and your profits with new color technology from LMI Solutions‎.

lmisolutions.com/color

FREE GUIDE How to present aftermarket toner to OEM customers Download Now: lmisolutions.com/color

3

4

5

7

10

12

e e n n xx

16 Between The Lines 16 This 24 Between the Lines: Diversify or Don’t, but if You Don’t, Expect the Worst of 2015 2015 Trends and Trendsetters of 24 Diversification

By Scott Cullen in the Aftermarket and Supplies Markets e n x Scott Cullen 32 By16HP Sheds More Resellers As As It It Implements Implements New New Qualified Qualified Between The Lines Supplies Program In This32 Legal Risks in the 3D Printing Market - Nothing New to Hardcopy World EDITOR’S NOTE NOTE EDITOR’S EDITOR’S NOTE

In This

INDUSTRY STATE OF STATE OF THE THE INDUSTRY INDUSTRY

Issue

STATE OF THE INDUSTRY NEWS NEWS BRIEFING BRIEFING

EDITOR’S NOTE

MARKET INTELLIGENCE

STATE OF THE INDUSTRY 24By Charles Brewer Trends and Trendsetters of 2015

Issue3840 32

By Michael Nadeau

By Scott Cullen BUSINESS PROFILE BUSINESS PROFILE PROFILE

Static Control

NEWS PROFILE BRIEFING BUSINESS

Staff Staff

44

HP Sheds Resellers As It Implements New Qualified LMI Solutions: AMore Source That Extends Well Beyond Premium DEALER SPOTLIGHT: SPOTLIGHT: DEALER SPOTLIGHT: Supplies Program A Conversation with Keith Replacement Toner Cartridges Keith Justus, Justus, President President of of Business Business

By Charles Brewer

Copier Solutions

40 42 Disrupting the Status Quo: Adam Gregory is the Face of the 21st 48 BEIDEALER Services and ENX Magazine SPOTLIGHT: Magazine to to Acknowledge Acknowledge Service Service Century Document Imaging Dealer 44Excellence A Conversation with Keith Justus, President of Business in 2015 BUSINESS PROFILE DEALER SPOTLIGHT SERVICE EXCELLENCE Static Control EXCELLENCE SERVICE EXCELLENCE

Staff

Copier Solutions SALES MANAGEMENT SALES SALES & & MARKETING MARKETING

SALES & MARKETING 50 54 1048The MostYear Wanted Topics – part 1 of 2 Ahead SERVICE EXCELLENCE

BEI Services and ENX Magazine to Acknowledge Service Brad Roderick ByBy Charles Lamb in 2015 Excellence

Susan Susan Susan Neimes Susan Neimes

Publisher & Managing Editor Editor Publisher Publisher & Managing Publisher & Managing

Susan Neimes

MANAGED IT 58 54How 54 The toYear WinAhead Over a New Prospect Bishop Business Equipment on Prospect the Art of Customer Retention MANAGED SALES & IT MARKETING MANAGED IT SERVICE EXCELLENCE DIAMOND AWARD WINNER

Publisher & Managing Editor

By Brad Roderick

By Dave Sobel

58EXITHow 58 STRATEGY toand WinConferences: Over a New Prospect Lessons in Sales 60 Tradeshows TheBy10Dave Biggest Business Sellers Sellers Make Make –– Part Part 11 of of 33 Sobel Mistakes Business SALES & MARKETING MANAGED IT EXIT EXIT STRATEGY STRATEGY

ByBy Brad JimRoderick Zipursky

By Jim Zipursky

EXITZipursky STRATEGY 60By Jim Mistakes Business Sellers Make – Part 1 of 3

Display Advertisers Index Index 62 Foreign 64 ByBuyers: Jim Zipursky Myth or Reality?

Events of Industry Events Calendar of IndustryIndex Advertisers 65 By62Calendar

JimDisplay Zipursky Printer Tech Printer TechofTip Tip Calendar Industry Events 66 65By Laser Pros Laser 70 By66By PrinterPros Tech Tip LaserPro By Laser Pros Free Tech Tech Help Help 68 Free Free Tech Help 66 68By Smarka!

By Smarka!

Xerox 4110 Style Fuser Repairs Xerox 4110 Repairs 70 70 70By Britt Xerox 4110Style Style Fuser Fuser Repairs Horvat EXIT STRATEGY The 10 Biggest

Scott Cullen Scott Cullen Scott Scott Cullen

Editorial Director Editorial Director Editorial Director Editorial Director

Scott Cullen

Editorial Director

PRINTER TECH TIP

DISPLAY ADVERTISERS INDEX

® ® CALENDAR OF INDUSTRY EVENTS ®

Ronelle Ingram Ronelle Ingram Ingram Ingram Ronelle Ronelle ContributingRonelle Editor Contributing Editor Contributing Editor Editor Contributing Contributing Editor

By Britt Horvat

By Britt Horvat

engage ‘n exchange engage ‘n exchange exchange engage ‘n

engage ‘n exchange

engage ‘n exchange

engage ‘n exchange engage ‘n exchange engage ‘n exchange

Associate Editor

Associate Editor Associate Editor Associate Editor 14

14 14 14 14

•

México & Latin America Latin LatinAmerica America

La Revista del Distribuidor Dealer Source

La Revista del Distribuidor Dealer Source La Revista Revista del del Distribuidor Distribuidor Dealer La Dealer Source Source La Revista del Distribuidor Dealer Source

Corporate Office Corporate Office Corporate Office Susan Neimes - susan@enxmag.com Corporate Office Corporate Office Susan Neimes -- susan@enxmag.com Susan Neimes 10153 1/2 Susan RiversideNeimes Drive., Suite 729, Toluca Lake, CA 91602 -- susan@enxmag.com susan@enxmag.com Susan Neimes susan@enxmag.com 10153 1/2 Riverside Drive, Suite 729, Toluca Lake, CA CA 91602 tel.

818-505-0022 • fax.

818-505-9972 10153 1/2 Riverside Drive., Suite 729, Toluca Lake, 91602 10153 Riverside Drive., 729, Toluca 10153 1/2 1/2tel.

Riverside Drive., Suite Suite 729, Toluca Lake, Lake, CA CA 91602 91602 818-505-0022 fax.

818-505-9972 Editorial•• Office: tel.

818-505-0022 fax.

818-505-9972 tel.

818-505-0022 • fax.

818-505-9972 tel. 818-505-0022 • fax.

818-505-9972 Scott Cullen - scott@enxmag.com Editorial Office: Editorial Office: Editorial Office: 21 Llanfair Lane, NJ 08618 • tel. 609-406-1424 Editorial Office: ScottEwing, Cullen - scott@enxmag.com

Christina Kim

Christina Kim Christina Kim Kim Christina Kim Christina Associate Editor

México & México Latin America México & &

Scott Cullen -- scott@enxmag.com Scott Cullen Scott Cullen - scott@enxmag.com scott@enxmag.com 21 Llanfair Lane,Ewing, Ewing, NJ NJ 08618 • tel.

609-406-1424 21 Llanfair Lane, 08618 • tel.

609-406-1424 21 21 Llanfair Llanfair Lane, Lane, Ewing, Ewing, NJ NJ 08618 08618 •• tel. tel. 609-406-1424 609-406-1424

ENX Magazine is published monthly by Affinity Business Communications, Inc. Any inquiries should be sent to: enx@pacbell.net or mailed to the corporate office.

Copyright ©2014 by ENX Magazine printed in the U.S.A. All reproduction in whole or part is prohibited without written permission. Cover photo from shutterstock.com

ENX Magazineis ispublished published monthlybybyAffinity AffinityBusiness BusinessCommunications, Communications, Inc. Inc. Any Anyinquiries inquiriesshould shouldbe besent sentto: to: enx@pacbell.net enx@pacbell.net or ENX or mailed mailed to to the the corporate corporateoffice. office.

ENX Magazine Magazine published monthly ENX Magazine is is published monthly monthly by

by Affinity Affinity Business Business Communications, Communications, Inc. Inc. Any Any inquiries inquiries should should be be sent sentto: to:enx@pacbell.net enx@pacbell.netor ormailed mailedtotothe thecorporate corporateoffice. office.

Copyright ©2014 by ENX Magazine printed in the U.S.A. All reproduction in whole or part is prohibited without written permission. Cover photo from shutterstock.com

Copyright January ©2015 byENX ENX Magazine printedininthe the U.S.A. All Allreproduction reproduction inwhole whole or or part is is prohibited without written permission.

Cover photo from fotolia.com Copyright Magazine www.enxmag.com 2015 We Saw It Inin Copyrightl ©2014 ©2014 by

by ENX Magazine printed printed in the U.S.A. U.S.A. All reproduction in ENX whole Magazine or part part is prohibited prohibited without without written written permission. permission. Cover Cover photo photo from from shutterstock.com shutterstock.com

•• www.enxmag.com www.enxmag.com www.enxmag.com| •• www.enxmag.com

September 2015 l January January 2015 2015 ll January 2015

We Saw It In ENX Magazine We We Saw Saw ItIt In In ENX ENX Magazine Magazine

ROSS International, Inc.

Leading Exporter Of High Quality Pre-Owned Copiers l l l

ROSS International, Inc. Phone: 973-365-9900 Toll Free: 1-800-240-ROSS (7677) Fax: 973-473-8800

www.ross-international.com

purchase@ross-international.com 1 Lisbon Street, Clifton, NJ 07013

Buy and sell all makes and models Exports around the world Over 7000 copiers in inventory

Currently buying over 250 models of the following brands Canon Duplo Gestetner Imagistics

Kip Kodak Konica Minolta Kyocera

Lanier Panasonic Ricoh Riso

Savin Sharp Toshiba Xerox

We carry a large inventory of all brands and models Please inquire about our parts inventory

B E T W E E N

Contributors Charles Lamb | Charles Lamb is the President and CEO of Mps&it Sales Consulting. His firm delivers proven methodologies and processes that assist dealer principals seeking a successful transformation into the managed services space. He’s created complementary solutions including Funnelmaker, Gatekeeper, and Shield IT services. For more info, call 888.823.0006, e-mail him at clamb@mpsandit. com, or visit www.mpsandit.com.

Michael Nadeau | Michael Nadeau is the Senior Market Analyst of Actionable Intelligence. He has made a career of explaining emerging technologies to business and IT professionals. He cuts through the complexity to provide the context and clarity that his audience needs to understand the challenges and opportunities that those technologies present. Mr. Nadeau is the founding publisher of Data Informed, a website that covers big data and business. He is an accomplished writer, editor, and publisher of IT and business publications.

Follow him on Twitter @menadeau or email to mnadeau@ action-intell.com.

Brad Roderick | As Executive Vice President, Brad Roderick sets Sales and Marketing strategy for InkCycle across all channels and is responsible for the entire “Customer Experience” from products to partnerships.

You can reach him at broderick@inkcycle. com or find him on Twitter @BradRoderick.

Jim Zipursky | Jim Zipursky is the Managing Director of CFA-MidWest, an investment bank serving the middle market.

Jim is a registered representative of Silver Oak Securities, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. For more information visit www.cfaw.com/ omaha. Follow Jim on Twitter (@jazcfane) for articles and information about M&A. For more information about Exit Strategies or Selling Your Business, feel free to contact Jim at (402) 330-2160 or jaz@cfaomaha.com.

16

•

www.enxmag.com | September 2015

T H E

L I N E S

Diversify or Don’t, but if You Don’t, Expect the Worst The title of this month’s column can almost be a title for a midnight horror movie. But that’s what we do in the publishing business as well as those in the conference session business—come up with catchy titles that take things to the extreme.

The reality is, diversification has long been a necessary evil in the document imaging industry. We’ve seen it before in the hardware industry—digital, connectivity, solutions, Managed Print Services, Managed Services, and we’re seeing it on the supplies and consumables side of the business as well. That’s what we’re talking about in this month’s feature story, “Diversification in the Aftermarket and Supplies Markets.”

Admittedly, we’re stretching our definition of aftermarket to encompass not just the toner and ink suppliers, but the parts and supplies folks as well.

With a title like “Diversify or Don’t, but if You Don’t, Expect the Worst,” it makes one wonder how many dealerships have actually gone belly up because they didn’t diversify? Honestly, I can’t imagine there were dealerships that blew off digital, decided against connecting the digital boxes they were selling, or ignored solutions and then had to close their doors because they didn’t do one or all of those things. You can’t be in the document imaging business without rolling with the technological flow, especially if your customers expect that of their technology provider. Certainly, the OEMs are doing their part to roll with the flow. It’s the nature of the business.

Ink and toner suppliers may be in a better position to take it slow on the diversification path, but most aren’t and are diversifying into new and somewhat exciting product and services segments. That’s what you’ll learn about in this month’s main feature. You’ll also have the opportunity to dig even deeper with the supplemental editorial we’ll be publishing online throughout the month of September in ENX/The Week in Imaging. There you’ll find more extensive interviews with some of the individuals we interviewed for our main feature as well as an additional piece that discusses the concerns suppliers have about broadening their product lines or expanding into uncharted territory.

As is always the case with ENX, there’s plenty of content to either expand your knowledge of the industry or validate whatever path you may be wandering down by seeing what your peers and key players in the industry are saying on a topic.

Thanks for reading.

Scott Cullen Editorial Director

We Saw It In ENX Magazine

20

21

Order Online at Nuworldinc.com Since 1985

Blind Drop Shipping

Since 1985

Same Day Shipping

FALL SALE

SAVE BIG! MAXIMIZE PROFIT

The Prime Source For Copiers • Printers • MFPs • Faxes • Scanners

WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!

HUGE PROFIT OPPORTUNITY! MX-2616N / MX-3116N

MX-M264N / M314N / M354N

Full Color Ledger Document Systems

B&W Multifunction Printers Copy • Network Print • Network Color Scan • Fax (Option) w/ Standard PCL6 Network Printing and Color Network Scanning

• 26/26ppm B&W/Color (MX-2616N) • 31/31ppm B&W/Color (MX-3116N) • 600-Sheet Paper Cap. • Standard Auto Duplex Copy and Print • 33.6 Kbps Fax Speed (Option)

GREAT

• 26ppm (MX-M264N) • 31ppm (MX-M314N) • 35ppm (MX-M354N) • 2 x 500-Sheet Tray • Standard Auto Duplex

CALL FOR

BEST

BUY

CALL FOR

PACKAGE

PRICING!

MX-M264N

$

DEALS!

MX-M314N

MX-M354N

290 310 325

Rebate

$

$

Rebate

Rebate

A S K A B O U T O U R C R E AT I V E F I N A N C I N G

SPECIAL LEASING PROGRAM • SPLIT FUNDING PROGRAM MX-M232D

MX-B402

MX-B201D

Full-Featured A3 Document System

40ppm B&W MFP

20ppm B&W MFP

• Up to 23ppm • 40-Sheet RSPF • Electronic Sorting • Auto Duplexing

• 500 Sheets • USB 2.0 Interface

• 250 Sheets • USB 2.0 Interface

• Convenient, Built-in Color PC Scanning • Integrated Super G3 Fax (Option)

$

200

CALL FOR PACKAGE DEALS!

MX-C250 / C300W / C301W / C300P

SALE!

150

Rebate

Image shown: MX-C301W

• 33.6 Kbps Fax • 250 Shts • USB 2.0

100

$

Rebate

MX-C312

Digital Laser Fax w/ Ntwrk Printer

$

MX-C250 MX-C300P

CALL FOR BEST PRICING

FO-2081

Desktop Color Document Systems • 25ppm B&W/Clr (C250) • 30ppm B&W/Clr (C300W/C301W) • Standard 250-Sht Paper Drawer • Auto Duplex (C300W/C301W) / • 33.6 Kbps Fax (Super G3) (C300W/C301W) • Wireless Networ (C300W/C301W)

BIG

Rebate

31ppm A4 Color Multifunction • USB 2.0

$

30

Rebate

CALL FOR BEST PRICING

300

$

Rebate

ALL SUPPLIES AVAILABLE FOR PROMPT DELIVERY! PARTS ORDER HOTLINE: 562.977.4949

TEL: 800.729.8320 • FAX: 800.729.0292 • INFO@NUWORLDINC.COM • WWW.NUWORLDINC.COM

ENX Magazine | www.enxmag.com

All prices, rebates, and availability are subject to change without notice. Please call us to confirm.

