Written by: Charity Parson; Market Development Manager, Ricoh Americas

Welcome to the second installment of MPS Stage 3, 4, and Beyond. In the last installment, we walked through what appeared to be a simple hardware issue and examine it throughout the entire workflow. This showed how important it is to understand not just how many devices an organization has or what the utilization levels are, from an output perspective, but also why and how they are using them. I hope everyone who read the article came to understand why document workflow is much more important than the device itself.

This month’s article will expand on that philosophy, but will do so from a sales perspective. The focus here is to help sales and marketing teams understand the value proposition of managed print services. Every company has their own spin on the value of their delivery methodology, but the basic benefits of a managed strategy exist among all top providers. Appropriately conveying the correct message is the struggle for most sales teams.

Industry professionals have trained sales personnel and, as a result, customers to first look at return on investment. Sales professionals have traditionally started customer meetings with a discussion about numbers. “Mr. Customer, your lease payment is $27,000 per month and, if you work with us, we can get it down to $26,000 per month.” This is not the value proposition of managed print services, but many sales people today bundle the comprehensive managed services message, benefits, and value and try to sell it like commodities they sold in the past (supplies, copiers, computers, etc). This not only diminishes the total value and priority of the sale in the eyes of the customer, but also diminishes the value of the selling company and its representative.

Marketing and selling the value proposition needs to focus on the association between the customer’s strategic goals and the projected outcomes of the managed services strategy. For example, “Mr. Customer, you stated in an interview last week that the top three strategic goals for XYZ Company are providing better customer service, providing the best security in your industry for customer data and increasing your e-commerce strategy. Our managed services offerings include unified communications utilities and workflow agents that reduce wait time by an average of more than 60 percent while decreasing data loss incidents by 90 percent. These solutions can be managed in a cloud environment integrated with e-commerce tools to allow for seamless customer engagements from the point of interest, to purchase and throughout the term of the customer relationship.”

Do you think this second approach establishes you as a possible partner? Does the customer think of you as a commodity pusher or a consultant? Is there more value in this approach than the “let me reduce your costs” approach? If you think this second approach is better, keep reading.

If you’re thinking, “I thought this was an article about managed print services,” keep in mind that the focus of this, and every installment of this article, is on phases 3, 4 and beyond. We aren’t talking about the basics here. We’re talking about premiere managed print offerings and processes, not the most common ones.

As you can see, evolving customer demands and technological innovation have drastically changed the sales process for our industry, so consider the following requirements for marketing or selling the value of managed print services.

First, always establish, at the least, a basic understanding of whom you are selling to. Are you developing a national campaign? If so, who is your target? Are you focusing on a specific horizontal or vertical application? Are you best equipped to support the small-to-medium business or do you have the infrastructure required to support a global managed services customer?

Or, maybe you are developing a series of regional presentations primarily targeting current customers at distribution locations. Do you provide presentations every hour on different products you sell (which your customer could have learned from their office by visiting your website)? Or do you provide solutions specifically designed to solve problems faced by people in the room (compliance, mobility, sustainability)?

Look at the training you offer your sales team in regard to one-on-one meetings. Do they talk about costs or a holistic view of the customer environment? Does a new employee spend their first three months learning about the widgets your company sells or do they take time understanding their customers by reading their Web sites, press releases, etc? Is it more important for them to know how to sell the value of your organization or how they can increase the value of the customer’s organization? Ok, so even I admit you have to do both. But are you?

Take the time to get to know your customer, the industry they are in and the most common business issues they likely face. Talk about their strategy in addressing such issues and see if they need help. If they do, be prepared to talk about best practices to meet those needs. Then, don’t try to sell any technology based on industry standards. Instead, establish an analysis as the next step. After all, how can you possibly sell any technology until you gain a comprehensive understanding of their specific environment?

If you just read the above steps and thought, “That will make my sales cycle too long, I need to get revenue now,” what you really need to get now is an updated resume. This business is changing. The market and our customers are maturing and, as sales and marketing professionals, we need to mature as well. If you’re not invested in increasing your business acumen in order to offer true business value to your customers, why should they remain vested in their relationship with you?

Everyone entering the world of managed print services has the opportunity to be part of a significant change in the way businesses operate. We have the power to not only share best practices, but to continuously push the envelope on what’s next in the world of MPS. It’s exciting to be in a business maturing so much so quickly. Don’t let the fear of change prevent you or your sales teams from achieving the greatest profits, partnerships and professional gratification you’ve ever known. A little extra effort and an open mind will go a long way in taking your sales or marketing career to heights it’s never before known.

Charity Parsons, Market Development Manager, Managed and Professional Services within Ricoh’s Strategic Marketing Division, is responsible for understanding customer needs and market trends to continually enhance Ricoh’s ability to bring best in class solutions and services to our customers today and in the future. With more than 15 years of experience in the technology solutions and services industry, Charity has held positions in consulting, sales, project management, and marketing. Charity also holds an MBA with a specialty in Healthcare Operations Management along with Imaging Architecture and Change Management Certifications. Most recently, her focus has been on solutions and services such as business process consulting, IT Services and Managed Document Services.