Printer/Copier Install Opens Doors For VAR
An office equipment dealer’s install of an MFP (multifunction
peripheral) leads to long-term lease and future equipment sales with
real estate customers.
The price of color printers has decreased, but the maintenance costs associated with cartridges and paper may hinder their long-term use and effectiveness as replacements for black-and-white printers. United Business Solutions, LLC (UBS), an office equipment (e.g. printers, fax machines, copiers) VAR in the Chicago area, offers solutions for color replication. A cold call initiated a color replication solution install at a large real estate office.
“One of our sales representatives placed the call to the real estate office and found that the broker from Century 21 had been contemplating a switch to copier-based color technology,” says Reed Byhring, partner at UBS. The 50-employee Century 21 office previously used black reproduction, but all copies were second generation, so the quality was low. Because color photographs are a large part of the real estate business, it used one stand-alone color laser printer, which was not cost-effective or productive for the large office. Color cartridges run approximately $35 each, taking printed copies to a price of about 40 cents per page. Seeking convenience, several real estate agents paid for copies out of their own pockets by using their home color ink-jet printers or spending 50 cents to 75 cents per page at FedEx Kinko’s.
“We invited the real estate broker to an open house at UBS,” explains Byhring. “The real estate broker met our management team, toured the facility, saw our service operation, and met manufacturer representatives who were on hand to lend expertise.” After additional meetings, UBS representatives proved that a quick payback was possible for this real estate agency. The broker agreed to purchase one Panasonic DP-C322 color copier immediately for his existing office and scheduled another to be installed a few months later at a second office he planned to open.
With the Panasonic DP-C322, Century 21 has the ability to print and copy in black and white or color. UBS’ largest installation challenge was monitoring usage, which requires agents to enter their identification numbers prior to using the device, so all printing and copying costs can be charged back to them (i.e. bill-back process) at the end of the month. This saves Century 21 from incurring all costs, it’s convenient for agents to make copies on site, and agents save money because they pay a fixed rate of 1.2 cents per black-and-white page and 8 cents per color page. Additionally, the Panasonic MFP has additional functionality such as hole punching, collating, and stapling that doesn’t exist with regular printers. It also includes PDMS (Panasonic Document Management Software), which provides functions such as scan-to-file and scan-to-e-mail and the ability to drag documents of all types into PDMS to manage files (e.g. customer files). The printer/copier also uses Panasonic’s SD (secure digital) technology, so agents can remove the SD memory cards from their digital cameras and place them directly into the DP-C322 to print photos.
Equipment Leasing, Service Enable Long-Term Income
“Century 21 leased the MFPs from us and purchased a separate service contract,” says Byhring. “We’ll support the equipment during the leasing period and fulfill the service contract until it’s time to upgrade. We’re selling them copying and printing supplies [e.g. paper, cartridges], as well. Additionally, this broker is growing and may need office products other than color copier MFPs. For instance, we’ve discussed the use of a stand-alone scanner to digitize the office’s existing paper customer files.” Byhring also believes that the opportunities for color output in the real estate market are endless. “Now that we’ve configured the Panasonic DP-C322 with the bill-back process using user codes, we anticipate interest from other local real estate agencies that might be interested in similar capabilities,” says Byhring.