There’s something about disruption that doesn’t just shake the house, it rattles the foundation. COVID did it. Remote work did it. And now, tariffs are doing it again. They’re not just inflating costs. They’re forcing our clients to lift the veil, walk into the server room, and ask, “What the hell are we paying for?”
We’ve been warning this was coming.
When I wrote The Rules of MPS, the message was simple: reduce devices, shift focus to processes, and rethink what customers actually need. That wasn’t a guess. That was observation from the trenches. Still, the industry clung to comfort. We pumped out bloated A3 leases, paraded awards in boardrooms, and trained reps to run the same end-of-month playbook as if the world outside never changed.
It changed. They changed.
And for those of us who saw it coming, who tried to build the lifeboats while the others kept drilling into the hull, this moment tastes a little like vindication.
The Sales Floor Smells Like Toner and Fear
I remember walking into a dealership back in 2010, helping with a rollout. The floor smelled like warm toner and cheap coffee. Posters of “Top Rep” from 2008 hung crooked on the wall. I asked the GM what the average lease term was.
“Sixty months, but we flip 'em at thirty-six. Makes the numbers sing.”
I asked him what happened when customers started asking about workflow software or cloud backup.
He blinked. “We just redirect to the equipment. That’s what we do.”
What we do. That sentence stuck. It wasn’t about the customer. It was about preserving a dying ritual.
Today, that same dealer is gone. Acquired, absorbed, or shuttered. One of many.
Tariffs are not the problem. Tariffs are the match. The problem is the kindling we built — five-year contracts on machines that solve a two-year problem, sold to buyers who now read Gartner reports before your rep clears the parking lot.
Customers are savvier. They know how to research. They know how to ask better questions. And now, because of those tariffs and the post-COVID paperless push, they’re finally asking the one that scares most reps to death:
“Do I need this at all?”
From "Click Counts" to Confrontation
We used to brag about saving customers 30 percent. We walked in with that promise like it was gospel. But what if the whole equation was flawed? What if the 30 percent we saved was still 100 percent more than what they needed?
In MPS 2014 – There Are Four Lights, I said it flatly. MPS wasn’t transformational anymore. It was a shell game. Take out a competitor’s machine, drop yours in, slap a per-click contract on top, and call it strategy.
And it worked. Until it didn’t.
You can smell the desperation now. Deals are harder to close. Buyers ghost your reps. The equipment demo isn’t a show anymore, it’s a hurdle. You walk into offices that used to hum with printing and you hear silence. The copier in the hallway has dust on it. Literally.
That’s not metaphor. I’ve seen it. I’ve walked past it. Dust.
A4, E-commerce, and the Ghost of Missed Pivots
Let’s be honest about A4. We resisted it because it didn’t pad quotas. It didn’t feed the five-year lease machine. But I said it in The DOTC Book. A4 was coming. Remote work, smaller offices, agile environments. A3 was a luxury in a world moving toward minimalism.
The same story applies to e-commerce. In New to Copier Sales – Virtual Buyers, I laid out the numbers. Buyers want to transact digitally. They want to self-educate. They want to compare options at 10 p.m. with a glass of wine, not schedule a lunch-and-learn with your regional account executive.
We could have led that change. Instead, we hid behind price opacity and “request a demo” pages. Brother didn’t. They sold billions through Amazon and other channels while we were still debating if listing our service tiers online would “scare off” customers.
The only ones scared were us.
Stop Thinking Like a Vendor
Let’s get something straight. Hardware matters. But it is not the point. It’s infrastructure, not outcome.
In Can the Socratic Method Help You Sell Copiers?, I argued that the best salespeople today are thinkers, not pitchmen. They ask better questions. They stop trying to sell what they have and instead help clients define what they actually need.
Today’s top reps know that value doesn’t come from the machine, it comes from understanding how information flows. How it gets stuck. How it can move faster. That’s the real copier conversation.
Forget “feeds and speeds.” Start asking:
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How are you capturing information remotely?
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Who owns your digital workflow map?
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What happens when your customer asks for a digital signature, but your system still routes to print?
These are not fringe questions. These are core business issues. And you’re either addressing them, or you’re being replaced by someone who will.
What You Can Do Tomorrow
You want tactical? Here’s one move.
Stop opening your pitch with “Tell me about your printing environment.” It sounds like you’re reading from a manual written in 2006.
Instead, ask this:
“During the pandemic, how did your team move documents when nobody was in the office?”
Then shut up. Take notes. That answer is your roadmap. That’s the truth behind the fleet.
You don’t need another brochure. You need a better set of questions.
The Real Shift Is Internal
We keep trying to fix our message. Maybe it’s time we fix our mindset.
Salespeople are still being trained like they’re selling minivans. Talk features. Build urgency. Close hard. But the buyer has changed. They are already halfway to a solution by the time you show up.
If you walk in acting like a vendor, they’ll treat you like one. And vendors are the first to get cut when costs rise.
You want to be seen as strategic? Start acting like it. Start learning about process mapping. Learn enough about digital transformation to be dangerous. Spend more time with your customer’s IT lead and less time rehearsing your equipment walkthrough.
The Three Eras of Selling
Let’s simplify it.
First era: Hardware. Leases. Cost-per-copy.
Second era: MPS. Optimization. Workflow discussions.
Third era: Integration. Digital-first. Process intelligence.
We’re in the third now. If your strategy is still living in the first, or even the second, you’re already being passed.
Tariffs didn’t kill copier sales. Neither did remote work. What’s dying is the old way of thinking. The tired rituals. The reps who can’t have a conversation beyond their lease calculator.
This Time, Let’s Not Miss the Window
I’ve been here before. So have you. We’ve had these windows before. The rise of MPS. The introduction of scanning. The shift to hybrid.
Each time, we either adapted or doubled down on the old ways. And each time, those who evolved came out stronger. The rest got absorbed or disappeared.
This is that window again.
This isn’t about print volume. This is about relevance.
This isn’t about being the cheapest. This is about being the smartest.
This isn’t about boxes. This is about brains.
The Time Is Now
You don’t need to rewrite the rulebook. Just stop reading the old one. Customers have changed. Expectations have changed. The winners will be those who meet the moment not with panic, but with clarity.
Not more leases. More leverage.
Not more placements. More presence.
Not more copiers. More courage.
It’s all there, waiting. Just like we said it would be.
Sell on.
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Greg Walters
Founder, The Death of the Copier
Writer, Strategist, Still Not Wrong
www.grwalters.com
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