Imaging Channel's Classroom

by ray stasieczko April 19, 2020

"Repetitive learning is a Procrastinator's Journey." 

It's not about Chairs or seats, no meters, one-rate, everything free, or what a few minuscule-dealers with less than 100 customers claim to be doing new ever week, which will align the Copier/Printer industry with the realities of the marketplace. It's about smart business people understanding the importance of data over the noise of nonsense.  

Those who follow me will remember back when the industry started filling seats in courses on how to bill customers; I was a critic yelling stop the madness! And suggested the industry focus more on learning the cost of what they delivered. It was then I came up with a new acronym for the Imaging Channel 

CABB (Cost Awareness Based Billing). 

"It's not about Chairs, no meters, one-rate, or everything free. It's about smart business people understanding their data and simply billing based on what the data tells them."  

The reality to billing printers and their services without collecting meters is not rocket science, is nothing new, and it defiantly does not take college courses to understand how to implement it.

What it takes is Data and the ability for dealer owners to modify their current billing processess. Over the last, nearly five years, the channel has spent way too much money and time trying to learn secret knowledge, which is commonly available; it lives it their data. 

"Dealers need to focus more on their cost to deliver what they bill, over how they bill what they deliver." 

Our friends at Konica have been billing customers without collecting meters for nearly two years. Our friends at NEXERA have been showing dealers the data, and providing them the science to understanding the cost of delivering with no-meter for over a year - utilizing their trademarked iDaaS program (imaging Device as a Service.)  

All those dealers using NEXERA, have the Data they need to understand their cost to service every device they deploy. What dealers need to do is look at their data, understand their cost, and determine the customer's volume band.

Once those three things are understood, simply write an agreement just as you did in Cost Per Copy Models. The difference, you will never bill for overages because you will include the customer's volume in the contract.

My friends this works because everyone in the industry understands volumes are declining, and everyone in the industry understands leasing partners pass-through service revenue collected as part of lease payments. They have been doing this for three decades.

Regardless of how a dealer describes the agreement, CPC., No-Meter, OneRate, No-Clicks, Chair based billing, or whatever the next guy or gal comes up with. Leasing companies have passed through to dealers the service revenue portions of lease contracts for decades. It's not innovative; frankly, it's old school.

Now we have a pandemic problem with bundled leasing.

This current Pandemic is now exposing the problems with lease payments and service payments being bundled. As End-users are looking at all their accounts payable and questioning that if they are not using the devices on lease should they be paying the service portion of the bundled payment? This practice will also be question by disruptive innovators as they seek to bring new approaches to the channel's end-users.

While dealers are wasting time learning something they should already be doing. The real innovators are looking at ways to truly innovate and disrupt the print equipment and its services deliverable. These innovators are looking to replace out-dated leasing with subscription-based programs. Innovators will replace those early upgrades and the rolling in of excessive buy-outs with more customer-centric approaches. Innovators will fight for customers by explaining the Overselling of A3, and provide the channels customers A4 and, online procurement capabilities. 

I am not sure how many of my friends are worn out like me, on the channel's obsession to continue making themselves feel good by believing changing the name of a deliverable is the channel's innovation. My friends, we need to change the game and realign to the field the new game will be played on.

So regarding No-Meter Billing or billing by the chair, I suggest Dealers - just bill with no meter regardless of the number chairs and move on to the next thing. I do caution dealers to pay attention to Data and build programs based on business plans, not noisy lunacy from tiny dealers selling things in unscalable ways who are lacking not only Data but business acme as well.

The Imaging Channel needs to align its deliverable based on market realities instead of their obsession in learning what they already know. or, doing stupid unscalable things based on emotional nonsense.

The Pandemic experience should prove to all that. End-Users won't care about chair-based billing when they are in their home office, and they need toner, need to buy a desktop printer, need to pay online with a credit card, need a computer, a laptop or they need some help with software applications. The list of things the imaging channel's customers can currently do online with competitors outside the channel is way past what most dealers can offer. This lack of innovation must be addressed immediately. 

" The time to replace yesterday's mentalities with tomorrow's realities is now." 

The channel needs to shift their tuition dollars from yesterday's redundant education to learning what today's market realities demand, you know. The channel needs to learn quickly how to navigate through what I describe as that intersection between the physical and digital worlds.

The Imaging Channel is wasting too much time learning things they already know. It's time to fill the chairs in new classrooms leaving behind the insecurities which have kept the channel living in yesterday.

Remember, "Repetitive learning is a Procrastinator's Journey." 

"Status Quo Is The Killer Of All That Will Be Invented"

I welcome all to connect here on Linkedin and subscribe to my youtube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCULKZDBCR1ozWXmu4Tob66A?view_as=subscriber

Ray Stasieczko CEO TEASRA, The Innovation Channel and Host of End of The Day With Ray! 

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