{"id":9362,"date":"2013-07-01T01:51:29","date_gmt":"2013-07-01T05:51:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/?p=9362"},"modified":"2014-11-03T02:00:05","modified_gmt":"2014-11-03T07:00:05","slug":"how-easy-is-it-to-go-green","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/state-of-the-industry\/2013\/07\/how-easy-is-it-to-go-green\/","title":{"rendered":"How Easy Is It To Go Green?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s Not Easy Going Green, but It\u2019s Inevitable<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

The green movement continues to pick up steam in all facets of society but has it created opportunities for the average office technology dealer? For some dealers green opportunities depend on geographic location, for others it depends on the type of customer. Whether opportunities abound or are few, dealers are still working \u2018green\u2019 and sustainable issues into their talk tracks, especially with the emergence of managed print services\u2014a no-brainer for \u2018green\u2019 if there ever was one.<\/p>\n

\"JD

JD Sullivan – Image Matters<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWe address it, but we don\u2019t have people openly approaching us asking us to reduce those processes,\u201d notes JD Sullivan, president of Image Matters in Knoxville, TN. \u201cThat being said we do almost no state, local or federal business.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a business, however, Image Matters does its part, and green initiatives are also part of its managed print program. Fully 100 percent of every cartridge sold is recycled and that includes competitors\u2019 cartridges that those competitors don\u2019t take back. \u201cIf it\u2019s a toner cartridge, put it in our box, shipping is prepaid, and it will go back to a recycling facility,\u201d states Sullivan.<\/p>\n

Some dealers have found that setting an example is helpful even if they\u2019ve yet to see an immediate payback. Image Matters has an internal focus on reducing their carbon footprint whether through recycling or something as simple as not using disposable dishes.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Ray Belanger – Bay Copy<\/p><\/div>\n

Again, that doesn\u2019t mean clients are clamoring to hear more about how they can reduce their carbon footprint. \u201cI\u2019m not seeing it, and in the South I don\u2019t think they\u2019re as aware as they should be or as they are on the West Coast,\u201d states Sullivan. \u201cFrom an office technology standpoint, maybe 10 percent of the time somebody wants to have a discussion about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bay Copy in the Boston area uses \u2018green\u2019 initiatives as one of the talk tracks for their MPS program although it doesn\u2019t always resonate with customers and prospects. \u201cIn our area of the country it\u2019s not as strong as in California,\u201d says Bay Copy President Ray Belanger. \u201cBut it\u2019s starting to grow.\u201d
\n<\/strong>
\nThat\u2019s thanks in large part to one of Bay Copy\u2019s long-time major accounts. Recently, they refreshed the company\u2019s entire product line, but it wasn\u2019t easy. \u201cThey had a sustainability committee and we had all different players we had to interact with,\u201d recalls Belanger. It was challenging because we still had to deal with our existing contacts as well as work through a different process with the sustainability committee.\u201d
\nThe positive news is that Bay Copy won the deal and retained their customer while expanding what they were doing with the customer as part of the customer\u2019s green initiative.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did a lot more homework and ended up with an MPS-type program, more from their direction, and ended up replacing most of their printers because it was better for them to print to the larger MFPs,\u201d says Belanger.<\/p>\n

Bay Copy also assisted the customer with an internal campaign to sell this \u2018green\u2019 initiative to the end users within the office, focusing on why it was a good thing. \u201cThat required a fair amount of work,\u201d notes Belanger.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Art Post<\/p><\/div>\n

As far as the rest of Bay Copy\u2019s customer base, it comes down to customer size. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely out there, and the larger the customer, the more conscious they are about it,\u201d reports Belanger.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of my customers bring up green,\u201d admits Art Post, a veteran copier sales rep for a dealership doing business in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. \u201cIt\u2019s not high on the list of what they\u2019re looking for. But it\u2019s always a talking point for me when I get into some of the features and benefits of what the systems do.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Chip Miceli, president of DPOE in Des Plaines, IL, a dealership serving the Chicago marketplace, it\u2019s a similar story. \u201cChicago has a green initiative for the City, but unfortunately if it costs people money they don\u2019t seem to care about it,\u201d laments Miceli.<\/p>\n