Nuworld is not responsible for typographical errors or inaccurate specifications. Registered trademarks are properties of their respective owners.

Order Online at Nuworldinc.com

Blind Drop Shipping

Since 1985

Same Day Shipping

FALL SALE

SAVE BIG! MAXIMIZE PROFIT

The Prime Source For Copiers • Printers • MFPs • Faxes • Scanners

WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!

357/457/507 B&W MFPs The Business of Helping Businesses

Protection for Your Business & the Planet

Small & Compact Yet Feature Rich

The e-STUDIO 507 Series from Toshiba has been designed to bring small and medium workgroups the same power and performance typically reserved for larger businesses. It’s easy to use, allowing you to create professional looking documents without extensive training or experience. › Up to 50 PPM › Black & White MFP › Small / Med. Workgroup › Copy, Print, Scan, Fax › Secure MFP › EPEAT Registered General Specifications

CALL FOR SPECIAL PRICING

• 35ppm (eSTUDIO 357) • 45ppm (eSTUDIO 457) • 50ppm (eSTUDIO 507) • 2400 x 600 dpi Resolution (with Smoothing) (Copy/Print) • 2 x 550-Sheet Trays, 100-Sheet Stack Feed Bypass Tray • 2GB RAM Memory, 320GB FIPS 140-2 SED • 33.6 Kbps Super G3 Fax Modem (Option)

B&W MFP Product Lineup

207L/257/307

2007/2507

2505H/F

2306

ALL SUPPLIES & PARTS AVAILABLE FOR PROMPT DELIVERY! PARTS ORDER HOTLINE: 562.977.4949 TEL: 888.372.3700 • EMAIL: SALES@IDSWC.COM • FAX: 562.921.1167 All prices, rebates, and availability are subject to change without notice. Please call us to confirm.

Nuworld is not responsible for typographical errors or inaccurate specifications. Registered trademarks are properties of their respective owners.

NBS / ENX | September 2015

State of the Industry

Diversification in the Aftermarket and Supplies Markets

S Scott Cullen

uppliers and wholesalers have been diversifying since the dawn of time. So when we write about diversification, it’s not like we’re talking about a new business strategy. What we are talking about are new products and services designed to uncover new opportunities for themselves and their resellers.

Diversification for Toshiba America Business Solutions’ aftermarket division centers on AquaAce Tom Walter specialty media.

Toshiba America Tom Walter, vice Business president of disSolutions tribution and aftermarket sales, says that specialty media is key to finding business outside of toner. The most popular AquaAce media is 12 x 47-inch glossy, double-sided banner paper.

AquaAce is also available in letter, legal, and ledger sizes.

“These papers basically have the same properties as lamination,” explains Walter. “They’re water and light resistant, tear proof, smudge proof—all the qualities you’d receive in lamination is done in a single path through the Toshiba MFP on the specialty media.”

This media has an additional benefit because there’s less energy consumption compared to laminating.

“This paper fits the need of any application where you’d want to laminate, but where you want to reduce costs and have less of an impact on the environment,” says Walter.

In addition to Toshiba’s unique Aqua ACE specialty media

offerings, the company features a comprehensive selection of consumables accompanying its array of thermal barcode printers, another area of diversification that Walter is excited about. He reports the range of media is ideal for virtually any labeling application – from ribbons and labels to RFID tags and cleaning products – within myriad vertical markets.

For Luke Goldberg, global SVP, sales & marketing, Clover Imaging Group, diversification is concentrated on services and products. On the services side there’s many different things Clover is doing, but whatever they do and wherever they go, there’s one ultimate goal.

“As the industry matures, resellers are expecting more from their suppliers than just a company that can move Luke Goldberg Clover Imaging boxes from Point Group A to Point B,” emphasizes Goldberg. “So taking these services and wrapping them around products to make those products even more attractive in terms of value is the essence of how we use services. We’re not making money providing these services; we’re providing these services so our dealers are empowered to sell more of our products.”

The services Clover is most renowned for are its MPS offerings—a menu of turnkey Managed Print Services sold under the Axess and MPS engineered solutions brands from its West Point and MSE divisions. This encompasses everything from an

entry to MPS to full blown MPS, including color, cost of ownership, service and fulfillment, parts, training, and everything else.

“We provide those services because we want to offer a platform where our dealers are able to sell more of our consumables,” states Goldberg. “When you look at MPS the majority of money is still made on service, parts, and toner, not software. The software and service is a vehicle to sell more toner, ink, and parts.”

Goldberg feels Clover has the easiest to use, most comprehensive menu of MPS services that any wholesale provider offers.

“That’s everything from the data collection side and the ability to collect meters, to a program we call Auto Toner Fulfillment which completely automates the process of setting alerts and fulfilling toner directly to a specific department, printer or user within an organization,” he says. “It makes the process proactive instead of reactive.”

For a company whose foundation is toner, ink, and parts, MPS is a natural way to diversify. But you cannot win at MPS unless you market it properly and Clover helps resellers do that via a comprehensive, end user facing dealer marketing program. However, Goldberg acknowledges, “We’re not a marketing company.

We want to provide marketing support as part of our value-added services to enable our dealers to increase their presence, create their brand in their own right, and to grow their business.”

That marketing support takes various forms, including a cloudbased program where Clover has continued on page 26

24

•

www.enxmag.com | September 2015

We Saw It In ENX Magazine

Everything your MPS program needs.

Right at your fingertips.

FMAudit v4 Select combines the already robust FMAudit Central v4 Server with the ability to track user data, mobile mapping and TCO analysis into one, seamless package. With it, you can offer the most powerful MPS program in the market today.

Get started now. Contact us for a free demo.

573.632.2461

fmaudit.ecisolutions.com

ECi and the ECi Red Box are trademarks or registered trademarks of ECi Software Solutions, Inc.

fmaudit@ecisolutions.com

Diversification in the Aftermarket and Supplies Markets created a custom portal for its dealers called ‘Empower.’

Clover’s Parts Division, Depot International, is also driving diversification, offering printer training in various locations across the country multiple times a year. Clover also provides Help Desk support for its parts and MPS customers free of charge. In addition the company is diversifying into IT server and computer parts for resellers expanding into Managed Services.

Goldberg acknowledges that if you’d told him three years ago Clover would be selling thousands of IT, server and computer parts, he’d have said we don’t know anything about that, that’s not our core competency. But it turns out that selling parts is Clover’s core competency.

“It’s just another consumable part for a different type of hardware,” he says.

Speaking of a different type of hardware, as of last year Clover began offering filaments for 3D printers.

“We offer 12 different types in both PLA and ABS plastic configurations,” reports Goldberg.

At Supplies Network, diversification also centers on products and services, including MPS and traditional services. David Concors, vice president of sales, reports that in terms David Concors of products the company Supplies Network has diversified heavily into printers across all the major OEMs. “The diversification has more to do with the amount of equipment we’re stocking and the resources we’re hiring,” states Concors.

Supplies Network now has a team of printer advisors who function as an overlay to its sales force. They help resellers source hardware by assessing needs, then align them with the best possible manufacturer rebates and special offers. While predominantly focused on A4, Supplies Network has a similar strategy for A3 and has hired a rep with a copier background to help it expand its presence in this space.

Another area of diversification is wide format. “We sell a significant amount already, but have never formalized that business model,” says Concors. “We’re 26

•

now aligning more closely with manufacturers to increase our inventory on wide format so that we can attract a wider array of resellers who today may not look to us for traditional ink and toner, but may look to us for a depth and breadth of wide format products.”

On the services front Supplies Network now has a national printer installation service where the company dispatches its network of service technicians to end-user locations to do the onsite setup of printers and MFPs. “It’s not just printer installation, we also have the capacity to help them take advantage of the best offers, buy in bulk and then manage the storage of those devices so they can take advantage of the economies of scale associated with making a large purchase,” reports Concors.

Local device management represents another way that Supplies Network is diversifying its services, particularly for MPS customers.

“We have a local device management solution that enables customers to include the local devices that today are typically difficult to manage,” explains Concors.

“We incorporate those into our MPS model and assume responsibility for managing the supplies replenishment and the servicing of those devices.”

Last but not least, Supplies Network is offering hardware configurations. “Many printers we sell require software to be loaded or flashing to be done to certain devices, like in Lexmark’s BSD program to make them eligible for the BSD supplies to work properly in the devices,” observes Concors. “We are in the process of evaluating our ability to create a configuration center in our distribution centers to provide that expanded service and minimize the amount of vendors or solution providers our resellers have to rely on.”

The diversification theme at Digitek Computer Products is wrapped around the upcoming October launch of Partner Pro, a suite of business growth solutions for the company’s customers.

“It’s built on sales training, marketing tools, and ongoing resources to help them stay ahead of the industry’s best practices and updates,” explains Aaron Dyck, senior

www.enxmag.com | September 2015

director of solutions sales.

“We’re investing heavily in the dealer community and want to bring the industry’s first single sign on access to everything they need to drive revAaron Dyck enue for their business, Digitek Computer from sales to operations, Products to marketing.

He emphasizes that this is not a one size fits all. “We’ll create landing pages based on the products and solutions they’re selling, drive traffic to their Website, and help them capture who actually comes to their Website and bring in more leads to their business.”

The inspiration for these new offerings is a shifting industry and the emergence of different solutions—Managed Print, Managed IT, and document workflow.

Partner Pro is actually four solutions.

The first is a 10-module training platform on how to sell solutions. The second piece is an online MPS management services training platform that’s designed to help sales reps elevate the perceived value of Managed Print to the decision maker as well as help them challenge the current state of MPS and branch out into more profitable aspects of their Managed Print solution.

The third component is an eight-module, video-based Managed IT sales training platform focused on taking that mainline sales rep that sells a lot of things and helping them identify Managed IT opportunities for their subject matter experts.

“We know subject matter experts are expensive and we want to make sure the opportunities these folks bring forward are qualified correctly and fit the need of what they’re looking for,” states Dyck.

“We’re agnostic; we want to complement their back end infrastructure and give them a repeatable training platform across all solution lines that help them go to market and create continuity within their business. We’re in the business of helping our customers grow and the more business they close, the more products they buy from Digitek. If we can help them do that we can leverage their spending to offset these services.” continued on page 28

We Saw It In ENX Magazine

ECi e-automate is the business management software solution in the office imaging industry.

#1

SALES

PURCHASING

INVENTORY

CONTRACTS

SERVICE

ACCOUNTING

REPORTING

All of your daily processes are integrated into one, easy-to-use interface allowing you to automate hundreds of tasks you currently do manually.

Plus, our RemoteTech product gives your technicians the ability to manage their service calls via smartphone or tablet and transmit real-time information with dispatch!

866-342-8392

servicetechnology.ecisolutions.com

ECi and the ECi Red Box logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of ECi Software Solutions, Inc.

e-automate@ecisolutions.com

Diversification in the Aftermarket and Supplies Markets The last piece is Inbound Marketing that helps customers leverage social media in their marketing efforts. Here Digitek manages the reseller’s social media channels, sets up the content, handles the Website design, and tailors all that information to the dealership.

LMI is one of those suppliers that started small and has grown exponentially over the years, mostly by focusing on its core business. That’s been changing with LMI’s diGary Willert versification into printers.

LMI “It’s going to be a huge product line for us and it’s going to grow dramatically,” predicts LMI President Gary Willert. “People always think of OEM so now we’re trying to get them to think that this is like an OEM product, but the cost and cost of ownership is much lower. This makes a lot more sense to put in your business model, and that’s the challenge so far, getting dealers to understand there is a better alternative.”

3D printing is something else on LMI’s radar although nothing concrete is available yet.

“We’re looking at offering this to our dealers because more of our dealers are looking to sell 3D printers,” states Willert.

“As they become more involved, it becomes more of a viable product for them and we want to support them with the printers, but at the bare minimum, product support.”

Steve McBride, general manager North America, Katun Corp., identifies MPS and IT Services as two areas where Katun is diversifying in North America. “We continue to develop [products] that Steve McBride Katun Corp can impact the dealer’s profitability whether it’s cutting costs of parts and supplies, which has been our traditional business in the copier space, as well as moving into the printer space with a more robust print offering both in parts and supplies as well as reman printers.”

In the last eight to 12 months Katun has partnered with some of the leading

software companies in the industry with one result, a MPS profit calculator that allows dealers to price out MPS deals and ensure profitability. Katun has also partnered with Print Audit, not only for collection, but print management, providing dealers with the ability to focus on managing their customer’s print environment. Auto toner fulfillment is another area of diversification for Katun.

“Most of these are through a subscription model, [which creates] a recurring revenue stream for us and the dealer,” explains McBride. “We call it our Katun Dealer Fleet Management Program. The dealer can buy a part or all or some of those offerings as well as marry that into their core business with us to get discounts and rebates from those additional offerings.”

Another imaging supplier, Green Project, Inc. has diversified into 3D filaments after Green Project President Joseph Wu saw his first 3D printer a few years ago Joseph Wu at a CES show. That was Green Project also the inspiration for Green Project to start a separate company that sells 3D printers. “It was a simple idea, something different, and could be a disruptive technology,” recalls Wu. While the company prepares for the release of its first two 3D printers, 3D printer filament sales are growing slowly but surely ever since Green Project starting carrying them in 2013. “We were the first in the industry to offer a 3D filament,” claims Wu. Brook Douglas, vice president & general manager, Canada, at Parts Now LLC, shares some interesting revelations on how Parts Now is diversifying beyond traditional printer parts and supplies. This past March Parts Now in Canada began distributing parts for service providers of cooling systems, refrigerators, and air conditioners. It’s a new vertical for sure.

“At the end of the day a part is a part,” says Douglas. “We’re taking Brook Douglas that same plan and model Parts Now

and expanding that into other programs.”

This diversification plays right into Parts Now’s wheelhouse with its core competency being distribution and nextday service on parts as well as same-day service in local markets.

“At the end of the day what that service provider needs is having that part arrive on time whether that be a printer, refrigerator or anything else,” emphasizes Douglas who feels that diversifying into a different kind of part shouldn’t shock its current customers.

Even some wholesalers are diversifying.

“As a distributor we have to diversify and one way we’ve done that is to look at new products,” observes Brent Martin, marketing director for Carolina Wholesale. “The Brent Martin 3D Systems distribution Carolina Wholesale program we put into place in April is one example.”

Martin feels there are many long-term implications for 3D printing, but patience must remain a virtue.

“It’s going to take a while to build in the private sector,” maintains Martin.

“Two areas where we see an immediate need are education and government. We have a dealer base that’s strong in the education market and this is a great opportunity for those dealers.”

He adds that Carolina Wholesale is not necessarily making inroads with the traditional office technology dealer yet, although he feels this is a golden opportunity for copier dealers too.

Acquisitions of other distributors are also helping Carolina diversify. The recent acquisition of Central Office Systems in Vista, CA added a mix of high-end Copy Center solutions such as advanced paper drills, cutters, and letter openers.

A couple of years ago the distributor UniNet diversified by adding a series of short-run, digital label printers to its product offerings. It was a natural way to branch out.

“UniNet has a worldwide distribution network of sales, service, and support already set up,” states Joe Dovi, COO & executive vice president. “We can get it to any continent or country very quickly.” continued on page 30

28

•

www.enxmag.com | September 2015

We Saw It In ENX Magazine

Guaranteed same day shipping for orders placed by 6 pm CST Nectron速 covers 94.5% of the US within 1-3 days via UPS ground Huge inventory stock levels to ensure prompt delivery Secure ordering online at www.nectron.com 24/7 High quality products with competitive pricing Free blind drop shipping & custom labeling

www.nectron.com (P) 281-240-2222 (F) 281-240-0468 info@nectron.com

Nectron速 laser toner cartridges offer superior print performance and value and are guaranteed to meet or exceed OEM specifications. Our entire line is manufactured in ISO 9001/14001 and/or STMC certified facilities to ensure the highest quality products to our customers.

