![\"Larry](\"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Larry-White-150x150.jpg\")
Larry White<\/p><\/div>\n
Before we get much further into this, it\u2019s a good idea to define \u2018light production,\u2019 a term that tends to mean different things to different people. Larry White, senior vice president of sales for Toshiba America Business Solutions, acknowledges that for some it\u2019s machines in the 70-ppm range doing 50,000+ copies per month. \u201cTo me that\u2019s not light production,\u201d he opines. \u201cLight production is more about the product\u2019s capabilities than anything else so it\u2019s customers that need high-end finishing like booklet making and things of that nature along with the ability to run high on-demand volumes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Similarly, Sharp\u2019s Senior Product Manager Product Planning and Marketing Kent Villarreal says, \u201cFor Sharp light production means an operator is running that device and the [color] page volumes are averaging 50,000-150,000 copies per month.\u201d<\/p>\n
To get a better idea of how dealers can be successful selling light production and wide format we went directly to the source\u2014the OEMs who are marketing these devices through their dealer channel\u2014to get their thoughts on what successful dealers who are selling light production\/and or wide format devices are doing right and the pitfalls they should avoid that could affect their success. A separate article in ENX\/The Week in Imaging in April looks at what manufacturers are doing to help their channels achieve success in these product segments.<\/p>\n
How to be Successful<\/strong><\/p>\n Turns out there\u2019s a fair amount of common ground among manufacturers about what it takes for their dealers to be successful. Let\u2019s start with Toshiba, a company that sells most of its light production devices into major and Federal accounts. \u201cWe see those products combined in a large takedown environment where we\u2019ll sell maybe three or four production print units and maybe 60-70 traditional MFPs all wrapped around what could be an MPS environment,\u201d reports White.<\/p>\n The successful Toshiba dealers selling light production devices in those instances often have a good major account team or a person dedicated to the Federal\/school market environment. \u201cThey\u2019re the ones who knock the cover off the ball,\u201d says White. \u201cI don\u2019t see a lot of standalone, single production print units placed in our environments.\u201d<\/p>\n On the wide-format front, even though TABS doesn\u2019t have an OEM product, White has found that dealers successful in this segment have simply selected the right partner. \u201cIt\u2019s important to have somebody who can support them with sales and service,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Another key to success is having a specialist or champion\u2014someone that understands that product and is not going to walk past the selling opportunities, emphasizes White. \u201cThat\u2019s critical for selling wide format although it\u2019s not that complicated of a market and becoming less complicated every day.\u201d<\/p>\n Kent Villarreal<\/p><\/div>\n Likewise, for Sharp\u2019s Villarreal, the number one key to success in light production is having a specialist on staff. \u201cThat\u2019s where you\u2019ll see the biggest impact. The specialist acts as the trainer and onsite expert and can teach the sales team the lingo.\u201d<\/p>\n The specialist also understands what questions to ask and where to look for opportunities. \u201cAnd once that down-the-street rep brings in those opportunities, the specialist can do the demo and get deeper into the [customer\u2019s] workflow,\u201d states Villarreal.<\/p>\n He circles back to the importance of asking the right questions, particularly what types of documents is the customer or prospect currently printing and is it done in house or outsourced? \u201cThat starts the conversation,\u201d says Villarreal. \u201cYou may find out they\u2019re spending $2,500-$3,000 every month. That\u2019s one way you can take a look at what types of documents they\u2019re creating. This is an area that Sharp and our dealers are focused on. How can companies bring more work in house and save time and money and produce the same or better quality as they were when sending the work out? The perfect example of that is our full-bleed booklet capability where you can create professionally printed booklets and brochures in house.\u201d<\/p>\n Shane Coffey, senior director product management for Sharp, adds, \u201cThe lesson we\u2019ve learned is you can\u2019t put your toe in the water, you have to dive in. If they put their toe in the water and say, \u2018Let\u2019s see if we come across any opportunities,\u2019 they might come across some low hanging fruit, but then what?