Here’s the challenge, with just over four months till year end, everyone is looking for a plan to eke out a few more sales dollars. I firmly believe there’s still time to make a difference. Further, if done correctly, the plan can impact the future as well. One of the most tried and true methods for creating quick success comes via targeting. This process comes from the extensive research we have carried out in the preparation for a book on targeting at distributors. The beauty of the effort arises from three important points: 1) Current customers are the focus of your efforts, eliminating the need for time consuming prospecting, cold calls and the endless phone tag associated with it. 2) It can be combined with normal daily activities to drive the sale of new products. 3) Success comes quickly and is easily measured. How to get started Distributors are often noted for a few of their flagship product lines. Typically, these top five to ten product lines represent over 60 p...

Progressive distributors have learned the importance of tracking and following opportunities in their sales group. For those of you who aren’t following this practice, here is a quick overview of how it works. When sellers learn of a potential for a sale, they log the following data: • The customer - Besides the actual account, it’s best if you log the customer contact who told him about the opportunity. • The product/technology involved – Sometimes it’s hard to identify the exact catalog number of bill of materials, but understanding approximately what the customer may need is required to call this a real opportunity. • The potential size of the opportunity – How many parts will be purchased, how many dollars will the customer spend or what does the current budget for the project look like are all questions which would allow an order of magnitude estimate of the size. For OEMs, we recommend understanding the size of the opportunity per year. For example, $1,000 per machine a...