We carry a comprehensive line of aftermarket inkjet cartridges that are built in state-of-the-art facilities meeting ISO 9001/14001 & STMC certification guidelines. Our cartridges provide great overall value and are guaranteed to deliver sharp vivid colors and blacker blacks.

Nectron速 compatible thermal fax ribbon rolls & cartridges provide clean, clear and consistent graphics and crisp test prints. In addition the yield is guaranteed to equal that of the OEM output and deliver the utmost in overall value.

Nectron速 compatible POS & Printer ribbons are continuously tested under actual conditions to ensure high quality prints, page yields and density.

We only use the highest quality nylon inks and have assembled a wide range of the most popular models.

Diversification in the Aftermarket and Supplies Markets Although he’s not convinced this is a good fit for UniNet’s traditional toner customers, he sees an opportunity for the BTA channel with the company’s two flagship models, the iColor 700 and the iColor 900 (www.icolorprint).

“Manufacturers and label printers need to print short runs of labels and right now manufacturers outsource it or they’re buying labels from a large Flexo house or offset company,” explains Dovi. “They have Joe Dovi to commit to large runs, UniNet there’s lead times, plate charges, they have to order hundreds of thousands of labels to get a good price, and then end up throwing a lot of that stock out because of regulation changes or other changes [to the labels]. That’s where the short run market comes in.”

Maintaining the Status Quo

As much as some firms relish the opportunity for diversification, others are perfectly content to stick to the status quo. As Bob Willmes of Supplies Wholesalers notes, “We haven’t expanded beyond compatBob Willmes ible imaging supplies Supplies and don’t plan to. For Wholesalers growth we’ve added two

distribution centers in Pennsylvania and Nevada this past year with plans for more acquisitions in the coming year.”

That strategy holds true for Ink Cycle, which has been doing what it has always done, offering compatible cartridges since 1992.

“There are certain things we’re good at and certain things we’re not like everybody else,” acknowledges Brad Roderick, executive vice president with Ink Cycle.

“One, we attract good people who have a great Brad Roderick level of care about the Ink Cycle customers. From the beginning when the company was founded, was a level of personal touch and overall quality—every aspect of the business from our abilities to our people to our relationships and what we bring to the market.”

It’s not as if Ink Cycle is close minded about diversifying. “We’re always looking at other things,” states Roderick.

For example, a few years ago Ink Cycle investigated a MPS offering.

After doing its due diligence and seeing what was needed to make that work, the software, the quoting systems, and the monitoring, they realized they’d have to make a significant investment to enter that market, followed by ongoing investments.

“We looked at what was already on the market and saw what was being done,” explains Roderick. “PrintFleet, Print Audit, ECi and MWA with their FORZA can bring world class solutions. That’s their business, ours is on the product side. So we decided to stay on the product side because the goal for our independent dealers has been the same three things—help our customers win new business, help deliver products and services that help them retain their existing business, and help them make more revenue and keep more profits. ✦

This Month in ENX/The Week in Imaging Look for more coverage on “Diversification in the Aftermarket and Supplies Markets” in our weekly newsletter and Website throughout the month of September. There you will find more in-depth interviews with some of the individuals interviewed for this article as well as separate articles, “Concerns about Diversifying” and “More Diversification Opportunities.”

engage ‘n exchange ACTIONABLE INTELLIGENCE

engage ‘n exchange

Registration open at www.enxmag.com

Present A Free Live Webinar

How to Make “Green” – and Avoid “Red” – in the Color Market

September 22nd, 2015 Tuesday 2pm EST Sponsored by:

30

•

www.enxmag.com | September 2015

We Saw It In ENX Magazine

Need Help with

National Printer Installation?

Our National Printer Installation Service gives you the flexibility to add a service component to your offering and bring more value to your customers without adding staff and overhead to manage the details.

Contact one of our Printer Advisors

800-729-9300

• • • • •

Desktop single-function and multi-function printers On-site and remote phone services Not limited to your local or regional area Project Management Team to handle details Certified Installation Coordinators

PROD UCTS • S E R V I C E S • S O L U T I O NS PR O D UCT EXPERTISE

E IZ

managing end-user print environments. The concept is built entire hardware purchase cycle. For a true business partner in the imaging category, call Supplies Network and ask about other Gear X services.

FI X K/ B R E A I C ES S ER V

around a portfolio of holistic solutions taking into account the

IN

STA

SER LLATION V ICE S

A N VI C IA CE L S

S MP

experiential approach to sourcing hardware and supplies and

OP TIM

The Gear eXperience is a comprehensive,

N F I ER S

www. s up p l i es networ k . c o m

Business Profile Market Intelligence

Legal Risks in the 3D Printing Market Nothing New to Hardcopy World

R Michael Nadeau

esellers of hardcopy equipment will have a strong sense of déjà vu once they look at the patent and copyright issues surrounding the 3D printing market. Like their hardcopy siblings, 3D OEMs are using the courts and lobbying for legal interpretations in order to control the consumables side of the business. And they are using the same legal tactics that have worked for the hardcopy vendors: patents, copyrighted code in microchipped cartridges, warranties, and service agreements.

What’s surprising is that 3D OEMs are using the same arguments on copyright that were unsuccessful for the hardcopy OEMs. Specifically, they claim that controlling consumables is good for the consumer and will allow 3D equipment makers to innovate faster. While there are technical differences in the products and materials, experts say that the two situations are conceptually similar from a legal standpoint.

So what does this mean for resellers of 3D systems, especially for those marketing products from smaller OEMs with no patent portfolio and limited resources for legal defenses? Will the reseller get stuck with inventory that it can’t sell? Or will channel partners themselves face legal liabilities for having sold infringing 3D products like we’ve seen so often with vendors marketing infringing hardcopy supplies?

The short answer is probably not as long as they stay on top of legal developments and play it smart. What follows is an over-

view of significant legal wrangling in the 3D world, potential areas of liability, and advice for resellers to avoid disruption or loss from any potential legal issues.

Legal and Liability Issues

Currently there are two pending cases that potentially could set important precedents in the 3D market—one on patents, the other on product liability. Both involve market leader Stratasys. Another significant patent case, 3D Systems v. FormLabs, was settled last year in 3D Systems’ favor.

The patent case is Stratasys v. Microboards Technology, which is the parent company of 3D printer manufacturer Afinia. Stratasys filed the patent-infringement suit in November 2013 and recently won a round when the court denied Afinia’s request to have the patents invalidated.

If Stratasys wins this suit, then it would have a huge impact on all other makers of Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) machines. A win would give Stratasys leverage to force Afinia and possibly other companies to stop selling its printers or pay royalties.

This case is particularly significant for resellers because many FDM printers are sold through the reseller channel. Brands that sell FDM printers other than Afinia include Colido3D, Airwolf3D, Cubify, and Dremel.

Last December, 3D Systems and FormLabs settled a suit over FormLabs’s alleged infringements on stereolithography (SLA) patents held by 3D Systems. FormLabs agreed to pay an 8 percent royalty to 3D Systems on net sales of its Form 1 and Form 1+ systems. FormLabs settled even though its technology was significantly different in some respects.

It’s hard to say if the Stratasys v. Afinia case will go in the same direction. Afinia’s product also has some key technical differences from the patents in question. A royalty payment, however, would be a much better outcome for Afinia and its channel partners than being forced to pull the product from the market.

Stratasys is also involved in a shareholder lawsuit that involves well-reported issues with its Makerbot line. The suit claims that Makerbot and Stratasys knowingly sold printers with defective extruders and then counted those sales to report growth. By some reports, as many as 50 percent of those systems were returned.

While the suit does not directly affect resellers, it underscores the risks associated with dealing with product defects on a large scale. All resellers have to deal with the consequences of defects, but if one of the biggest and most stable 3D OEMs can have an issue at this scale, then what should the expectations be for return rates in the industry as a whole? continued on page 34

32

•

www.enxmag.com | September 2015

We Saw It In ENX Magazine

Legal Risks in the 3D Printing Market Another issue involves a debate over how OEMs may use copyright to protect its consumables business.

Public Knowledge, a public policy organization, has petitioned the US Copyright Office to exempt 3D printing from the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in regard to digital locks. Essentially, Public Knowledge argues that owners of 3D printers should be allowed to disable or bypass proprietary mechanisms that prevent them from using third-party consumables.

sales and keep customers happy. In fact, I suspect that some customers will be attracted to hardware that supports nonOEM materials.

OEMs also protect their consumables business through language in warranties and service agreements that discourages use of third-party materials. In most cases, use of third-party materials is not outright prohibited. The warranties and agreements state that their use “may” void a warranty or result in service fees beyond the contract payments. This tactic has been used in the hardcopy industry too, but most printer and copier companies avoid the practice because it can be seen as limiting competition.

There is legitimate concern on the part of the OEMs about inferior quality materials damaging the equipment or producing poor results. And resellers don’t want to start bickering with customers over why a machine is broken.

Both 3D OEMs and resellers want to ensure good performance without entirely ruling out the use of third-party consumables as is often the case today with hardcopy consumables.

Stratasys countered Public Knowledge by submitting comments in opposition to the Public Knowledge petition. In part, the company claims that the digital locks are good for consumers and industry because it allows them to be more innovative and maintain quality standards, an assertion we’ve heard many 2D OEMs make about their consumables.

The DMCA is important to resellers for two seemingly contradictory reasons.

In the short term, locking in customers to the OEM’s materials means an ongoing revenue stream for dealers that sell exclusively OEM consumables. Customers can’t shop around for the lowest price or they’re apt to face legal consequences.

But in the long-term, limiting consumer choice could be bad for business. Certain customers will need a bigger range of materials options than any one vendor can provide. For example, engineers doing prototype work often look for materials with very specific qualities.

Having an option to unlock the systems for third-party consumables could help

Avoiding Trouble

34

•

The problems that the risks described above can create for resellers fall into these categories: • Loss of product to sell due to OEM losing a patent infringement case • Sales lost due to materials limitations placed by the OEM • Disruption and damaged reputation from product defects • Lower customer satisfaction and loss of reputation when customers find they can’t use a desired materials option post-sale A lot of this might seem out of the reseller’s control, and that’s true to a degree.

However, there is much a reseller can do to maintain credibility with customers and minimize loss or disruption brought on by their OEMs’ actions or policies.

Diversify: This is good advice regardless of any legal or liability issues when it comes to the 3D market. A reseller can diversify on a number of levels. One is to sell more than one 3D printing technol-

www.enxmag.com | September 2015

ogy. This will not only provide a hedge should one OEM run into trouble, but it’s a smart business move especially in certain verticals. Education and manufacturing firms, for example, often have multiple 3D printing technologies in place for different applications. A reseller who offers only one will have a harder time getting business from those companies.

Resellers can also diversify by selling ancillary appliances required by certain 3D technologies and applications, or by selling services such as training or prototyping. This creates multiple revenue streams that can protect against disruption in one.

Know your OEM’s policies and protections: As with the hardcopy market, 3D OEMs typically have indemnification clauses in their reseller agreements. This protects resellers from losses due to legal issues or product defects. However, don’t assume that those protections are in the agreement or that the OEMs will handle problems in the same way as hardcopy OEMs, especially with younger OEMs or overseas OEMs entering the North American market.

Make sure you understand how an OEM processes product returns or recalls so that your expectations are clear and you can accurately set the customers’ expectations. In particular, you want to know how fast the OEM can replace or repair a system and who is handling the process. Some OEMs outsource manufacturing, which can create delays. Also important: How quickly do they compensate you or your customer on a product return due to defect?

Be a trusted resource: The 3D market is confusing, even for some people who have been using the technology. A reseller who knows not just the technology, but how it works from the supply chain to customer service will gain customers’ trust. As a result, when something does go wrong with an OEM or a product, customers will more likely see the reseller as an ally who will help them sort out the problem.

On the materials side, resellers should help steer customers intent on buying non-OEM options toward those that are continued on page 36

We Saw It In ENX Magazine

Legal Risks in the 3D Printing Market

Contact us today at 888-565-5907 ext. 211 or dwsales@docuware.com

It Pays to Sell Document Management Solutions DocuWare’s products and proven business plan provide you a strong bottom line.

Executive Leadership Council

36

•

www.enxmag.com | September 2015

most likely to work well and produce good results. Losing a little consumables revenue is better than losing the customer altogether.

Set realistic expectations: Customers are exposed to a lot of hype about what 3D printing can do, and that can be a problem if they believe they can use the technology for applications it’s not capable of doing. Similarly, the 3D market is young and the infrastructure and policies are not as robust as they are in the hardcopy world. For example, the 3D printing supply chain is under-developed, so getting replacement parts might take longer. Service done by the OEM takes more time, too.

It’s important for a reseller to know the capabilities of the technology he or she is selling and how the OEM’s processes for service and support work. Resellers will then be able to communicate what to expect before a problem arises. This enhances the reseller’s credibility, which will shield them from the customer’s wrath when they learn, for example, that it will take a week to replace a defective part.

Be an advocate for your customer: By this, I don’t just mean when there is a problem. Resellers should be proactive on the customers’ behalf with OEMs. If the reseller believes that an OEM’s policies or processes are not acceptable, then it’s a safe bet the customers won’t like them, either. Change happens slowly, but resellers have leverage with OEMs and can make a difference if they take a true partnership role. ✦

We Saw It In ENX Magazine

C A L L : 4 4 0 - 7 3 4 - 9 1 9 5 O R V I S I T W W W. P S I - O H I O . C O M

SUPPLY CHAIN FULFILLMENT WE WORK HARDER SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO

With 35 years experience and past partnerships in two Major Dealers, PSI understands Supply Fulfillment & Logistics better than anyone. Our PINNACLE PREMIER PARTNER PROGRAM enhances your efficiency and customer service while increasing profitability.

Specialty Remanufacturing: MFP Drums & Unique Cartridges

Compatible / Remanufactured / OEM: Printer, MFP and Duplicator Parts & Supplies

Purchase Order & Invoice Integration with OMD & E-Automate

MPS Infrastructure with Customized Private Label Drop Ship Fulfillment

Distribution Facilities: CA, FL, IL, KS, MA, NH, NJ, NY, OH, TN, TX, & VA

Managing your fulfillment transparently and making you look good CONTACT US at sales@psi-ohio.com

Brother, Canon, DEC/Digital, Dell, Epson, HP, IBM, Konica Minolta, Kyocera Mita, Lanier, Lexmark, Muratec, NEC,OCE, Okidata, Panasonic, Ricoh, Samsung, Savin, Sharp, Source Technologies, Tally/Genicom, Toshiba, Troy, Unisys, Xante, Xerox

Business Profile

LMI Solutions:

A Source That Extends Well Beyond Premium Replacement Toner Cartridges

I

n an industry where quality and reputation are everything, LMI Solutions has made every effort imaginable to ensure that quality and reputation are the hallmarks to their success. Unlike Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Joan Jett, they certainly give a damn about their “Good Reputation.”

Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona with state of the art distribution centers across the United States and Canada, LMI is well renowned for delivering the right product to the right Gary Willert, CEO LMI Solutions place on time.

If you’re not familiar with LMI Solutions, they’re an R2 certified manufacturer, distributor, and recycler of premium replacement toner cartridges, remanufactured printers, drums, fusers, parts, and maintenance kits. Altogether LMI distributes more than 1,000 SKUs, including OEM and non-OEM products with more than 350 aftermarket color and black & white options among its offerings. In addition, LMI is considered a global

38

•

www.enxmag.com | September 2015

leader for Managed Print Services infrastructure and support and has a host of awards in recognition of its MPS excellence.

A Good Buy

CEO Gary Willert, who acquired the company when it was then known as LaserMasters LLC in 1996, acknowledges he didn’t know if it was the right thing to do when asked what made him think it was the right time to get into the imaging supplies business. However, history has validated that decision.

