From Printer Cartridge Recharger to MPS Provider

By Scott Cullen

Why rock the boat when you’ve got a nice printer cartridge recharger business going for you? That’s a question we just had to ask Frank Topinka, president of Page After Page in Shrewsbury, Mass. after taking his successful recharger company and transforming it into a successful provider of managed print services.

What initially set Page After Page apart in the greater Boston market as a recharger was its ability to provide an ever-expanding customer base with desktop delivery. That worked extremely well, especially when the big boxes began stocking compatible cartridges.

Now Topinka is not one of those guys to bury his head in the sand. He could see the winds of change blowing even while his business was growing. A little something called print management was looming on the horizon along with the realization that this concept might eventually threaten his customer base. The solution was a new strategic direction.

“When industries mature you have to look at what the OEMs are doing and we were seeing Xerox, HP, and Lexmark do print management deals at the enterprise level,” explains Topinka. “It was clear to me they would eventually bring it down to this level of the market.”

The boat was now rocking as the company embarked on what turned out to be a significant cultural change. “People aren’t used to change and we had to change our strategy and direction and get all of our people on board for doing something different than what we were doing before,” recalls Topinka. “We were still in the same business and selling the same product, but the whole method changed dramatically, which means that sales could no longer go out and sell a service of repairs at a price, toner at a price, and supplies at a price. Now we needed a consultative approach, we needed to build relationships and all the things that went with it.”

The transition at Page After Page began about five years ago with the company developing new sales strategies and ramping up its back-office customer support. Learning how to assess the customer’s print environment, producing documentation to show customers how Page After Page could help them in the long term, and presenting proposals were wildly different from the way the company had been conducting business as a recharger.

Being an early adopter had its challenges. “Nobody was doing it,” says Topinka. “Now everybody’s talking about it although I would guess not many are doing it in the way that’s defined by Strategy Development.”

Acknowledging that Page After Page services thousands of laser printers monthly and half of those are five years or older, Topinka’s transition strategy evolved from the organizational change of phase one into phase two with a printer refresh program. That meant moving into printer sales. To do that effectively Topinka started training his staff on printer specs and pricing and partnered with a leasing company.

During this training period, Page After Page learned a thing or two about multifunctional products and how to sell them as well. They also formed partnerships with third parties and connected with print service consultants and leasing companies to ramp up their knowledge and connections in this area.

Here’s where Strategy Development comes in, helping Page After Page develop a program that encompasses a thorough print assessment, printer strategy techniques, and a cost-per-page calculator that extends a minimum monthly page count to a single invoice for all of their services.

Topinka believes in giving credit where credit is due and he credits Strategy Development with helping him initialize his MPS program.

“Without their training we wouldn’t have been able to get this off the ground,” he says.

He also learned about MPS by attending industry forums and events like ITEX and watching what the copier manufacturers were doing even though at the time it was mostly all talk and little action.

Was the recharger background helpful in making the transition to managed print?

“You don’t need to be making your own stuff to be in print management,” responds Topinka. “Obviously, we started as a remanufacturer before I even knew what this business was. I had a background in manufacturing and I came in and refined the remanufacturing process and upgraded our production environment and some of our costs went way down and our quality went way up, so we still deliver that particular component in our print management, but we don’t talk about it. It’s allowed us to have favorable pricing when we need it, but that’s about it.”

Moving into managed print was an eye opening experience as Topinka and his team discovered the joys and pitfalls of longer sales cycles and the challenge of penetrating new accounts. Because Page After Page was one of the first in the market to offer MPS, they had to contend with a lot of suspicion from customers and hear time and time again, ‘I’m not going to a cost per page program’, even though Topinka’s sales reps were explaining in detail all the costs and the savings.

“We still had success in attracting some new business that way,” states Topinka. “Our first big customer came through—a big print management deal worth about $20,000 a month—and they’ve been with us for four years now.”

Fast forward to today and Topinka concedes business has been soft for the past 18 months although it seems to be picking up of late. What’s easier now is taking the MPS message to customers. Even though business has been soft, Page After Page has not lost a single print management customer during this period. That’s the good news. However, the biggest culprit of the soft market has been the economy.

“Without a soft economy we wouldn’t have had any problems at all,” says Topinka. “It caused everything to change. Other than that we’d be doing pretty well.”

