By focusing on customer pain points, solution providers can steer conversations in the right direction.

In a world seemingly awash in managed services, many solution providers continue to find themselves stymied in their attempts to sell managed print services (MPS) contracts. Problems include their own inertia and that of their customers about trying a new approach to their businesses. The distraction of a constricting business climate can also imperil MPS plans for solution provider and end user alike.

But business consultant Steven Power, president of Sales and Marketing Solutions International (www.powerselling.com), says resellers needn't be stymied by the real but ultimately manageable challenges that surround successful printing services sales strategies.

Challenge #1: No matter how hard we try to sell services, customers care only about "speeds and feeds" and barebones price tags.

Solution: Like a presidential candidate finessing a town hall discussion into a discussion of his or her policy positions, solution providers should steer conversations to customer "pain points."

"As soon as you start talking about the features of a services program, the customer will jump right to, 'How much is it?' And now you are in a price conversation," Power says. Rather than fighting that battle, ask about the customer's biggest business problems and be ready to show how your expertise can address those issues, he explains.

"The idea is to transcend talking about products and prices by focusing the sales and marketing messaging on the benefits that the customer will realize from a new MFP [multifunction product] or a managed print services program," Power says. "Switch the conversation to the value that the product or service brings in terms of lower [total] cost of ownership and improved productivity."

Other key talking points for selling managed print services include the benefits of streamlining accounts payable and lessening IT support responsibilities for device management, he adds.

Challenge #2: We can't afford the time and money it will take to reengineer our back- office business processes and sales strategies to accommodate managed print services.

Solution: Stop trying to reinvent the wheel. Power advises solution providers to team up with OEMs, such as HP, Kyocera and Xerox, or distributors such as Synnex, that have already bundled together the various sales, marketing and financing resources needed to implement managed print services. "They've got the services, the consumables replenishment, the ongoing monitoring of the devices, and the training in one program," Power says. "The programs often also include sales and marketing messages, proposal templates and assessment tools," he adds.

Challenge #3: Even though my customers are interested in managed print services, I can't get them to close the deal.

Solution: Just as solution providers may feel initial trepidation when moving from a traditional printing approach to a services-based strategy, end users may be leery about making similar fundamental changes. Nevertheless, solution providers can obtain commitments to managed services with the right messaging.

First, the old approach of buying and maintaining an in-house printing environment is plagued by budgetary uncertainties because end users can't accurately predict what they'll be paying in consumables and maintenance costs each month. "Managed print services allow the customer to take a variable cost and turn it into a fixed cost," Power says. "When they do that, they can proactively manage their budgets."

Second, a thorough assessment by a solution provider of the customer's printing environment often reveals areas where the client is wasting money on redundant or improperly utilized equipment. "With that information, a solution provider can work up a managed print services agreement around a cost-per-page model that will also help the customer eliminate the capital expense associated with procuring new devices."

Challenge #4: How can we persuade customers to consider services when the economy is so uncertain?

Solution: Positioned correctly, an economic downturn may actually make it easier to initiate a conversation about managed print services. "The good news about a bad economy is that companies become way more open-minded about new options for reducing costs," he says.

The key is to offer a solution that doesn't require customers "to write a fat check in order to see those cost savings," Power adds. For these reasons, messaging about turning variable costs for printing into a predictable monthly cost can be particularly effective.

The printing space is a prime area to ply this strategy because it's one that's often neglected by cost-conscious managers. "Two or three years ago, a lot of people in Finance and IT probably didn't care about looking at this space," he observes. "But now, they are looking at everything for ways to reduce costs, from where they buy their paper clips to who gets on the corporate jet."

With rising energy costs, any company with a fleet of vehicles is desperately looking for ways to reduce transportation expenses, Power adds. "VARs just need to equate the print space to assets such as the vehicles that the company is looking to in its efforts to maximize return on investments. Just switch the conversation with statements like, 'You wouldn't think of running your automobile fleet until it breaks down, gets fixed and then runs out of oil again. Why are you running your print fleet like that?'"

Challenge #5: Everybody's talking about managed services for IT these days, how can we turn all the buzz into something that can help our business?

Solution: Power considers managed print services a natural extension of channel services for software and the larger IT environment. "A managed print services solution offers the same types of benefits because it eliminates the burden of maintenance and support for the customer and places it onto the provider," he says. "This allows the customer's IT department to focus on its core competencies. It's basically the same story, just in a different space."

He adds that selling MPS doesn't require a major overhaul of the sales messaging to pull off. "Most partners just need to take what they've already accomplished in managed services and change the vocabulary to accommodate the printing and imaging space," he says.