3 Barriers to Selling MPS

Why Managed Print Services Is a Top Way to Seize Growth

By Jim Joyce, VP Xerox – An enormous unrealized managed print services (MPS) opportunity is waiting for Xerox channel partners in the small to medium-sized (SMB) market. Sound far-fetched? Let’s do the math. According to the SBA, a “small business” is an organization with fewer than 500 employees and there are roughly 28 million operating in the United States. ^[1]

Over half the population works for a small business, which in turn creates a tremendous amount of impression volume and managed print is an impression-driven sale. Couple that with a 20 – 25% marketplace penetration on managed print and a 90% retention rate and it’s easy to see opportunity knocking. The opportunity extends even further. The National Center for the Middle Market calculates that mid-size companies account for about one-third of private-sector gross domestic product. These larger companies can also benefit from Managed Print Services and are also worthy of your attention.

3 Barriers to Selling MPS

How are highly successful partners taking advantage of such a ripe opportunity? The answer is complicated, but mainly it boils down to overcoming one (or more) of these barriers:

Cost-Per-Click vs. Managed Print Services
Selling MPS is more about creating efficiency across an entire organization whereas selling a device is about identifying the hardware best suited to address a roster of needs. The later is the predominant route-to-sales for Xerox channel partners and it’s what customers have come to expect. As a result, introducing MPS to a customer or a prospect is a deviation from the norm for both.