01732 759725
VOX POP
20
Bernard Cassidy
Head of Marketing,
Konica Minolta Business Solutions
(UK) Ltd
“As a global manufacturer, hardware is
critically important to our business, but
we also understand that hardware alone
doesn’t always deliver the business critical
outcomes many customers require. MFPs
and production print devices, in many cases,
provide end users with what they need in
terms of print and document output and
even a reduction in energy usage. But what
a hardware-led sales approach doesn’t do
is add real value to a customer’s business
or deliver the margins that a dealer requires
to achieve sustained growth.
“Margins on hardware are incredibly
tight and that’s predominantly because
simply selling printers as a transactional
sale doesn’t offer enough business benefit
to end users; it just provides a short-term
gain.
“Today’s savvy resellers and OEMs
pitch themselves as technology partners,
not simply technology providers, and
consultancy is absolutely the future for
our industry. You can’t deliver tangible
long-term business benefits to end
users, including cost savings, efficiency
improvements and productivity gains, with
hardware alone. It’s a mix of hardware,
software and services that drives real
cultural change, addresses mission critical
business objectives and meets customers’
goals. It’s only by adopting a consultative
approach that you can truly understand
what the customer’s business really needs.
“The delivery and provision of
consultancy services provides a reseller
with the information they need to align
the hardware and software solutions and
package these as a complete managed
service that exactly meets individual
customers’ needs now and in the future.
And it’s this approach that also provides
an ongoing revenue stream for the dealer,
ensuring their own business remains
profitable.”
Gary Downey
Group Marketing Director,
Balreed
“That’s a really interesting debate you’ve
posed and it certainly gets you thinking.
If the question is whether a full assessment
and consulting service will become the de
facto approach and every buyer will go
down that route, I would say it is unlikely.
It may be convenient for some vendors to
become a factory for audits, but it is what
the buyer needs in their decision-making
process that should be considered first.
It’s their level of knowledge, buying
expertise and objectives that will define the
sales approach.
“But I do think that consultative selling
is increasingly important. There are reasons
why the ability of a salesperson to assess,
consult and advise is of value to the buyer,
as well as to the provider, and for that
reason it will have its place in the future.
Price-led hardware sales people who add
no value to a buyer will still have a place
in the commodity end of the market, but
with increasing online competition, these
organisations will need to shape their
operations, operating costs and their sales
commissions to survive, just as we have
seen happen in the retail marketplace.
“The solutions we provide, whether
one device or 1000s of integrated systems,
are a significant investment for the size
of organisation purchasing them, so it
Is the provision of consultancy services, including MPS, MDS and Managed Content
Services (MCS), all that will matter in the future, or will there still be a place for more
traditional hardware-led sales? If the latter, how will it be possible for resellers to stay
profitable?
Print IT Reseller
asks a range of experts from the print and imaging sector
for their thoughts.
Making money from print
isn’t usually a decision made without
some thought by the buyer. But it depends
on their level of knowledge, familiarity
with the technology and objectives as
to whether they buy on a commoditised
best-price purchase basis or partner with
a value-adding provider who acts as their
trusted advisor. And it’s not necessarily true
that the one or two device purchases are
made on price, whilst the larger ones are
more receptive to a consultative sale; it can
just as easily be the other way around.
“If you draw the analogy of a big
household purchase like a TV: some buyers
are committed to a brand or a specific
model/shape; they know what they are
doing (or at least they think they do); will
do their own research on the best price;
decide whether the provider/service cover
is a big issue for them; and go ahead and
buy it. They will see no need for advice
and no value in consultancy, and the
chances are they will source online, as that
channel, thanks to lower operating costs,
will generally be cheapest. Or they will pay
a small premium and buy via a retail store
if they think the level of care in delivery
and support is worth paying for. The key
thing is that the buyer makes the purchase
knowing what they want.
Bernard Cassidy
Head of Marketing,
Konica Minolta
Business Solutions
(UK) Ltd
Gary Downey, Group Marketing Director,
Balreed
continued...
