When was the last time you did a demo in your demo room?

i'd say 1 every other week, but still most coming from brochure/pencil close. Its only hard if ppl arent serious buyers or serious about you. Our demo room is probably the envy of every dealership around- its like a new macintosh, unashamedly modern in appearance but your not afraid to play with it.. compared to other showrooms that are more like an apple II - all the current products (except seg 1) and all of the software we'd sell is ready to go.

When was the last time you did a demo in your demo room? Right now, I'm once a week, and one every two to three weeks in the field

Do you make most of your sales from a brochure? probably 70% from brochures, not a good thing, we all need to do more demo's!

Do you find it hard to get customers to come into your demo room? yes, it's easier to go to them with a unit

Would you consider your demo room to be well stocked with current product and software solutions? Hardware, yes, solutions, we have PPDM and Autostore running

When you say you take a copier to a customer for a demo...

Is it a Conditonal Sale? I will do this but only on the terms of if the MFP works as described you agree to buy/ lease that same unit without any further demos.

I have seen too many potential customers do the Vendor merry go round with six copier vendors to get free copiers for several months.

I have seen too many RFQs where a customer has to get three quotes and you are unexpected lowest bid. They ask you in for demo but never intended to give you the business.

It is too much work and time to connect an MFP (Copy/ Print/Fax/Scan/demo) and possible expense (maybe there and back, if you use a 3rd party moving company). We no longer request our aging Service techs to move heavy A3 colour copiers themselves, for fear of injury.

the vendor's risk should be proportional to the customer's committment. If they will sign a contingent order then you treat them like a customer. Though, if the answer to this question is based on a cost justificaiton, it would depend upon how streamlined your dealership is... If your salemen are doing the networking then you are gambling with more money than if your dealership has a tech taking care of the fine tuning.

quote:

When you say you take a copier to a customer for a demo...

Is it a Conditonal Sale? sometimes yes, meaning we've agreed if the system performs the customer will move forward and sometimes no, it's mor eof the puppy dog close, try it and see if you like it. I will do this but only on the terms of if the MFP works as described you agree to buy/ lease that same unit without any further demos.

I have seen too many potential customers do the Vendor merry go round with six copier vendors to get free copiers for several months.

I have seen too many RFQs where a customer has to get three quotes and you are unexpected lowest bid. They ask you in for demo but never intended to give you the business.

It is too much work and time to connect an MFP (Copy/ Print/Fax/Scan/demo) and possible expense (maybe there and back, if you use a 3rd party moving company). We no longer request our aging Service techs to move heavy A3 colour copiers themselves, for fear of injury.

quote:

Originally posted by SalesServiceGuy:
I have seen too many potential customers do the Vendor merry go round with six copier vendors to get free copiers for several months.

Yes, I remember once seeing a "bid" that had a requirement of a 90-day, no-obligation trial.

At the time, I joked "They'd only need to get 4 guys to bite on this and then they wouldn't even have to buy a copier!".

Exactly one year later, I saw the same "bid" from the same company. I guess it's working out for them.

We declined to participate both times.