Skill Five Customer Value & Measurement Salespeople carry a message of impactful customer service. Yet when pressed, very few of these Sales Guys can translate their service into dollars and cents. We at River Heights Consulting compare Value-Added selling to standing on a downtown street corner handing out five dollar bills. Some of the people you help may be homeless folks in dire need of a good meal and some of them may be millionaires hustling over to their club.   We prefer a focused and value-metric approach where you understand specifically how your service impacts the customer. Further, just like the loan you made to your brother-in-law last April, you need a system to remember the value you provided in the past. In conversation after conversation I ask sales people these three questions: Who is your most important customer? What did you do to add value for them last week? What did you do to add value for them during the week of January 23 ...

Knowledge-based distributors discover themselves explaining complex solutions to ad hoc groups and committees on an increasing basis.  For many of them, this is a change of scenery.    Most of us understand the importance of a Champion on the inside.  This is someone at the customer who sees things our way, wants to see us succeed and works to help us drive our vision for the customer forward.  But we can’t depend solely on that Champion.  Click HERE to read why.

 T-Rex wouldn't know what to do with this kind of tablet. Skill Four: Technology When I set out to write this section on technology self-evaluation, my assistant suggested I review and update an article written some time ago.   I took a look at it, made some minor changes, and submitted it back to her for upload.   Her emailed response took me by surprise.   She flat out “refused” to post it, risking what she felt was insubordination.   In fact, she felt the relevance of the piece fit more with 2010 rather than 2012.   I do pay her to help me look good, so I was glad she didn’t post it. Let’s think back to a time when your rolodex was your best friend.   When quotes took days or even weeks to put together and send to a client.   When being on the road, away from your desk phone, meant singing along with the radio rather than returning phone calls.   Think about the trunk load (and backseat load) of catalogs that were a permanent fix...

Special pricing agreements (SPA's) have become a part of the daily life of manufacturers and distributors alike.  Not a meeting goes buy where we aren't bombarded with stories of abuse.  Bait and switch tactics promise zillions of units in potential - and the promised quantities just never seem to happen.  Other times the customer repurposes product for their own benefit.  We loose and mostly feel powerless to do anything about it.  Recently Square-D decided enough is enough.  Here's a snippet from their press release: Schneider Electric filed suit against House of Power and Chlouber in December 2009, after Schneider Electric discovered that House of Power and Chlouber were reselling Square D brand load centers and circuit breakers, rather than installing them into new build residential homes in Houston as promised in the pricing contract House of Power had with Schneider Electric. Schneider Electric discovered resales made on the open market...

  On Friday April 27 th , Frank Hurtte will join Neil Montgomery – the President of the Association for High Technology Distribution – at the Control Systems Integrators Association meeting in Scottsdale, Arizona in presenting The Solution Triangle: Customer, Distributor and Systems Integrator.   Cousins in the Automation Industry, Systems Integrators and Technology-based Distributors share a common heritage.   They have some of the same family traits.   But like real life cousins – who rarely spend time together, the need for periodic communications is paramount.   In this presentation, Neil will announce the results of a thought provoking survey of CSIA members.   In his role as industry consultant and color commentator, Frank Hurtte, of River Heights Consulting will draw conclusions and provide actionable tips for building a mutually beneficial relationship. The whole concept around the Solution Triangle was developed by River Heig...

Skill Three Targeting One of the issues that I faced as a young sales person revolved around this simple statement.   All customers are not created equal.   As a guy who grew up believing in fairness, equality and all the rest of the American Creed, this was hard.   I wanted to treat every single person who ever purchased one of my products with the same level of support and the same level of attention.    The little guys loved me and I developed a loyal following – but my sales didn’t grow.   It was only after I came to realize not everyone had the ability, the volume and the potential to help me reach my own goals that I started to progress professionally.   My first efforts revolved around size of account, and this was a good start.   However, it’s more complex than just size.   When we match our products and services to the customer most likely gain high value from what we do, we begin the trek to sales success.   When we a...

The wholesalers over at HARDI have found themselves located at the corner of Recession and Housing Market Collapse.   These are the folks who sell heating and air conditioning equipment into the residential and commercial markets.   Some of these folks saw the market they serve shrivel to just over half of its former size during the recessionary days of 2008-2009.   Those who comfortably rode out the storm (and there were a few who did), had strong processes around inventory levels and pricing policy.   Based on the work we have done with David Bauders and his Strategic Pricing Associates , we know a few actually improved their margins during those tough times. In a time when some distributors are experiencing “growth sputter” we can only hope this sector of the distributor trade continues. Here is the complete listing from Snips Magazine …. After a largely disappointing 2011, January was a good month for many members of the Heating, Airconditio...