“I did some research into the industry, found this company, and it looked like an emerging market and the whole idea of recycling was a positive as far as the environment is concerned,” he recalls.

It didn’t hurt either that the Phoenix economy was growing during this time, making it an ideal location for an imaging supplies operation. “It was a low cost of living, which is good for our industry because [remanufacturing] is typically a laborious task,” says Willert.

Buying a business is one thing, growing it into a successful operation is another thing altogether. That first year under Willert, LMI’s revenue was a respectable $365,000. From there, due in large part to expanding product offerings and diversifying into client services, the growth has been exponential. This year revenues are expected to exceed more than $100 million.

That’s one thing even LMI’s customers might be surprised to hear—how rapidly the company has grown as much as it has over the years without sacrificing We Saw It In ENX Magazine

quality, reputation, or the personal touch of a privately owned company.

“I came from a background of doing the right thing and building a quality product and working hard—nothing fancy,” says Willert.

“If you apply those things to your business you can be successful.

We were fortunate; the business grew based on word of mouth. Our customers helped us grow.”

For the past five years LMI has been growing 30-35 percent every year. While this year’s numbers are not that high, they’re still impressive.

Asked what’s the biggest difference between the LMI of the early years after he first bought the company and today, Willert points to the company’s size.

“We were a small company and did everything on a shoestring,” recalls Willert.

“Today we’re a complete business with a complete product line and strong distribution capabilities.”

Satisfaction Guaranteed

LMI’s customer base encompasses office equipment dealers, VARs, and office supply retailers throughout the United States and Canada. The company takes special care to ensure the quality of its products and that customers remain satisfied.

That’s one reason the company consistently spends an inordinate amount of time improving the quality of its products as well as expanding the mix of products.

“If you talk to our customers, talk to our competitors, talk to our supply chain, they will tell you we are absolutely relentless in our search for improving quality all

the time,” says Christian Pepper, director of Marketing. “Our VP of Manufacturing, Juan Camargo, has been with the company since the beginning before Gary bought it. For 20 some years he’s been the guy responsible for quality and every product has his stamp of approval all over it. He’s ruthless in his pursuit of quality and won’t release a product to the market unless it meets the LMI quality standards.”

Ongoing investments in talent, product innovation, sustainability, and a Lean Six Sigma approach to manufacturing has allowed LMI to manufacture innovative products that outperform OEM standards with a field performance defect rate of only 3:1000 products delivered. LMI has achieved ISO 14001 and R2 certifications for the entire chain of custody of their products including manufacturing through to LMI’s end of life Zero Landfill Recycling programs.

Each of LMI’s toner cartridges are backed by one of the industry’s strongest satisfaction guarantees. Plus resellers have easy access to private labeling and barcode scanning for blind drop shipping that ensures 100 percent order accuracy. Those are some of the reasons resellers choose LMI. Another reason cited by Willert for LMI’s success is because they’re easy to do business with. Plus they’re a company that many resellers can easily identify with.

“We’re not a multi-billion dollar company and we can relate to each other.

We’re like a lot of independent dealers and have day to day struggles like they do. That goes a long way.”

“It’s in our DNA, the focus on

the customer,” adds Pepper. “That permeates from Gary’s leadership to all levels of the organization where it’s understood that we’ll always go the extra mile for the customer.”

LMI also has a reputation for investing in its customer relationships.

“If they need help with their Website, we do that for them, if they need marketing material customized or aimed at a vertical market, we do that too and they reward us with loyalty and growth,” says Pepper. “By listening to the customer and understanding the challenges they’re having, we’ve diversified into offering services to our customers that has helped them succeed in their business.

By listening we’ve built a wide range of services and tools for our customers.”

All of that expansion originated at the customer level. Customers asked for more and LMI delivered. That’s another example of the LMI difference.

Making a Mark in Managed Print For dealers looking to grow their profits with Managed Print Services, LMI is an ideal partner. LMI has a full set of services around Managed Print that the reseller can take advantage of on an a la carte basis. LMI provides remote monitoring software, total cost of ownership calculation software, the cartridges of course, and its Peak Performance System, online training modules for a reseller looking to excel at MPS to use to train their reps.

The company’s entry into MPS was actually inspired by its customers who were impressed by how well its cartridges performed in a managed print environment compared to OEM

cartridges, where LMI’s cartridges offered similar or better yields. Today LMI offers MAX-LIFE toner cartridges, a series of cartridges that exceed OEM yields to get more pages out of cartridges than OEM based yields.

MPS dealers also appreciate the company’s PageTrac Advantage Program, a best of breed suite of MPS tools and resources that ensures dealer success. The LMI PageTrac Advantage encompasses industry leading print management software, a TCO calculator, an automated proposal generator, an MPS sales training and marketing program, plus a proven fulfillment system designed to maximize dealer profits and ensure end user satisfaction.

The online training modules have proven to be particularly helpful for dealers. They educate reps on how to prospect, how to handle objections, and how to handle fleet assessments, and were developed in conjunction with leading MPS consultants.

“It provides everything a new or seasoned rep would need to know to understand the Managed Print Services business model,” says Pepper.

continued on page 40 We Saw It In ENX Magazine

September 2015 | www.enxmag.com

•

39

LMI Solutions The modules also include interviews with C Level leaders and sustainability officers in large organizations who described how they’d prefer to be approached by a MPS sales rep along with their hot buttons for MPS. At the end of each module the rep must achieve

a certain score on a questionnaire to progress to the next module. Scores are made available to management as well.

“Once trained we provide a full suite of marketing communications material for the rep to use,” notes Pepper.

The material can be customized by the dealer. LMI even provides MPS-related videos that the dealer can post on their Website.

Pepper adds that LMI can also produce MPS Websites for the dealer, as well as help with digital media from SEO to social media management marketing.

“We manage that all on behalf of our customers to help them find and field leads for the MPS opportunity in a reseller’s local market,” says Pepper. “It’s everything a reseller coming out of the copier industry would need to succeed in MPS.” While LMI has built its business on quality supplies and consumables, diversifying into printers a little over a year

ago has been a wise move and a move that fits perfectly with its MPS strategy. It’s all about adding more value while also meeting the expanding needs of its customers.

“That’s been more of a push this year as well as what can we do for our dealers,” explains Willert about the company’s printer offerings and its mission to add value. “How can we help them grow their business and improve their profitability?

Whatever that grows into—whether it’s new and improved products or software, or a better solution to auto fulfillment— that’s what we’re going to concentrate on.”

“We’re giving our resellers an alternative to buying new printers and consumables,” adds Pepper. “We provide our resellers with everything they’d need—best of breed products and services from the aftermarket, consumables, MPS training, marketing tools, and remanufactured hardware.”

Raising its Profile

As successful as LMI has been over the years, many resellers are still discovering the company for the first time.

“We’ve kept a low profile and been under the radar for years and years,” acknowledges Willert.

Despite that low profile, LMI has been able to grow every year.

“We’ve never had a down year,” says Willert.

The company doesn’t have a huge sales force or marketing budget, but Willert says part of the growing up process is marketing the company better and differently. “There are still a lot of people who haven’t heard of us. We’re trying to change that.”

That’s why LMI is busy ramping up its marketing efforts and raising its profile in the channel.

Despite flying under the radar as Willert says, the industry has noticed LMI’s excellence and in 2013, BTA channel members selected LMI as the Winner of “Best Remanufactured Cartridges.”

They’ve also been recognized by the MPSA with a “Best MPS Program” award and as North America’s #1 “MPS Infrastructure Provider.” Not a bad achievement for what began as a small business.

What’s next for LMI? Willert doesn’t take LMI’s success for granted and truly appreciates the support of his customers.

“I respect every one of our dealers and what they’re trying to accomplish. We try to deliver the best product and quality we can and treat them the way they want to be treated.”

There’s no standing still at LMI and Willert reports that the company is intent on turning over as many opportunities as it possibly can. “There are some major opportunities out there and we need to continue down the path and be the alternative solutions provider people are looking for.”

“In the future for us is more vertical integration within this space,” adds Pepper. “Our objective is to deliver more tools, products and services to our resellers that help them succeed in the print industry. We believe we will succeed if we invest in helping our customers be successful.” ✦

LMI Solutions 4857 W Van Buren Street Phoenix, AZ 85043 Toll Free: 1.888.215.1292 Phone: 602.278.5234 www.lmisolutions.com Stay Connected Share Your Views

The Largest Circulation in the Document Imaging Industry 30,000 Copies Distributed Each Month!

40

•

www.enxmag.com | September 2015

We Saw It In ENX Magazine

Dealer Spotlight

Disrupting the Status Quo:

Adam Gregory is the Face of the 21st Century Document Imaging Dealer

D

on’t ever tell Adam Gregory, “You’re going to fail,” because if you do, he’s going to prove you wrong.

The president of Advanced Business Solutions, a virtual document imaging dealership that primarily focuses on the Atlanta, GA and Jacksonville, FL markets, had an idea for a new business model for the document imaging Adam Gregory industry back President, in 2002. When Advanced Business he brought that Solutions model to his boss at a small independent dealership in Marietta, GA, he quickly dismissed it.

Two years later Gregory decided to go off on his own and put that business model into action. His boss told him, “You’ll never succeed.”

It’s been 11 years now and that business model of Gregory’s is working out just fine. He has five employees, a new market (Jacksonville, FL), and a network of dealers across the country who help him service customers with locations outside of Atlanta and Jacksonville.

After I first heard about Gregory, I couldn’t wait to talk to him about the inspiration for his unique business model, how customers react to a different kind of dealer, and how he remains competitive going up against direct branches and other

dealers operating under a more traditional business model.

How did you get into this business?

GREGORY: Before I got out of the Navy in 1999 I went to this big job fair in Atlanta. On the way in, this guy asked me what kind of job I was looking for. I told him, “I don’t know, I just know I like to meet people and like to talk to them.” He goes, “You ever thought about selling?” I thought he was talking about Amway or something like that, but when he said copiers, I asked is that even a business? To make a long story short, about a month later I started working for his independent dealership in Marietta, GA as a sales rep. I was barely making enough money to pay rent.

I worked my way up to sales manager and had five guys working under me. After three years I approached him and said, “I have this idea and I’d like to hear what you think. Every day our sales guys get up at six in the morning, come into the office by 8 and get on their computer and do e-mail or make phone calls.

Why do they have to come in here to do that, can’t they do it from home? I can understand if we’re selling cars, but we’re not.

I’ve been here three years and I’ve never sold one machine off the demo floor.”

He told me, “We’ve always done it this way.”

I was there another two years and then told him, “You’ve done a lot for me, but I’m leaving and starting my own business.” He looked at me and said, “Don’t do

it, you’ll never succeed.” That’s all I needed to hear, that was my motivation.

That was in 2004. I didn’t start with a dime in my pocket and today I’m debt free. I’m a cash run company and we’re doing about $1.2 million.

You needed a product line to sell so you contacted OKI Data, why’d you pick them?

GREGORY: I knew it was a secondary line, but there was a lot of potential and there was a lot I could do with that line for the type of business I wanted to build. [My contact at OKI] went to bat for me, I got a small credit line with OKI, and I was off and running.

Tell me more about your business model?

GREGORY: This is a new century, a new environment; people can get all the information they need on the Internet. They know more about the machines by the time we talk to them than they ever did before.

I just moved to Florida with my family and I have a guy in Atlanta that’s running that operation. We’ve got three guys who do service for us and they operate out of their home. We have a warehouse where we keep parts and if they need a part they go get it and let me know what they use. We have no overhead, no inventory; we use distributors for everything we need. Toner gets there next day—it’s a great concept.

I have machines in Arizona, Houston, TX, Indianapolis, and continued on page 44

42

•

www.enxmag.com | September 2015

We Saw It In ENX Magazine

Disrupting the Status Quo Orlando. I have 200 machines in Florida and 500 in Georgia. I use independent dealers and technicians to do all of my service for me, and have never had a problem.

Did you ever get any pushback from prospects about doing business with a company that doesn’t have a physical location?

GREGORY:When I first started, the first two, three, four years, I was nervous. I kept telling myself, how do I tell this customer I don’t have a brick & mortar, how am I going to look legitimate if I don’t tell them I have a $5 million business and 15-20 people working for me?

The longer I’ve done this I’ve come to understand that the customer is not worried about that. Sometimes we put too much thought into that. How do I look financially stable to a customer instead of focusing on what can I provide that somebody else can’t?

I just closed an account in Jacksonville with six offices for 47 machines. When I closed the deal I was living in Atlanta, I

didn’t even have my house here in Florida yet. I told the CFO, I have five or six technicians in the Jacksonville area; we show up in four to six hours, we get parts there next day. He said, “I don’t care if you live in Hawaii, as long as you can keep my equipment running.”

It was based off a productivity standpoint instead of saying this is what we have. Since we can provide that, customers understand. They think, I don’t care what Adam’s got; I just care that he can provide the service we need.

What were some of the challenges you had to overcome when getting this business off the ground, especially with this business model?

GREGORY: When I first started there were some challenges. A machine would break down and the customer might need a loaner. How was I going to get it to them? A lot of that was the money; I didn’t have the money to put a $5,000 piece of equipment in the warehouse as a loaner. Over time that

obstacle disappeared.

Another challenge was the A3 market.

Here I was an OKI dealer, all we sold was color letter/legal boxes and I wanted to sell A3 and get some bigger machines out there. Then I got into refurbished and connected with a wholesaler in Tennessee. He drop ships my machines wherever I need them to go. I did that with used Canon machines for a long time. As we started to transform, OKI came out with an A3 model.

It’s almost like everything fixed itself.

It’s just taken time.

Who are your customers?

GREGORY: I have a $200 million company with 70-100 machines in six states, I’ve got your mom & pops, CPA offices, big doctor’s offices with 30-40 machines. Sixty percent of my business is small businesses with up to 25 employees, another 35 percent is probably midsize companies, and the rest are large businesses.

Who do you view as your competition?

GREGORY: Direct branches.

continued on page 46 44

•

www.enxmag.com | September 2015

We Saw It In ENX Magazine

Disrupting the Status Quo How do you compete against these big guys?

GREGORY: I’m loving it. Let me be honest, when [the OEMs] started buying dealers out over the past few years, it was like, “Oh my gosh you have Xerox coming in buying people out, IKON sweeping people up,” and I thought, “Okay that could be a bad thing for the market, but for some small guys that was a good thing. It’s something we could market against.”

My main competitors are Konica Minolta and Ricoh, and I tell customers,

“You want service from Ricoh, you’re just a little bitty number on a big old list. You can call me directly or text me on my cell phone and we’ll fix it immediately. Which would you prefer?” That’s usually the breaking point for us right there.

People go, “I don’t want to wait a whole day for a technician, or I want to talk to the owner, the owner of the company has some meat in this game.” I’d tell them, “Good luck talking to the owner of Ricoh.”

You represent OKI Data, Canon, and HP, how do each of those lines fit into your business model?

The Gregory Family

GREGORY: Canon fits in with more of our A3 line, but we sell mostly refurb. I don’t sell as much HP because you can get reman toner for HP like crazy.

The way I look at it is, if I put a printer in somebody’s office and there are 20 guys around the block that can get the toner for that customer, anybody can walk in and knock me off my feet. If I go in with an OKI Data, you can hardly find reman toner on the

color side, and I can just about sell them a machine for the same price as an HP. But I guarantee you I’m going to have that toner business with OKI because there are only a couple of us OKI dealers.

HP is about 10 percent of our market, OKI is 70 percent and the rest is Canon.

We have OKI everywhere. The system OKI has set up for dealers allows me to stretch my hands across the country and find people to service my products. That’s what makes this [business model] possible.

You’re doing well with A4, is that the best product segment for this business model or doesn’t it matter?

GREGORY: I don’t think it matters.

Whether it’s another dealer you signed a contract with to work on it for you or an independent tech, it doesn’t matter as long as you’ve got someone that can work on it.

Do you anticipate branching out into other product segments?

