Shouldn’t Distributors be Territory Experts? Let’s talk selling; not the normal distributor to customer kind pontificated on by consultants everywhere.  Instead, I suggest we explore the backwards sale aimed toward our supply partners.  We never talk about it, but I think every now and again we need a refresher. We distributors sell our value to supply partners in a number of ways.  For example, the gigantic catalog houses pitch their state of the art logistics team and their capability to get the manufacturer’s product from Port A to Point B in very short order.  For some mid-sized distributors, the supply partner sales story contains tales of supply contracts that “deliver” the MRO business of Fortune 500 manufacturing firms. Knowledge-based distributors in the automation world tout the solution building prowess of highly trained sales engineers.  The implied story is this: we can create new and wonderful applications for your product at OEMs w...

Hey Buddy, you just stole an hour of my life: The Worst Sales Meeting in Years If only the real Bandit came with this shirt. Courtesy of Zazzle.com Hey Buddy, you just stole an hour of my life. It’s not that I don’t have a few to spare, I plan to be around for a few more years, but… they say that time is money and you just called me to throw a handful of twenties down the drain. What’s got me hot? I just sat through the worst sales meeting of my life. Here’s the scoop: I was working with a distributor client and wanted to get a flavor for their company culture. I decided to sit in one of their sales meetings. I like to do this because I’m a product junkie. I enjoy learning about new stuff and the markets served by the product. I especially enjoy hearing how the products are targeted to customer groups/segments. As is typically the case with distributor sales meetings, the day was divided into one-hour segments with new suppliers being given the opportunity t...

Check out the feature in Industrial Supply Magazine to see if your ways are becoming extinct! If you've read the book , we'd love your feedback!  Feel free to email your thoughts.   Be sure to leave your name and city if you would like your review posted.

Imagine the impact of two additional points of additional margin to your business.   Since I got into the business back in the 70s, distributors have talked about adding just a single point.   They held rah-rah employee meetings, made posters embarrassed with things like “The Power of One” and listened intently as experts extolled the virtues of Matrix Pricing.   Nothing sustainable happened; they were largely unsuccessful.      Over the past couple of years, I have had the opportunity to study the margin results enjoyed by the clients of Strategic Pricing Associates.   Being an engineer by training (and a bit of a computer geek), it was their scientific computer analysis of invoiced pricing that originally drew me to their company.   However, after learning more and interviewing dozens of their clients for my own research in sales process, I would say I am struck with their process. It’s a combination of analytics, documentat...

Recycling down in the Purchasing Department Say no to recycling old ideas. Recycle, reuse, save the planet. I hate to see anything good or reusable tossed into the garbage heap. What’s more, everybody seems to be embracing the recycle concept. I love it. But, lately there seems to be a different kind of recycling coming out of the Purchasing Departments of major companies. It seems as though they believe the time is right for recycling an old plan to drive our prices downwards. First rolled out back in the early 1990s, this plan starts off with a nicely worded statement, “You are a fabulous partner and we value the relationship our companies have built over the years. Because we both invested so heavily in making all this work, we want to help you grow your business with us.” Sounds pretty good so far, but then things take a nasty turn. The purchasing guy is likely to word it something like this. “We are asking all of our good partners to help us be more competiti...

The List Price Question - You might want to charge more than list price. What is List Price? Many salespeople believe list price is that artificially high number which is used as a marker for future discounts. In their minds, it is an unnatural sin to sell anything to anybody for “list.” Part of this attitude and philosophy comes from daily life. For instance, “Nobody pays sticker price for their new Ford and no real customer pays list for their supplies in our industry.” can be heard echoing through sales bullpens. But this story doesn’t really hold up well. For example, car dealerships have regularly charged more than sticker for hard to find or a limited production vehicles. Toyota dealers still stick to the manufacturer’s sticker price on most of their line-up. But we’re not in the car business. Our question becomes should distributors selling things like plumbing, electrical, HVAC and industrial items ever sell at list price or maybe even beyond? Distribution’s f...

If you've been reading us a while, then you're probably aware of our position on charging for services.  Maybe you didn't know a book was in the works! So, without further ado, we are pleased to introduce: This is The Distributor's Fee Based Services Manifesto by Frank Hurtte.  And because you are reading this, YOU are part of a select group to get a first crack at reading it.  You also get the best price.  Currently listed on Amazon.com for $40, we are offering it to our group members and subscribers for only $20 INCLUDING SHIPPING!     While there is no catch for this, it would be nice if we could get reviews, good and bad.  You know...in your spare time! Send $20 payable to Frank Hurtte along with your address to: River Heights Consulting Attn: Manifesto 226 Hillcrest Avenue Davenport, IA 52803  We're happy to include a receipt for your records.  Let us know if there is a PO number. This is only good through Labor Day , so put i...