quote:Lately, what I’ve seen is Direct Branches pushing only color boxes, and usually what that means is there’s a big incentive for the rep.
Ricoh Americas Corporation (focus on 'Americas') lags behind Japan and Europe in terms of Color placements and Ricoh has developed incentive programs that focus on shifting B&W machines to Color (hence, the term B2C).
Most Direct Branch reps tell the customer if they buy from them they’ll be buying from the manufacturer and they will have better service than any dealer! Take it from me, that’s a bunch of hog wash!
True and true.
Independent Dealers must indeed focus on their reputation for service and 'sell' the total value that they can bring to the customer account.
This is even more important these days if you are selling Ricoh manufactured equipment becuase they have made it clear that they are giving more 'support' to IKON and RBS, as they can't rely on Independent Dealers to achieve their growth targets. Price will certainly be moving up on the list of "hurdles" to overcome, when competing against 'Direct.'