GREGORY: We’ve gotten into document management on the software side, but outside of document management, maybe wide format. It’s

continued on page 48 46

•

www.enxmag.com | September 2015

We Saw It In ENX Magazine

Disrupting the Status Quo something we’re looking into, but it’s hard to find guys to work on those things. We’re trying to decide if it’s worth our time and effort. I’ll be happy staying where I am for the next 10 years because I’m comfortable knowing that people are going to keep printing for another 10 years.

How difficult is it finding other dealers and distributors who can help you sustain this business model?

GREGORY: Not at all. I’ll tell you why, and I’d love to use this example of Managed IT. Everybody in the copier industry wants to offer Managed IT. With Managed IT companies you’re either going to have to buy them or they’re going to be [upset] with us. We’re trying to take their business. They might want to take our business and sell printers and copiers.

There’s a guy out there with a small company who started out as a Managed IT company, he now sells Canon, another line, and just picked up OKI Data. He had them for about two years when I closed this deal 48

•

with this big customer in Phoenix. I called him up and told him I have six or seven machines [that need servicing] and I’d like to meet him for lunch. I worked out a deal where I paid him a flat rate to work on the machines. He sends me an invoice and the rest is history. If he needs parts he’ll use his if he has them, if he doesn’t, I’ll ship them to him.

That’s how I’ve gone about finding people. Most independent dealers are like me and if somebody calls and says I have 10 machines coming to Jacksonville, can you service them, I’d say “Hell yeah,” because we’re competing against these big guys with offices all around the country. If we don’t all work together, who’s going to help us?

One of the companies I work with is right here in Jacksonville, in the same market, but we help each other [provide] service to each other’s customers. We have a gentleman’s mutual agreement that their customers are theirs and mine are mine.

What do you do for fun when you’re not working?

www.enxmag.com | September 2015

GREGORY: Spending time with my beautiful wife, Melissa and our children.

We have four girls and three boys. You get one shot in this life, so enjoy it with those that mean the most to you when you have the time.

A fun question, what’s the one thing you’re good at that your employees and customers would be surprised to hear?

GREGORY: Karaoke. I sing pretty well.

Another fun question for you, if you had to choose your final meal, what’s on the menu?

GREGORY: A medium well rib eye, baked potato loaded with butter and sour cream, a piece of garlic bread, and a big old glass of sweet tea.

How does the rest of the year look for Advanced Business Solutions?

GREGORY: It looks great. We expanded into Florida the end of last year and I’m looking for another 10-15 percent growth over this year into 2016. ✦

We Saw It In ENX Magazine

Charles Lamb

Sales Management News Briefing

Part 1 of 2

10 Most Wanted Topics

T

here are many ways to analyze a business and equally as many ways to break down the details around it.

Recently, I asked my team to look back over the last few years to see if we could identify a pattern or somehow gather the ten most popular topics discussed with dealers.

Obviously there were thousands of conversations, articles and presentations to consider. After a fair amount of work we reduced it down to the following list and tried to arrange the topics in a logical order. I will briefly describe each situation and if appropriate, a solution or my personal thoughts for each. This month, I’ll review the first five of these ten most requested topics.

1. Finding Your Way To The Future 2. Building “Differentiation” 3. Selling Deliverables Clients Will Buy 4. Designing The Sales Organization 5. Attracting High Quality Sales Talent 6. Successful Compensation 7. Sales Activity 8. Sales Funnel Management 9. Deal Strategies & The Close 10. Understanding Forecast Ratios 1. Finding Your Way To The Future This question usually pops up in our first conversation with a dealer principal. What they typically want to know is what I see as the prevailing profile for the copier business of the future. I do see so many distractions in our industry and things that can take a dealer down the wrong road. My advice

50

•

www.enxmag.com | September 2015

is, whatever you do to get to the future, you must protect your core business while building the deliverables for the future.

At an industry trade show I heard one speaker talk about how the future was in 3D printing, and all of the opportunities that can create for a dealer. Another said that information workflow and big data was the key. I would simply say the bridge from today to a successful tomorrow must be built with a plan that protects today’s revenue and one that most likely includes technology services.

Those services should be closely related to your current day offerings and allow you to expand your business into your current base and present a more comprehensive value to prospects. Managed Print and IT services are definitely part of it, but I see a complete comprehensive technology package coming where the deliverable of the future contains all technology in a single monthly invoice. The customer runs their entire technology platform from your program.

If you can get there before your competition, you’ll enjoy a nice product life cycle and a little “first to market” profitability as well.

2. Building “Differentiation” Differentiation is a non-stop topic.

I have some really interesting conversations with dealers who tell me that they are disrupting their marketplace with deliverables that are way ahead of the competition.

In most cases the disruption is between their ears and what they believe is highly competitive is nothing more than what I find in almost every dealership. Creating a real differentiation is going to take market research and I mean We Saw It In ENX Magazine

real market research where very smart people ask very smart questions to all levels of your customer base.

This has to be someone who really understands your industry and how to dig to find that missing element or hidden nugget that exposes your way in. It’s not from a manufacturer, a supply distributor or another dealer and you won’t get it from a workshop. You get the strategy for differentiation from your customers and prospects. It will be a program or deliverable that solves a problem that they may not even know they have. A company’s differentiation is often born when someone says, “That’s impossible and that just can’t be done!” Find that continual request from your marketplace and solve that problem.

3. Selling Deliverables Clients Will Buy I once sent out a direct mail piece to 10,000 companies and offered a copier at full retail price and that direct mail campaign sold almost $150,000 worth of copier hardware. I know, direct mail had its time and most likely doesn’t work the way it used to, right?

You’re probably thinking that must have been a long time ago when one could get a full retail price for a copier. When the mailer went out is irrelevant, it’s all about selling something a client would want to buy. The facts are, most clients hate financial surprises and one of the biggest unknowns about copiers is, they really don’t know how much your device will cost them over the years. So I sold them the copier for full retail. I included continued on page 52

BREAKING NEWS!

TBC Has Relocated Their Headquarters...

Wow! This place is huge!

Yeah... about three times the size of that old place.

Well, I got some used copiers to get rid of... but some of these guys take forever to pay!

What are they going to do with all that space?

Well that’s what I like to hear!

Fill it up with some more copiers I guess?!

So give them a call today!

I heard TBC pays cash on the spot...

Call 1-888-COPIER-2 Today and get CASH for your Copier!

Town Business Center 767 Sans Souci Parkway • Hanover Township, PA 18705 Ph: 570-602-1640 • F: 570-602-1643 Email: liron@tbccopiers.com • Email: steve@tbccopiers.com

We Take All Makes Models • Haul It Away for FREE

10 Most Wanted Topics all of the toner and maintenance they’d need for 3 years.

Their number one reason for making the purchase was, “They knew exactly what their financial risk was over the term and there were no surprises!” So were they buying a copier or were they buying predictability? You can answer the question.

4. Designing The Sales Organization There’s no telling how many different ways I’ve been asked this question: How to design a sales organization. What they’re really saying is, “What is the best way to generate success using the sales reps we have or want to hire?” This question is answered easily if you’ve defined what your sales organization is expected to do. I’m not just talking about revenue total, I’m talking about the deeper purpose of a sales organization.

It’s very common for dealers to put out an annual revenue goal but it’s not that common for one to have defined the actual process and the talent that performs that the best. Most super sales reps ARE NOT phone prospectors, they’re simply not!

Instead of dividing up your zip codes and putting moderate to weak talent on each territory, divide up your process and put high talent on each step of opportunity development.

A sales organization should be designed to create a sustainable flow of opportunity, large enough to attain a healthy

52

•

www.enxmag.com | September 2015

annual growth percentage. It should include all of the necessary personnel, tools and components to accomplish a non-stop, steady flow of opportunity.

When you think about it, your sales organization design has to: a. Find new business b. Present your values and deliverables c. Execute discovery d. Interpret discovery into strategy e. Strategy into proposal f. Proposal into a close g. Close Beef up any weak areas to ensure successful opportunity development. Once that’s built, set a realistic revenue growth number and go!

5. Attracting High Quality Sales Talent This has got to be one of the most popular questions I’m asked.

The answer is not that hard. Typically great sales reps ARE NOT OUT THERE LOOKING FOR A JOB, they’re employed and making a nice living. But one thing is in your favor, they’re coin operated so all you have to do is find out how much coin brings them to your business. Don’t be stingy.

You won’t attract them with a comp plan that offers them less than they make today—like most people they’re looking for an upward career move. I am not saying you have to have a large salary, I am saying you have to have a path for them to make six figures without climbing Mount Everest to get there.

Their personality is a strong one, they like themselves and they believe they’re worth a lot of money. The best profile you can hire is a closer and one that wants to make a lot of money. If they can see the path to the money, they won’t be afraid to work hard or long hours. If your compensation plan doesn’t have a path to above 100k, you’ll never get them and you’ll continually drive the revolving door for sales reps. The facts are, there are millions of mediocre sales reps out there. The higher quality sales reps are one in ten thousand, but they are out there.

I know, I know, you can’t pay that much, right? I would simply say you’re looking at it the wrong way. If you have four sales reps now, I would bet you $100 that three are failing, right? Take two of the salaries and create the base for your super hero and take the third salary and hire a telemarketer, a real telemarketer.

Set appointments for the super hero and drive net new business appointments. When your super hero wins big, share the coin with your telemarketer also so everyone loves winning!

The good news is, this plan won’t cost you anymore than your current payroll does. Once they get a taste of the money, you won’t be able to stop them. Manage their success and then build a second team just like the first one.

Although these top ten most wanted topics were derived from a long list of questions and conversations, they remain as some of the most important questions I receive today. Continual analysis and improvement of your sales results, activity and process will always yield better sales results. I’ll review the rest of the five questions next month. Happy selling. ✦ We Saw It In ENX Magazine

offers 2 Distribution Centers (California & New Jersey)

99% of orders ships the same day you order 1 to 2 day shipping to 50% of the U.S.A. Blind drop shipping and custom private labels

CF281A/X AVAILABLE

new products Compatible Toner Cartridges For

HOT NEW ITEM! CF281A/CF281X Xerox Phaser 6022/6020, 3610 Xerox Workcentre 6655 Cartridge 137A, HP CF320'S and CF380'S Color Series HP CE340A/651A Color Cartridge

*JUMBO CARTRIDGE FOR*

Hiring Outside Sales

Please Contact us Today!

Seine Tech(USA) Co., Ltd. NEW CALIFORNIA ADDRESS: 4802 Murietta Street Chino, CA 91710

CE278A,CE285A,CC364X, CE390A,CB435A,CB436A, CE505A/X,Q2610A,4096A, Q1338A/1339A/5942A/ 5942X/Q5945A,Q5949A/X and Q7553A

and more...

NEW JERSEY ADDRESS: 65 Clyde Road, Suite E Somerset, NJ 08873

new factory

Tel: (909) 869 0730 Fax: (909) 869 0736

Email: sales@seinetecusa.com

Service Excellence Diamond Award Winner

Office Technology Service Excellence Award

DIAMOND LEVEL

Bishop Business Equipment on the Art of Customer Retention

I

Bishop Business Equipment’s and CEO Dave Bishop

f your customer retention rate consistently hovers in the nineties you must be doing something right. For Bishop Business Equipment in Omaha, NE, it starts with a mission, a mission that everyone in the company is focused on day in and day out. That’s “to be a company of engaged business professionals whose customers are so satisfied they wouldn’t think about going anywhere else!”

Bishop Business Equipment markets products and solutions from Toshiba, Xerox, OKI Data, Lexmark, and Laserfiche. It also has a sizable MPS program. Bishop’s territories encompass Omaha, Lincoln, and surrounding areas.

President

“We cover a large area in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa,” explains James Driscoll, VP of service who has been with the dealership for nearly 14 years, starting as a field technician.

Competition comes from a handful of other independent dealers as well as Ricoh, Konica Minolta, Xerox, and Canon branches. Although that competition is formidable, Bishop has proven difficult to displace.

Owner Dave Bishop, whose father started the business in 1954, worked in the family business while going to school and became a full-time employee in 1978 after graduation from college. Asked why customers choose Bishop Business Equipment, he responds, “You need good products, but

there are a lot of good products out there. We have great service and great people, and whenever we’re talking about that or thinking about what sets us apart, it always goes back to our people.”

Bishop is so focused on ensuring that his dealership has great people that he always interviews every candidate no matter what department before they’re hired.

“I care about the culture of this business and the people we have determine the culture we have,” says Bishop. “That comes from the top, but then you need to hire the people who will be working in that culture. It’s all about people and then making sure they understand what’s expected of them. Do they have the tools to do their job? What are we measuring? What they are responsible for? And making sure everybody understands quality service. That’s the bottom line.”

While we’re on the topic of quality service, the dealership has eight field technicians who are assigned territories by zip code.

Techs service 250-350 machines each with the best techs responsible for the most devices. A dedicated printer tech handles roughly 2,000 printers.

One tool that’s made a difference in how Bishop Business Equipment provides quality service is the BEI Services program. It’s made a big difference, although as can occasionally happen, it took a little bit of time for service techs to embrace it.

“When BEI first came in, people were skeptical, saying, ‘We’re going to get penalized for using parts,’ but as time went on [people saw] the better job you did, the more copies you had between service calls and the more bonus opportunity there was for you,”

recalls Driscoll. “I was seeing sizable bonuses for myself when I was a field technician.”

“We always worked hard to make sure we’re managing things well,” adds Bishop. “We want accountability and to reward those people who are doing a great job.”

And for those who need to improve, the program helps management pinpoint areas where struggling techs can improve.

Bishop also prides itself on being able to provide more proactive service. The overall model rating system provided by BEI allows the dealership to look at the specs on a certain model and the grouping it sells in compared to other similar products in the field and how they’re doing compared to other dealerships. With this information, Bishop’s service department is often well prepared for any issues that may occur with specific machines in the field.

If one looks at the metrics, it’s easy to see why Bishop is a BEI Services/ENX Service Excellence Diamond Award winner.

“Their Hold for Parts numbers are absolutely fabulous when you consider the geographic area they cover and all the equipment they’re working on being a multi line dealer. Their Hold for Parts consistently runs in the single digits—6 to 7 percent,” reports BEI’s Steve Sharkey. “That is a great indication of how well James, the parts room staff, and the technicians are doing managing that car stock activity and making sure they are adequately stocked from a parts standpoint to be completing the calls at that high a percentage. That’s a phenomenal example of the great job they do managing their inventory and making sure their techs have what they need to be successful.” continued on page 56

54

•

www.enxmag.com | September 2015

We Saw It In ENX Magazine

Bishop Business Equipment When asked about the biggest challenge of achieving these kinds of numbers, Driscoll says, “We look at everything as an opportunity. We go over our BEI reviews every month with the technicians, we sit down, dig into callbacks, if they had incomplete for parts, why and what they had an incomplete for, and is it something they need to carry. The callback report is my favorite report to dig into because it holds them accountable and they know I’m going to be asking about it.”

Driscoll and the techs review what was done, did they complete the call, did they follow Bishop’s complete call procedures to make sure it doesn’t happen again, and identify if there’s something that could have been done differently.

“I tell the guys I don’t ever want to see a callback for feed tires, ever,” states Driscoll. “There’s no reason to not put in a $15 set of feed tires because they’re so cheap. Why cause the customer or yourself that kind of heartburn? These are the little things that make a difference.

We’ve seen good benefits from going over callbacks.”

Figuring there’s always room for improvement Driscoll would love to see every one of Bishop’s techs consistently score at least 70 percent in First Call

Effectiveness. Considering that number was in the mid thirties in 2005 and hovers around 65 percent today, they don’t have far to go to achieve that goal.

“That’s where our technicians need to be to get 100 percent of their bonus,” states Driscoll. “We are very aggressive with that number.”

They are indeed and already have a couple of techs above 70 percent, including the number two tech in the country measured

by BEI’s metrics. Their second tech ranks 21st in the country out of more than 6,000 techs monitored by BEI. “One or two call backs for not having parts can really hurt them,” says Driscoll.

