We Love Sharks, but not in Our Copier Rep…

Sharks are Good for Hockey, not Sales Reps...

It’s shark season for copier reps here in San Jose.  People are making less money and because of this, there are a lot of sharks circling and hoping to get every dime they can out of you.  There are also honest companies, so it is the age old question, how do you avoid getting taken advantage of?

Here are some things we’d do to keep ourselves from getting ripped off if we were purchasing a copier from a reseller. 

1. We would see what each item costs on the quote.  Itemize.  It helps you do some spot checking on the quote you get from your copier rep!
2. We would get several quotes.  It’s good to encourage competition.  (Note: if you let your rep know you’re getting 8 quotes, they’re unlikely to work as hard assuming that someone will basically give away the product and provide no real service…)
3. We would make sure that we got a quote based on what we needed to do rather than a financial number.  Too many people decide on a budget before they consider necessary functions
4. We’d work with a company we trusted to be around after the sharks died off.  A company that has some sticking power is crucial in these economic times for getting a copier in San Jose.