The Distributor Channel

Distributor Policies – Worst Practice Mistakes Revisited In the past couple of weeks I have been bombarded with horror stories of distributor policies gone wrong.   I have to wonder how and why so many manufacturers fall into the same traps.   Perhaps they don’t have a vehicle for benchmarking distributor practices.   Manufacturers with strong distribution channels typically participate in Distributor Associations and one can surmise networking takes place to some extent or another.   If not directly with other manufacturers, then information may be exchanged by way of distributors sharing best practices.   The others, well some days it’s tough to imagine where they get their input.   Management teams from Europe and Asia often don’t truly understand how the channel works in North America.   The whole concept of distribution sounds as goofy as buying hot dogs at a barber shop to their native sensibilities.   I mean, if you don’t really understand value proposition of a

Being Prepared-   The Salesperson’s Trunk, a Modern Version of an Old Vaudeville Act Adolph Proper (stage name A. Robins) aka "The Banana Man" worked the Vaudeville circuit for over 40 years.   His clown act, unfortunately, lives on.   But instead of showing at ram shackled playhouses at the edge of downtown, it has moved to the front line of distributor sales. Adolph’s act went something like this: dressed in a loosely fitting clown outfit, the Banana Man would walk on stage and ask the audience to call out random items.   He would sing a little song and dance around a bit while ceremoniously reaching in to his coat pocket.   Eureka!   Out came the item mentioned.   He produced guitars, violins, giant magnets, eggs, can openers, shovels—you name it.   The crowning touch typically came when the audience asked for a banana.   Instead of producing a single yellow fruit, Mr. Proper produced giant bunch after bunch, enough to fill an entire shopping cart. How does t

The Joint Call – A powerful tool for the Sales Repertoire  Don't underestimate the power of a Joint Call There are few things in the world of distributor sales that pack the explosively powerful impact of a joint call.   These come in several flavors: calls with Specialists, Sales Managers, fellow salespeople, and with a person from a key manufacturer.   We’ll address joint calls with the distributor’s internal folks later.   But for now, let hit on calls with a manufacturer. Strangely, this powerful tool has been undocumented, improperly benchmarked and ignored by many sales managers.   Whether they take it for granted or simply assume everyone knows how to drive the process forward, there is precious little outlining the best way to make one of these things happen.   While the old saying reads, “S… happens”, we don’t believe good stuff happens by miraculous accident. It’s gigantic mistake to leave joint calls to happenstance because the joint call fills two very im