Featured Blog: MPS Strategies
Alan Joch is a veteran editor and writer who covers printing and imaging, electronic content management and a range of other IT topics for industry publications and Websites. He helped launch the Xerox Business Transformation Center three years ago, and prior to that was the founding editor and principle writer for the Printing and Imaging Solutions Center, an online forum for solution providers.
A New Kind of Sales Person
May 18, 2012
What strategies are you using to align your sales department with managed-print services?
Overcoming Ignorance
May 9, 2012
A managed-services pro discusses how to overcome some top roadblocks to closing deals.
Succeed With Successes
May 8, 2012
Use these techniques to get busy C-levels execs to consider managed print services.
Managed Print and Security, Part 2
April 27, 2012
Focus on these security tools and services for add-on sales.
Managed Print and Security, Part 1
April 27, 2012
End users need knowledgeable VARs and MSPs to help them not only optimize their printing environments, but also to enhance information security policies around printing activities.
Embrace Print Diversity
April 17, 2012
How important is printer device diversity in your managed-print efforts?
A Perfect Revenue Storm
March 26, 2012
For a growing number of VARs this is a particularly good time to move into managed print.
Another Way to Exploit Clouds
March 26, 2012
Are you profiting from synergies between clouds and managed print?
Prospects You Can Count On
March 23, 2012
VARs and managed services providers that want to move to print don’t have to look far for top prospects—they’re already in the accounts database.
Language Lessons
March 21, 2012
Make sure you have the right message ready when you finally get face time with a C-level executive.
A Cheat Sheet for Consumables Sales
March 19, 2012
It’s time to keep office supply stores and other competitors from siphoning away supplies sales.
Hedge Your Bets
March 16, 2012
As the market for managed print services heats up, VARs and MSPs need to avoid traps that can lead to money-losing deals.
Automated Profits
March 6, 2012
Take advantage of this light-touch, high-impact automation tool for increased supplies sales.
Myth-Busters
February 29, 2012
What are the top myths you hear from prospects about managed print services?
Keep Talking
February 23, 2012
Savvy VARs and MSPs aren’t taking anything for granted when it comes to selling managed-print services. Even in a growing market, many say they’re redoubling their efforts to spread the word about its benefits.
Printer Police
February 21, 2012
We’ll know the MPS market has reached maturity when people don’t routinely offer “helpful” advice about what and what not to print.
Document Management? Really?
February 16, 2012
Should VARs and MSPs with an established managed-print practice now position themselves to sell workflow and document-management solutions?
Take a ‘Lite’ Approach To Assessments
February 9, 2012
VARs and MSPs are devising creative ways to get around assessment roadblocks.
MSPs Ignore Managed Print at Their Peril
February 8, 2012
If you don’t talk to customers about managed print, someone else will.
Continue reading: MSPs Ignore Managed Print at Their Peril »
Supplies Sales—A New Strategic Weapon
February 7, 2012
It’s time to use supplies sales as a strategic weapon.
Featured Blog: From the Trenches
The Transformation of Greg_Walters
Greg Walters, senior correspondent for the Business Transformation Center, is a founding executive board member of the Managed Print Services Association. During an IT sales and services career that has spanned a quarter century, he helped turn a large West Coast VAR's struggling managed-print services practice into a highly profitable business. A prolific writer and frequent speaker at industry events, Greg considers himself a "Contrarian Technologist," someone with a unique—and provocative—view of technology and how to sell it in the 21st Century.
The Eyes to See
May 10, 2012
The current stage of MPS evolution includes covering your base and planning the future. Today’s MPS is moving beyond the “P” – do you have the eyes to see.
Managed Print Services vs. Managed Services
April 6, 2012
What’s the difference between managed print services and managed services? Better yet, what is the difference between the run of the mill copier dealership and the everyday VAR? In a word – Mutation. As in some warped Darwinian tale, managed print services and managed services are branches of the same tree. The MPS limb rising [...]
Managed Print and Managed Services: Find Your Way
April 3, 2012
Just as we start rolling with cold calling, first appointment setting, assessments, proposal generation and implementing standard MPS engagements, more comes up. Now we need to figure out how to move our MPS engagements from “simple” toner and service delivery into a “Managed Network Services” agreement. And we need to do this while maintaining our [...]
Showtime Planning
March 26, 2012
The convention season is about to shift into high gear with XChange 2012, iTex, Transform and World Expo occurring between April and August. This year feels to be one of the better years for MPS. Besides just offering another reason to go to Las Vegas or visit Orlando, what should you be looking to get [...]
Look at Everything
March 12, 2012
Spring is just a turn away – soon flowers will bloom and the soft promise of summer is just over the horizon. It’s the perfect time to plant seeds. How is that New Year’s resolution going? Are you increasing the number of MPS engagements or simply counting all your equipment sales as “MPS sales?” Are [...]
The Choice is Ours
February 27, 2012
Last month, the 24th annual Lyra Symposium was held in Palm Springs, Calif. A yearly kick-off to the convention season, the Lyra Symposium is a great roundup of the previous year’s OEM performance. The Lyra organization comprises some of the best analysts in the industry, and I have found them to be extremely honest and [...]
