Panasonic Scanners

Five Reasons Why Dealers Should Lead with Panasonic Scanners

Today had me with a working lunch and I wanted to connect with Brian Szoke (Partner Sales Manager for Document Imaging with Panasonic) to educate us more about Panasonic and their document scanners.  It's my belief that we all need to educate ourselves (including me) with different products and solutions that can create additional opportunities for us in the field.  Below is our short chat.

Art: Hey Brian hope you and family had a great Thanksgiving. As you know there are many manufacturers that offer document scanners. Why would should we lead with Panasonic?

Brian: First and foremost,  Panasonic as a whole is a 100+ year company with a long list of B2B products. From Toughbook tablet, audio and visual to Tesla batteries to name a few.  For over 27 years Panasonic has also manufactured award winning document scanners and scanning solutions. We were awarded the 2019 BLI scanner line of the year.  Which is a major accomplishment in the scanner industry.

We offer a breath of product and solutions a partner can sell to any client. From a scanner to a back end ECM.

One of of the biggest reasons a dealership like yourself would want to lead with Panasonic is our customer service and programs.  

Customer service is very important to us at Panasonic.  We are aligned in a way that we have an outside sales rep and an inside sales rep in each territory.

Where obviously myself being an outside sales rep, I'm more the feet on the street guy and willing to going onsite with any sales rep representing the manufacturer or just to be an extension to their sales force. The inside sales rep is waiting to assist with any needs a value added reseller asks.  This team together can turn around information in minutes and provide you all the information you need to be successful and win the opportunity.

Art: You mentioned dealer programs. How does your programs differ from other manufacturers?

Our programs are designed with two key important factors Protection and Margin.  In my past 25 years + in this industry and working for the other competitors.  I can confidently say Panasonic does far more to make sure the reseller opportunities are protected. Most manufacturers have the mentality of we don’t care who drives the opportunity as long as someone wins with their products.  Panasonic takes a different approach to the market. We do everything in our power to protect and make sure the person driving the opportunity wins the sale. Big or small!!

Art: Got it, so can you tell me more about how that works for the dealer?

Brian: One of the ways we can protect our partner is with our no-nonsense deal registration which give the dealers an 8% advantage .  All we require is the partner to get us involved early in the sales cycle. This allows us to register the opportunity quickly and protect the sale from other partners.  Also we can be aggressive on price especially if the partner is up against a competitive manufacturer.

Art: One of the biggest problems I've seen over the years with selling scanners is that the margins for dealer and salespeople stink.  Price checking is something that almost every client does and I'm tired of losing deals because pricing on the web is the same as my sales rep cost or less.  How does Panasonic deal with this?

One of the ways to combat against this, Panasonic has a strict MAP policy. As a manufacturer we dictate what the online stores price will be.  We police this as well.  My manager Fred Scherman takes a strict approach to this and if we find an online store advertising below MAP we jump on it.  We will allow them to change their price and if they don’t they will de-authorized Immediately.   

We set the MAP pricing higher than our competitors because this allows dealers to garner more margin with every opportunity.  We have partners that make upwards of 20% on scanners.

Our Panasonic partner program earns our VAR's a back end rebate.  Depending the tier of the dealership, your dealership could earn you up to 12% back at the end of a quarter.

Art: That's a pretty cool program and something you don't see from the likes of Fujitsu and Epson.  With Ricoh,  sales people get spiffs on most of the MFP's that reps sell.  For many of us we rely on those spiffs to make up dollars with competitive opportunities.  Does Panasonic offer something like that?

Brian: Yup we also have a lucrative Spiff program. We spiff dollars not points.  Our spiff program can earn a sales rep or company 30 to 600 dollars per scanner.   Both the Back End rebate and Spiff program are based on the more you sell the more you earn.

If you're in the Northeast to Mid-Atlantic region please feel free to hook up with Brian.  If you're in other areas you can also reach out to Fred.

Now let's go sell some scanners!

-=Good Selling=-

5 Questions About the New Panasonic KV-S5078Y Network Scanner

On Tuesday evening I had the chance to speak with Brian Szoke  Partner Sales Manager - Document Imaging for Panasonic.  Personally I like keeping on top of trends and knowing as much as I can new applications and hardware.

