I’ve just returned from the Sharp dealer meeting in San Antonio, TX where I spent several days meeting people, seeing new products and hearing about Sharp’s strategic direction. Almost 1,000 people were in attendance at this year’s show.
Sharp has been battling a difficult financial situation the last year or so as they’re beginning their transformation from a consumer-focused firm to a B2B company. While the consumer divisions of Sharp have been struggling mightily, the business products group has experienced steady growth, even in a declining market.
Indeed, this group within Sharp is in the midst of their sixth straight fiscal of revenue growth with MFP revenues growing 5% over that same period. Operating profit grew 145% vs. the prior fiscal. Not bad in a declining market.
During one of the sessions, Sharp recognized their top 10% performing dealer sales reps who were all rewarded for their efforts with a free trip to the dealer meeting. I thought this was brilliant for so many reasons.
First, dealer executives come to these events and try to rehash as much of what they saw when they get back to their dealerships. Inevitably, there’s no way they could ever convey the messaging at the level it was delivered. Also, let’s face it, they look at different things and talk to different people. While they were chatting it up with the likes of Print Audit and companies like umango, the reps were swarming the future products to see what was coming. Eric Martin, President of Clover Technologies was featured in an executive panel to highlight their new relationship with Sharp.
andyTV – Click here for all my videos from this event and more
This program also creates a level of loyalty. As a former dual-line rep myself, I can tell you that if I ever got a free trip to anywhere, got to stay in a hotel and have someone feed me, entertain me and buy me drinks for 3 nights I’d be pretty loyal. To this day a trip I took with the other reps in my dealership to check out a sister location in Richmond is one of the best business trips I ever went on (Mark, Alex, Frank…you were all there). And that was an overnight 60 miles away in a mini van and a Motel 6. The JW Marriott was quite a step up from that.
If I got to hang out and chat with senior executives like president Doug Albregts or VP Laura Blackmer or Mike Marusic, I’m sure the picture I took with them would be over my desk and I would never sell another brand again. Lastly, it encourages me to try to qualify again as well as others around me that are dying to go after my stories about the event. Think about it. How smart is this idea?
During the session, Sharp highlighted their OSA open architecture, integrating with yet another major partner. This time it was MWAi’s FORZA ERP system, which folds into Sharp’s MICAS solution. MICAS is Sharp’s Machine Intelligence Call Assistance System that allows some service calls and diagnostics to be conducted remotely, allowing dealers to theoretically send less technicians out on calls. It’s so much more than remote meter reads.
According to VP Mike Marusic, they’ve already seen a substantial reduction in calls that require a technician to visit the account in branches where MICAS has been implemented.
Today, the FORZA ERP system integrates with OSA, providing what Sharp and MWAi call an “unprecedented service management and ERP collaboration. MWAi’s CEO Mike Stramaglio said, “FORZA, integrated with MICAS, provides a seamless and unprecedented means of communication from the customer and ultimately removes manual, on-site support with remote help desk initiatives.”
Sharp announced 13 new clean sheet designs at this meeting with a refresh of their A3 product line in the 30 – 60 PPM range. All models will use the same engine and common parts and supplies, making this one of the easiest product lines to support. They also have a redesigned user interface.
Dealers loved the new settings on the toner alert systems. We all know that customers often replace their toner cartridge when they receive their first low toner warnings in effort to stop the alerts.
Sharp has set the machines so they lock the cartridge into the machine until the cartridge is completely empty, eliminating the waste that occurs when customers throws away a cartridge that is still 10 – 20% full.
These new MFPs will start coming at the beginning of 2016 and will roll out over the next 6 months. There was new production on the floor as well, which you can see in the video below.
I was blown away by Sharp’s product fair, which was easily one of the best ones I’ve attended. It was massive, had a great flow and was completely packed with over 60 partners on display such as PaperCut, DocuWare, GreatAmerica and more.
Click here for full walk through of the product fair
Partners were there displaying MPS, power protection systems from ESP, ECM and anything connected to this business. There was even a booth for sales rep training from partner Coco Training.
There were excellent vertical areas for education, legal and others as well as the new products spread throughout the floor. The floor was also much improved over the last show, which looked nice but didn’t flow well as most partners were pushed towards a back wall where they got very little exposure to dealers.
This year, partners were spread throughout the floor and the way it was set up ensured a nice flow of traffic that never seemed to dwindle.
You have to give it to Sharp; with the financial turmoil they’ve experienced lately, they could have slashed all spending and hunkered down. They didn’t.
Sharp has taken a very different approach to solutions than many competitors. While most have created elaborate programs around MPS, ERP and other areas, Sharp has opened up their platform and encouraged companies to develop to it. This is the strength of OSA.
Sharp believes that every dealer is different and they know what they need. Rather than create programs for all their dealers, they’ve decided to build an environment where dealers can pick and choose what they want from the biggest list of partners in the industry.
There are plusses and minuses on both sides of this approach. Allowing dealers to use almost any solution is powerful and it certainly helps support legacy products the customers already have. But I think Sharp dealers don’t necessarily get the education from their copier vendor in MPS and expanding markets like ECM dealers often receive from other brands.
For example, instead of guiding the dealers through programs designed to help them understand these markets and providing them with turnkey programs and tools with which to compete, I felt the message was more, “If you want to participate in ECM you can.
If you want to participate in MPS you can and you can work with anybody.” Not as much direction from the manufacturer. Again, there are strengths and weaknesses with both approaches.
The other thing Sharp lacks is A4. However, as most dealers have already filled this need, Sharp has made it easier for dealers to access brands through their distribution. For example, Sharp dealers can now access Lexmark and other products through their ordering system.
The ordering system is through TechData, one of the largest supply chain companies in the world. Sharp has developed an ordering and fulfillment program with TechData that will make the process a snap – once they get everything set up and running smoothly.
The networking and entertainment at this event was tip-top. I couldn’t help thinking “if Sharp is going out of business, they’re doing it with a bang.” They’re not. They wouldn’t spend this much on R&D developing these new MFPs and production if they were.
There was a great cocktail reception to kick things off, a big party night at a local working ranch complete with a mechanical (and real) bull that ended in fireworks and a wonderful awards dinner featuring comedian Jim Gaffigan. Of course, all of these events ended much later at the bar.
I didn’t know what to expect when I came to this event. Sharp’s leadership is great and I consider Doug and Mike and Laura my friends. But they had been raked over the coals recently and I was worried. After this meeting I’m not.
They have a very different strategy than their competitors. Dealers have stuck by them and are making good money. New products and capabilities are coming that will make Sharp dealers more profitable. While they lack an A4 line, they’ve worked around it to the point where maybe they don’t need one.
Great job Sharp. Excellent event.
~Andy Slawetsky
