The Distributor Channel

In a recent conversation with a very progressive distributor, we touched on an age old topic: the activities of factory salespeople.   To give you a flavor for the call a bit about the distributor.     They are extremely qualified, technically competent and have demonstrated the ability to drive their business forward.  In a time when most distributors in their sector are struggling, their sales are still pushing upward; well ahead of the industry average.  At the highest levels, their supply-partners admire their work, but there is a strange disconnect at the local level.  The local factory sales guys don’t seem to get along with the distributor folks.  Things get complicated from here.  The distributor, being technically qualified, well trained and totally familiar with their supplier’s products doesn’t need a lot of support.  In a couple of instances, it turns out the distributor team is actually more savvy on the products and applications than the factory sales team.  At a

An engineering funny that had me laughing a bit more than necessary.  Tomorrow is Friday.  A great time to catch up on paperwork, follow up on calls, and check in with your favorite bloggers.  I'll be honest, my last post concerning CRMs was not well received.  I have a feeling so many of you just hate the THOUGHT of a CRM that you didn't even read the article!  Trust me, if you are a hater, and I can't say I have always loved them, there is something useful for you as well.  Brian Gardner knows what he's talking about!  That being said, I happen to love a little controversy.   Send me your hate mail concerning CRMs as I think this point needs some attention as well!  As usual, you will get a postcard from Iowa for submitting your idea!

Thinking about Money? Thinking about Sales Process? Thinking about CRM? (A Book Review) Talking to distributors, we have discovered that many of them have made big investments in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems.  Many of them have pushed their salespeople to track customer contacts and enter opportunities.  Candid conversations reveal, however, that the vast majority still feel like they are not getting their money’s worth from their CRM system.  This brings us to the subject of this post: a book by SalesProcess 360’s Brian Gardner. Brian brings a wealth of information to the topic.  He has decades of industrial sales experience.  He worked as a salesperson, sales manager and as a software developer.  Make no mistake, this book isn’t a 100 page advertisement for some software platform.  Instead, it’s about sales process and applying technology to automate the sales process. Mr. Gardner reverses the process most distributors use to select their CRM system

Last week I had the opportunity to meet a real live Elephant Hunter. No, not the African Safari kind, this elephant hunter was of the sales variety. After years of bouncing from manufacturer to distributor and back, he called me to help him find his next opportunity. During the normal introductory niceties, (contrary to my wife’s opinion, I am a nice guy,) he boasted about a dozen or so really big deals he had singlehandedly managed during his two decade career. Make no mistake, this made an impressive list. I was buying into his story hook line and sinker. Until, we reached the point where I asked him, why he was looking for a new opportunity. For some reason he didn’t share upfront, he was currently “between jobs.” With this impressive list, one would wonder how such a rain-maker could possibly be out of work. I know lots of sales organizations and very few willingly separate ways with someone who can really bring in business. It made me scratch my head. I asked him ab

Last week I wrote an article titled “Six Questions that Demand an Answer.”  Sharing the article with a few trusted advisers, I received one consistent bit of feedback best summarized by this response. “Frank, I agree these are questions we must ask ourselves; they caused me to pause and ponder.  I used them as an exercise with my team to think about our overall strategy.  I believe taking the time to think about our business from an outside perspective to be justified and worthwhile.   Sometimes it’s hard to do this subjectively.  I would like to see more questions just like these.” The following is my first round of questions.  I have put them into categories to make them easier to digest.  Some will apply to your position, some will not.  I suggest spending a moment visiting these topics with members of your own team. A note:  The readers of this blog come from a variety of backgrounds, hold a diverse collection of positions within distribution and come from a number of

A couple of weeks ago, we posted a blog called “We need more sales calls, but it’s not happening.”  The basic premise was this, sales people struggle to produce enough calls because they lack skills, have developed poor habits or just don’t think about how they schedule their time.  I went out of my way to say this… "…before I rattle off the reasons, allow me to say I don’t believe sloth has anything to do with the situation.  Lack of skill, sometimes.  Bad habits, probably.  Deliberate laziness, no way." I had hoped the article would spark controversy and conversation.  And it did.  Since I value the opinion of others and would like the whole of the distributor landscape to give the issue some deeper thought, I am publishing a few of the better stated comments here. First, I love the pithiness of this comment… “Speaking on behalf of sales people everywhere. I want a supervisor’s advice on sales calls about as much as I want a tax audit.” H