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MPS
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the Sprintwise offer, it’s not the same as
achieving the total income as if they were
selling a product or service direct.”
About 18 months ago the wholesaler
conducted an independent review of the
market and looked at a number of options
to determine the best route for forming a
partnership with a Tier 1 manufacturer. This
led to them entering into a relationship
with Xerox to offer managed print services,
a move that was announced in January
this year.
Xerox Partner Print Services
Xerox Partner Print Services (XPPS) is
central to Xerox’s channel MPS initiative, it
offers a range of standardised components
to support a multi-vendor environment
such as assessment and optimisation,
device discovery and monitoring,
sales contract management, business
intelligence reporting, service management
and delivery and a customer service portal.
“With Xerox as a partner, we were able
to launch a comprehensive offer from the
full product range through to access to a
dedicated call centre, helpdesk and over 670
engineers based nationwide,” Church said.
Spicers has a team of dedicated MPS
sales executives whose job it is to help its
Brilliant Partners to maximise the potential
of the MPS market. Dealers know that they
have to do more to add value but for non-
print specialists, MPS is still a novel idea
and selling managed print services can
pose a number of challenges.
“Partners can come to us and tap into
our knowledge, support and intellect. We
will work together, conduct a joint customer
visit and put together a proposal,” he
added. The MPS sales cycle is longer and
more in-depth than a transactional sale –
it’s typically a four-stage process: assess,
design, implement and manage that is
much more consultative-led than channel
vendors are used to.
Spicers MPS specialists will support
across all four stages, Xerox has the
tools to automate print management,
including troubleshooting and repair,
supplies tracking and ordering and usage
monitoring. It also manages the service
and helpdesk functions on behalf of
resellers, meaning that partners don’t have
to invest or upskill.
“What is important,” Church said.
“Is that the contract is between reseller
and client which means that the reseller
recognises the associated ongoing
contracted service revenues, that are
secured and can be forecasted in the years
to follow, for the life of the contract.”
Early success
Spicers launched the new service to its
Brilliant Partners in April. “Of the 165
partners we have, around 25 per cent
came back to us to say they wanted to opt
in - that’s a pretty good take-up,” Church
commented.
The wholesaler has already seen
significant success. “To date we’ve closed
received revenues of £200k,” Church
said, adding that that there is also a
strong pipeline of opportunities. “The
daily growing pipeline of opportunities
is currently around £2 million, which is
exactly as we envisaged the demand to be
for such services in a shrinking EOS market
place,” he added.
Church attributes the early success to
the fact that its resellers are pitching the
service to ‘warm’ contacts. “It’s not a cold
call sales approach. It’s not really new
business as the resellers already have the
customer relationships and that’s where
the value is and why we see this as being a
very successful venture.”
Spicers is targeting revenues of £10
million within the next two to three years.
Church said: “We very much see this as a
powerful tool to support client retention.
What’s great about it is that our resellers
will potentially be able to offer an even
better level of service that a traditional
MPS specialist can, they typically have
contact with their customers on a weekly
basis, the touch points are far more
frequent within the OP industry where the
majority of sales are transactional.”
To support the service, Spicers has just
launched a reseller’s guide to Managed
Print, which outlines the importance
an MPS solution could play in building
a business revenues. The guide also
demonstrates how the Spicers MPS service
is a true end-to-end solution, backed by a
full suite of support materials and guided
by a team of dedicated sales professionals.
The wholesaler will also be promoting
the programme to Brilliant Partners at a
series of event scheduled to take place in
November where it will also showcase a
number of other initiatives due for launch
later in the year. The three regional Brilliant
Partner events will take place at its sites in
the North, Midlands and South of England.
Guy Church,
MPS Operations
Director,
Spicers
What’s great
about it is
that our
resellers will
potentially
be able to
offer an even
better level of
service that
a traditional
MPS specialist
can
Information at your fingertips
Spicers has also implemented
upgrades to all of its online portals
and websites to improve the
customer experience.
The new
site
better portrays the wholesaler and
all of the solutions on offer, helping
its established customer base to look
at new ways to drive their business
forward. Marketing Director Rebecca
Stallard said: “We’ve seen a 50%
increase in hits to the site since launch
so it’s created some extra interest.”
Additional investment has
also been spent developing extra
functionality in the business’ online
order portal SpicerVision and product
information website
.
com. Launching under a new refreshed
design, the site will incorporate better
product navigation through improved
attribute filtering and has been
developed to be more responsive for
users viewing on tablets or smartphones.
Having embarked on a journey of an
extended range of supplies for broader
business needs through its Limitless
range, Spicers has also developed the
site to enable search within this niche
range of products, making it the ideal
Special service for customers who
demand more today than just regular
office and workplace supplies.
