The International!

Mystery!Who is the MPS Consultant,

where is he coming from and what is he made of?

Four industry experts weigh-in on what makes a successful managed print services consultant. Looking back at which MPS consultants they have hired (and consequently had to fire), these experts give advice on where to find the right people, what qualities those people should exhibit and the attributes that set them apart from the traditional salesperson.

Man of !

Sally Brause (SB) is the Director of Human Resources Consulting at GreatAmerica Leasing. Her areas of expertise are attracting, motivating and developing top talent and she has been sharing this expertise with office equipment dealers and resellers over the last couple years. Brause has a sincere desire to help clients become more successful by working with them to leverage their human capital developed through her work for several top companies in senior Human Resources roles. She is certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) and has been certified as a Compensation Professional through World at Work.

Tim Brien (TB) has  more  than  13  years  of  industry  sales  experience,  nine  of  which  are  in  the  imaging  industry.  Prior  to  joining  OKI  Data  Americas  where  he  now  holds  the  position  of  Director,  MPS  Sales,  Brien  worked  for  PrintFleet  since  the  company’s  inception.  At  the  time  he  directed  numerous  dealerships  to  successful  enterprise  print-­‐management  implementations  and  was  responsible  for  creating  back-­‐end  procedures  for  the  company’s  “go-­‐to”  market  MPS  strategy  in  the  BTA  dealer  and  VAR  channels.  Prior  to  PrintFleet,  Mr.  Brien  was  an  Account  Executive  at  Ricoh  Canada,  Inc.,  where  he  built  custom  infrastructure  solutions  while  dramatically  increasing  the  company’s  customer  base.  

With more than 28 years of imaging and office printer experience at Hewlett-Packard as a senior executive, Print, Inc., and as founder of Red Sage Consulting, Doug Johnson has earned a solid reputation as a pioneer in network printing and managed output services solutions. In his current role with Supplies Network, Johnson is responsible for managing Supplies Network’s award winning CARBON SiX MPS program. Johnson serves as the chief financial officer of the MPSA.

Michael Greenberg (GB) is an innovating leader in managed print services and has lead Denver-based PrinTelogy, Inc., an 18-year company focused in MPS, and Image Solutions, LLC., a 3-year old organization partnering as the sole service and support provider for Océ’s MPS offering in the United States. In addition to operating his companies, Greenberg consults for and has resided on the advisory boards of major printer and copier manufacturers, as well as being instrumental in assembling IT infrastructure that significantly improve company productivity, profit and customer service.

“I’m actually in the process of training the TSS (Technical and Software Support) Group, which consists of Regional Solutions Consultants and Regional Software Solutions Managers.

“Right now there are individuals who are available due to downsizing and changes—and if so, you may be able to get a mid-level manager with the right set of talents and behaviors that understand the industry and come across as very credible.

“I have seen dealerships hire right out of college and I think that can be successful, but there has to be some caution that goes with that. I’ve seen this work when you have a sales manager working closely with that individual in terms of the initial appointment, face-to-face meeting with the C-level individuals and as well as really helping them close that sale.”

“If you look at MSPs, not VARs, who sell consultatively, they already own the mission critical elements of the customer’s network and key services, they know how to sell consultatively, so the leap for them to selling the next adjacent service isn’t so hard, but they don’t have domain expertise around imaging and printing.

One of the key criterions is somebody that can have that executive-level discussion about business.  

“They could be out to dinner, for example, and they notice that things are not running smoothly, they are trying to diagnose the problem, and figure out how they would solve it.”

“Some people mention bringing in fresh-face college folks, I struggle with that because I think it’s harder for someone to sit down across from a CFO or a CIO or a CEO and talk strategy, because they just don’t have the personal experience to back it up.”