If you want to lead in this business, selling services is the only way forward

If you want to lead in this business, selling services is the only way forward

BY: John Alfred Hustvedt, Sales Director of Norway’s largest Xerox sales agent, X-Partner Stavanger.

THE CHANGE

I joined this industry from the copier side in January 1990. Looking at my business, my desk, my customers and my surroundings, things looks dramatically different than when I started. Even so, some things remain the same; people still utilize our products and services to put ink on paper. To produce and share information, when they need, and how they need.

Other things are completely different; maybe the biggest change of them all is the development of, and by the Internet. Every day millions of people address millions of questions to Google. I am often wondering who answered these questions 20 years ago. The Internet made the bank clerk redundant. The Internet changed the way we do banking. We don’t need to go to the bank to do our finances anymore; today I actually pay my bills on my iPhone. When I started as a junior sales rep, my only questions to the customer were about; space, speed, paper trays, finishing and obviously the order.

Today everyone expects things to happen faster then yesterday, even if things seldom do. Information is at our fingertips, even if almost no one is able to process it. In a world where resources are limited, it is surfacing that less is more.

Becoming successful in our business today is a different ballgame. I strongly believe that for those who want to lead in this business, selling though services is the only way forward.

10 years ago I could sell a color MPF at 15.000 – 20.000 USD, and make a 40% profit. Today the same sized MFP costs lest then 10.000 and we would struggle to make 25% profit. We cannot live of selling hardware anymore, we need to change the way we do business.

THE MARKET

I recently left Xerox after 14 years of working with key national and international accounts; large and complex bids. My new task is to head up a Xerox Sales agent in my home town, Stavanger. Geographically we do most of our business in Norway westernmost coast line. Stavanger is the “capital of oil industry” in Norway, housing the large producers and the services industry that are present on the Norwegian continental shelf.

Oil and gas industry have always been early adaptors of new technology and been in the driver’s seat developing its vendors and offerings. The industry has had huge impact on how our marketplace developed. Its needs are closely connected to cyclic changes in oil price. In peak times, the oil and gas industry’s demand for products and for services grows correspondingly, often reverse proportional to their cost-consciousness. Opposite, when prices fall below certain dollar threshold per barrel, industry almost instantly will start cutting costs and activity with no mercy to how it may affect vendors.

Public sector is another important part of our marked, our target customers and of our success. Almost the opposite of the oil industry, the public sector represents a “safe harbor” and a relatively stable demand and a financially safe customer group. There are different challenges when selling to public sector; procurement is subject to stricter regulations, it’s IT infrastructure often are years behind what it is in the oil industry. These differences are both a limitation and an opportunity. Vendors who can work with public sector to form and change the way they manage its document output infrastructure are in a good position to merge deep into their IT services, and never escape again.

THE CONVERSATION …

Managed print services has become an ‘in vogue’ term over recent years with many organizations developing solutions to try and tap into this growing market place. Growth largely based on organizations increasing realization that the effective management of the print environment can lead to a significant rise in user productivity and major financial savings.

Office rationalization and optimization is a process, not an event. A right-sized, secure, compliant environment with high availability of output technology ensures greater daily productivity. However, the long-term value is only achieved when performance is continually monitored and areas for further improvement are identified. At the 2011 European MPS Conference in Berlin, I am going to show examples on we have been addressing public sector trying to achieve this. From the early attempts of influencing bid specs, through the entire MpS lifecycle; assessments, design, implementing and manage phases. I am going to talk about successful and not successful projects with public sector accounts.

I think we have a major task ahead of us to educate the dealer channel. “Everyone” offers managed print services today; everyone wants to be a services company. Only a few truly are. When quarter-end approaches, a large share of the office dealer community still can’t help that the box selling DNA overtakes to close more box business, rather then continue navigating at a steady course of selling services. Moving from box to services hurts in the beginning.

THE EVENT

You can look at the agenda, and it will give you a pretty good view of focuses and trends for Berlin. Still, I guess the question is one more of wider perspective. My hope for Berlin is that it will be an area for discussions of areas like; how to get paid for services, how to make profit out of lowering the number of devices we sell to a customer. Additionally I really want to have some good discussion about how to improve on the environmental, sustainable part of our offering. I want to be able to sell environmental improvements, but still be able to make a profit.

Of course, given the focus in my presentation; selling managed print services to public sector will hopefully be part of the many discussions I take part in.

The MpS community is still a community under development. Participating in different industry events is important not only to loan an ear to industry development, but also to have your changes to be there and be part of setting the course for the future. Likewise, and hopefully, it will be a great place for networking. A meeting place where you can meet up and grow contacts that are important for the future growth both for business and personality.

John Alfred Hustvedt is the Sales Director of Norway’s largest Xerox sales agent, X-Partner Stavanger. After 14 years of selling fleet managed services with Xerox and Xerox Global Services in Norway and Nordic, he recently decided to accept responsibility for transforming this traditional Xerox dealership into a, services-based business, provider of managed print services.

Ever since Xerox earliest attempts with the creation of Xerox XOS program in 2002 John Alfred has been involved in the development and sales of managed print services with both national and international engagements. His background both from a major OEM, still from a small country/marketplace have brought him close to most of the aspects of selling and implementing MpS.

John Alfred Hustvedt are working with public sector procurement in Norway to shift procurements focus; from reducing prices, to lower overall organizational spending’s. He will present ideas on how to introduce MpS to public sector, on challenges of selling MpS in compliance with European Procurement Directives.

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