\u201d<\/p>\n Shane Coffey<\/p><\/div>\n Coffey is also bullish on creating a business plan specifically for light production. \u201cYou need to treat it as a supplemental business. Dealers who do that are tremendously successful. Every dealer has an opportunity in their immediate geography, not just with existing clients.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFor products like imagePRESS or varioPRINT DP, providing education on how to market services in the in plant is very important. Help the in plant sell themselves to their internal customers thereby driving efficiencies,\u201d says Tracie Sokol, vice president of marketing for Canon.<\/p>\n She also recommends targeting key verticals through association marketing. \u201cIt\u2019s not rocket science,\u201d observes Charles Grace, EFI\u2019s vice president of sales, about selling light production. What he means by that is much of it comes down to common sense.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reps that go in and do a proper discovery, ask good questions and understand the problem and what a business owner is trying to achieve are the ones that will more often than not win the deal. That discovery meeting and asking the right questions the first time out is critically important. The second part is to step and repeat. If they do their job and do that discovery and follow up with a quick note, such as, \u2018Here\u2019s a summary of what I heard about what you\u2019re trying to do,\u2019 understand who the competitors are, the decision-making process, the timeline, the budget, and once you get that agreed to, then you go back and use that to sell the value of the return on investment. That\u2019s effective.\u201d<\/p>\n Tim Horn<\/p><\/div>\n On the wide format front, Tim Horn, vice president sales, KIP America, is on the same page with the light production OEMs who stress the importance of hiring a specialist. \u201cDealers who have a product specialist and focus on wide format vertical markets achieve the greatest success. Having a person who can sit down with the customer and understand their workflow and the challenges of what they\u2019re trying to achieve is highly critical to closing sales.\u201d<\/p>\n Equally important is a good go-to market plan, especially when a dealer first takes on a wide-format product line. \u201cOnce they understand the opportunity in the verticals they immediately see how they can expand their offerings and penetrate more accounts,\u201d says Horn.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it comes to selling wide format, a great route to success is the same one you\u2019ll find in any sales area, and that\u2019s cultivating a staff that is experienced with the product,\u201d recommends Bill Milde, product manager, wide format, Ricoh. \u201cIn this case, that means having people who have in-depth knowledge of wide format technology and applications. As for something more specific to selling wide format, I\u2019d say a good way to get results is to understand and focus on the graphics side of wide format, as it\u2019s a major differentiator for the form, and it\u2019s often what customers are looking to get from the space. If you know your product and know exactly what it can do for your customer in terms of graphical output, you\u2019re well on your way.\u201d<\/p>\n Obstacles to Success<\/strong><\/p>\n Besides doing the complete opposite of what it takes to be successful, I asked about the obstacles to success. \u201cIt\u2019s not the program, \u2018If I have it, it will sell,\u2019\u201d says White. \u201cIf you\u2019re going to go into that environment, you need to be dedicated to selling into that environment. The ones that aren\u2019t successful will put one on their showroom floor and not do much more than that. It\u2019s an investment in your business and you have to treat it as such.\u201d<\/p>\n Villarreal says that dealers can\u2019t underestimate how important it is to have their sales and service staff trained on these devices. That may sound like an obvious recommendation, but as he emphasizes, \u201cThe worst thing you can do is sell this product and not be able to support it. This creates problems for the dealer, but also gives the manufacturer they\u2019re representing a bad name when not supported correctly.\u201d<\/p>\n Tracie Sokol<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cDon\u2019t assume you fully understand the customer\u2019s applications without a thorough analysis,\u201d emphasizes Canon\u2019s Sokol. \u201cDon\u2019t view this as a 30-day sales selling cycle, it\u2019s much more complex.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t get caught speeding,\u201d advises EFI\u2019s Grace. \u201cGoing into an account and being quick to pull a brochure out of your bag is a big no no. Keep that brochure in the bag the first day and don\u2019t react to what your competition does. If a competitor goes in and says, \u2018I\u2019m going to recommend an XYZ,\u2019 that\u2019s good for the competition, but that doesn\u2019t mean that\u2019s the right recommendation. That\u2019s what I mean by don\u2019t get caught speeding. Do your own discovery and learn from what you hear and see, and don\u2019t do feature dumping.