The big \u2018green\u2019 opportunity for DPOE is toner cartridge recycling, which is also part of their MPS initiative. \u201cThat does help because it doesn\u2019t cost them anything to do even though it costs me a little bit of money,\u201d states Miceli.<\/p>\n

That said, customers rarely ask Miceli if DPOE is a \u2018green\u2019 company, but he readily admits DPOE reps will talk up what the dealership is doing internally with customers such as recycling cardboard, toner cartridges, and computer monitors. \u201cThese are talk tracks we use; whether it gets us more business or not, I don\u2019t know,\u201d admits Miceli.<\/p>\n

4theOffice, a division of Northeast Print Supplies & Equipment in Pittstown, PA, picked up a large customer in the healthcare industry recently by offering them free recycling on all of their toner cartridges just as long as they purchased them from 4theOffice. \u201cThey found out they\u2019d get credits from the city by recycling so every year we provide them with recycled toner cartridges and they\u2019re getting some decent press by promoting toner cartridge recycling,\u201d notes Carmen Pitarra, president of 4theOffice. \u201cThat\u2019s how we were able to get the business from Staples and at the same time help [our customer] by promoting their green policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Chip Miceli – DPOE<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Pitarra also leverages PaperCut, the print accounting and print management software, to assist customers in their \u2018green\u2019 initiatives. PaperCut software enables automatic two-sided printing, redirects print jobs to less costly machines, and monitors color output, cumulatively helping organizations reduce their carbon footprint. The dealership is so confident that customers will benefit from the software that they offer them free 40-day trials.Although toner cartridge recycling may be an obvious opportunity for a dealership to leverage \u2018green\u2019, one can\u2019t ignore how well it\u2019s been working for 4theOffice, especially when combined with other solutions like PaperCut. \u201cWhen you partner with the right people it doesn\u2019t cost much if anything at all,\u201d states Pitarra.<\/p>\n

Flo-Tech in Middletown, CT, is at the forefront of the green movement from an office technology dealer perspective and has had an environmental program in place for nearly 15 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur EnVision for the Environment Program is focused on helping our clients reduce their carbon footprint through best practices, supply recycling, asset lifecycle management, etc.,\u201d explains Scott MacGregor, vice president of sales and marketing. \u201cOur focus the past few years that we have found highly effective has been on helping our clients create greater visibility within their organizations on how their participation in the EnVision Program is directly affecting their environmental impact. We include those metrics as part of our business performance reviews and have also implemented a recognition program that our clients can leverage with their Green Committees or Green Teams as part of their corporate wide sustainability initiatives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is it working? Well, 15 years and going strong, clearly Flo-Tech must be doing something right.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Carmen Pitarra – 4theOffice<\/p><\/div>\n

Spectrum Business Centers in Huntington Beach, CA is perfectly positioned to leverage green in their sales presentations. Not only are they based in California, one of the states at the forefront of the green revolution, but their primary manufacturer is Ricoh, a long-time advocate for environmental responsibility. Spectrum also has an environmental message on their Web page and never fails to talk a good \u2018green\u2019 game when selling new equipment.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut for the most part that falls on deaf ears,\u201d acknowledges Glenn Plank, systems engineer at Spectrum. \u201cI\u2019ve actually had customers tell me, \u2018Well, everybody does that.\u2019 They tend not to differentiate one manufacturer from another and assume that they all have environmental [initiatives].\u201d<\/p>\n

Spectrum\u2019s approach is not to discuss Ricoh\u2019s talk track of environmental compliance, but focus on Spectrum Business Centers\u2019 initiatives. Although they sell new equipment, the majority of Spectrum\u2019s sales are reconditioned equipment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot easier to talk about environmental savings when you can let the client know that these machines have been out in the field and that we can refurbish them and place them back out in the field because there\u2019s still years of useful life left in them\u2026and you\u2019re getting a great deal and it\u2019s not going into the dump or being ripped apart,\u201d explains Plank.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Scott MacGregor – Flo-Tech<\/p><\/div>\n

