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Workgroup

But over the past year, the company launched a major new channel program, conducted one of its busiest years of product introductions ever, and worked to leverage its color technology. It worked, and in this year's ARC survey, Xerox took all but one category in the Workgroup Color Printers space to take home the overall crown.

Gary Gilliam, vice president of channel operations for Xerox North America, said "we just feel great" about retaking the No. 1 spot in the segment in 2007, and said many of the areas where the company did best were actually under way before the past year began.

Not only has the company continued to work to leverage its success with technology like solid ink, which it acquired when it bought Tektronix in 2000, but it's also focusing on solutions. Specifically, Gilliam mentioned Xerox's Page Pack offering, which provides a program for solution providers to sell supplies contracts to customers.

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"Today we have close to 400 trained and certified resellers who are out there, able to capture that post-sale, that services business," Gilliam said. "Solid ink is really a differentiator for us. Now it's really resonating with the channel and customers out there. I think they're going to see more varied approaches or options from the solid ink line."

Vincent DiSpigno, co-owner of Webistix, a Holbrook, N.Y.-based solution provider, said that for several years, his company's sales of Xerox printers grew at a brisk pace--but have recently flattened out. However, DiSpigno said that was indicative of Xerox's strengths and not a weakness.

"This year, it's kind of flattened out but only because we have a fairly small customer base and we stuffed them full of Xerox printers," DiSpigno said. "They are pretty reliable, and they last a long time."

DiSpigno said that, over the past few years, a good portion of Webistix's growth was due to how fast its Xerox business was growing. "Along with the Apple stuff we were doing, we sold a lot of printers," he said.

Jerry Locher, president of Electronic Solutions, a Virginia Beach, Va.-based solution provider, issued a split verdict. While he spoke highly of Xerox's product quality, he, like other solution providers, also lauded Ricoh in the Workgroup Color Printers category for its partner support.

Keith Donnagin, president of MCO Computer Supplies, a Glen Burnie, Md.-based solution provider, said, "Xerox has been great to us. Being as small as we are, I feel their vendor support is head and shoulders above what we see from HP and others."

"I think they are proactive," Donnagin continued. "The inside reps have their quarterly seminar locally. I've done a lot of seminars where everybody pushes their product, but theirs is well done. It's very simple. They take a few points, drill them home, and educate you on the product."

Donnagin said his company, which sees just over $3 million annually in sales and has fewer than five employees, benefits from the proactive nature of Xerox's channel program in ways other vendors have not matched.

The Page Pack program, seminars, and direct contact are all aimed at moving channel partners away from box-based sales strategies into services-based strategies, he said.