The Distributor Channel

The mix of good habits and even better planning will be rewarded! We’ve all got to start somewhere Contrary to popular belief, good salespeople don’t grow on trees.   Nor can you drive by the local mission and pick the one with the best lettered “will work for food” sign.   Lastly, I want to drive a stake through the heart of that hundred year old myth, that certain parents beget “natural born sales wizards”.   On the contrary, good salespeople are created, molded, shaped, formed and trained.   Not so good salespeople can develop bad habits, learn the wrong kinds of behaviors and morph into non-performing drains on their employers. Unfortunately, our industry has a habit of tossing new guys the car keys, pointing to the territory and saying “go get ‘em, kid,” than providing any kind of real training.    This was an issue back in our dad’s day, a mistake in our day and a gargantuan mistake today.   Here’s why.   According to the research conducted by Matthew Dixon and Brent A

I practice "mind mapping" even though a lot of these turn out looking a little more like flow-charts than true mind maps.  This came out of a client discussion last week.  Do others find value in this type of chart? Distributor Planning Made Easy. Check out our Distributors Annual Planning Workbook: http://amzn.com/1481196448

I’m Already Working 12 Hours a Day, Do You Want Me Selling or Planning? Many distributors have discovered that it takes a very long time to establish new customer relationships.  Others find that in spite of success with existing products, their organization’s ability to launch related products necessary for long-term business health are hampered.   The simple truth is our industry has slowly adapted a dangerous habit.   We practice a reactive sales model.  It’s not an immediate threat, but long term, it’s crippling.  Here’s how it works.  An existing customer calls with a question or support issue on some past purchase.  The salesperson reacts to this issue immediately.   Along the way some excellent customer support is provided.  The customer compliments the seller and potentially rewards this behavior with another purchase.  Everything sound good so far?  The unfortunate part of this equation takes a while to manifest itself.    Our ability to find new customers or expand