yourmpsa.org - Managed Print Services Association

How do you cook up an MPS deal? After all, you can make some serious margin in these deals and get lots of pull through hardware! I hear a lot about “What’s in it for me?” That’s alright I suppose, because everyone’s gotta eat, right?

I don’t buy it! I think you first have to ask, “Who’s it about?”

What about the customer? Do you live in a position where you live with your customers (feel their pains and rejoice with their successes) or do you live to position yourself to meet a revenue quota?

Get this: I’m not saying making plan is a bad thing “but saying you live to serve your customer’s needs under the sheepskin of providing a panacea to their ills and using the latest industry buzzword MPS to sell what you got left in the warehouse is malpractice.

A rose by any other name:

I think it comical that so many debate about the definition of managed print services. But if you pull back the covers just a bit, you realize that there is a genuine sense from customer and provider alike that it’s still too hard there is still no set of agreed upon best practices to lean upon.

Some may call it rules of engagement, metrics, or guidelines; it’s not a menu to order from at a fast-food joint but it does bear similarities to a recipe.

The MPS Recipe:

When you are in the mood for a certain type of cuisine, you begin sorting out the different varieties. There are dozens, if not hundreds of some types of recipes. Tonight, I might want meatloaf. Well, I hope online and pull up Recipezaar and type in “meatloaf” in the search. I pick through the almost 2000 titles of what sounds good, and get a basic list of ingredients. I then decide if I want to alter the ingredients list; I’m not a big cloves fan, so I might drop it or substitute for something else to taste.

Why would I look up a salmon stew recipe if I wanted meatloaf? I wouldn’t Here are 5 ingredients for your MPS recipe.

1. The outcome is known ( I want meatloaf).
2. The provider is chosen because of authority, familiarity, and choices (Recipezaar).
3. The choices are revealed (search).
4. The interpretation is chosen and customized to fit my taste (didn’t like cloves).
5. I can measure the results during and after (the senses reveal if I’m on track during the preparation and meal).

Listen.

I had the pleasure of spending some time today with a potential client responsible for a few million pages per month. We talked and guess what? He was having to wrestle with comparing all of these different types of programs and determining if he even wanted to wrestle with a managed program at all.

Folks, most of our suspects, prospects, and customers have an inkling there is a problem, and the majority of them are wrestling with how to eat an elephant (because most are sensing they need to figure it out now).

I know the readers of this blog care deeply about their customers and their teams, or else they wouldn’t spend their time reading my evangelical drivel. So why is it I keep hearing stories about providers rolling out the old plays selling the customer something today (because it’s in the price book) that doesn't fix their pain tomorrow.

Maybe when you meet them you could send them over to my blog for some education? Yeah, I know I’m preaching to the choir here!

The buzz-phrase managed print services is surely becoming over-used, there is no doubt. Why? As you wrestle with digesting MPS, quit getting hung up on how it is defined and ask your customers what challenges they face, why they feel those are challenges, and how they intend to tackle them. You’ll be surprised that when you make your visit about preparing their meal instead of pizza delivery, the rest will take care of itself.

By the way, ketchup is the secret to great meatloaf. I wonder if that works with customers too?

Image courtesy of Pink Sherbet Photography.

Ken Stewart's website, ChangeForge, focuses on the collision between the constantly changing worlds of business and technology in an information-centric world. Ken serves on the board of the new Managed Print Services Association, an international industry organization seeking worldwide best practices for the managed print services industry. He is also the founder of Seeking the Son. He is always interested in connecting with you.