Solution providers should capitalize on customer desires for "green printing" advice.

In tough economic times, solution providers need to tap every upselling opportunity they can find to grow their businesses. One of ways to do this is to more fully exploit green printing, which according to new research, continues to gain the attention of U.S. small and midsize businesses (SMBs). Whether they're formally implementing eco-printing policies or actively seeking additional information, SMBs are reevaluating their printing and imaging practices within an environmental context.

To quantify the impact of the environmental concerns on SMBs, Hewlett-Packard commissioned independent organizations to poll companies in the U.S. and Western Europe. The surveys sought to gauge which environmental factors are most influential when purchasing printing resources, as well as to determine what conservation steps some companies may already be undertaking.

The results are illuminating for solution providers as they formulate sales messages around the increasingly important topic of green printing.

When U.S. SMBs were asked to rank the most important considerations before purchasing printers and multifunction products (MFPs), 58 percent put environmental factors in the top five. The eco-related topics that mattered most included energy efficiency and the ability to recycle/reuse printing-related components.

Similarly, 42 percent of U.S. responders welcomed more information about the environmental impact of printers and printing products to help them make more environmentally informed purchasing decisions. The interest in education provides a clear opening for solution provider sales strategies that emphasize an advisory role for all issues related to printing infrastructures.

In other results, 80 percent of the companies said they used green practices related to paper, with almost six in 10 respondents saying they reuse or recycle paper and 36 percent taking advantage of duplex printing to cut down on paper usage.

More than half said they've implemented some type of environmentally conscious purchasing policy. A similar percentage expected to more actively seek out environmentally sound printing products in the next two years.

New Tools

Solution providers can use statistics along with new green developments from OEMs to frame their upselling strategies. For example, in May HP introduced a series of printer features and tools to help end users reduce the environmental impact of their printing operations. One new capability is a new auto-on/auto-off feature for desktop LaserJet printers, which helps the devices use three times less power than conventional sleep modes. The printers automatically power down when they're inactive and consume less than one watt of power. HP says it will add similar capabilities to higher-end LaserJets in the future and expects an even higher percentage of power savings.

Other OEMs are devising their own green printing strategies. Xerox sells its solid-ink technology, which the company says generates 90 percent less waste than typical laser products. In addition, it recently began offering a free version of GreenPrint software, from GreenPrint Technologies, for the Phaser 8560 or 8860 solid-ink color printer and MFP. The software helps reduce printing waste by highlighting and removing unnecessary content, such as pages with just a URL, banner ad, logo or legal jargon.

GreenPrint can also create reports that show an organization's paper usage.