“Some guys can be sitting at 69 percent and if they had fixed two more machines they could be getting 100 percent of their bonus, so keeping them informed is key.”

From the owner’s office Bishop likes the way Driscoll operates, particularly those monthly meetings with techs to go over their BEI reports and bonus structure.

“It’s totally different than posting the numbers and passing out the checks and not having conversations, because a lot of times these guys are not working on the right stuff; they’re engaged with it because they get a bonus check, but they don’t take it to the next level,” says Bishop. “I think it’s huge to have your manager sit down

with you. James has done a great job with that and I think these guys look forward to their monthly review. It’s, ‘How do I get better and raise the [performance of the] entire group in terms of their effectiveness?’”

Bishop fully understands the benefits of tracking the numbers.

“It’s all about management, watching the right stuff, about parts usage, and efficiency in terms of call backs,” he says.

“That’s how you have to be running a service department; if you do, things change.

Inspect what you expect, people do what you measure. If you measure something, things change. You’ve got to manage.”

Now that they’ve claimed their Service Excellence Diamond Award, Bishop is exploring ways to leverage this acknowledgement internally and externally. Who knows, it may even help them raise their customer retention rate higher than it currently is.

In the ideal situation, if we were to speak to Driscoll a year from now, how might things have improved beyond where they are today?

“In an ideal situation we’d be consistently above 70 percent,” he answers. “I have the best techs in the business. I tell the guys that all the time. We have mutual respect for each other, we’re like a family.

A year from now, things are going to be just as great as they are today.” ✦

Bishop Business Equipment Company Omaha, NE

www.bbec.com President & CEO: Dave Bishop Vice President & COO: Mark Newhouse VP of Service: James Driscoll Field Service Manager: Tom Neighbors Number of Service Techs: 8 Territory Covered: Eastern NE to western IA

Why Bishop Stands Out

Back Row from Left to Right: Tom Neighbors (Field Service Manager), Scott Watts, Jr., Stacy Bell, John Lottman, James Driscoll (VP of Service) Front Row from Left to Right: Bok-Hyun Lee, Ty Smth, Lee Kordash, Cory Wilson

56

•

www.enxmag.com | September 2015

• Improved FCE from mid thirty percent in 2005 to 65 percent today • Number 5 dealer in the country based on BEI Services’ metrics • Has the number two service tech and number 21 service tech in the country among more than 6,000 monitored by BEI Services’ metrics

We Saw It In ENX Magazine

Your One Stop Part-Shop for Office Machines and More Brother/Samsung Parts

Refurb Canon Advance Series Fusers

VACOMEGAS

AG2X1B

ph: 770.417.2323 em: sales@tsaworld.com fax: 770.417.2305 web: www.tsaworld.com 57

Brad Roderick

Sales & Marketing News Briefing

Tradeshows and Conferences: Lessons in Sales

T

radeshows and conferences.

For that perfect combination of “entertainment and education,” you really can’t beat tradeshows and conferences. Bring a few thousand (or more) salespeople together with a few hundred (or less, or a lot less) potential prospects and the show is a pretty good one. Similar to what you might witness when one ambulance pulls up in front of a building full of lawyers. If you take the time and give yourself permission to be a spectator vs. participant just for a little while, tradeshows/conferences can be pretty entertaining.

And sad. Mostly funny. But sad.

But funny…

Don’t misunderstand; I take the revenue creation part of these events very seriously. If all I wanted was entertainment and education, I would save my money and head over to the neighborhood park to watch four year olds show all of us hotshot sales pros how to really close deals and do it without long sales cycles. But given that tradeshows/conferences are intended to have some level of education, it doesn’t hurt to be on the lookout for some entertainment

at the same time. And friends, at any show, there is no shortage of humor and learning opportunities.

They probably won’t be in the education sessions, but they won’t be too hard to find either.

Recently I spent a couple of days at a tradeshow. I wish I could say “I invested a couple of days,” but “spent” is probably more accurate. The educational sessions I attended (where my prospects were and therefore where I was) were pretty good. The networking opportunities (which was not where my prospects were) were numerous and the chance to observe other revenue generators was fantastic.

Whenever I have free time at shows and conference events, I spend a little time shifting roles from “participant” to “observer” for a bit. My physical observation areas (labs) fall into these categories: 1) The bar 2) The show floor 3) Lobby areas Lobby areas present a prime opportunity to observe business development meetings. It can be relatively simple to get someone to agree to get off of the show floor and take a nice comfortable seat for a sales meeting. I would like to claim that these are “sales conversations” but as we shall see in a moment, some are anything but conversations. In the case of this particular event, I focused on lobby area observations because there simply wasn’t much going on in the booth area and well, the bar stuff is pretty much the same stuff over and over, although it does reign supreme for market intel consisting of rumors, speculations and well, just plain weird behavior.

Meeting a friend who happens to be a pretty bright guy/ geo-political expert/general all-around good fellow, we staked out the end of a sofa and pulled up a chair.

We had been talking for only a few minutes when Suzy Sales Gal sits down with her “mark,” er, I mean, “prospect.” After a few minutes of my friend and I trying have a conversation, we gave up.

Our conversation was simply no match for Suzy’s decibel level.

Our conversation clearly over, we turned to watch the carnival (there is a reason those guys along the carnival midway were referred to as “barkers”) next to us.

Here are a few observations from Suzy’s meeting with “Mark”: 1. Suzy was very well trained by her company. She must have been because she used so many buzz words and acronyms that there is no doubt they could have only come from a big marketing department. Unfortunately, “Mark,” as we shall refer to the prospect, had not been included in the corporate training and therefore had no idea whatsoever what she was talking about.

2. Suzy was very well trained by her sales manager. Or a samurai fighter, not sure which. Mark would lean back, she would lean in. Mark would make a statement and she would agree (EVERY time). Mark would raise his voice loud enough to be heard over the noise and she would raise hers 20 fold. Mark would look at his watch and start to say something and she would jump right in and tell him more. She was very well skilled in the art of “Yell and Tell.”

3. Suzy probably attended one of continued on page 60

58

•

www.enxmag.com | September 2015

We Saw It In ENX Magazine

We are ready to ship Coast to Coast

Copier Network Stimulus Program In these tough economic times, our pricing & inventory will not be beat. We have the newest repo’s as well as containers ready to ship. Two full warehouses of the best domestic & export equipment. Our knowledgeable sales staff & technicians have years of experience. We can ship coast to coast or internationally at the best price. l l l l l l l l

ALL NEW BUYERS 10% SHIPPING DISCOUNT Competitive Pricing Online Inventory Updated Daily Presses, Folders, Cutters, Large Format Equipment Aseen Punjabi Bolde Haan 我们讲中文 Hablamos Espanol Falamos Portugues

ID# 57764; Ricoh Aficio MP 6002SP; W864L900692; RADF; Duplex; (SR4060) FIN; Print; NIC; Scan; Condition: Passes Paper; Total: 44k

Call for Pricing &Additional Pictures

Kevin Fallehy for Domestic at:

ID# 56648; Canon iR ADVANCE C5255; JME06206; RADF; Duplex; U-Send; (J1) FIN; Fax; Print; NIC; Scan; Condition: Passes Paper; B&W: 15k Color: 2k $4,499

SEPTEMBER SPECIALS! • Kyocera Taskalfa 3050ci as low as $600 • Konica Minolta BizHub c224/c284. as low as $1,000 • Ricoh Aficio MP 4002/5002 as low as $1,000 • Ricoh Aficio MP C4502/C5502 as low as $1,750 • Toshiba E-Studio 2540c/3040c as low as $400 • Toshiba E-Studio 3540c/4540c as low as $500 Check Our Website For Current Inventory

510-746-2088 l Call Rick Cisneros for Export at: 510-746-2085

Phone: 510-746-2080 l Fax: 510-601-9052 l Sales@CopierNetwork.com l 1937 Davis St. - San Leandro, CA. 94577

Tradeshows and Conferences those sales training programs that state, “All buyers are liars,” so she simply chose not to let Mark talk. Good of her to protect his honor like that.

4. Suzy knew all about features and benefits. OK, I am just assuming she did, I really have no idea what she was selling and I am pretty sure Mark didn’t either!

5. Suzy may have trained with Ringling Brothers in their game alley. She knew how to rope the guy in and get him to sit down; she just forgot that he was there to have a conversation. And no matter how much he tried, Suzy was not going to let that happen.

The following day, back in another lobby area, I was introduced (OK, I was eavesdropping but don’t blame me because it’s another

CRYSTAL TRADE 888-889-9598 & For Your Parts and Supplies!

CSI

Sister any Comp

We Also Sell Canon Used Parts & Assemblies

www.RemanCartridges.com 60

•

www.enxmag.com | September 2015

“yell and tell” example) to John as he meets with his prospect who we will call “Buddy,” because Buddy is a people pleaser and will listen to anyone talk. Doesn’t matter that Buddy doesn’t have any idea/plan/desire to buy anything. Here are a few keen insights gleaned from their time together: 1. John is a very bright and well informed guy. Just ask him. He’s not shy. Simply listen to him for 30 seconds and you will know how smart he is because that’s where the conversation will end up going. Buddy smiled and laughed along. Buddy likes to hang out with John. Buddy likes to hang out with anybody.

2. John is very connected. Just listen for 30 more seconds and John names every major player and intimates that they are all his friends. Buddy smiles more.

3. John works on big deals, spends big money and is powerful.

You get the picture by now.

4. John has a lot to say on everything from IT, personnel, OEMs and strip clubs. Again, John proves he’s a genius.

5. John is tireless. He has talked for over 30 minutes without Buddy uttering a word of significance. He may have had a thought but 1) John never asked him anything and 2) John never shut up.

6. John’s company (he did eventually get around to the company) is clearly the “best solution.” He’s proven his superiority by bashing competitor after competitor (by name) without talking about either Buddy’s needs or his own capabilities.

Lest you begin to think that these events are more akin to a continued on page 62 We Saw It In ENX Magazine

GREATER PHILADELPHIA EQUIPMENT COMPANY “We Have Thousands of Copiers & Accessories For Sale On Our Premises At All Times” Kyocera/Mita

Print Nic 620/820......................................................... $295 Print Nic Scan for 6030/8030............................... $395 Print Nic for 6030/8030.......................................... $295 Print Nic Scan for 3035/4035/5035.................... $295 Print Nic for 3035/4035/5035............................... $195 Print Nic Scan for 2530/3530/4030.................... $295 Scan Option 620/820.............................................. $195 Scan Option for 181/221........................................ $150 Scan Option for 1650/2050/2550....................... $195 Fax System S.............................................................. $295 Fax System Q............................................................. $295 Fax Option for 181/221.......................................... $195 Fax Option for 1650/2050/2550.......................... $195 Fax Option for 2530/3530/4030.......................... $195 Fax Option 2560/3060............................................ $295 Fax Option for 3035/4035/5035.......................... $195 Fax Option for 3050/4050/5050.......................... $295 Finisher DF 710 for 3050/4050/5050................ $295 Finisher DF 730 for 3050/4050/5050................. $295 Finisher DF 760B....................................................... $395 Finisher DF 780B....................................................... $295 PF770 LCT.................................................................... $295 Paper Feed Pedestal Bases for 420i/520i/250ci/ 300ci/400ci/500ci .............................................Available

Sharp

Print/Nic for 208/208D................................. $195 Print/Nic for 237/277.................................... $295 Print/Nic for 257/317.................................... $295 FXX2 Fax Option.............................................. $295 FXX3 Fax Option.............................................. $150 Fax Option for MX2700/4501.................... $195 Fax Option for 168......................................... $125 Fax Option for 208S/208D.......................... $125 Fax Option for 237/257/260/277/317..... $295 Fax Option for 355/455/MX350/450....... $195 Fax Option for 503/453/363/283.............. $295 FN6 Finisher for MX350/450.......................$195 MX FN10 Saddle Stitch Finisher................ $395 MX FNX9 Finisher........................................... $195 MX DEX7 Two Tray Paper Pedestal..........$295 MX DEX9 Two Tray Paper Pedestal..........$295

Special Shipping Discounts!

Konica Minolta

Fax Option FK502.................................................... $295 Fax Option FK503.................................................... $295 Fax Option FK508.................................................... $395 Finishers Available................................Call for Pricing

Many More Models of Feeders and Finishers available

Toshiba

Canon

Fax Option for IRC 5030/5035/5045................. $295 Fax Option for IRC 2020/2030............................. $295 Fax Option for IRC 2550/3080/3480.................. $195 Fax Option for IRC 2880/3380..............................$195 Fax Option for IRC 4080/5185............................. $195 Fax Option for 2270/2870/3570/4570..............$195 Fax Option for 3025/3030/3035/3045..............$195 Fax Option for 3245/3235/3225......................... $295 Print Kit for 2020...................................................... $195 S1 Finisher for 3230/3225/3235/3245.............. $295 Y1 Finisher.................................................................. $295 Y2 Finisher.................................................................. $395 Z1 Finisher.................................................................. $195

GD1250 Fax Option ...................................... $295 Fax Option for 352/452/353/453.............. $195 Fax Option for 203/233/283....................... $195 Print/Scan Enabler for 523/603/723...... $195 Print/Scan Enabler for 520/600/720........ $195 Print/Scan Enabler for 353/453................. $195 Print/Scan Enabler for 352/452................. $195 Print/Scan Enabler for 232/282................. $195 Print/Scan Enabler for 230/280................. $195 Print/Scan Enabler for 202L....................... $195 Print/Scan Enabler for 203L/233/283..... $195 Print Enabler for 230/280............................ $195 Many More Options Available, Call For Pricing

Ricoh

More Fax Options & Print Controls Available, Call For Pricing

Print/Scan 6001/7001/8001/9001.........................$295 Print/Scan Option 6000/7000/8000..................... $295 Print/Scan Option 5500/6500/7500..................... $295 Print/Scan Option 4000B/5000B........................... $350 Print/Scan Option 3500/4500.................................$295 Print/Scan Option 2051/2060/2075..................... $295 Print/Scan Option 2510/3010.................................$195 Print/Scan Option 2550B/3350B............................$350 Print/Scan Option 3025/3030............................... $195 Print/Scan Option 3035/3045............................... $195 Post Script for Ricohs.............................Call for Pricing Fax Option for MPC 6501/7501..............................$395 Fax Option for MPC 6000/7500.............................. $295 Fax Options for MPC 5501/4501/3501/3001.....$395 Fax Option for MPC 3500/4500.............................. $295 Fax Option for MPC 2800/3300/4000/5000.......$295 Fax Option for MPC 2050/2550.............................. $295 Fax Option for MPC 2000/3000.............................. $295 Fax Option for MP 2550/3350.................................$195 Fax Option for MP 2553/3053.................................$295 Fax Option for 2851/3351........................................ $295 Fax Option for 3025/3030/2510/3010..................$195 Fax Option for 3035/3045/3500/4500................. $195 Fax Option for MP 4000/5000................................ $295 Fax Option for MP 4001/5001................................ $295 Fax Option for 5500/6000/7500/8000................. $295 Fax Option for 6001/7001/8001............................ $295 SR 790 Finisher for 2851/3351/4000/5001......... $195 SR 970 Finisher for 5500/6500/7500/8000.........$295 SR 3000 Saddle Stitch Finisher...............................$395 SR 3020 Saddle Stitch Finisher...............................$395 SR 3030 Finisher.......................................................... $295 SR 4000 Finisher for 5500/6500/7500/8000...... $395 RADF for MPC 3001/3501...........................................$250 RADF for MPC 4501/5501...........................................$295

Panasonic

Many Items Available Call for Pricing

We Have Thousands of Copiers & Accessories For You To Choose From!

We Are Now Selling Parts From Off-Lease Copiers WE ARE OPEN

3907 Nebraska Ave., Newportville, PA 19056

l l l l

Boards Lasers Fuser Units Hole Punch Units Please Call, Email or Fax The Equipment You Are Looking For!

Our Copiers For Sale List can be faxed or emailed to you!