Topinka has found direct mail an effective method for reaching new customers. That often involves a premium that warms up the prospect so Page After Page calls the customer remembers them. The latest premium is a remote-controlled $150+ toy car from HP Power Tools with the prospect’s name and the Page After Page and HP logos on it. The only thing that isn’t included is the remote. To receive that, the customer must schedule a meeting with Page After Page to talk about print management. After the first 10 days of the promotion, 14 appointments were scheduled.

“It’s the hottest thing we’ve done so far,” beams Topinka.

Currently, 40 percent of Page After Page’s business is straight print management deals and Topinka would like to see that grow to 80 percent in the next three to five years.

“The way that’s going to happen is by continuing to do the things we’re doing, attracting new customers into the program and by converting existing customers where we can. Many of our existing customers have looked at it, liked it, but haven’t changed because they don’t have any pain, so they just stay with the program they’re on now. I don’t know if they’re ever going to change because they still get all the benefits without the cost per page. They like the transactional model. I’m okay with that as long as I don’t have a competitor come in and take them away from me.”

Customers tend to go with Page After Page because of their reputation.

“We’ve been doing it a long time,” says Topinka. “We have a very good service component and we leverage that. Our response time is under four hours and we have a high rate of first-time repair, in the ‘90s.”

Topinka also credits a sophisticated print management presentation.

“Our value proposition is well structured and thought through,” he notes. “Prospects see value in how we present and our assessment tools, findings, and proposals are all very intriguing. We also do desktop delivery. That’s difficult and unique and not many dealers do it or can do it, but that’s our normal model.”

If Topinka what he knows now when he first started down the print management path he says it would be a better understanding of how to improve margins.

“Trading up the contract through quarterly reviews, adding value, we didn’t really understand that; we do now,” he says.



Scott Cullen has been covering the office equipment industry since 1986. Scott is Publisher/Editorial Director for Imaging Solutions Reseller; Editorial Director/Managing Editor for OfficeSOLUTIONS and OfficeDEALER; Editor for PC Solutions; and a contributing writer and Editor for Independent Dealer, OFDA, Mercer Business, ENX, BERTL’s iTchat, Repro Report.

ITEX 2010—What a Great Event

Wow, ITEX was phenomenal this year. For those of you that attended, and there were many, I know you agree because I have heard the feedback. What makes ITEX such a great show? To me the number one attribute of ITEX is the networking opportunity; most of the industry decision makers attend the show. When I say decision makers I mean dealer/reseller principals and senior management. Company owners and senior management have a unique perspective on the industry and having the opportunity to speak with thousands of this group provides untold benefits to all, including companies like mine in the consulting field.

The second benefit of ITEX is the education. Unlike many shows, where the sponsors get all of the speaking spots (Nothing against listening to a software or hardware vendor giving their perspective on the industry but after all, won’t the vendors pay you to listen to them), ITEX vets the presenters and chooses those that bring benefit to the dealer/reseller community. For less than $100, the entry fee, attendees get to choose from dozens of educational tracks on all aspects of the business. SD has presented for years and this was the first year we had a booth at the show, and we were asked to speak months before we were asked to consider exhibiting.

If I had to critique the show I will say that I was disappointed with the “Hybrid” moniker. Every time I hear hybrid I think of a car or fuel option. It seems to be the most over used word in the English language these days. I can’t pick up a newspaper or magazine without reading about some company, industry, or option presenting themselves as hybrids. I think it supplanted “solution” as the most ubiquitous word in the business press. ITEX is more than the hybrid dealer, covering education on all aspects of running a successful company. That was reflected in the educational options offered at ITEX.

Strategy Development consultants presented in many areas of the business and each of our classes had approximately 200 participants. David Ramos presented on self managed teams and opportunities in the color space. Ed Carroll presented on professional service. Mike Woodard presented on creating the ideal service and IT team as well as managing the base to control service cost. And I (Tom Callinan) presented on repositioning your business model, which was essentially business planning.

So if you look at the educational offerings presented by Strategy Development we covered sales management, color opportunities, professional services, service operations, and business planning. And, there were dozens of other well (albeit the SD seminars were sold out…) received educational offerings.

If you missed ITEX you missed a great event, and we missed you! We’ll be at the BTA Northeast and Southeast events as well as InfoTrends Solution Summit 2010 in Chicago. Like ITEX, all of these events provide a great ROI. The BTA events have solid education and networking opportunity, on a regional level, and InfoTrends provides enough research to make the trip well worth the effort. If you cannot make these great events we hope to see you next year at ITEX 2011 in DC.

