Equipment quotas make the world go around. Dealers, retailers, and resellers work within the parameters of specified equipment sales targets. How has this model affected the customer’s experience? Think about year-end specials – does that sales rep have your best interests at heart, or his yearly quota? How does this mentality fit into a ’business solution’?
Sales teams are trained to become their customer’s “trusted advisor”. The big question prospects should ask is, “Why would my trusted advisor have equipment quotas? What does the number of machines he sells have to do with my accounts receivable workflow?”
How does this quota program work and why does it affect you, the customer?
In a nutshell, the more copiers a dealer sells, the deeper his discounts are for supplies. Manufacturers entice resellers with deep discounts in exchange for volume commitments.
For the copier/printer industry, this model is bit more insidious. The manufacturers have attached supply pricing to equipment quotas. Supplies revenue is a monthly income stream with a predictable profit margin. This gross profit supports teams of technicians, administration and staff. If discounts from OEM’s evaporate, the dealer incurs huge increases in costs against a set revenue.
This model focuses on placing machines over solving problems, which is a common practice.
When the location does not fulfill its commitments, the cost of supplies may rise when the sales price to the customer does not.
What does this mean to most managed print service customers? Pressurized sales techniques. To keep discounts, salespeople must sell machines.
No equipment quotas, No month end crunch.
OneDOC supports the MPSA definition of MPS:
“Managed Print Services is the active management and optimization of document output devices and related business processes.”
There is no mention of printer or copier sales in this definition.
When Kevin was building OneDOC, he recognized this flaw in the copier sales model. OneDOC only works with manufacturers under a ‘no equipment quota’ agreement, promoting hardware neutrality.
OneDOC sales professionals concentrate on solving your problems and reducing costs in an open manner – even when selling fewer copiers is the best alternative.
OneDOC is customer focused, not machine focused.
Call us today, 1.844.633.3050 (National Toll Free) or email onedoc@mpsok.com.