To effectively engage with IT professionals and gain their trust, office technology dealerships need an in-house IT professional who understands networks and can communicate that knowledge. The IT professional should accompany sales reps to meetings with customers' IT staff. Customers' IT staff expect up-to-date devices and software, centralized management, automatic updates, prompt repairs, and a partnership with the dealer prioritizing reduced costs and improved efficiency. Dealerships must provide knowledgeable IT support to differentiate themselves from large manufacturers and forge long-term relationships with customers.

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by: Matthew Klure, Copy Link
Engaging IT Professionals
What do they expect from your dealership?
I
n today’s copier/MFP and printer sales and service
market, it has been apparent for many years that office
technology dealership personnel and service providers
need to be able to make friends with and understand their
customers’ IT professionals. How do we get in to see the
head IT professional and show him (or her) that we are pre-
pared to work with him and not cause more issues for him
to fix?
The first thing any service provider or dealership needs is
an in-house solutions specialist/IT professional. Without
this crucial employee, you will never be able to gain the trust
of a customer’s IT department. Knowledge is power in the IT
world, and if you are not prepared to have that knowledge
in-house, you are not prepared to go anywhere near a cus-
tomer’s network.
Secondly, once you have in an in-house IT professional of
your own, never have a sales rep go on an appointment where
the customer’s IT person is going to be and leave your own IT
support at the office. IT professionals view all non-IT people
as “users,” and users who try to sell them network technology
are not given the time of day. Your internal solutions spe-
cialist/IT professional needs to be presented to the customer
as a trusted resource for both you and the customer.
I have been in this industry as a solutions specialist/IT
professional for the last 10 years and have seen the sales and
implementation cycle from the dealership perspective. So, I
took the time to reach out to some fellow IT professionals
who are not in the copier/MFP sales industry and ask them
what they expect from an MFP dealer and service organiza-
tion. Here are some of the replies I received:
“Robert” gave me this list of requirements:
Up-to-date software and drivers. It should work on
Windows Server 2008 R2, Mac, Windows 7, etc.
Centralized management of MFPs. When you have 100-
plus MFPs on- or off-site, it makes life easier to check for
problems and deploy updates if everything is in one place.
Configuration by policy. No one wants to configure
LDAP and address books on 100 MFPs.
Notification (or better yet, auto update) of firmware.
Part availability. The more parts stocked, the better. A
week is too long to wait for any part.
Scheduled maintenance. “Everyone touts this, but few
live up to the expectation. If it is not in my Outlook calendar
and I do not have the name or number of the tech, then how
is it scheduled? This goes back to communication and punc-
tuality. When a tech comes in to fix chronic paper jams and
tells me that a roller needs to be replaced and it is going to
take a few days to get the part, that is simply unacceptable.”
Ease of use. “Most users do not scan because the
control panel is too complicated. The more straightforward
and the fewer the number of menus, the better it is. Sales
reps say they will train, but when you have locations all over
the United States, or have new employees, the training is
just not enough. I prefer self-explanatory to training.”
“Michael” said just one thing: “I want them to know what
they are talking about.”
“Richard” also had a detailed response to my question:
“I would expect prompt, timely repair and turn-around.”

2. Recognition of lemon devices and
timely replacement after all options
have been explored.
A deep understanding of the net-
working capabilities of the devices.
The ability to be able to direct the
customer to technical resources avail-
able online for further research.
The ability to provide suggestions
or documents stating best practices for
the usage and implementation of the devices.
Direct, honest answers as to what the device can do and
set realistic expectations of the device.
Best case scenario: A partnership with a dealer in
which the dealer role is one of both providing the printing
solution, information about industry trends and solutions
available that could either reduce cost or increase revenue
for the client.
“On IT, I live by the following: lower management costs,
reduced manpower requirements, increased efficiency and
forging a long-term partnership that is mutually beneficial,”
says Richard. “Dealerships that are out for the quick buck
and burn their customers are not seeing the big picture.
Long-term relationships can make or break a dealership.
Look at Dell as an example. They lowered the quality of their
customer service by off-shoring it and lost many long-term
customers for years. Short-term gains cost too much over
the long term. Michael Dell had to come out of retirement to
fix his company.
“Dealerships that are up against the 800-pound gorillas
— direct manufacturers, such as Xerox, Ricoh and Canon —
need to think they are performing guerrilla warfare,” says
Richard. “Dealerships have to provide something that an
800-pound gorilla cannot. Find your niche, cater to the cus-
tomers’ needs and be nimble and flexible. Eight-hundred-
pound gorillas lumber down the road and take a long time
to change direction.”
One of the key similarities among the comments from
these professionals is knowledge — that is, knowing what
your products can and cannot do on the network and being
able to back that up in practice.
If your organization does not yet have an IT person or
solutions specialist, there are some basic guidelines to
follow when looking to hire one. To start, be sure to find out
about his knowledge of network protocols, especially SMB
file shares and LDAP authentication before you hire him.
Taking the most network-savvy tech from among the ranks
of your service organization to fill this
role is also an option since he has
become familiar with how the specific
MFPs your company sells and supports
works on the network.
However, I have a few warnings about
doing this. If you do choose a tech, make
sure he is one who not only has an
interest in computers and networks, but
who can communicate this interest in a
meaningful way. There are many computer lovers in the
world who have limited people skills. Your customers are
going to want to see a person who is knowledgeable and a
good people person before choosing to engage in business
with your organization.
Also, once the decision has been made to bring a tech
over into a pure solutions and IT support role, you have to
separate him from the hardware duties he once filled. If your
solutions person has to cancel sales appointments to go fix a
broken machine, it just will not work. I have seen too many
cases where this has happened, only leading to disgruntled
sales reps who need the knowledge your IT person brings to
the table. If you choose to promote a tech to this role, please
replace his position on the service team.
In closing, the only way to effectively engage the IT depart-
ments that are increasingly making the decisions about what
copier/MFP or printer to buy for their company is to have an
IT person of your own. Not just one to take care of your in-
house IT issues, but one to take care of customer issues.
Make sure it is someone who has a good understanding of
multiple networking protocols and when put to the test by
your customers, IT can shine. In the business-to-business
sales model, business is done via relationships. That means
your sales staff needs to have a relationship with the cus-
tomer’s CEO, CFO, office manager, etc., and your IT staff
needs to have a relationship with your customer’s IT staff.
Being successful is not about being the smartest person,
but rather, it is about surrounding yourself with the smartest
people. Invest in the right people and success will follow.
Matthew Klure is director of IT at Copy Link in San Diego.
For the past 10 years, he has been involved with the
connectivity of MFPs to customer networks
and software, working at both the
manufacturer and dealership levels. He is
also experienced in a wide variety of document
management and scanning applications.
Visit www.copylink.net.
Your customers are going
to want to see a person
who is knowledgeable
and a good people
person before choosing
to engage in business
with your organization.
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