Print.IT Reseller - issue 62

01732 759725 INTERVIEW 34 If we take business inkjet as an example, while it’s becoming a more widely accepted technology, it doesn’t mean it competes like for like with laser provide their customers with the right solution based on their individual needs. By working closely with the OEMs we are moving beyond speeds and feeds and cost per copy, digging deeper to identify the USPs to help our resellers sell different products into different areas. Our external teams will be equipped with this knowledge so when they are sitting down with a reseller the conversation will be more about vertical market alignment, business requirements and fit for purpose. Rather than just recommending a product because it’s on promo price, for example, we recommend the product that best fits their customers’ needs. PITR : Midwich invests heavily in training, how does that translate into the channel? TW: Distribution is much more than just selling the best priced product and training for us is key. Last year we invested more in training than in any other area of the business. We have a sales manager who has worked across the business from handling incoming service calls, as an account manager and as a print specialist. She does call coaching with the team every week, we do record our calls and they are monitored for training purposes, we don’t just do it as a protection. Within the document solutions division our print specialists are Papercut certified too. That’s really quite important, because it really is the go-to print management software. PITR : Do you support non-specialist print resellers to deliver MPS? TW: We did have a look at managed print last year, but it was a huge investment to go into that marketplace. Almost every OEM has a channel MPS solution and often fulfilment of the devices go through distribution. That’s where we come in. One of the things we are doing to add value is working with managed print dealers, recommending new ways to upsell and cross sell, so they secure incremental revenue from their contract and managed print offering. One way is by building in dedicated scanners to MPS engagements, with digital transformation, scan volumes are increasing and there comes a point when businesses need a dedicated scanning device. We’re also seeing a crossover within the AV sector, particularly in education. More of the managed print dealers are looking at AV solutions to secure additional revenue, and where they don’t necessarily have that expertise and knowledge, they look to us an expert in that field. PITR : Looking ahead, what are you plans for the rest of the year? TW: We constantly review our performance. The distribution marketplace is becoming increasingly competitive and swamped, and sometimes you need to consider what you need to do differently, but not always. Sometimes after a quiet quarter, you feel you need to change, when that might not be the best idea. We’re in quite good shape, we’ve achieved what we needed to achieve this year. We have the right team in place, the right vendors in place, and hopefully we’ll just keep doing what we’re doing and get more visibility out there. I think the exciting thing for me is that no two days are the same. One day I could be with a manufacturer all day, others I’m seeing resellers. The big thing for us is that we don’t want to have conversations around what a reseller is spending, what they are buying and from whom, so we can offer a better price. Our approach is to say: we know what you’re buying, but what is your business model, what can we bring to the table in terms of additional support, services or product to deliver a real value-add to your business. www.midwich.com PITR : The print market is a challenging one, where does Midwich sit in that sector currently. TW: We don’t supply tier one brands like HP and Xerox, but if you look at the brands we do offer, Kyocera, Ricoh, Lexmark, OKI, Canon and Brother – we have a majority share which varies from quarter to quarter. If you looked at IDC data, we’d be quite small overall, but if you look at Context data, in the firms that we supply we’re in the top two distributors. PITR : How are you evolving your channel strategy? TW: We are currently engaged with vendors to better understand their go-to- market channel strategy and we do meet face to face with our reseller customers as well. We have a large proactive external team at Midwich – perhaps the strongest of any distributor. We firmly believe that when you sell several different technologies, it’s important to fully understand the offer of each brand. We have invited all of the vendors we work with across print and scan, to come in recently, go through their market share and where they are at the moment, so we can fully understand their strengths, what their aspirations are, where their focus is, their go-to-market strategy and vertical alignments. If we take business inkjet as an example, while it’s becoming a more widely accepted technology, it doesn’t mean it competes like for like with laser. If an end customer is looking for high quality print it’s probably not the best technology, but if they need something that’s low cost and good enough, then it will tick the box. As a distribution partner, our role is to help our resellers understand the USPs and what’s unique about individual products, so they can ...continued