UDOCX and Scan2Fax "Eric the Office Worker"

When we last heard from Eric "the office worker" he was was our featured office worker in these blogs:  Eric the "Office Worker" Gets a Supra Wide Format!, Print Audit Green with "Eric the Office Worker" and Ecopy Desktop & "Eric the Office Worker" along with Ricoh's PPDM enables an Epiphany for Eric the  "Office Worker"

The last we heard of Eric, he was working for DigDug Systems in Frostberg, MD, since then Eric the "Office Worker" has moved back to New Jersey (home of Rhutts Dogs) and found a job with GigaHertz Power System in Wannakopier, NJ.

Over the years Eric has developed into a techie guru of sorts.  Eric's new job was to process order that were faxed to the company daily. He was one of 12 people that gathered the incoming order, entered the order in the system and then made of copy of the order for filing.  Eric alone (cause he was on top of his game) would process almost 100 orders per day and keep in mind that he was one of 12 users gathering documents from the three fax machines that were dedicated for inbound faxing.

Did I ever tell you Eric's last name?  It used to be Betterbid (sounds like a copier sales person name to me) and he got tired of that and had it changed to Sakash (whoa, sounds like another copier salesman's name too), but enough with Eric's name.  With three fax machines and 12 users there was a lot of jam ups at the fax machines, orders were getting mixed up, misplaced and lost!  Eric was also having a hard time with Wanda (you know Wanda, large girl, ornery and quite intimidating at the fax machines), Eric always waited for Wanda to finish getting her documents and then he'd meander and slither to the fax and lift his documents.

After many months of gathering faxes, processing, misplacing and losing faxes, our "Office Worker" that would be Eric make a mental note that there's gotta be a better way! So Eric went on a mission to see if there was a better way so he didn't have to deal with Wanda anymore.  Eric started search for all sorts of fax terms on the Internet, on one particular search Eric found this link MFP's can now Scan2Fax with UDOCX .

"Whoa" he thought, this could be the holy grail that he was looking for.  Eric in the past had some knowledge of MFP's, and by the looks of the video he figured he check out what MFP's were in use by GigaHertz.  Eric discovered that GigaHertz was using Xerox and Ricoh MFP's (Multifunctional Product) and with additional research realized that each of these machines were capable of adding a "browser" module to the MFP. 

Geesh he thought, if this technology could be added to the MFP's, well first he wouldn't have to deal with Wanda anymore and he wouldn't lose a fax, misplace or have to copy incoming faxes anymore! There'd be no more lines, no more mixups and no more Wanda.  It's sounding like a win win for our boy Eric right?

Well, kinda, Eric knew that technology is not cheap, and what would be the cost and would management go for it.  No one's spending additional money nowadays unless they can get an immediate ROI, right?

On the sly Eric made a few calls and found out from a UDOCX dealer that all three of the fax lines could be eliminated which means no line charge, no call charge, no long distance, no taxes, no fees to pay anymore.  Along with that for an additional few dollars every user (remember the other 11 workers) could have their own "Cloud" fax numbers! Imagine that everyone having their own dedicated fax number!  No more going to fax machine (yeah), no more butting heads with Wanda,  (yeah), no more lost faxes, no more misplaced faxes and no more copying of faxes. Plus Eric could use Scan2fax from the MFP and always have a digital paper trail!! 

When Eric did the math, GigaHertz could eliminate all of the fax lines, increase productivity and save money each month.  The beauty was in the ROI and the fact that the Scan2fax service was a monthly subscription, thus there's no lay out of cash, no IT people or resources needed because the software is running in the cloud!!

So, what did Eric do??  Well as all good workers Eric made a mad dash to the Controllers office with information in hand, on the way he ran into Wanda, fell, broke his pelvis and had to go to the hospital.  Wanda felt so bad for Eric that she delivered the information on UDOCX scan2fax to the controllers office. 

Wanda called Eric a few days later see how he was doing and told Eric that when he comes back to work at GigaHertz in Wannakopier, NJ that he would have his own cloud fax number!!!

-=Good Selling=-

MFP's can now Scan2Fax with UDOCX

I aways enjoy enlighting my customers and others with the latest technology.  If you're like me and you're in the field selling MFP's.  What's a better talk track than solutions, especially when it comes to eliminating the fax machine and all of the bs charges that go with it.

Check out this awesome video frm UDOCX to "learn more"

-=Good Selling=-

Copiers, MFPs and "The Power of the .001 (one thousands of a penny)"

The Power of the .001 (one thousands of a penny)

It's getting kind of late but thought I'd give a stab at this.  The lowly penny and the power of profit that can be collected from Copiers, Printers and MFP's that are under maintenance contract is astounding.  

Years ago, with out the aid of copier maintenance software it was interesting to see what machines were pulling a profit and which were not.  When I was a newbie in the industry I can remember the service manager coming to me with a service card that outlined the cost that incurred with "x" machine and he had to make the call either try and get the system out of the field (thanx for the lead, just what I wanted to deal with a customer whose machine was breaking all the time) or to lose money on the system and raise the maintenance contract next year.