Over the last 40 years it's been more about what you know and how I can translate that to clients to help them with their business challenges.  

I understand that the time of COVID19 is tough for all of us, however there are many businesses that are killing it even with COVID19.  Plus different parts of the country are not affected as bad as we are in the northeast.

Below is a transcript from our chat.  Please feel free to contact myself or Brian if you have any questions.

Hey Brian I think it was a couple of months ago that I saw a luanch for a new scanner?  Can you tell me something about it?

Yes we introduced the 5078Y third generation release of the KV-S5000 Series of Low Volume Production document scanners focused on 5 Major area’s

• Speed & Performance
• Superior Image quality
• Quieter operation
• Less maintenance / Longer life rollers
• Network Connectivity

With the new 5078Y we increased the speed from 100 ppm to 120 ppm at 200 and 300 dpi.  We also increased the capacity by 10% making the feeder 330sheets and made the scanner more flexible on scanning various paper types from 5 to 56 lbs.  Anything from rice paper to card stock.

That's pretty cool especially the ability to scan from something so thin to heavy card stock. Are there any new image enhancement features with the KV-S5087Y?

We added even more on board image enhancements to the scanner for example:

1. Faint Character Enhancement:  Just like it’s name makes light text/characters more clear. This features helps increase OCR accuracy when originals with light text are scanned
2. Vertical line reduction:  Vertical Line Reduction detects and deletes vertical lines which are sometimes generated by dust accumulation on the scanning glass.
3. Dust resistance coating:   This The conductive coating on the backside of the scanning glass allows paper dust to be repelled and prevents accumulation around the scanning glass.

You mentioned quieter operation, what was some the physical changes made to the new 5078Y Panasonic scanner?

Compared to its predecessor model, the KV-S5078Y has major improvements to reduce the overall noise generated during scanning. These additional improvements have lowered the operating noise down to 54db or less.

1. Added quieter feeder bearing reducing knocking noise during Paper pickup
2. Added medal sheets inside the scanner reduce document friction noise for quieter feeding
3. New Paper feed motor for faster scanning and lower noise output

(Sound is measured in decibels (dB). For reference, normal breathing is about 10 dB, a whisper or rustling leaves 20 dB, and conversation at home are around 50 dB. A washing machine registers roughly at 70 dB, and a lawnmower is around 90 dB.)

I had the chance to review the spec sheet it mentions Panasonic Toughfeed.  What does the Toughfeed mean to my clients?

ToughFeed is combination of Panasonic’s features incorporated into our production class document scanners. ToughFeed is designed prevent unnecessary disruptions due to accidental damage to the scanner and reduce double feeding errors which can affect operational efficiency.

1. Staple detection Stapled document detection is designed to prevent accidental damage to the Scanning Glass. The KV-S5078Y utilizes multiple sensors within the feeder to detect stapled documents. Once a stapled document is detected, the scanning operation is stopped immediately to prevent scratches to the scanning glass and the original documents.
2. Ultrasonic Double Feed Detection  The KV-S5078Y is equipped with a ultrasonic double feed detection sensor. This sensor is not just designed to detect double feeds, but can also generate a double feed error in the event a document contains sticky notes, taped documents or pictures to the original.
3. Intelligent Double Feed Detection Intelligent Double Feed Detection allows users to customize the error detection settings to allow certain routine documents which may purposely contain a label, receipt or picture to scan without triggering a double feed error.
4. Redesigned the feed roller for long life and easy cleaning.

You also mentioned Network Capabilities, is this also a network attached scanner?

Yes the 5078Y also is equipped with a ethernet port. Making a 120ppm scanner network attached and give the ability to scan in a pull or push configuration.

Pull scanning method allows scanning to be initiated via PC over LAN using Image Capture Plus, TWAIN or ISIS drivers.  It's the same as if you were connect via a USB cable directly to PC the only difference it is connected directly to the network.

Push Scan Mode allows users to create pre-set network scan jobs on the KVS5078Y which eliminates the need for a connected PC. Up to 30 Presets can be configured for access through the device’s control Panel.

A user would simply walk up to the scanner and select a pre configure job and scan.  Scan to a network folder, scan to email , scan to a FTP site similar to a MFP.

