Glory, I agree. Fortunatly I work for a dealer who is willing to pass along any discount he can get, unfortunatly, a lot of the "promo's" that RBS has, we can't match from a dealership standpoint. It would cost too much if targets weren't hit and we already sold at the promotional price.
We are also fortunate enough to have the ability to sell off state Costars contract to SLG, NCPG for churches, ReMax and other contracts that are known.
I think a lot of the problems with dealerships is the same problem that has always existed, too many gready owners. RBS doesn't have this problem. They are being funded by a much larger organization and aren't worried about overhead.
I also can't believe that RBS isn't using the DMAP registered accounts in their own lists. I used to work for CBS, most of my named accounts were given to me by top management. I always wondered where they got the information from, especially since 90% of them already had Canon equipment from a competitor. As a dealer, we try to protect ourselves as much as possible, we don't submit client info for aficio league.
This is a battle that is going to move to a war very quickly. I work in a marketplace where RBS isn't authorized (yet). Dealerships across the board are going to need to transform into a solutions provider or they will end up with shrinking revenues and profits once the directs are in full swing.