Visit Us Online At:

www.printcontrollers.com

Ph: 215-788-7111 Fax: 215-788-4445 gpec1@verizon.net

We’ll Build Your New Website For Free!

A Site You’ll Be Proud Of

Telling Your Story Effectively Is Key Building an effective website is way more than just designing a really cool home page. Your site has to connect and communicate every day to those who are searching for what you do. If it’s behind the times or doesn't share a compelling value, they'll never engage. Call us today or fill out the form on the URL listed below and lets discuss how you should tell your story!

888-823-0006 I FunnelMaker.com/freewebsite

Tradeshows and Conferences carnival than the heavy investment that tradeshow/conference participation or attendance warrants, rest assured that there are plenty of great opportunities to generate revenue. As a matter of fact, the more Suzy’s and Johns, the better off the rest of us are.

Friends, don’t be Suzy or John. The next time you are working with a prospect, in the early stages of the sales cycle, take the time to ask, listen and guide the conversation. As for Suzy’s prospect, Mark, let’s just say that he got out of there quicker than the guy in the row behind you when the flight attendants signal that the plane has come to a complete stop at the gate. John’s guy, Buddy, well, he was in no hurry to disengage from John. Buddy wants to hang out with the big dogs even if the dog really is a dog. And John, oh he definitely does not want the conversation to end because as long as he’s got an audience, he can talk about his favorite thing in the whole world, himself. Even if that means spending an hour talking to Buddy. Have a goal and be prepared to disengage if there is no opportunity. It’s ok. Really it is.

62

•

Are these true stories? Yes. Are they fair depictions of the profession of revenue generation? Of course not, they merely serve to remind us of paths to not go down. Now, I’m not as loud as Suzy or as arrogant as John, but I would like to gently offer up a little advice for your consideration before your next interaction with a prospect. Take the time to uncover some idea of what is challenging them (corporately and individually). Invest some time in getting to understand their world (even if you think you know it). You can do this by: Engaging – ask questions.

Sharing – stories about what you do for others.

Listening – actively make sure you really understand what they are, and are not, saying.

Asking some more – ask a few more follow up questions.

Sharing some more – share some proof of any claims you make.

Arranging – arrange mutually agreed upon next steps.

www.enxmag.com | September 2015

And don’t be the rep that specializes in “Yell and Tell” or “How Do You Like Me So Far.” The prospect cares a lot more about themself than they do about you, so focus your conversation accordingly.

Disclaimer: Incidents are real. Names are changed…I think. If any of the participants were named Suzy, John, Mark or Buddy, I did not know it. As far as John and Buddy, I know those weren’t their real names because I recognized them both and yes, I was one of the competitors John was bashing. For some reason that made me smile. I told you, this stuff is funny. And sad. And funny. And sad. ✦

We Saw It In ENX Magazine

Join top-shelf insiders at the Business Technology Industry’s one-and-only affair of its kind Dealers • Manufacturers • Leasing • Software • Services

The Cannata Report presents: “Born in the U.S.A.” Our 30th Anniversary Awards & Charities Dinner Meadow Wood Manor • Randolph, NJ All proceeds will benefit the Esophageal Cancer Endowment with the V Foundation for Cancer in honor of Bob Shields Reserve your seat, purchase a table or make a donation as prompted at:

TheCannataReport.com/Dinner30 Sponsored by:

We Saw It In ENX Magazine

September 2015 | www.enxmag.com

•

63

Jim Zipursky

Exit Strategy

Foreign Buyers: Myth or Reality?

S

trange as it sounds, a new American dream for many business owners is to sell their companies to foreign buyers.

There is just something so exotic and romantic about the idea of selling your company to the highest bidder from France, England or China. However, is it logical or even rational to think a buyer from outside the USA or Canada will be knocking on your door soon to acquire your company?

This month we discuss Foreign Buyers: Myth or Reality?

You know the story. You decide you want to either grow your business with outside funding or you are determined to sell the company outright. You don’t want to approach your local competitors for fear of what this could do to your business but you think the products and services you provide would be a perfect fit for a company based in Europe or Asia. In addition, you tell yourself because a European or Asian company needs to gain a toehold in the USA, this potential buyer will gladly overpay you for the opportunity to enter the US market.

You decide you want to either grow your business with outside funding or you are determined to sell the company outright.

Unfortunately, the reality for most owners of businesses in the USA is unless they have unique or proprietary services or products, they probably won’t be an attractive target for foreign acquirers.

Based on our experience with cross-border transactions, the following are the general characteristics of companies of interest to foreign buyers: 64

•

www.enxmag.com | September 2015

Size

Broadly speaking, foreign buyers are interested in companies in the USA with a minimum of $30 million in revenues. If the acquisition is an add-on for an existing operation the buyer has in North America, they might consider companies with as little as $5 million in annual sales. However, in our experience, we have not been able to get foreign buyers interested in US companies with less than $30 million in annual sales.

too small. We will spend most of the annual profit in travel expenses coming to visit the company.”

Perhaps a bit of an exaggeration on his part, but I think you get the idea.

Product/Service

Most American business owners think foreign buyers want to acquire US companies to just enter the US market. However, as we have learned from our cross-border transaction experience, most foreign buyers tend to think in terms of global markets. Thus, Management they want to acquire American If you do not have a strong manbusinesses producing products or agement team in place willing services saleable or marketable on to remain after a sale, foreign a worldwide basis, rather than to acquirers will have little to no local markets only. If your product interest in your business. Unless or service only plays well in Peothe potential acquirer already has a strong presence in the USA, they ria and would not have any value in Prague, Paris or Peru, a foreign probably will not have the ability buyer will not soon be beating a to replace the management team path to your door. Furthermore, of the acquired company. Some our experience shows foreign European and Asian buyers will relocate managers from the “home buyers want US companies who provide proprietary products or office,” but that generally only services to their customers. happens when they are acquiring End of the day, if yours is a “me very large companies. too” business with sales and earnProfitability ings of less than $30 million and Foreign buyers want to acquire $2 million, respectively, selling to profitable companies. In general, a foreign buyer is probably a myth unless you have a minimum of $2 for you and your company. Howmillion of annual operating profit, ever, if you do have a proprietary it will be hard to get any attention product or service which can be or interest from foreign buyers. scaled for an international market, While the cost of doing business your business has a good manageacross the ocean has gone down ment team willing to remain with over the years, it is not an inexthe company, and you are profitpensive proposition. A few years able, then selling to a foreign buyer ago, we were selling a very profmay be a reality for you. itable imaging supplies distribu I am happy to answer any of tor, one we thought perfect for a your questions regarding this German company we knew was subject or any previous articles. keen to enter the US market. Our In my next article, I’ll discuss client’s annual operating profit was approximately $1 million. The the subject: The Challenges of German CEO called me and said, Selling to/Working With Foreign “We like the company but it is just Buyers. ✦ We Saw It In ENX Magazine

SEPTEMBER 2015

Display Advertisers Index ECi e-Automate Phone: 1-866-342-8392 or 866-374-3221 www.e-automate.com www.ECISolutions.com

27

Hytec 46 Phone: 800-883-1001 or 407-297-1001 Fax: 407-297-4310 www.hytecrepair.com

Aster 49 Phone: 1-888-533-9926 www.aster-usa.com/index.htm

ECi fm audit Phone: 573-632-2461 www.fmaudit.com

25

BEI Services Phone: 307-587-8446 www.beiservices.com

Electronic Business Machines Phone: 800-832-6522 Fax: 859-281-6328 www.ebmky.com

71

IDS-International Digital Solutions Phone: 888-372-3700 Fax: 562-921-1167 suzannecarter@idswc.com

All Leasing Services Phone: 866-727-3750 or 949-727-3750 Fax: 949-727-3850 www.alscopiers.com

47

7

BTA 65 www.BTA.org Cannata Report 63 www.TheCannataReport.com/ Dinner30 Carolina Wholesale Phone: 1-800-521-4600 Fax: 1-800-356-9169 www.ProEarthToner.com

36

Copier Network Phone: 510-746-2080 www.copiernetwork.com

59

Crystal Trade Phone: 888-889-9598 www.RemanCartridges.com

60

DCC Discount Copier Center 44 Phone: 1-887-414-2679 info@discountcopiercenter.com Depot International www.depotintl.com/discover

33

Direct Precise Imaging 70 Phone: 888-376-7311 www.directpreciseimaging.com DocuWare Corporation Phone: 888-565-5907 x211 www.docuware.com 66

•

36

Impression Solutions 8 Phone: 866-275-9213 www.impressionsolutions.com

EpartsRoom 52 Phone: 877-503-7278 www.epartsroom.com Escalera 71 Phone: 800-622-1359 or 530-673-6318 Fax: 530-673-6376 www.escalera.com FunnelMaker 62 Phone: 888-823-0006 FunnelMaker.com/freewebsite Future Graphics Phone: 1-800-394-9900 or 818-837-8100 Fax: 1-800-394-9910 or 818-838-7047 www.fgimaging.com

13

Galaxy Copiers Inc Phone: 1-626-400-6594 www.galaxycopiers.com

44

Greater Philadelphia Equipment Co. Phone: 215-788-7111 Fax: 215-788-4445 www.printcontrollers.com

61

www.enxmag.com | September 2015

23

Innovolt 41 Phone: 404-467-6368 www.innovolt.com sales@innovolt.com Intercom Exporting Inc Main: 954-978-2121 Miami: 305-757-7878 Fax: 954-978-2412 www.intercomcopiers.com

48

Jamex 60 Phone: 800-289-6550 Fax: 607-257-1139 www.jamexvending.com LMI Solutions Phone: 888-215-1292 or 602-278-5234 www.lmisolutions.com/cc Mars International Phone: 973-777-5886 Fax: 973-777-5889 www.marsintl.com

3

15

MSE 10-11 Phone: 800-673-4968 Headquarters Phone: 800-418-4968 US-East Coast www.mse.com

We Saw It In ENX Magazine

SEPTEMBER 2015

Display Advertisers Index MWA Intelligence, Inc. Phone: 800-875-2371 www.mwaintel.com

43

Power eCommerce 12 Phone: 800-231-9966 www.Power-eCommerce.com

Nation Wide Repair Service 71 Customer Service: 866-655-8676 Tech Support: 800-798-1814 www.nwrsinc.com

Ross International Phone: 973-365-9900 Fax: 973-473-8800 www.ross-international.com

Nectron International Inc. Phone: 281-240-2222 Fax: 281-240-0468 www.nectron.com

RPT Toner Phone: 888-778-8663 Fax: 630-694-9060 rpttoner.com

29

Ninestar Technology Co., LTD 72 Phone: 626-965-6662 Fax: 626-965-6667 sales@ggimageusa.com www.ninestartechonline.com NuWorld Business Systems 18-22 Phone: 800-729-8320 Fax: 800-829-0292 www.nuworldinc.com Office Technology Service Excellence Award Phone: 307-587-8446 www.beiservices.com

55

OKI 6 www.okidata.com/ES8473 Parts Drop Phone: 201-387-7776 www.partsdrop.com

68

PartsNow 17 www.partsnow.com/zwcfree Pinnacle Sales, Inc. Phone: 440-734-9195 www.psi-ohio.com

37

Planet Green Phone: 800-377-1093 www.pginkjets.com

45

Seine Tech USA Phone: 909-869-0730 Fax: 909-869-0736 sales@seinetecusa.com

15

4-5

53

Sindoh 35 http://www.sindoh.com Contact Authorized Distributors Carolina Wholesale: 800-521-4600 Arlington: 800-887-3040 Supplies Network Phone: 1-800-729-9300 www.suppliesnetwork.com Static Control Phone: 919-774-3808 or 800-488-2426 www.colorcontrol.info www.scc-inc.com

31

2

Toshiba 76 Contact National Distributors ACM Technology 800-722-7745 Collins Distributing 800-727-0884 IDS 888-372-3700 Supplies Network 800-729-9300 TSA World Phone: 1-770-417-2323 Fax: 1-770-417-2305 sales@tsaworld.com www.tsaworld.com

57

Uninet Imaging West Coast: 424-675-3300 East Coast: 631-590-1040 sales@uninetimaging.com www.uninetimaging.com/enx World Of Fax Phone: 1-800-634-9329 1-866-FAX-PARTS WorldOfFax.com/ CopierPartsStore.com

9

69

Stay Connected Share Your Views

Supplies Wholesalers 74-75 Phone: 866-817-8795 www.SuppliesWholesalers.com TBC Town Business Center 51 Phone: 1-570-602-1640 Fax: 1-570-602-1643 www.tbccopiers.com

The Largest Circulation in the Document Imaging Industry

30,000 Copies Distributed Each Month!

We Saw It In ENX Magazine

September 2015 | www.enxmag.com

•

67

SEPTEMBER 2015 JANUARY 2015

Business Card Directory Cartridge Warehouse International, Inc.

Don’t Get Stung

By The Competition!

m on er.coom t i w c w. ww Ask about our

Digital Duplicators Duplicators Risograph & & Ricoh Ricoh Risograph & Sold Sold Bought &

Toners Inkjets Laserjets Drums MICR’s Developers Ribbons Copy Cartridges Maintenance Kits

------------------------------------------------------------------

For All Your OEM, Compatible & Remanufactured Supplies All Makes & Models

12,000 Different SKU’s

ll

ll

ll

ll

ll

ll

Contact Joe: sales@CWItoner.com ph: 310-828-2225 ll fx: 310-828-2262 2880 Colorado Blvd., Santa Monica CA 90404

Call Now

RZ990 RZ990 RZ220 RZ220 RZ390 RZ390 RZ590 RZ590

1700 1700 3700 3700 3750 3750 3770 3770

JP8000 JP8000 JP8500 JP8500 JP4500 HQ7000 JP4500 HQ7000 JP3000 HQ9000 JP3000 HQ9000 MZ790 MZ790

***AllModels*** Models*** ***All ***Available*** ***Available***

Duplicators Rebuilt Duplicators Retail Ready Ready Retail Full Tech Tech Support Support Full Full Parts Support Full Parts Support

SELLING

MASTERS MASTERS OEM •• OEM Compatibles •• Compatibles

Now Available!!

Available!!

Now CALL NOW! NOW! CALL

Phone: 405-912-1700 405-912-1700 Phone: Fax: 405-912-1900 405-912-1900 Fax:

email: culver-enterprises@swbell.net culver-enterprises@swbell.net email:

“We want your empties.

So does everybody else.”

303-465-3134 TRI RESOURCES INTERNATIONAL

YKC

Others might might talk talk aa good good game, game, but but EOS EOS delivers: delivers: Others ✔ Speedy Speedy payment payment Contact us us now. now. It It really really ✔ Contact does pay pay to to work work with with us! us! does ✔ Fast Fast & & accurate accurate ✔ inspections inspections ✔ Best-in-the-business, Best-in-the-business, ✔ match-or-beat pricing pricing match-or-beat Your global globalempties emptiespartner partnersince since1996.

1996.

Your

291-1900 860 291-1900 www.eosusa.com www.eosusa.com

We Buy Buy && Sell Sell Cell Cell Phones Phones || Empty Empty Inkjet Inkjet && Toner TonerCartridges Cartridges||OEM OEMSurplus Surplus||Laptops Laptops&&IT ITEquipment Equipment We

Used Copier Sale America Welcome Welcome USA, North & South America

Canon, Konica, Toshiba, Ricoh, Xerox, etc...

YKC, Inc. One Broad Ave #8 Fairview, NJ 07022

Hela Hela Chang Chang helachang@gmail.com helachang@gmail.com Phone: Phone: 201-313-0055 201-313-0055 Fax: Fax: 201-313-0077 201-313-0077

C 2009 Asay Asay Media Media Network Network C 2009

www.golfgong.com

engage ‘n exchange ACTIONABLE INTELLIGENCE

engage ‘n exchange

Registration open at www.enxmag.com

Present A Free Live Webinar

How to Make “Green” – and Avoid “Red” – in the Color Market

September 22nd, 2015 Tuesday 2pm EST Sponsored by:

64 68

••

www.enxmag.com | l September 2015 www.enxmag.com January 2015

WeSaw SawItItItIn ENXMagazine Magazine We We Saw InInENX ENX Magazine

SEPTEMBER 2015

First in Integrity. First in Service.