\u201d<\/p>\n He also cautions against the attitude that you\u2019re the only person who can bring this solution to the table.<\/p>\n Charles Grace<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of fisherman in the sea going after that one fish and you\u2019ve got to be the one that has the survival instincts to go out and bring it home,\u201d states Grace.<\/p>\n For Ricoh\u2019s Milde, one obstacle to success when selling wide format is overlooking graphic arts applications.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re in the wide format market but not in the graphics wide format market, you\u2019re missing out on quite a large opportunity \u2013 such as art reproduction, vehicle wraps, wallpaper, point of purchase and tradeshow displays, indoor and outdoor signage,\u201d he says. \u201cGraphics is a key aspect of the wide format market at this point, and one that is still growing, so if your focus is exclusively AEC (architectural, engineering, construction), you\u2019re not reaching an entire subset of potential customers.\u201d<\/p>\n If you want to avoid failing in the wide format market, KIP America\u2019s Horn suggests, \u201cAvoid launching a wide format sales initiative without a planned approach that provides vertical market information and product training.\u201d<\/p>\n Another obstacle to success is the attitude that if you\u2019re successfully selling small format, it\u2019s just as easy to sell wide format too. \u201cThere is some truth to that because they\u2019re toner-based products; however, there is some special knowledge and applications associated with wide format, and to be successful, instead of a broad-based campaign, if you have a focused vertical approach, you\u2019ll be successful sooner,\u201d says KIP\u2019s Horn.<\/p>\n If approached with the right strategy, Horn contends there\u2019s never been a more exciting time to be involved in wide format because of the transition to color. \u201cMany customers will begin to combine their LED toner-based product and their inkjet product into one toner-based product. We saw the transition occur many years ago obviously in the small-format industry with the shift from monochrome to color. There\u2019s no question it will absolutely increase market opportunity for the dealer.\u201d<\/p>\n And whether you\u2019re talking light production or wide format, who can argue about two business segments that can only expand your business opportunities\u2026just as long as you approach it wisely.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As more dealers delve into the higher end production space, greater numbers are searching for opportunities with light production and wide format devices in not only traditional production environments, but within their traditional accounts as well. That\u2019s because these devices aren\u2019t that far removed from the devices they\u2019ve long been comfortable selling into the traditional office space. Before we get much further into this, it\u2019s a good idea to define \u2018light production,\u2019 a term that tends to mean different things to different people. Larry White, senior vice president of sales for Toshiba America Business Solutions, acknowledges that for some it\u2019s machines in the 70-ppm range doing 50,000+ copies per month. \u201cTo me that\u2019s not light production,\u201d he opines. \u201cLight production is more about the product\u2019s capabilities than anything else so it\u2019s customers that need high-end finishing like booklet making and things of that nature along with the ability to run high on-demand volumes.\u201d Similarly, Sharp\u2019s Senior Product Manager Product Planning and Marketing Kent Villarreal says, \u201cFor Sharp light production means an operator is running that device and the [color] page volumes are averaging 50,000-150,000 copies per month.\u201d To get a better idea of how dealers can be successful selling light production and wide format we went directly to the source\u2014the OEMs who are marketing these devices through their dealer channel\u2014to get their thoughts on what successful dealers who are selling light production\/and or wide format devices are doing right and the pitfalls they should avoid that could affect their success. A separate article in ENX\/The Week in Imaging in April looks at what manufacturers are doing to help their channels achieve success in these product segments. How to be Successful Turns out there\u2019s a fair amount of common ground among manufacturers about what it takes for their dealers to be successful. Let\u2019s start with Toshiba, a company that sells most of its light production devices into major and Federal accounts. \u201cWe see those products combined in a large takedown environment where we\u2019ll sell maybe three or four production print units and maybe 60-70 traditional MFPs all wrapped around what could be an MPS environment,\u201d reports White. The successful Toshiba dealers selling light production devices in those instances often have a good major account team or a person dedicated to the Federal\/school market environment. \u201cThey\u2019re the ones who knock the cover off the ball,\u201d says White. \u201cI don\u2019t see a lot of standalone, single production print units placed in our environments.