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August 31, 2008
Don’t Accept Second Best
As concerns about housing, energy, and the overall health of the U.S. economy linger, one of the central questions forward-thinking solution providers are asking themselves is: Does the current economic climate make it easier or more difficult to sell customers on managed print services?
As with any complex situation, the answer isn’t simple, says Tom Callinan, managing principal for strategy development at Strategy Development Inc., a printing and imaging management consulting firm.
“On one hand it plays well to customers who have less time to devote to printing because they are seeing their head counts reduced. So it becomes more critical to be able to outsource some areas,” he explained in a recent conversation with Printing & Imaging Solutions.
But time considerations aren’t the only concern. These same customers may be seeing significant budget cuts that are making it more difficult for solution providers to even get in to see decision makers who must sign off on managed print services contracts, Callinan adds.
His advice for getting on the calendars of these decision makers is deceptively simple. “Just keep being persistent,” he says. And by all means, don’t settle for being relegated to speaking with a subordinate, Callinan warns. “Don’t allow yourself to get pushed down to speaking with someone who can say ‘No’ but can’t say ‘Yes,’” he explains. “I wouldn’t go to that appointment.”
Posted by ajoch at August 31, 2008 04:45 PM
