Quick – hide. It’s the copier sales guy!

Last Halloween inspired me to write about something much more frightening than any ghosts or goblins: the copier sales guy.

How often are these words spoken in an office: “Oh no … the copier sales guy is here”? I envision people picking up a phone and pretending to be on a call, staff members taking an unexpected restroom break and executives giving the internal “secret” signal to the office manager to tell the salesperson they aren’t available.

Naturally, we at The MPS Group do not want to be that guy. What we do want is to be a partner – a trusted organization that always has its clients’ best interests in mind.

“A sales rep is trained to sell product, not to help the customer,” explains Jeff Smith, director of consumer services for Buyers Laboratory Inc. (BLI), an independent office equipment testing and research company that also helps companies acquire office equipment.

“Salespeople are coached to control the sales process as a negotiating strategy,” adds Jon Bees, editor of the Better Buys for Business office equipment buying guides. “The buyer should try to maintain control over the process because it’s all about negotiating position. In order to do this properly, a customer needs to be well-informed.”

Being an educated consumer is the answer.

Copier/printer salespeople want to sell you a copier that earns them a profit and a handsome commission. That’s what’s expected of them, and that’s what selling is all about, right?

I say no. In fact, in Texas, we say, “heck no!” or something similar to that.

Here are the not-so-secret questions you should look at before talking to us or those salespeople:

• How much do you actually print and copy? Do the math. Take page counts two weeks apart, and break out your calculator. Also, talk to your staff. Determine what they are printing and why. Are they printing emails unnecessarily? Are they printing documents only to turn around and fax them?
• What do you print? Do you need to print faxes and emails? Do you need color? If so, how much? If you need color, is the color printing device accessible to those without a need to print color?
• Do you have the infrastructure to support new technology like scan to folder, scan to email and fax forward? In my office, we haven’t printed a fax in years.
• Are your current devices strategically placed, or does everyone have a personal printer?
• How many file cabinets do you have, and how long does it take to actually retrieve a file?

These are some of the basic questions, and as you may imagine, there are many more. As I previously stated, being an educated consumer is the answer.

As a partner rather than a commissioned salesperson, The MPS Group has a mission and corporate responsibility to educate our clients on their print environment so that the end result will be an effective, educated decision on a managed print solution.

A quote to ponder:

“The two most destructive phrases in business today are, ‘We’ve never done it that way” and “We’ve always done it this way.’” – Jack Welch, retired CEO, GE.

James Thomas is the co-founder and CEO of The MPS Group. For more information, visit www.thempsgroup-sa.com.