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I decided to post here portions of an an email I sent out to our company reps. This applies to this small dealership but has poinient remarks all of us need to realize...

Do you realize how many 2035/2045 series units we would have to have to cover every 2035, 2035 S/P, 2045, 2045 S/P request that may come down from 7 sales reps? Now the 2022/2027 series with S/P versions are going to be the same way. We literally have 12 different models between 22 and 45 cpm now! As recently as 4 years ago we only had three, the 200, 250 and 401. Compound that with 30+ different accessories where there used to be, what, maybe 4 or 5 that we actually sold? With the 200 and 250 we seldom sold any accessory except ADF and fax...no printing, no finishing, no paper banks, no shift sort trays, no duplex or by-pass (because they were standard), no PostScript, no HDD yet all of these accessories are common now and missing any one on an install may be totally unsatisfactory. You may want a fax option and be frustrated because we can't get your demo out even though we may have 3 machines, just no fax options but we may as well have had nothing as far as you are concerned.

Consider this...If we had just one 2035/2045 in stock per rep for 7 reps, that would be approximately $91,000 at dealer cost tied up in just one small segment of the product line. It now takes somewhere around $150,000 to have just one of each model between 22 and 45cpm in stock. Yet even with $150,000 tied up in just that part of the product line, you still can't have one if any of the other 6 sales reps has it on trial or sold because there was only one to be had. Now multiply these equations about 3-fold to accommodate low-end, high-end, printers, faxes, Riso, and OKI Data. Inventory control is 10 times more difficult then it was just 3-4 years ago and to make things even more difficult, Ricoh is going through the same thing so much of what we order has some components Ricoh can't deliver. Therefore, even if we had things down perfectly, we still wouldn't have stuff you need when you need it because of Ricoh's backorders.

The point is, those days of having what you need when you need it are long gone and each of us need to recalibrate our thinking. I'm open to any ideas you have that you think will help short of "double our inventory" unless you are prepared to put up the capital. Each one of us needs to do everything we can do to help, mainly:
a.) Keep trials to a week or less. Anything more must be approved by me.
b.) Don't make promises you don't have to make. Under-commit so you can over-deliver. Most of our problems we create ourselves by making promises we didn't have to make.
c.) Accept trials that may not be the perfect model or configuration. Now with consistent control panels through-out the product line, you could sell a 2022 off of a 2045 if you have to and there might be times when you'll have to.
d.) Do not ever tell the customer that they can keep our unit until theirs comes in. Again, this needs to be approved by me from now on.
e.) Special order equipment to fill sales any time you can. If they are OK with a three week wait, let us order their unit and accessories special just for them. In the mean time, we still have a unit to demo.
e.) LOWER YOUR EXPECTATIONS SIGNIFICANTLY and realize that these issues are not unique to CBS. If a competitor can deliver out of inventory the exact model and configuration they requested, it is by the grace of God, not because there inventory is so large that they can deliver anything requested.
f.) Be glad that we are not a dual line dealer.
g.) Feel fortunate that we have the inventory we have. 90% or more of the companies out there are trying to get by with much less.

Thank you for your attention and your patience.
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That's one reason we took on Canon. We can have the machine in 48hrs or less from the Dallas warehouse, or we can drive there and pick it uup same day if needed. Ricoh screwed all the people in Texas when they closed the Dallas warehouse. We used to get stuff in about 2 days or less and could drive to pick it up if we needed. Now with our stuff coming from Tennesse, we wait at least 4-5 days for shipping.
Very well done! We are a Ricoh, RISO dealer and this is very consistent with our practices in Pennsylvania. We can often over deliver and will do whatever is necessary to include some sort of a loaner, but the rep had better have a good reason and not make it a habit. Most customers are not unrealistic and if you have the relationship which is the key, 3 weeks or less should not cause problems. We happen to quote 7 to 10 business days as the norm, but we do have the benefit of a Ricoh warehouse within an hour of our corporate office.
We had this very same converation in our Monday sales meeting. We had to purchase some of the new 2022/2027.

We opted for one 2027 fully loaded (we are a small dealer with 7 reps also). We will use the sell down approach, and demo all of the features or just the features that are needed to demo or clsoe the sale.

Our sales staff gets a $100 bonus for every 6 demostrations that are completed per month. None of our guys (except for me) make this bonus, as a matter of fact, I am only aware of a few demo's per month for our entire staff.

I would much rather have the unit in fron of the customer and have a chance to close the deal for the as many accessories as possible. However, the true demo in our office has been lost to "order takers" or "book sellers". I have always been in favor of selling the demonstration first and then sell the system!

In reference to the time it takes to get inventory, we have suffered like alot of other dealers and have relied on Ricoh to inventory the items for us for the last year. we have had to put our delivery time anywhere from 8 to 14 days out! I don't care how good your relationship is after 10 days the waiting games gets old.

My theory is to stock for demo one of the 2027's and one of the 2035's, load em up with all of the options and then sell down. It works when there are not many demo's, however if your staff is averaging a few demos a day for the same product, you can find your self needing 5 to 7 of these units on hand at all times.

Don't have any answers fro you, but this is what we are doing here in Jersey
Gentlemen, my VP of Sales implemented a policy of a monthly equipment forecast w/ product codes so that he could properly inventory those forecasted products so we didn't have the typical month-end scramble for equipment. We did this 3 months ago and so far (knock on wood) it has worked very well. Have we still scrambled for equipment for a deal that "just came up" and wasn't forecasted for that month - you bet we have. For the most part it has been very successful.
It has also help hold the sales reps accountable for their monthly forecast $'s since they know they will get chewed on if they are off by a large amount. Hope this helps!
We are a small dealership where we do not have the luxury of having machines in the demo room to show. Fortunately, we have a relationship with the customer that we can sell off of a brochure, and then order the unit, which usually comes from TN. The majority of the time I will buy from Savin, instead of Ricoh, because of not only price to the dealer, but turn-a-round time. I can sympathisize with the problems other dealers are having with inventory. We are lucky if we have a machine to demo. I lost a sale to Canon the other day because I did not have a machine on the floor to bring to them that day, but it happens. You can't show what you ain't got!
Realistic forecasting will always be an issue, because we believe we can sell everything that comes along, but in actuality the experienced rep knows that no matter how many sales you have on the forecast sheet, not all are going to close that month. Only time and experience will change that type of thinking.

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