Bob Abbott

Bob Abbott, Sales Manager

"Printers are core and central to our marketing plan," says Bob Abbott, sales manager for Kearns Business Solutions, an $11 million Kyocera Mita dealership in Easley, S.C. "We want to be where the market is shifting before it shifts to that point."

Abbott likens the printer opportunity to a train leaving the station.Some will be in windowless passenger cars near the rear of the train, he says, while others will be in the caboose."Our marketing model is: We not only built the train, we know when the train is leaving.We're driving it and everybody else is going to be playing catch-up," he says.

"Is it a significant part of our business from a sales standpoint?"asks Abbott, referring to the printer market."It's becoming more and more significant.Within two years, we expect our unit count on printer sales to exceed our count on copier sales."

The HP Factor

Perhaps any discussion of printers should begin with Hewlett-Packard, the king of the monochrome printer "jungle."HP offers at least seven families of monochrome LaserJet printers, with speeds ranging from 9 to 50 ppm.
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Actually, says Abbott, while Kearns Business Solutions prefers not to leave customers with a mixed environment of HP and Kyocera Mita products, "we are not just out there chasing the clicks that are pulling to HP desktop printers.Sometimes we catch them, but that's not our focus."

Instead, Kearns' focus is more in line with that of its OEM partner; that is, to place printers as part of a solution that supports the customer's applications and needs, and not just sell printers one at a time.

"Our goal is not to campaign and say we're going to displace HPs," says Kyocera Mita's Sostilio."Our goal is to say to the customer, ‘We have a solution that can replace a number of products you already have on your network.
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That's the answer, says Abbott."Our marketing concept is simple: Printers have babies," he says, noting that his sales team will not turn its back on any customer who is only interested in buying a single low-end printer."The opportunity can mushroom on you.We don't look at it as selling a printer."

In fact, looking at the sale of low-end printers from a unit standpoint is a mistake, says Abbott."Of course the dealer isn't going to be interested in it, and of course your salespeople aren't going to get excited about it," he says."How do I keep them excited about?I preach the philosophy that printers are an entrée into the accounts, a foot in the door.Once the camel gets his nose in the tent, the rest of the camel is coming.It's just a matter of time.

"If the opportunity today is to sell a 14-page-per minute printer, that's nothing to get excited about," explains Abbott.However, he says, there have been many situations where the sale of a single, low-end printer quickly led to subsequent product sales."‘We loved this printer, it's great, it helped us out.Now we need this and that.' Everything starts popping up because now we're in the account."

The right blend

While Kearns' sales team is glad to sell low-end printers since more lucrative purchases often follow, the company does not actively market the models.
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In fact, Abbott refers to 25 ppm and below printers as "junk business."Instead, the company actively markets higher speed printers and is now primarily focused on Kyocera Mita's new 50 ppm FS-9500DN.However, he adds, selling the full range of printers is a "necessary ingredient to the holistic marketing approach that we use."

That holistic approach, says Abbott, is what sets Kearns apart from the competition.In every sales situation, he says, the company focuses on the specific needs of the customer."We go in with a blank slate when we take a look at a customer's account," he explains."We don't assume we're going to sell them printers.We don't know."

The salesperson asks the right questions, he says, to ultimately identify the right solution, which generally involves multiple pieces of hardware, often including printers.However, he says, the salesperson blends all of the products together as part of a single solution, which turns the customer's focus away from per-unit costs and price comparisons.

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It's all blended as a package," explains Abbott."I have built a fortress.You cannot piecemeal my solution and then go out and shop me."

This tactic is not smoke and mirrors, he says.In the case of a printer, if a customer is determined to get the lowest price, then Kearns' salesperson will admit that the product can often be purchased for less elsewhere.However, says Abbott, the customer is reminded of the difficulties in getting warranty repairs, the busy 800 numbers, etc. "‘We say, ‘If that's what you want, we're not your people,'" he explains."But if you want a suite of services from beginning to end, cradle to grave on this product, then we're going to take care of you.We're your team.' That's how we present it.The printer becomes blended into the solution."

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"We market our printers and our copiers under a combined maintenance program," says Abbott."We convince the customer it is in their best interest, and we believe it is."

The customer is shown the benefits of having multiple devices under an umbrella program, he says."We customize it every single time; it's not a cookie cutter.It's roll up your sleeves and figure it out and customize a program where the customer gets what they want.We can create a win-win, so that our customer has a high level of satisfaction and, therefore, we have retention and long-term profitability."

In what environments are printers more likely to be the most significant component in the blended solution?
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Bottom line, says Abbott, there is no denying the increase in the number of printed pages in the workplace."The dealer community has got to wake up and say, look, there is a lot of opportunity here," he says."The click volume is shifting rapidly, very rapidly.It's scary sometimes.It's going to printers and to connected devices, and not to copiers."