\u201d On the wide-format front, even though TABS doesn\u2019t have an OEM product, White has found that dealers successful in this segment have simply selected the right partner. \u201cIt\u2019s important to have somebody who can support them with sales and service,\u201d he says. Another key to success is having a specialist or champion\u2014someone that understands that product and is not going to walk past the selling opportunities, emphasizes White. \u201cThat\u2019s critical for selling wide format although it\u2019s not that complicated of a market and becoming less complicated every day.\u201d Likewise, for Sharp\u2019s Villarreal, the number one key to success in light production is having a specialist on staff. \u201cThat\u2019s where you\u2019ll see the biggest impact. The specialist acts as the trainer and onsite expert and can teach the sales team the lingo.\u201d The specialist also understands what questions to ask and where to look for opportunities. \u201cAnd once that down-the-street rep brings in those opportunities, the specialist can do the demo and get deeper into the [customer\u2019s] workflow,\u201d states Villarreal. He circles back to the importance of asking the right questions, particularly what types of documents is the customer or prospect currently printing and is it done in house or outsourced? \u201cThat starts the conversation,\u201d says Villarreal. \u201cYou may find out they\u2019re spending $2,500-$3,000 every month. That\u2019s one way you can take a look at what types of documents they\u2019re creating. This is an area that Sharp and our dealers are focused on. How can companies bring more work in house and save time and money and produce the same or better quality as they were when sending the work out? The perfect example of that is our full-bleed booklet capability where you can create professionally printed booklets and brochures in house.\u201d Shane Coffey, senior director product management for Sharp, adds, \u201cThe lesson we\u2019ve learned is you can\u2019t put your toe in the water, you have to dive in. If they put their toe in the water and say, \u2018Let\u2019s see if we come across any opportunities,\u2019 they might come across some low hanging fruit, but then what?\u201d Coffey is also bullish on creating a business plan specifically for light production. \u201cYou need to treat it as a supplemental business. Dealers who do that are tremendously successful. Every dealer has an opportunity in their immediate geography, not just with existing clients.\u201d \u201cFor products like imagePRESS or varioPRINT DP, providing education on how to market services in the in plant is very important. Help the in plant sell themselves to their internal customers thereby driving efficiencies,\u201d says Tracie Sokol, vice president of marketing for Canon. She also recommends targeting key verticals through association marketing. \u201cIt\u2019s not rocket science,\u201d observes Charles Grace, EFI\u2019s vice president of sales, about selling light production. What he means by that is much of it comes down to common sense. \u201cThe reps that go in and do a proper discovery, ask good questions and understand the problem and what a business owner is trying to achieve are the ones that will more often than not win the deal. That discovery meeting and asking the right questions the first time out is critically important. The second part is to step and repeat. If they do their job and do that discovery and follow up with a quick note, such as, \u2018Here\u2019s a summary of what I heard about what you\u2019re trying to do,\u2019 understand who the competitors are, the decision-making process, the timeline, the budget, and once you get that agreed to, then you go back and use that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1649,1641],"tags":[2160,134,2158,179,952,222,1663,1450,312,2156,333,2159,348,2157,358],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11770"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11770"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11779,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11770\/revisions\/11779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Kent](\"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Kent-V-150x150.jpg\")
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