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HOW THE INDUSTRY CAN IMPROVE Not enough is written by industry pundits about tangible ways in which the industry can service customers better. Not surprising, since virtually all of the people who do know what's wrong and could speak up about it are either employed by, or on retainer to, one or more of the manufacturers. Therefore, in its role as an independent consumer advocate, Pro Buyers respectfully submits this list of suggested improvements to the attention of all copier/printer manufacturers: 1. Incorporate a standard open architecture operating system into all digital copiers. The off-shore manufacturers that have resisted open architecture for all these years need to understand that the time for proprietary source codes is past. As it stands today, a major impediment to the growth of the digital copying industry is the fact that users can't download copy & print tracking data directly from the marking engine without going to a third-party hardware manufacturer that must first reverse engineer the retrieval process (because manufacturers won't share proprietary source codes). 2. Make invoices mistake-free and easy to read. This should be an easy fix, yet incorrect billing is a sad fact of life that copier buyers across America deal with every day. There are consultants who make a very good living in our industry getting paid to correct billing errors. We have to wonder why no company can put a stop to this. Could it be an extra source of profit nobody wants to walk away from? 3. Put a stop to the endless and tiring "divide and conquer" sales strategies currently being taught, or tacitly approved by, virtually every manufacturer. Manufacturers and dealers, who are in denial about these tactics, need to get real and be outspoken about not endorsing all such under-handed and improper sales tactics. The reputation of our industry is at stake. 4. Stand up to the leasing companies that basically control the industry at this point. Manufacturers should band together and put more pressure on the third-party leasing companies to more fairly construct equipment lease documents. The leasing companies have gotten out of hand by: Charging extra for insurance during the lease term; requiring outrageously high "fair market values" of worthless equipment at the end of the term, and; forcing the consumer to pay for freight and insurance to return the worthless equipment upon lease termination. 5. Stop the charade of offering so-called "consulting" services from supposedly "independent" corporate entities of the manufacturer. Does anyone seriously think that one company will recommend the products of another? We think even offering such programs proves how far removed from the customer the manufacturers really are. All customers know this is a sham, so why not just put a stop to it? 6. Create more commonality of user interface panels into product family designs. One of the "big three" industry manufacturers has, by our count, no less than nine (9) different user panel designs. 7. Don't force customers to pay for what they don't want. We all know why manufacturers want color-enabled devices to become prevalent, but did anyone stop to ask how the consumer is going to be protected? Does anyone care? If you have shared these or other frustrations as a buyer, or if you represent a manufacturer or dealer and would like to comment on the above, please call the founder of Pro Buyers directly on his cell phone at 407-744-2405 or email him at: JSmith@ProBuyersLLC.com. |
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