Fax, Copier & Laser Printer Parts Specialist

(Live friendly assistance all day)

►

FREE PARTS RESEARCH FOR CANON

►

JANUARY 2015

►

NO PARTS #’s NEEDED TO ORDER WE STOCK FUSER UNITS, FEED KITS, DRUM KITS, CIRCUIT BOARDS & MANUALS

► ►

Business Card Directory

l l l

l l

HARD DRIVES FOR ALL COPIERS IN STOCK. ALL BRANDS NETWORK & SCANNER OPTIONS IN STOCK FAX KIT OPTIONS FOR ADD ON TO ANY EXISTING COPIER FUSER UNITS & CIRCUIT BOARDS. ALL MODELS IN STOCK Order parts without parts # Parts Ship Same Day Free parts diagrams

Nationwide Air-Ride Shipping De-Installation www.goschock.com Data Security 800-733-2753 Storage info@goschock.com Insurance

Stay Connected Share Your Views

Fax, Copier & Laser Printer Parts Specialist l

l

(Live friendly assistance all day) CANON

FREE PARTS RESEARCH FOR

The Largest Circulation in the Document Imaging Industry

CANON

30,000 Copies

Call For Free Parts Research NOUs PARTS #’s NEEDED TO ORDER 1-866-FAX-PART Dial: WE1-800-634-9329 STOCK FUSERorUNITS, FEED KITS, DRUM KITS, Visit our websites at: WorldOfFax.com and CopierPartsStore.com CIRCUIT BOARDS & MANUALS l l

l l l

l

HARD DRIVES FOR ALL COPIERS IN STOCK. ALL BRANDS NETWORK & SCANNER OPTIONS IN STOCK FAX KIT OPTIONS FOR ADD ON TO ANY EXISTING COPIER FUSER UNITS & CIRCUIT BOARDS. ALL MODELS IN STOCK Order parts without parts # Parts Ship Same Day Free parts diagrams

l l

copiers printers

OEM PARTS & SUPPLIES

Call for HP Mono and Color Laser Printer OEM Parts

CANON

TECHNOFIX Office Products

Call Us For Free Parts Research Dial: 1-800-634-9329 or 1-866-FAX-PART Visit our websites at: WorldOfFax.com and CopierPartsStore.com

Calendar

Industry Events scannersShows & Trade fax

SAME DAY AND DROP SHIPPING AVAILABLE

l

l

AUTHORIZED DEALER & SERVICE CENTER FOR

www.Technofix.com

l

Distributed Each Month!

Below is the Industry events updates &with website info.

Visit enxmag.com/INDUSTRY_CALENDAR.htm for more info.

International CES Jan 6-9, 2015 Las Vegas, NV www.cesweb.org EFI We Saw It In ENX Magazine

Tel: 818.ITEX 545.National 8888 Fax: 818. 545. 8890 Conference & Expo e-mail: rmoradian@technofix.com 1412 EastMarch Wilson10-12, Avenue2015 - Glendale, CA 91206

Ft. Lauderdale, FL www.itexshow.com

Connect 2015 September 2015 | www.enxmag.com • 69 Jan 20-23, 2015 AIIM Conference Las Vegas, NV March 18-20, 2015/San Diego, CA

Ads Classified Ads Calendar

other Manufacturer’s Production Requirements

Empties Empties For For Sale Sale

Call Us For Daily Specials!

Industry Events & Trade Shows

1-888-376-7311 BTA East www.directpreciseimaging.com

Sep 24-25, 2015/Boston, MA www.bta.org NICHE I MPS Navigate Conference 2015 NO MINIMUM ORDER n

by Continuum MICR AVAILABLE Made In ent BLIND DROP SHIPPING The U.S.A. Sept.

27-29, 2015/The NEWEST RELEASES Since 1994 s WE BUY EMPTIES Las Vegas Cosmopolitan, RE-BUILD YOUR EMPTY PROGRAM SAVE! All of DPI products are www.continuum.net/ manufactured 100% in the USA! navigate2015 BLE

k colors

nit

TriMega’s EPIC 2015 Oct 6-8, 2015/Las Vegas, NV www.trimega.org

Square 9 Encompass 2015 Oct 20-23, 2015/ Clearwater Beach, FL ! ing www.square-9.com/ ipp Ask about our Free Shipping h S op offer & Empty Toner Cartridge encompass2015

a Yield

Buyback Program!

Equipped and Staffed to Assist other Manufacturer’s Production Requirements

Advertise in ENX

Call Us For Daily Specials!

1-888-376-7311

Post Your Employment www.directpreciseimaging.com Opportunities FREE COLORon I the MICR I NICHE I MPS ENX Website!

DPI The Leader In

Made In

New Development The U.S.A.

Since 1994

& Niche Products

NO MINIMUM ORDER MICR AVAILABLE

BLIND DROP SHIPPING NEWEST RELEASES WE BUY EMPTIES

RE-BUILD YOUR EMPTY PROGRAM SAVE!

AUGUST 2015 - COMING SOON • Xerox Phaser 3260 Monochrome & MICR • Xerox Phaser 3610/3615 (25.9k yield) JULY 2015 • Konica Minolta Bizhub 4020 • Lexmark CX 310/410/510 colors

All of DPI products are manufactured 100% in the USA!

JUNE 2015 • HP M880 Colors (CF-301a - CF-303a) • HP M880/M885 Drum Units APRIL/MAY 2015 RELEASES • Xerox Phaser 3610/3615 • Samsung 309 Drum* • Canon 137 • Xerox Phaser 4600 Drum

ipp p Sh d Dro

* QC approved to work with OEM toner cartridges only at this time

n visit For more information ay & Bli

Same D

www.ENXMAG.com

! ing

Ask about our Free Shipping offer & Empty Toner Cartridge Buyback Program!

We Design it... We Develop it...

We Manufacture it...

BTA Southeast it... We Develop it...

Oct 23-24,2015/Asheville, NC anufacture it... www.bta.org owards your needs".

"Tailored towards your needs".

Cut costs, streamline processes and print for less with our Extended Yield Brand (Managed Print Services).

e processes and print for less with d Brand (Managed Print Services).

Printer Tech Tip

p

HP LaserJet M712 and M725MFP

Problem: 5, CM3530, M551, M575 Close left door message or re-install duplexer message on control panel:

Below are incorrect and correct positions for the rear fuser lock tab:

Error and is unable to print. This y one of the following three condi-

up and cannot rotate. transfer-roller-disengagement) is bad. er drive gear. Typically, a grinding or eard during boot up.

ION: There have been a few cases where the printer will display one of the above t the ITB and power-cycle theability printer. messages without the to print. The cause of this has been the rear sists, anfuser HP Certified Technician lock tab being just out of the locked position, which will intern cause If the ITB flagincomplete. is broken, damaged, or does not rotate replace r further thetroubleshooting. linkage to the switch “SW1 fuser/left door” the ITB (CC468-67907).

Otherwise, continue with step 3. ng the ITB completely out of the 3. Test Sensor SR17. Perform the Manual Sensor Test. In order the flag rotates (callout 1) when the to run this test successfully, make sure the Fuser, ITB, Cyan allout 2). See the Figure following.

This Printer Tech Tip is contributed by Laser Pros (www.laserproscom). Email any questions to marketing@laserpros.com • www.enxmag.com | September l January We Saw It 2015 In ENX Magazine 70 2015

We Saw It In ENX Magazine

AT NATION-WIDE REPAIR SERVICE, WE’VE GONE BACK TO SCHOOL TO ADD UP GREAT SAVINGS FOR YOU DURING SEPTEMBER!

10 10 + 10 = 30

- 10% OFF ALL HARD DRIVE ORDERS - 10% OFF ALL ADVANCE EXCHANGES - 10% OFF ALL REPAIR & RETURN ORDERS - 30 YEARS IN BUSINESS!

Nation-WideRepairService | CustomerService:866.655.8676 |TechnicalSupport:800.798.1814 | www.nwrsinc.com OEM’s and their subsidiaries are not elibile for this current promotion.

Authorized Parts Distributor New OEM Parts Fuser Exchange Printhead Exchange Tech Support Fusers purchase or exchange M/A Kits purchase or exchange

Transfer Belt Assemblies Printhead Exchange

ROYAL

®

Parts - Supplies - Circuit Board Repair Keyboard Rebuild - Machine Refurbish

Electronic Business Machines

1408 Versailles RD. Lexington, KY 40504 Ph. 800.832.6522 Fax 859.281.6328 www.ebmky.com

The PRODUCTS you want, the SERVICE you deserve!

We Saw It In ENX Magazine

September 2015 | www.enxmag.com

•

71

engage ‘n exchang engage ‘n e

Present A Free Live Webinar

ge exchange

ACTIONABLE INTELLIGENCE

How to Make “Green” – and Avoid “Red” – in the Color Market

September 22nd, 2015 Tuesday 2pm EST

One of the markets in the office imaging that continues to grow is the market for color devices and supplies.

However, not all categories of color equipment are growing.

In fact, some segments are experiencing dramatic declines.

This webinar provides insights into the trends shaping the current U.S. Color market.

Join us for a one-hour webinar presented by Charles Brewer, the founder and president of the industry’s premier market research firm, Actionable Intelligence.

Attendees participating in this webinar will learn: • Which segments of the color market are hot or which are not • New go-to-market strategies • Which hardware vendors are gaining and losing share in each segment • How hardware is evolving in a market where end users print less • New feature sets to support new usage patterns • Market conditions for a range of devices including SOHO, Workgroup, Enterprise, and Production • Consumables in today’s color market and how to maximize aftermarket revenue opportunities • Where things stand between third-party supplies vendors vs. hardware manufacturers

Sponsored by:

Registration open at www.enxmag.com

Now Shipping from 3 Warehouses in PA, TN & NV! Delivering by FREE Ground ($200+ orders) to 90% of the U.S. in 1-2 Days

RENO

MEMPHIS

1 DAY 2 DAYS 3 DAYS

Nearly 1 Million Compatible Printer Cartridges In Stock!

• Over 97% order fill rate ensures we have the stock to satisfy any volume

The Broadest Cartridge Range with 3,000 Compatible Models!

• Including the latest toner & inkjet models to increase your profits

The Lowest Defect Rates (Near 1.0%) From Top Factories!

• Our best-of-breed global sourcing helps you keep your customers

The Best OEM Alternative!

• Support your customers right to choose... and save them money!

SW IS THE PROFITABLE OEM ALTERNATIVE! 1-866-817-8795

sales@supplieswholesalers.com

www.supplieswholesalers.com

Jumbo Toners • Ideal for MPS MPSisisgrowing, growing,and andSW SWoffers offersthe thebest best MPS cartridgesolution solutionfor forMPS MPSapplications applications cartridge • Our jumbo toners offer up to 100% more yield than OEM • with a low 1% defect rate, you’ll have fewer service calls The lowest cost per page (CPP) + Low Defect Rate = more MPS profit!

OEMNUMBER NUMBER OEM

SWNUMBER NUMBER SW

OEMYield Yield SW SWYield Yield OEM

TN350, TN2000, TN2025 TN350, TN2000, TN2025 TN360 TN360 TN420, TN450 TN420, TN450 TN550, TN580 TN550, TN580 TN650,3280, 3280,3290 3290 TN650, CE255X CE255X CE278A CE278A CE285A CE285A CE390A CE390A CE505A CE505A CE505X CE505X CB435A CB435A CB436A CB436A CC364X CC364X C4096A C4096A Q2612A Q2612A Q1338A,Q5942A Q5942A Q1338A, Q1338A,Q1339A, Q1339A,Q5942A, Q5942A,Q5942X, Q5942X,Q5945A Q5945A Q1338A,

CBTN350J CBTN350J CBTN360J CBTN360J CBTN450J CBTN450J CBTN580J CBTN580J CBTN650J CBTN650J PTCE255XJND PTCE255XJND PTCE278AJ PTCE278AJ PTCE285AJ PTCE285AJ PTCE390AJ PTCE390AJ PTCE505AJND PTCE505AJND PTCE505XJND PTCE505XJND PTCB435AJ PTCB435AJ PTCB436AJ PTCB436AJ PTCC364XJ PTCC364XJ PTC4096AJ PTC4096AJ PTQ2612AJ PTQ2612AJ PTQ5942AJ PTQ5942AJ PTQ383942XJ PTQ383942XJ

2,500 2,500 2,600 2,600 2,600 2,600 7,000 7,000 8,000 8,000 12,500 12,500 2,100 2,100 1,600 1,600 10,000 10,000 2,300 2,300 6,500 6,500 1,500 1,500 2,000 2,000 24,000 24,000 5,000 5,000 2,000 2,000 12,000 12,000 20,000 20,000

5,000 5,000 5,200 5,200 5,000 5,000 12,000 12,000 12,000 12,000 15,000 15,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 18,000 18,000 3,500 3,500 8,000 8,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 35,000 35,000 7,500 7,500 4,000 4,000 15,000 15,000 28,000 28,000

%% Cost 1 1toto9 9Cost Increase Increase 100% $21.00 100% $21.00 100% $22.00 100% $22.00 92% $16.00 92% $16.00 71% $25.00 71% $25.00 50% $24.00 50% $24.00 20% $47.00 20% $47.00 43% $21.00 43% $21.00 88% $21.00 88% $21.00 80% $54.00 80% $54.00 52% $26.00 52% $26.00 23% $29.00 23% $29.00 100% $20.00 100% $20.00 50% $20.00 50% $20.00 46% $57.00 46% $57.00 50% $28.00 50% $28.00 100% $19.00 100% $19.00 25% $49.00 25% $49.00 40% $57.00 40% $57.00

10+ 10+ Mixed Mixed $19.95 $19.95 $20.90 $20.90 $15.20 $15.20 $23.75 $23.75 $22.80 $22.80 $44.65 $44.65 $19.95 $19.95 $19.95 $19.95 $51.30 $51.30 $24.70 $24.70 $27.55 $27.55 $19.00 $19.00 $19.00 $19.00 $54.15 $54.15 $26.60 $26.60 $18.05 $18.05 $46.55 $46.55 $54.15 $54.15

CostPer Per Cost Page Page $0.0040 $0.0040 $0.0040 $0.0040 $0.0030 $0.0030 $0.0020 $0.0020 $0.0019 $0.0019 $0.0030 $0.0030 $0.0067 $0.0067 $0.0067 $0.0067 $0.0029 $0.0029 $0.0071 $0.0071 $0.0034 $0.0034 $0.0063 $0.0063 $0.0063 $0.0063 $0.0015 $0.0015 $0.0035 $0.0035 $0.0045 $0.0045 $0.0031 $0.0031 $0.0019 $0.0019

Saveup upto to25% 25%with withvolume! volume!

Save

Nearly11Million MillionCompatible CompatibleCartridges Cartridgesininour ourPA, PA,TN TN&&NV NVDC’s!

DC’s!

Nearly

866-817-8795 2015 - Supplies Wholesalers • All rights reserved.

• Not responsible typographical errors.

Prices subject change without notice. ©© 2015 - Supplies Wholesalers • All rights reserved.

• Not responsible forfor typographical errors.

Prices subject to to change without notice.

SIMPLE. SMART. TOSHIBA. Toshiba provides comprehensive sales and service training, and competitive pricing on a full-range of award-winning MFPs. Plus, with no sales quotas, financial commitments or minimum orders, becoming a Toshiba Business Products Center is simple, smart and fast.

Call an authorized Toshiba Distributor Complete the training Become a Toshiba Business Product Center and start selling Toshiba To get a free brochure on becoming a Toshiba Business Product Center contact a distributor listed below.

National Distributors: ACM Technology 800-722-7745 Collins Distributing Co 800-727-0884 International Digital Solutions 888-372-3700 Supplies Network 800 -729-9300

Š 2015 Toshiba America Business Solutions, Inc. Electronic Imaging Division