United States
Reported sales for the GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) for Fiscal Year 2022 grew to over $40 billion. Positive momentum will surge this Feb./March as stakeholders welcome the Common Catalog Platform (CCP). This B2G platform will feature enhanced images, a thumbnail carousel of expanded content including PDF’s, PPT’s and videos. Automated robo-removal will enforce TAA compliancy, COO accuracy, Mfr./Dealer Authorization, and much more. The 63 dealers that hold the Office Products SIN 339940 OS4 will pilot launch the model. To help develop your 2023 Fiscal Year Federal Strategy, Clover offers some Best Practices to help capture new business and grow your customer portfolio.
Some believe that “Government should be run like a business.” Jim Collins, the author of the best-selling book, Good to Great, wrote that is not possible because the public sector measures success in entirely different terms than the private sector. He writes, “We must reject the idea, well intentioned, but dead wrong, that the primary path to greatness in the social sectors is to become more like a business.” In the private sector, it’s very easy to measure success by calculating the relationship between dollars in and dollars out. In the public sector, its dollars in. A metric for success can be the accomplishment of the mission. Public sector acquisition strategy is driven not only by satisfying demand, but rather by simultaneously satisfying demand and meeting purchasing objectives. Goals can include: best value/savings, environmental sustainability, and the mission. Remanufactured laser toner and inkjet supplies uniquely satisfy demand concurrent with purchasing objectives in significant, measurable volume.
Obstacles can be overcome by understanding how the Federal Purchasing Managers (1102’s) assemble their various puzzle pieces. For example, Roger Waldron, President of the Coalition for Government Procurement www.thecgp.org has written, “Government fundamentally does not understand how private firms operate in the market. Government is increasingly focused on process and regulatory compliance over capability and contractor performance.” Understanding the buying experience can improve the sales process. Successful sellers understand customer pain points and offer solutions that mitigate those challenges. For example, the 215 NSNs from AbilityOne SKILCRAFT, and Clover’s 2,000 Best-In-Class, TAA compliant remanufactured imaging supplies and maintenance kits. Sharing the Clover story can spark connections, solve problems, and establish relationships. To help tell the story, Clover offers a robust library of customizable flyers on our website, and this AbilityOne SKILCRAFT flyer.
GSA considers purchasing practices as a catalyst to implement Executive Policy. Clover can help harmonize Executive Policy, satisfy demand, accomplish the mission and report success. Best practices can include:
1. Collaborate with the Purchasing Manager by asking, and/or investigating, to identify the weighted priorities of their various purchasing objectives.
2. Check the Agency’s website to review their Mission Statement. The Mission Statement will contain their aspirations and provide a road map to position our solution.
3. Research historical purchases and quantify their future budget.
a. 90% of the volume from the Office Products SIN is generated from 12,000 skus. As a sub-category, Imaging supplies represent a range of 20% of the OP total. This is a category of consequence well worth your investment of time.
b. Because of the scale of the annual volume of imaging supplies, and the velocity of usage (on average, cartridges are replaced every 6 to 8 weeks), we can:
Quantify their annualized savings based on the usage of the printer fleet,
Qualify the sustainability solution to collect empties and require remanufactured supplies by correlating the results with their Agency mission - and/or the AbilityOne Mission. This strategy can help you become that irreplaceable, trusted partner.
4. Target Objectives can be relative to Environment, Sustainability, Governance (ESG), the Climate Economy, AbilityOne purchasing objectives, buying from sources that have any of the 17 Socio-economic statuses, etc.
5. After purchasing objectives have been prioritized, ask - What are they doing today to satisfy these goals? Has it helped accomplish the desired outcome?
6. Concerning the Policies and the Executive Orders (EO) outlined on www.sustainability.gov – ask what is your Plan / Procedures / Programs / How do you Track / How do you measure advancement and accomplishment?
7. What gets measured gets managed. How are they measuring and communicating those results to their constituency and Executive Leadership team over time?
8. How are they educating their constituency to Change Values that can Change Behavior? This can be accomplished through evolving terminology – compatible vs. remanufactured. Be aware of the shared vocabulary / shared language / “call to action” triggers
a. To help educate, and create awareness of the dangers of buying certain counterfeit clone compatibles from China, Clover provides this Custom Recycled Cartridge Video
9. Do they utilize resources that enable them to easily track, report and celebrate the results? For example:
a. Clover’s environmental calculator and custom Sustainability Report can quantify the reduction of their carbon footprint, and the pounds of plastic kept out of our nation’s landfills
b. Save up to 30% compared to the OEM – Quantify those results through the Clover Remanufactured Toner & Ink Cartridges Annual Savings Calculator
10. Based on the skus on task orders, or in their “market basket” shopping list, and current purchasing patterns, can they consider doing anything differently to better satisfy their mission? For example, convert from OEM imaging supplies to Clover remanufactured imaging supplies.
Consider these encouraging suggestions:
1. Search and filter LinkedIn and Google by title, for example - Chief Acquisition Officer, Purchasing Manager, Purchasing Director – (and other similar synonym titles and functions), and investigate any of the 432 Agencies
2. Identify influencers and decision makers – Search for the Agency Director of Sustainability and the Transparency Officer. An avenue to convert from the OEM can be through the Sustainability Director.
3. Make the milestones bite size. Don’t boil the ocean or recreate the wheel.
4. Identify, and help the Agency consumer satisfy his or her “North Star” priorities
5. Convert at least one Agency to become your beacon account. Ask that Agency contact if they can make recommendations and guide you to peers in other Agencies - and be a referral.
6. Most of the 259 Dealers that hold a SIN Office Supplies 339940 or the 63 dealers that hold the FSSI Office Supplies are peer size Small Businesses that have under 750 employees.
a. Office Product Dealers do compete against some large businesses – i.e. Grainger’s, Office Depot and Staples, but they are not competing against Lockheed Martin or Northrup Grumman to sell remanufactured imaging supplies.
7. Audit your schedule before the Feb/March launch of the CCP to stay within the guard rails of Binding Laws, Statutory Policy, and Federal Acquisition Regulations
8. Avoid the rabbit holes that steal your time. Learn from previous mistakes and successes.
Resources:
1. Please register to attend the December 14 Webinar: Environmental Sustainability of Office Printing (cloverimaging.com)
2. GSA Category Management Industry Day, October 19, 2022 - 10:00am to 2:30pm, EST
a. The on-demand videos of each session are on Acquisition Gateway
a. Informative videos on greenwashing, beware of misrepresentation of compatibles fraudulently sold as remanufactured, toxic health risks associated with clones, firmware, etc.
4. Visit the MAS PMO YouTube Playlist to review previous sessions.
If you have questions, contact the Clover Federal Team:
- Email: FederalTeam@CloverImaging.com
- Phone: (708) 505-5857
We wish you and yours a very Happy Holiday Season.
