CRN Exclusive: Xerox Express Delivers The In Demand, On Demand

Xerox partners who want to attack the SMB market have a new weapon in their arsenal: Xerox Express, a group of popular and reliable products that are readily available and come with excellent incentives, the company told CRN exclusively.

“It’s a pretty simple program, overall, to understand, and we think it’s going bring a lot of value to our partners by making it easier to do business with Xerox,” Todd Smith, vice president of the Xerox North American channel marketing team, told CRN. “This is absolutely focused to help the small to medium businesses.”

[Related: Xerox Launches New Printer Apps For Salesforce, QuickBooks, Concur]

The program assists agents, document technology partners and IT solution providers in selling more printers and multifunction printer devices to small and midsize businesses by leveraging distributors with an on-demand inventory of the most sought-after products in that market. Xerox Express is also offering partners the most competitive pricing for customers and richer sales incentives.

“A lot of our partners carry multiple lines and we’re trying to say, ‘Hey, instead of understanding 64 different product configurations and SKUs, here are 11 that are going to fit most of the activity that you’re doing out there in the marketplace, and here’s all the information summed up in one simple program,’ “ Smith said.

The Xerox Express products are incented with better SPIFs and offers just for partners to allow them make more money on this line, he said. The Express line also offers instant rebates that partners can pass along to customers.

“It is exciting to see Xerox launch a program that not only allows us to focus on key products, but ensures a well-stocked inventory so we can deliver on our promise,” said Bob Klein, owner of Document Solutions, a solution provider in Morgantown, W.Va.

Xerox Express’ product portfolio includes nine Xerox VersaLink, WorkCentre and Phaser printers and MFPs— both black and white and color, with a range of capabilities. Among the devices available are three Buyers Lab winners: the Xerox VersaLink C500 color printer, the Xerox VersaLink C505 MFP and the Xerox VersaLink B400 black-and-white printer.

“We’ve picked the sweet spot of what we call the ‘Work Team Product space,’” Smith said. “And within that that’s where we’ve seen the majority of the market buying products regardless of brand, in this workspace, for the small to medium-size business. So we’ve selected the products that fit that sweet spot the best. So it ranges from 30- to 35-page-per-minute devices, all the way up to 50-page-per-minute devices. So you have a complete offering there, in both monochrome and color. It fits easily on the desktop. It hits simple needs all the way up to the more complex needs, for instance, if they need to use workflows or apps.”

Accredited Master Elite Xerox partner Josh Justice, president of Just Tech in La Plata, Md., told CRN that this program will help by simplifying the model designations and having the devices he sells on a regular basis more readily available.

“Half of the units Just Tech sells are A4 units and almost all of those are the network and duplex capable versions,” he said. “I’m excited to see the DN versions of our most popular A4 products in Xerox’s new Express Line.”

Earlier this month Xerox unveiled new ConnectKey apps to spur partner sales, along with software templates and an e-commerce model that helps them create, market and sell their own apps.

“Speed is a prerequisite to success in today’s competitive marketplace,” said Pete Peterson, president, Xerox Channels. “By offering partners a fast track to ordering and placement they can further cement relationships with the clients they serve.”