A large % of the Law Firms we work with are called, on a daily basis, by salespeople trying to tell them why they should change their Printers to a New Fully Managed Print Service (whether they take the call or not is a different matter but they receive the calls non the less!)
“We can GUARANTEE savings of 30%+” they cry – pretty impressive in the astrology department, seen as they don’t know, at this stage, what the firm is spending or even what devices they have!
Most Firms we meet with want to identify whether there is an actual business case / cost saving benefit available from changing their printers – they’re not really interested in hearing what someone wants to sell them. Ordinarily, to get to the bottom of this, an investment in time is required to TRY and Productively / Accurately review this area of spend, and see IF there is a business case or not – and if so what are the savings / efficiencies are actually available for the firm.
The Problem
Most organisations know that efficiencies and savings are probably available within their fleet of Multifunctional Devices, Photocopiers, Network Printers, Scanners – the problem is getting REAL ADVICE, and PRODUCTIVELY reviewing this area accurately to understand what Managed Print Services is about and establishing what it could actually deliver by way of real cost savings / efficiencies – on top of all this what they really want to do is CUT through all the information to find out what they really NEED and not just what someone wants to SELL them.
This is ordinarily easier said than done – the reality is that a review of any new area of spend is difficult when there are existing projects in place and resource is tight. TIME is extremely valuable and in most cases there just isn’t the time (nor inclination) to try and review this area with 3 different salespeople, where they then have to managed the time, risks and frustrations involved with trying to analyse the QUOTES presented, to try and see what is fact and what is sales spin.
On top of all this, in most cases the printers are working at the minute – they may have their own problems but the users know what they are and they can operate OK with these. Change for a new solution and you need to be 100% sure it will work for the users otherwise there will be uproar, fingers pointing the blame and major frustrations.
Clients need a productive and accurate way of reviewing this area of their business – under a trustworthy, credible and logical approach where they can analyse their business and review a report and recommendation on the benefits of Managed Print Services (for their specific business). They want this all in a credible document which highlights what to change, what NOT to change, when to change devices (if at all) and what savings / efficiencies can actually be achieved as a result of this.
Real Advice
We normally try and avoid promoting our business model directly when producing blog posts, but on this occasion there is no other way of approaching this… needs must.
We have seen a number of cases where clients say – we reviewed this in the last 12 months but they basically recommended that we replace everything and our running costs will be similar but we will be more efficient on new devices…. The reality is here that this is not delivering the financials side of the business business case, the client knows that this is a salesperson looking to create an opportunity to SELL new hardware (and earn a living which is fair enough) – but it doesn’t really give them what they were after – it just takes their time to really just end up with what they thought they were going to be told…frustrating!
As we always say, we are not knocking individuals as salespeople here (I’ve been there myself) but more the business model and what it delivers to clients – everyone knows that salespeople are paid to SELL particular products and also PAID commission as a % of the PROFIT made (so they are incentivised to increase the price) and they are also targeted on the number of units to sell per month – so are looking to replace as much as possible. Now correct me if I am wrong but this is surely not the best place to GET REAL ADVICE and review this area PRODUCTIVELY and ACCURATELY.
Options
1 approach is to simply get 3 sales organisations in – listen to what they have to say about Managed Print Services and the products they SELL. Then allow them to go round your business, gather some data, use some figures and produce a quote so they can pitch for your business. You can the review this and identify what is fact and what is not – whilst reviewing the 3 different proposals and looking at whether there is something there which is of interest / relevant to you – we’ll call this the traditional way.
2: There wasnt previously a number 2 but now there actually is an alternative available in the market – Efficient Law Firm are an independent consultancy who work to a non sales approach, under a 100% transparent and pre-agreed plan (even down to pricing). This means our goals are aligned with yours at ever step of the process and we have removed EVERY single one of the “conflicts of interest”, which would normally be experienced using option 1. This ensures we have the same focus / targets for the project as you do and why our recommendations regularly include what clients should replace (as there is a business case to do so) and also what they should RETAIN & RE-UTILISE because this adds to the bottom line / savings available as well as the overall efficiency of the business.
The approach really comes down to how you want to manage this project, but we believe that working in partnership with a supplier which has a logical process and a clear business model, focused on the EXACT same goals as yours, with NO CONFLICTS of interest is a better and more productive way of reviewing any area of spend. We are also confident it is more productive, accurate and efficient than spending the time and frustration from trying to obtain real advice from 3 salespeople.
In Closing
As I said – we don’t normally look to directly promote our own business model in this blog, as it is about advice for clients but in this case there was no option. If you want REAL ADVICE you need to ensure you are working with someone who can actually provide it.
We constantly work with clients so they can identify the optimum business case for their firm and think we need to shout louder to let people know that there is now an alternative offering available. We thought it would be a good idea to promote our alternative offering seens as there are now IT Providers being approached by manufacturers who will offer to assist in the recruitment of a new salesperson, this salesperson is then paid to SELL their particular products ONLY and they will financially support the first years salary – how do you think this will deliver REAL ADVICE?
If you’re interested in reviewing this area of spend within your firm (or any other organisation in the private sector) then we’d love to talk with you – we’re always interested in meeting with propspective clients to introduce our alternative offering and explain more about what we do and the benefits we offer over the industry standard resellers / dealers.
Feel free to contact me directly on the contact us page.
Author:
Alex Hutchinson is lead consultant at Efficient Law Firm.
www.EfficientLawFirm.co.uk work with Small and Medium sized Law Firms, who do not have the luxury (or requirement) for a full-time technology / IT Director. If you are looking to make improvements within this area of your firm, but do not have the fixed internal resource to manage this project and deliver results, then let’s talk.
If you want to increase your long-term profitability but don’t want to risk paying high day rate consultants for external advice… then let’s talk. Efficient Law Firm only generate a margin on results being delivered, ensuring a LOW RISK engagement for Clients.
Alex Hutchinson
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