That\u2019s when the light bulb goes off for some of Spectrum\u2019s customers. \u201cYou can\u2019t do that selling the new machines,\u201d states Plank.
\n<\/strong>
\nSpectrum also reclaims and reconditions components from equipment that is no longer serviceable and shares that with customers and prospects who visit their office. \u201cThat not only reduces operating costs, but improves our time to repair because the parts are right here and we don\u2019t have to order them,\u201d explains Plank. \u201cAgain, people like that and see that their machine is going to get fixed faster and this is more environmentally friendly.\u201d<\/p>\n

These are messages that Spectrum shares with customers who are looking to buy a new machine as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe it\u2019s not their choice this time, but next time they are ready to buy a machine, it might be something they\u2019ll consider,\u201d states Plank. \u201cThis is a totally different way to address the environmental stuff than talking ISO certifications, zero waste to landfill, and all that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Glenn Plank – Spectrum Business<\/p><\/div>\n

Toner recycling is what Aric Manion, president of Kelley Imaging in Kent, WA calls \u201cthe green standard\u201d that every dealer needs to provide to their customers these days. And Kelley Imaging does just that. Plus it\u2019s something that Manion\u2019s customers and prospects ask about. He\u2019s also found that customers, in an overall effort to reduce costs, are looking to use less paper by printing less, particularly in higher-tech, progressive companies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a big talk track, trying to get them to update printers that don\u2019t have double-sided printing,\u201d states Manion.<\/p>\n

Like other dealers, Kelley Imaging has found solutions like PaperCut effective in helping customers reduce printing costs. As a Toshiba dealer, Kelley Imaging also leverages Toshiba\u2019s Close the Loop program, promoting it in their welcome packages by handing out eLumber samples, rulers, or other items made from recycled toner cartridges. \u201cWe send them a link to sign up for that [program] or we\u2019ll sign them up ourselves,\u201d notes Manion.<\/p>\n

Kelley Imaging is getting a lot of mileage out of the Adobe LeanPrint solution as well, a solution that Toshiba has also embraced. Meanwhile, Manion is anxiously awaiting Toshiba\u2019s new \u2018Green Machine\u2019, an MFP that uses a special ink to produce erasable documents. He expects that device to have some appeal in the education market.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Aric Manion – Kelley Imaging<\/p><\/div>\n

