I’m somewhere over Minneapolis as I’m writing this on my way back from the Kyocera dealer meeting in Las Vegas. With over 1,000 attendees, this was a really nice event. Things kicked off as they usually do with a welcome reception, this time sponsored by our friends at GreatAmerica, one of the industry’s premier leasing companies. After reconnecting with friends until the wee hours of the night we got rolling bright and early Wednesday morning when the show officially kicked off.

On April 1 Takashi Kuki was promoted to President and Representative Director of KYOCERA Document Solutions Japan and he came over for this show; his first event in his new role. I like that fact that Mr. Kuki sold printers for 12 years. He understands what his reseller community goes through on a day-to-day basis. Mr. Kuki went over their financials, which were very strong. He also proudly announced that after a year of very few hardware announcements, Kyocera is bringing 26 new printer and MFP models to the market.

Kyocera saw 8% growth and record high revenue and this past year they will be targeting double-digit growth for 2016. 2015 was their 4th record year. “It is because of you our channel partners in America that we continue this growth,” he told listeners.

Kyocera is opening a new 10B Yen plant in Japan to make a newly developed toner. They have apparently tabled the bio-based toner they had been working with in recent years. The reason for this change in direction was due to the fact that the bio toner was made from palm oil, which is not environmentally friendly. Like many of their competitors, Kyocera wants to be eco friendly and although there is a lot to like about the bio toner, it does not fit in with Kyocera’s green strategy.

Some impressive statements where coming off the stage during the opening session as the President and CEO Mr. Norihiko Ina followed Mr. Kuki and told the crowd “we must evolve, we are never satisfied standing still.” Ed Bialecki, SVP Sales also told attendees “we believe we are more dealer-centric than any manufacturer.” Indeed, they truly are as 80% of their revenue comes from their dealer channel. Peter Hendrick, VP of Corporate Marketing and Business Services Division told us about the powerful partnerships with companies like DocuWare and others that allow Kyocera to “bring dealers the best.” Peter wants to help dealers “pick the low hanging fruit” but also the fruit beyond.

Some really nice looking A4 is coming in the next few months. Danielle Wolowitz, Senior Director of Corporate Marketing introduced them and told listeners these three new models are the first truly “A3-like” A4 models. At 40+ PPM in color, these devices bring 3-tier billing (and speed) to the A4 portfolio, an area that was lacking products with that capability.

If you’re not familiar with the 3-tier pricing, this is the model that allows Kyocera dealers to charge different levels based on the amount of color in the printed document. Prints with very little color (like an email with a single small hyper link or logo) cost less than prints that have full color. Kyocera has made this available to dealers for about three years now and I’m pretty surprised that only about 40% of them are using it.

It’s funny because if I was still a sales rep I would be chomping at the bit to go out there and show customers how I could absolutely save them money just by buying from me. However, the plan seems difficult to implement and monitor and while overzealous salespeople like myself might be dying to sell this pricing model, service/supply departments apparently don’t love the extra work involved and the issues it creates with customers that don’t hit their monthly minimums at one level but then go over at others – one of several logistical issues dealers are struggling with.

The product fair was amazing. When you walked in the first thing you saw were all of the new products in the middle of the room. People loved that and I had a number of dealers tell me almost in whispers how they know they’re not supposedto like hardware anymore but they do. You can see the room yourself in my video walk through. The floor was really well laid out; great signage and every station had a very simple but powerful placard above the machines/solutions that referenced a big win and how the solution solved an issue. Nicely done.

Kyocera is really promoting the use of social media to their resellers. They understand how powerful it can be to get 750 dealers behind them. Add all the sales reps from those dealerships to the mix and you can see how that can be a pretty powerful marketing approach. It’s one thing when Kyocera says something, it’s quite another if/when thousands of dealer sales reps do it. They had a communications room set up with several vendors that had content and programs that dealers could take advantage of. Social media works. Period.

At the end of the event we all sat down with Mr. Ina, Mr. Kuki, Peter, Danielle and Dan Butler. A few of the bigger topics included discussion as to why Kyocera will not be considering an inkjet or a production device any time soon. I get inkjet but Mr. Ina candidly told us he would like production. Mr. Kuki responded saying they can’t do everything, their resources are limited and essentially, it comes down to choices. They also will not be entering the 3D market anytime soon. I like how frank they were. No dancing around questions. They were very direct, even when the answer may not have made them look good (e.g. no production gear for Mr. Ina in the near future).

Solutions are a growing area of Kyocera’s portfolio but they are still a laser printer company. They do have a very strong solutions portfolio too, particularly in the areas of education and healthcare.

What really impressed me about the event is what the dealers said about them. They felt it was a great show. I really couldn’t find anyone that had anything bad to say at all. Seriously. No one. They liked the new gear. They liked the social media program. They liked the solutions. I was trying to get them to give me something negative and I couldn’t.

The only thing I can think of to pick on them for is the lack of production hardware but with a 70/80-PPM color MFP coming out shortly (with optional EFI controller) they’re getting close. And really, does it matter that much? Dealers that want that level of technology have found other sources by now and as Kyocera’s numbers have been strong and consistent for several years, how can you argue that their strategy is wrong?

It was a really nice show and incredibly busy. The product fair looked great. I met people from France, England, Germany, Chile, Japan. Subsidiaries from all over the world sent representatives to see how these guys run their show over here and it was great chatting with people from other markets. Printer sales aren’t much different in most places. Dealers are happy with the progress, products and programs and Kyocera seems to be picking up momentum. I’d say this was a pretty successful show by any measure.

~Andy