Today, maintenance software to monitor and track profits is now the norm for all dealers and manufacturers.  Thus with low profit systems or those systems producing a loss can be identified ASAP and measures can be put in place to make the system profitable.  The easiest way to make them profitable is to raise the cost of the maintenance agreement.  Most maintenance agreements sold now are all inclusive, meaning all parts, PM kits, consumables (toner, developer) and labor are included. Thus the cost per copy (I call it the cost per page) now rules the industry for most contracts.

So, what the heck does a penny get you?  Not much anymore, can you add a penny per page to a cost per page program, well you can if you 'd like to lose customers!

Here's some quick calculations on the power of the penny or in this case .001 (one thousands of a penny).  We'll deal with assumptions here for easy math.

XYZ Dealership has 500 systems that are on a cost per page contract. Each system generates 5,000 pages per month on average for a total of 2.5 million pages per month.  The XYZ dealership needs to generate additional profit because the owner needs a new boat. By adding .001 to each renewing contract each month, the added profit is $2,500 per month. Over the course of a year that's $30,000.  That's enough for the boat payments!  Really, if your current contract cost was .01 (penny) would you (the customer) be upset if the monthly increase was .001(one thousands of a penny) = $5 per month (Don't think so). What about an increase of .002 for each page, well now we're talking $5,000 per month and gee the owner can get an even bigger BOAT!

Now, here's some really crazy numbers for you.  The XYZ Dealership has 3,000 systems that are under a cost per page contract and each machine averages 10,000 pages per month.  The average monthly page volume is 30 million pages!  Adding just .001(one thousands of a penny) per page will give a profit of $30,000 dollars per month and a cool $360,000 dollars for the year. Now we're talking about a really really big boat!

Can the 3,000 systems averaging 10,000 pages a month be achieved, you betcha, it may take awhile but the opportunities are there especially with the emergence of managed print services in the last few years. 

Most profits from dealers go right back into the company, higher wages, additional people, new technology, cost of living.  I just thought it was neat run the numbers and see where they came out and have some fun!!

-=Good Selling=-

Xerox FREE High Volume Copiers

This is an ongoing topic on the Print4Pay Hotel forums.  I thought I would share some of the threads that were posted by Print4Pay Hotel members.

Me: Dig this. I followed up today with a small print shop here in NJ today, towards the month end for me and this print shop had been in the market for a color printer, however my price was not right for him a few months ago.


Anyway, I'm on the phone with him (he's a good guy and wouldn't bs me), he tells me that he signed and agreement from Xerox for a refurbished 120ppm digital copier and a 25ppm color system with NO Base charges and NO minimums for monthly click charges, along with that he stated the cost per page charge is right in line with new systems!

He has to keep the machine for a minimum of 3 years and if he decides to get rid of the system there is a $500 charge to remove.

To say the least I was shocked and to tell the truth the customer is too! He said he checked the paperwork and all looked well, I asked that he check it again and read all of the fine print because this just seems to good to be true. In addition he stated that one of his other printer buddies did the same deal in NJ. He also stated that he has to wait 4-8 weeks to get the systems.
Has anyone else seen or heard of this in other parts of the country????

Reply from Printfun:

This is legit. It is only open to current non-users. It is as advertised, there really aren't any "catches". The goal is to introduce non-users to Xerox production color machines, allowing smaller print for pay customers to get into the game afford ably.

Reply from Chuck:

Think about it - Xerox places a NEW device in a P4P or School location and picks up perfectly good (these are NOT fast plastic as they call 'em) 120 ppm device and rather than warehouse them they're placed in a NET NEW location generating half the revenue they were getting AND they've got a NET NEW color printer. It's all about the clicks and the aftermarket. In three years (or perhaps much sooner) there's another "great offer" and . . .

This topic has topped a couple of hundred page views over the last week and there are an additional 9 threads from other Print4Pay Hotel members.

Click here to become a member of the largest social group of copier professionals in the world!!

-=Good Selling=-

Weekend Copier & Multifunctional Print4Pay Hotel Notes 7/30/2011

My summer Collegiate Baseball season has ended, not a great year for the team record wise, however I'm always delighted being able to coach the game!

The end of July really, already!  It's been an ok year so far, I've already met my annual quota (our year ends in December), Presidents Club is in the bag and I'm going to try and focus on driving additional profit along with adding more potential accounts that have multiple units.  So, at least for now I'll be back to blogging on a regular basis!

So for all our Print4Pay Hotel Members and Members to be, here's some links of our latest and greatest threads. Check out the new beta portal here.

Recent Document Uploads:

"Pricing on th Street" for Xerox_Quote WC7755PC
"Pricing on the Street" for Lanier LDC 365C proposal
"Pricing on the Street" for IKON_Quote Ricoh MPc 6501
"Pricing on the Street" for Canon iR6075

There's many more, just the latest from today!

Leads, RFP's RFQ's:
Bid for 23 MFP's in Canada
Bid in Canada for two Print Production units
Request for Proposals for 2 Copiers in California
RFP for 3 Print Production Units in Richmond
Copier lead in New Hope, PA

Many more of these also!!!

