The Distributor Channel

My assistant came in today happy as a clam about the steak she had for dinner last night.  Hoping to score some great Iowa beef, I asked where she bought it.  "They were free" she said "because the chicken I had last week was terrible."  She went on to explain that her horrible chicken meal was such because it was stuffed with apples.  She complained to the Meat Manager who offered to give her an upgraded replacement and promised to be more forthcoming with signs and descriptions in the future.  This got me thinking about a customer focus group I assisted with last week, where I received an "ear full" of nasty news.  During one of the sessions, one of the customers asked for a one-on-one meeting with me concerning my client. I’m not sure if this particular customer woke up on the wrong side of the bed, was having severe heartburn from the Mexican buffet served prior to the session or was just cranky, but he decided to let me have it with both barrels of

Let’s face it, for most salespeople getting into a new prospect is a tough job.  It takes persistence, requires lots of phone calls and typically puts the seller through an emotional wringer.  Discussions with hundreds if not thousands of distributor salespeople indicate this is one of the most difficult parts of their job.  First, it takes multiple (actually, our research shows seven) phone calls and email messages just to get to the right person.  Sadly, sellers, who are faint of heart, give up before the actual contact is made.  Many would rather put the task off and procrastinate for weeks.  Some, with established territories, simply refuse to make this kind of call until their managers apply massive pressure to open new accounts. The point is, lining up this kind of call is not on anyone’s top ten list of things to do.  There are dozens of articles on the topic of getting the appointment; my intent is not to provide a tutorial on the topic.  Instead, let’s assume through har

An Irishman, a Cowboy and a Salesman walked into a bar… Remember those jokes from days gone by?  It’s been a long time since salespeople needed to have a couple of good jokes up their sleeves.  And for some reason, I could never remember the punch lines.  Thankfully, the world changed and jokes soon fell out of favor with customers and sellers alike and my career didn’t suffer.  But, sometimes life mimics old jokes. Recently, I ran into a business executive in a local bar.  During the ensuing conversation, she shared her situation.  After years of climbing the corporate ladder and being groomed for bigger and better things, she finds herself in charge of her company’s sales effort.  Congratulations to her, but there was a problem.  She had no previous sales experience, no real exposure to the selling in any form and was struggling to understand how to make a difference in her new department.   I quipped that I work with sales groups throughout the country.  Her eyes lit up