The Road Map to Reposition Your Business Model

There are untold numbers of industry players “shouting from the roof tops” about MPS. Opinions vary widely on everything from the definition of MPS to what will happen to your company if you do not enter the MPS space today. Regardless of what decision you make to enter the MPS space—or not—or even to continue your business or sell, you should make that decision based on facts and not hype. At this ITEX seminar, taking place Wednesday 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM Tom Callinan, the leading expert in MPS and business planning, will be presenting The Road Map to Reposition Your Business Model. In this don’t miss seminar, Callinan will cover industry statistics and trends you need to consider in planning your next five years in the imaging industry. If you are attending ITEX this seminar is included with your general admission ticket. Arrive early as preregistration is extremely high.

The Obituary is Written: Is the Patient Dead?

“Long before digital tools such as listservs, e-mail blasts, and even Facebook enabled us to easily broadcast messages, photocopiers were the most efficient way to distribute information to groups of all sizes. If the boss needed to discuss a new company policy, workers got memos in their (physical) in-boxes or slipped under their office doors. Community newsletters, fliers for parties, and the oft-maligned Christmas letters in holiday cards were all made possible by the automated copying machine, which made its commercial debut 50 years ago.

‘It was democratizing technology,’ says Stephen P. Hoover, vice president of global software solutions for Xerox.”

Is it me or does this read like an obituary? It is from an article in the February 8, 2010 Fortune Magazine titled Paper Chase, celebrating the copier’s 50th birthday this year. Note the phrase I highlighted, which I think we sometimes forget: Copiers were used to distribute information. Is that the functionality you think of today when you think copier?

Many in the industry don’t want to talk about it but the copier is dying. Unit sales are dropping and are forecasted to continue their decline. More disturbing is that prints produced on mono A3 devices (devices with 11X17 platens) is forecasted to drop by more than 50% by 2013. Those clicks are your profits.

There is tremendous opportunity in all of this change, but it will not come naturally. If you plan and use some of the cash you are generating in your copier business to move into the services business you can generate more revenue and earn more profit than ever. You will also be able to make acquisitions of smaller competitors on the cheap—nobody is paying 5X adjusted EBITDA today.

I am instructing a seminar at ITEX 2010 titled “The Roadmap to Repositions Your Business Model,” at 11:00 AM Wednesday. I encourage you to attend. At the same time Mike Woodard, service consultant, will be instructing a service module on “….Managing The Base to Control Service Cost,” which is perfect for your service leadership. If you want more information contact Marc Theaman at Theaman@strategydevelopment.org

Trade Shows: Are they worth the time

I am frequently asked the by clients “Should I attend (fill in the blank) show / conference?” I tend to answer the question with another question, “What are you looking to get out of the event?” Your answer to that question will then lead to some research to determine if the event is worth the investment in entrance fee, travel expense, and more importantly, your time.

There are many trade shows out there and a new one seems to pop-up every other year. They may be disguised as conferences or some other educations sounding event but when you look under the covers most are simply trade shows. Let’s explore some of the goals of a trade show:

Networking: An important aspect of business and one that requires focus. Many dealers belong to industry groups such as BPCA, CDA, SDG, or others and get to see their fellow group members at the events held by these groups. The networking aspect is just one of the many reasons why we recommend that our clients belong to an industry peer group. You also have the manufacturer dealer meetings held every 18 – 24 months. The problem with both of these types of events is that they are closed—you need to be a member of the peer group or you need to be a dealer for the manufacturer.

To network with dealers outside of this group you need an open forum. Two that accomplish this goal are the BTA regional events and ITEX. As by far the largest advocacy group for the copier / MPS industry, the BTA provides many benefits to the dealer / reseller community. One of those many benefits are the regional events they hold every year. I have participated in events in the Northeast and Southeast and they had drawn a large quantity of regional dealers and they are easy to get to, not requiring extra time for travel. I strongly recommend membership in the BTA and attendance at their events.

ITEX is the other forum that provides for networking, but in this case on a national basis. Las Vegas is a destination city and airfare and hotels are relatively inexpensive. You have great restaurants, entertainment, and oh yea, gambling. One of the largest benefits ITEX provides is the networking.