Recent Interesting Threads from P4P'ers:
Rumor has it....(Xerox to Market MFP's through Global only?) 
Material Data Safety Calls to the Manufacturer

Cloud SAS (Software as a ServicePoll)
New Sharp End of lease HDD feature
Xerox marketing FREE 120PPM Copiers
List your favorite funny copier moments

MFP Cloud Threads:
UDOCX in hybrid environments
Print email from the cloud (Video)
Generic advantages and differences of UDOCX vs.in house installs

These are just some samples of the threads from this week alone!! The Print4Pay has over 2,300 world wide members that are dedicated Imaging Professionals. Take a trip here www.p4photel.com/eve (registration link, don't worry man, it's FREE) and become a part of the largest social group of Imaging Professionals in the work and the opportunity to discuss solutions, best practices, rumors, and make new friends in the industry (it's nice to have a secure forum that's not out there for the public, eh?)

-=Good Selling=-
Art Post
"One of the Top 40 Most Influential People in the Imaging Business"

MFP Copier Wars and the Last Crusade

Sooner or later everything comes to an end, right? 

If you're a scifi buff like me, you'll understand that that technologies that we saw in Star Trek will eventually come true. Things like the replicator can now be directly tied to 3D printers, the tablets that Kirk and Picard used to view an sign are here now (ever wondered why you never saw a sheet of paper on the Enterprise), and how about the transporter (teleporter), it mas not be here now, however it's estimated that we'll have a transporter within 100 years.

Right, so what does the future hold for copiers, mfp's and printers? We all understand that page volumes are dropping due to the use of scan2email, scan2folder, and LAN fax along with software applications that will allow for markups, notes, and the ability to merge documents from different software applications and create one document. We also understand that there is no growth of the printed page, there's growth for manufacturers to capture additional printed pages by taking them away from Printing Presses.

The future whenever it comes to pass looks grim for Chester Carlson's invention of xerographic technology in 1938. Our beloved butt of office jokes, copied butts and breasts will be all but a memory in years to come.

I'm not big on all of the tech products and services offered on the market today, however I am familiar with one product that I believe will move us a step closer to the paperless office. That product is the eWriter from Ricoh.

The eWriter is a tablet based product that can improve remove traditional paper from a cumbersome work flow and direct it to an online process, thus saving tremendous amounts of time which translates to money.

The eWriter offers all of the quality of paper, with documents in a digital format that will be more secure than paper, reduce paper and increase efficiencies in the work flow of documents.

Point noted about the eWriter is that the tablet is priced around $500 however, it's my understanding that there is also a 3 year subscription service (SAS model) that need to be purchased. Along with that Ricoh already has additional apps that are available on it's eWriter web site.

As these devices gain popularity we will see another downturn in the printed or copied page. For the person who thinks that this will not be the norm in 5-10 years, I'm thinking that they'll be on the outside looking in.

Our industry is migrating to SAS solutions with a combination of hardware and software.

Dealerships and salespeople alike need to understand that what we do today will be gone tomorrow and if you're a new rep in the business and you are fortunate enough to stay in the industry as long as I have in 30 years you'll be making jokes about machines that once printed and copied documents onto paper.



Thoughts???

Selling Copiers Like a LION!

I'm in the office the other day (which I hate to be in the office), and one of the new reps...well not that new but new to sales and new to the industry is having a tough go of it.  The rep in question has all of the tools to make an excellent rep such as polite, intelligent, quick thinker, quick learner and a good worker. 

Mind you the rep in question is getting the appointments, making the calls but is falling short in getting the orders.  I too struggled with this in my early years of selling, the problem for me in the early years is that I had no one to mentor me. For me, it took some 18 years in the industry before I had a true mentor.  Imagine that, no one to bounce ideas off of, no one to help hone your sales skills, basically you're  marooned to take care of yourself. 

Nowadays with the Internet there are many ways to get self help for sales, even on the Print4Pay Hotel forums we'll bounce ideas off of one another and there's even a forum titled Recommended Reading for Sales with over a dozen books mentioned.

Years ago I turned to "Act Like a Lamb and Sell Like a Lion" by Tom Hopkins, this book turned around my sales career! As I read theboo for the first time I told myself, dam this stuff is corny and it won't work. Alas, I had no other options but to make sales work. Hence I continued to read and learn.  After a few sales calls I found my self hearing a certain reply or a trigger word that sparked a response from the book. Yeah, it was corny stuff, but it worked!

I guess the moral of this story is that there is a "art" to selling, guiding the prospect to the end result of buying your product and services. If you're an excellent listener the prospect will tell you where they are in the sales cycle. If they are not convinced that they want your product you'll hear replies like "let me think about it", or "we haven't made a decision yet" and my favorite "we're going to check out competitors models".   "WHY" it's an awesome reply isn't it??

Back to our rep, I brought the book in the office today and told him make sure you give it back to me, and I also told him to read a few pages at a time and take it everywhere you go, it's your key to success.

-=Good Selling=-