|
Valuable paperwork
When paperwork becomes a hassle,
what’s a distributor to do?
Our fictitious distributor, Primo
Industrial Supply, experienced a real problem with its sales force earlier
this fall. Seasoned salespeople refused to generate paperwork to document
Primo’s cost-saving activities for customers.
As any value-added distributor knows,
documenting cost savings is extremely important to retaining customers and
building relationships with them. What could Primo do?
Ken Cantwell, director of marketing for CRC
Industries, suggested requiring salespeople to submit one case study with
cost savings attached per quarter. He said the distributor’s
management team should then vote on the top one or two case studies and
reward the best with a gift certificate or cash. He also said the
distributor should publish the names of the winners along with the case
studies for the rest of the sales force.
“Two things will happen when doing
this,” says Cantwell. “The recognition of the winners will feed a
desire for others to want to win, and salespeople will actually start to
use the winning stories to assist them to close business.”
Once the sales force starts to see the
value in doing the documentation, you would be amazed at how much easier
it is to get the documentation and the quick improvement in the quality of
the paperwork.
Frank Sespico, national accounts manager
for Toolmex Corp., said most objections come from insecurity and the
perception the salespeople may not be covering all of their bases. Sespico
says distributors should reassure their salespeople in this process,
rather than reprimand them.
“’I don’t have time’ is an excuse,
not a reality,” he says. “Teach the process; don’t complicate it;
and eventually, the next report will become more insightful.”
Hub City Industrial Supply president Mark
Magstadt recently addressed the same issue among his outside salespeople.
He discussed with them a transition the company would make. He said part of the transition would mean
salespeople would be required to provide value-added documentation.
“I
feel that performing value-added reports is as mandatory as getting to
work on time,” says Magstadt. “Performing the task is a choice that
each salesman must make, but he must then be held responsible for his
decision and the fallout that comes with it. It is the manager’s
responsibility – not choice – to deliver the fallout.”
This
article was prepared exclusively for ValueAddedPartners.org. Copyright
2003.
back to top
back to industry articles |