Crossing the Lines
February 9, 2012
Team building is one of the most important factors for MPS success. It seems obvious, but most struggles around MPS come down to people solving problems. Isn’t it always? People are the weakest and strongest link in your chain. So what can be done to keep employees engaged and productive? When I was with one [...]
The Ride Along
January 30, 2012
As you know, everybody is into MPS now – uniform companies, water providers, office furniture, retail office supply locations, wide format companies, every single OEM, VARs, and finally the big print production houses. In 12 months, there has been record growth. It’s bound to level off. It always does. Well, this time is not like [...]
Conversation is King
January 18, 2012
Just a few weeks in and 2012 is off and running. The MPS cavalcade continues everybody marching in lock step. The infrastructure is in place. Weeks of training completed last year, sales campaigns initiated, “managed print services” mentioned more often than copier models on your website – well done. Your staff can complete an assessment [...]
Will You Grow or Contract in 2012?
January 10, 2012
Tumult and struggle, transformation and acknowledgement fade in the rearview mirror as we move out of 2011 and into 2012. The end of 2011 brings us much hope, as does every year-end. How are you different today versus January, 2011? What will you look like next year this time? For that matter, what will we [...]
Talk Managed Services not Managed Print Services
November 28, 2011
Thinking the magic is in the “P” deserves a deeper look. Like it or not, the service we are offering for printing—the marking of paper with toner—is simply a symptom of our clients’ business process, an afterthought.
Continue reading: Talk Managed Services not Managed Print Services »
Common Problems with MpS
November 22, 2011
I travel the MPS ecosystem—last stop was Sydney, Australia—and I hear just about every single reason why MPS doesn’t work for customers. Not only do I get to hear all the reasons for failure, I also see how some VARs define their MPS practices into success by defining down MPS—essentially moving the goal posts closer.
Qualification is Key
October 5, 2011
Selling managed print services requires plenty of up-front activity. Not just the “1,000 phone dials get 100 conversations get 10 appointments” kind of pre-sales work. I am referring to the kind of toil that ranges from assessment, walk-through and configure to price up, present, close and execute.
Focus and Vision
September 21, 2011
Last month was one heck of a month; HP, Google, Oracle, Apple, Motorola – each transforming.
Greg Walters is a Sellout
August 26, 2011
I recently attended a managed print conference in Vegas–the Recharger World Expo–and it was a trip in the Delorean to “Back to the Future.” Just like three years ago, the fear of change oozed out all over. The “drill and fill” pedigree doesn’t guarantee MPS success. Who woulda thunk? The silver lining was people honestly listened to the speakers – for the entire session. I am sure seeds of innovation were planted, will grow and will bear fruit one day. The toner guys are last group to get in, they are here now.
Hello, World
August 19, 2011
Thanks for reading the first of many posts, writings and musings here at the Business Transformation Center. You may or may know of my other blog, “The Death of The Copier,” or DOTC. If so, great. If not, that’s good too. The title sometimes invokes emotion – it always does with copier dealers. Readers of DOTC have labeled me a “contrarian” or a “John the Baptist” type. I can go with the “zig when the world is zaging” description, but does anyone remember what happened to good ole John? Yeah, no thank you.
Featured Blog: What Works
Bob Violino is a freelance writer, editor and project manager who has covered technology and business for more than 25 years. He has written extensively about topics including information security, cloud computing, social networking, printers, mobility, storage, and enterprise applications. He has contributed dozens of articles about managed print services to the Xerox Business Transformation Center.
A Competitive Differentiator
May 14, 2012
Are you sitting on the fence as to whether you should include Xerox eConcierge® as part of your managed print services offerings? You might be missing out on an opportunity, based on feedback from some managed print providers who are high on the Xerox program. They say the Xerox eConcierge platform, which monitors printers [...]
Open the Right Lines of Communications
May 14, 2012
What’s the best way for a managed print services provider to make contact with a decision maker at a prospective customer organization? It depends entirely on the preferences of the individual you’re trying to reach, says Steven Power, founder and president of Sales & Marketing Solutions International, a Santa Clara, Calif., firm that advises [...]
Lessons for the New Year
December 21, 2011
The Business Transformation Center recently queried managed print services providers about the biggest challenges they have faced in the market in 2011, and it’s interesting how some of these challenges are interrelated. Among the key challenges MPSs cited are how tough a sell managed print services continue to be, the growing competition for customers in [...]
Sales Calls Aren’t One-Size-Fits-All
December 20, 2011
Is there such a thing as a “typical” sales call for managed print services? No, says Mike Parmet, executive vice president of Parmetech, a company in Havertown, Pa., that provides full-service printing and imaging solutions. Clearly, sales calls have certain common components, regardless of the type of company you’re going after. For example, you need [...]
Social Media and Managed Print
November 29, 2011
Social media are playing an increasing role in many aspects of business, including human resources and recruitment, product sales and marketing, customer service and support and employee collaboration.
Partners Weigh In On Xerox eConcierge
November 4, 2011
Xerox introduced Xerox eConcierge™ earlier this year, and the platform is quickly becoming a key component of the print business at a number of service providers and VARs.
Push Beyond Your Comfort Zone
November 2, 2011
Which vertical industries should you go after when marketing your managed print services business? The short answer: whichever ones you want.
