Peter Ranson, Purfleet Sales Manager, NCS Group
Q: What are your customers most interested in?
A: At present the trend is for secure printing and secure disposal of their data. I think this is mainly due to the increased awareness of GDPR being generated in the market.
Q: Do clients have the same understanding of industry terms, such as BYOD, MPS or MDS, as we do?
A: No – most clients hate the acronyms that are bandied around. I think one in 50 customers I meet understands any of these terms.
Q: Where are you seeing most traction at the moment, are there any verticals that are particularly strong?
A: There isn’t a particular vertical customer market that there is traction but there is a very strong interest in GDPR compliance and whether the solution they have will comply after the 25th May 2018.
Q: When selling MFPs, what are the most popular software solutions you provide and why?
A: A few years ago I would have been selling Uniflow, Safecom or eCopy but with the increased in-built capability of modern MFDs, the most popular solution is Papercut. It’s simple, cheap and as good as anything else on the market.
Q: Where do you get information on the latest products and solutions, and do you feel that the OEMs are doing enough to educate their channel partners?
A: Mainly the Internet or internal training sessions. I always think OEMs can do more!! So no they are not doing enough.
Q: Is your patch particularly competitive – is it national or local competition that you face?
A: It is a very competitive market all round regardless of area. In some deals everyone and their dog are in and in others it’s limited to a few local dealers. It’s a great market to be in but you have to evolve and be smarter in what solution you are offering and how you look after your customers.
Q: How do you spend your week – time on phone, face to face meetings with customers etc.?
A: Probably about 20 per cent on the phone and then the rest of the time either travelling to or from customers or in front of customers.
Q: What would make your job easier?
A: Customers and potential clients need to be more honest.