Education: Two warnings when it comes to education. First and foremost, if the event sponsors have most of the speaking spots you are wasting your time. One thinly veiled secret of the conference set is that some events are simply designed to generate revenue for the event coordinator and not designed to actually provide any value to the participants. Want to provide the keynote address? Become the platinum sponsor. Want to provide the day one closing address? Buy the gold sponsorship. Just align the sponsorship hierarchy with the relative status of the speaking spot and I think you will find perfect alignment. When you pay $10,000 to $20,000 to be the sponsor you talk about what you believe is a legitimate subject—the event coordinator doesn’t have a lot of influence after they take your check.

Do you really need to pay to see a vendor speak? It is my experience that the vendor will gladly pay for you to visit their office for the presentation and maybe even buy you a nice dinner or round of golf. Heck, lately some have even been flying dealers to their offices in Asia—on their dime.

And if you gave it some thought do you think that software vendor, toner recharge sales person or parts sales person really knows how to instruct you on launching an MPS program? Improve your sales effectiveness? Improve service margins? How about that MFP manufacturer trying to sell you that they don’t necessarily want you to sell their hardware? Why on earth would you pay to have these vendors that would either pay you for the opportunity to meet or who don’t have competency in the subject matter to speak to you…or should I be more straight forward and ask why pay for a sales pitch?

The second warning is on the concept of education at a trade show or conference. Most of the time the person giving the “training” is not being paid to instruct (in the sponsorship scenario they are actually paying for their opportunity to “train” you), but more than likely considers the speaking engagement an opportunity to give a sales pitch on their program. The degree of “pitch” vs training varies. I am sure we have all sat through the training program where we received 5 minutes of 80,000 foot theory and 55 minutes of program pitch, some disguised and some not so disguised. At other times we did get 45 – 50 minutes of 5,000 foot information and 10 – 15 minutes of pitch. The former is a complete waste of time and the latter provides you an opportunity to determine if the speaker can help your organization on a consulting or training basis.

The point is that you can learn at some of the conferences where the sponsors don’t get the majority of the speaking slots, but don’t expect to learn too much and choose the seminars you attend carefully. Let’s be realistic, do you think that a person that makes a living selling their knowledge is going to provide it to you for free, and do that in one hour?

What should you look to avoid? Preconference days that are completely paid for by sponsors and all of the speaking slots are taken by sponsors. These usually focus on the hot topic of the day like MPS or service improvement. Ironically, even though the sponsors paid to speak at these events they usually cost you additional money to attend—so you are paying to get a sales pitch.

The other area to avoid is conferences designed strictly to generate revenue for the show producer. What do they look like? A subject matter conference (always the hot topic of the day as that is the only topic anybody would be lured into paying for without much investigation) where all of the sponsors have speaking engagements. Whereas the add on day to the conference usually only costs an additional $99 - $150, effectively doubling the cost of the conference, it isn’t unusual for these total rip-off subject matter conferences to cost $795 - $995. Some go as far as having an add on day as a front runner to their totally sponsored conference.

If you really want education you need to pay for it and you should select the education topic you require. The good conference, like the main ITEX show or BTA regional events, may give you exposure to different speakers to help you make your assessment but once you believe you found a good trainer go to the specific workshop they offer on the subject and don’t attend any overpriced conferences hoping to get trained. You’ll only get trained if the trainer is getting compensated for their knowledge. The BTA offers some great programs.

Product information: If you want to compare and contrast products you have three choices, two of them logical. The first, illogical approach is to visit each company (illogical because of cost and time). The second is a series of webinars. The third is got to the main ITEX show and have appointments scheduled with each of the vendors to review their products.

Research: I find InfoTrends conference to be a great research opportunity. This isn’t the traditional educational event but it is one of the most educational events you can attend. Want to know what is going to happen with unit placements? You’ll learn it at the infoTrends conference. Want to know about print volume trends and where documents are being printed? You’ll learn it at the infoTrends conference. Basically, if you want to get into the details of the industry, copier or MPS, attend this conference.

You might want to research a new area—document archival for instance. There are trade shows for these areas such as AIIM. Search out the trade shows but use the information you have above to vet the show. If it is comprised totally of talking heads from the sponsors that are going to tell you how to do something they never did avoid the event.

The bottom line—there are a few shows that are worth the money if they fit into your goals but evaluate what your goals are against the agenda of the show.