Thanx Brian, hoping we can connect sometime in the near future.

Note from Art: In my 40 years of selling to SMB accounts I'll admit that I thought my MFP's could scan anything for anyone.  Yes I was somewhat naive with that thinking.  Clients want to scan every piece of paper that's in their workflow.  There can be a variety of different documents like rice paper, NCR, EKG's, warehouse tickets, thin paper and cover stock. In addition look at all of the different sizes of those documents. MFP's would be hard pressed to accomplish all of the different sizes of paper along with all of the different types of paper.

Think out of the box, be creative and keep educating your self because we still need to be the best avenue for clients that need help.

Learn more about Panasonic Scanners here

For years and years I wanted nothing to do with selling desktop and workgroup scanners.  I learned the hardware many years ago that selling desktop and workgroup scanners an exercise in wasting my fraking time. 

Years ago when I first saw those desktop scanners from Fujitsu I thought they would sell like hotcakes. I thought, I could sell these to everyone that had a desk and processed paper.  I had the talk track down, I was able to get the decision makers to buy in, however when it came down buying time I lost every single time.  In those earlier years I had no clue as to how commoditized and how easy it was to price those scanners on the web. 

I lost to price and that's because either the DM or the IT person did a quick check on the web and my price was too high. I'm not talking onesies or twosies, but rather 15-20 scanners, when you're $100 or more higher that amounts to quite a few dollars.  In addition we didn't provide service nor maintenance agreements. Thus where was the value to buy from the dealer?  There was none.

The reason I'm in this crazy business is because I can make crazy money when I want or need it.  In most cases it takes a combination of GP and revenue to hit the crazy money levels.  In some cases we (sales) take the good with the bad.  Good GP and or bad GP it all goes to my revenue goals.

There were many times when I was asked about scanners from clients and I opted out, told the client you're better off buying them on the web. We all know the reason for that statement.  Thus for years and years I avoided talking about scanners.

It was last September at the BTA Grand Slam Event in NYC, when I noticed Panasonic scanners at one of the booths.  I stopped had a short chat about the (I'm still a hardware junkie at heart) scanners along with learning that Panasonic sells their scanners through distributors.  Thus I met some of the peeps from the distributor and from Panasonic.

Fast forward to early November and the Jillian Gala, I ran into some of the Panasonic peeps in the courtyard at the Venetian. It was Walton that re-introduced me to the Panasonic reps I meet at the BTA event. I made the statement why I hated selling scanners and it what a waste of time it was. 

Have you ever made a statement and then had to eat it? Well this was me that night, little did I know that one of the peeps in our small group from Fred Scherman (National Sales Manager for Panasonic).  Fred went on to tell me about Panasonic Program for BTA dealers and how the pricing works when it comes to clients that will go out and price scanners.  Rather than getting into all the details and making the blog longer than I want I'll cut to the chase. 

The Panasonic BTA program allows dealers to price scanners and not be priced out on the web. If you want a better explanation then please call or email Fred (email address below).

I thought this was awesome!  I could now pitch scanners again and don't have to be afraid of my client finding a ridiculous price on the web from a distributor or Panasonic direct. I could hold a small amount of GP and generate addition revenue opportunities. Thus a few weeks after out little chat group Fred and I spoke in length about the dealer program. I was stoked about the program and thought that other sales peeps need to know this also. I brought Panasonic on board as a sponsor just about 30 days ago.

I also did my homework on the scanner pricing also. I priced a few of them out and then went to check the pricing on the web.  In both cases I had a better price that what I found on the web.  I guess the icing on the cake is that Panasonic also offers spiffs on all of their scanners to the sales peeps.

No longer do I have to worry about not having a good price for scanners. In fact I feel comfortable pitching them and helping clients understand that the can be more productive with desktop scanners. No longer do I have to cringe when I see the brands of Fujitsu or Epson!

In the next 30 days we'll be having our first webinar with the introduction to Panasonic and how the program works. If you're like me and hardware still remains and important part of your business then you should be "all in" for the webinar.

Here's Fred's email fred.scherman@us.panasonic.com as promised please email him to learn more about this really cool program for sales people.  Here's the link to the Panasonic web page.

Here's the link for the Panasonic Scanner Spiffs

-=Good Selling=-