The office technology industry has always been dependent on clicks, however, so reducing printing costs hasn\u2019t made it easy for long-time dealers like Manion to embrace \u2018green\u2019, but he\u2019s rolling with the flow. \u201cWe don\u2019t want all our customers cutting their volumes in half and seeing our revenues go down,\u201d he laments, \u201cbut if we don\u2019t, somebody else is going to come in and offer that to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a result, Kelley Imaging Systems is going deeper and wider with their product and solutions offerings as they educate customers and prospects on solutions that offer the potential to reduce their printing costs.
\nIt\u2019s not always easy to go green and can be painful at times, but as dealers like Manion have come to realize, it\u2019s inevitable.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s Not Easy Going Green, but It\u2019s Inevitable The green movement continues to pick up steam in all facets of society but has it created opportunities for the average office technology dealer? For some dealers green opportunities depend on geographic location, for others it depends on the type of customer. Whether opportunities abound or are few, dealers are still working \u2018green\u2019 and sustainable issues into their talk tracks, especially with the emergence of managed print services\u2014a no-brainer for \u2018green\u2019 if there ever was one. \u201cWe address it, but we don\u2019t have people openly approaching us asking us to reduce those processes,\u201d notes JD Sullivan, president of Image Matters in Knoxville, TN. \u201cThat being said we do almost no state, local or federal business.\u201d As a business, however, Image Matters does its part, and green initiatives are also part of its managed print program. Fully 100 percent of every cartridge sold is recycled and that includes competitors\u2019 cartridges that those competitors don\u2019t take back. \u201cIf it\u2019s a toner cartridge, put it in our box, shipping is prepaid, and it will go back to a recycling facility,\u201d states Sullivan. Some dealers have found that setting an example is helpful even if they\u2019ve yet to see an immediate payback. Image Matters has an internal focus on reducing their carbon footprint whether through recycling or something as simple as not using disposable dishes. Again, that doesn\u2019t mean clients are clamoring to hear more about how they can reduce their carbon footprint. \u201cI\u2019m not seeing it, and in the South I don\u2019t think they\u2019re as aware as they should be or as they are on the West Coast,\u201d states Sullivan. \u201cFrom an office technology standpoint, maybe 10 percent of the time somebody wants to have a discussion about it.\u201d Bay Copy in the Boston area uses \u2018green\u2019 initiatives as one of the talk tracks for their MPS program although it doesn\u2019t always resonate with customers and prospects. \u201cIn our area of the country it\u2019s not as strong as in California,\u201d says Bay Copy President Ray Belanger. \u201cBut it\u2019s starting to grow.\u201d That\u2019s thanks in large part to one of Bay Copy\u2019s long-time major accounts. Recently, they refreshed the company\u2019s entire product line, but it wasn\u2019t easy. \u201cThey had a sustainability committee and we had all different players we had to interact with,\u201d recalls Belanger. It was challenging because we still had to deal with our existing contacts as well as work through a different process with the sustainability committee.\u201d The positive news is that Bay Copy won the deal and retained their customer while expanding what they were doing with the customer as part of the customer\u2019s green initiative. \u201cWe did a lot more homework and ended up with an MPS-type program, more from their direction, and ended up replacing most of their printers because it was better for them to print to the larger MFPs,\u201d says Belanger. Bay Copy also assisted the customer with an internal campaign to sell this \u2018green\u2019 initiative to the end users within the office, focusing on why it was a good thing. \u201cThat required a fair amount of work,\u201d notes Belanger. As far as the rest of Bay Copy\u2019s customer base, it comes down to customer size. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely out there, and the larger the customer, the more conscious they are about it,\u201d reports Belanger. \u201cNone of my customers bring up green,\u201d admits Art Post, a veteran copier sales rep for a dealership doing business in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. \u201cIt\u2019s not high on the list of what they\u2019re looking for. But it\u2019s always a talking point for me when I get into some of the features and benefits of what the systems do.\u201d For Chip Miceli, president of DPOE in Des Plaines, IL, a dealership serving the Chicago marketplace, it\u2019s a similar story. \u201cChicago has a green initiative for the City, but unfortunately if it costs people money they don\u2019t seem to care about it,\u201d laments Miceli. The big \u2018green\u2019 opportunity for DPOE is toner cartridge recycling, which is also part of their MPS initiative. \u201cThat does help because it doesn\u2019t cost them anything to do even though it costs me a little bit of money,\u201d states Miceli. That said, customers rarely ask Miceli if DPOE is a \u2018green\u2019 company, but he readily admits DPOE reps will talk up what the dealership is doing internally with customers such as recycling cardboard, toner cartridges, and computer monitors. \u201cThese are talk tracks we use; whether it gets us more business or not, I don\u2019t know,\u201d admits Miceli. 4theOffice, a division of Northeast Print Supplies & Equipment in Pittstown, PA, picked up a large customer in the healthcare industry recently by offering them free recycling on all of their toner cartridges just as long as they purchased them from 4theOffice. \u201cThey found out they\u2019d get credits from the city by recycling so every year we provide them with recycled toner cartridges and they\u2019re getting some decent press by promoting toner cartridge recycling,\u201d notes Carmen Pitarra, president of 4theOffice. \u201cThat\u2019s how we were able to get the business from Staples and at the same time help [our customer] by promoting their green policy.\u201d Pitarra also leverages PaperCut, the print accounting and print management software, to assist customers in their \u2018green\u2019 initiatives. PaperCut software enables automatic two-sided printing, redirects print jobs to less costly machines, and monitors color output, cumulatively helping organizations reduce their carbon footprint. The dealership is so confident that customers will benefit from the software that they offer them free 40-day trials.Although toner cartridge recycling may be an obvious opportunity for a dealership to leverage \u2018green\u2019, one can\u2019t ignore how well it\u2019s been working for 4theOffice, especially when combined with other solutions like PaperCut. \u201cWhen you partner with the right people it doesn\u2019t cost much if anything at all,\u201d states Pitarra. Flo-Tech in Middletown, CT, is at the forefront of the green movement from an office technology dealer perspective and has had an environmental program in place for nearly 15 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1649,1814,1641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9362"}],"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=9362"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9366,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9362\/revisions\/9366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}