Eight Ways Sales Reps Can
Exceed Dealer Expectations
As an independent business owner in the
custom industry you often have most of
your brand interface with an independent
sales representative who sells many
different product lines. This has been a
popular go-to-market strategy, because it
costs the factory less money than hiring a
full-time team of people for each territory.
The question I hear many dealers ask is,
“What is the rep supposed to do and why
do they get big commissions on every
single product I buy?”
In recent months a spate of
independent sales reps have been fired
by various manufacturers searching for a
new ways to survive. Now, I have never
fired anyone that I thought was doing a
great job, and I think that is probably the
rule for most factories. But as business
has slowed in the channel, some manufacturers think they can bag their
reps to save money in the short term. My feeling, however, is that without
a great sales team in place, products won’t sell and that many of the recent
terminations will be rehired in the next six to 12 months.
How can you run a great brand without someone leading the charge,
daily, with every dealer? Having had both factory-direct and independent
reps since 1994, I want to give you the low down on what a good sales rep
should do for you.
The following has been compiled with
SpeakerCraft dealer input around the
country in discussion groups and factory
focus groups. You have told us that you
have some great reps and some lame reps
as well. Reps are your lifeblood with the
factory they represent for you and should
be seen as your business partner. As with
any business relationship I suggest you set a clear set of expectations of
what you want from a rep upon visiting you. The days of “just dropping
in” are long gone. These days, it’s all about delivering value to you, so
when your meeting is over you can make more money. Here are eight
suggestions to help reps perform better during challenging times:
1) Fix Stuff
This is the most important thing a rep can do on a dealer’s behalf.
When something goes wrong with a product, on an order, or any issue,
they need to be your go-to
person to get stuff fixed. The
rep is the dealer’s factory
contact, and no matter
what it takes, they need to
make the calls, get the right
product shipped, follow
through, over-communicate,
and make sure the dealer
is always taken care of,
properly.
2) Protect Your Territory
Dealers wants to know who is
selling products and who is in
business competing against
them in their territory. The
rep needs to keep the dealer
in the loop and respect his
distribution parameters.
|
|
Establish sales targets and hit them, and any
independent sales rep worth their salt will take
good care of you.
| |
3) Product Master
The rep is the person that should know more about the products they
sell than anyone in the market. If a rep isn’t technical and his dealers
have to call a factory for an answer, then that rep is not good at his
job. This is how reps get paid, and they need to bleed technology and
knowledge.
4) Training
A good rep should have full PowerPoint trainings on each brand that
he sells and at any time be able to make an appointment to train their
dealers and their staff. The best reps will introduce dealers to new
business opportunities by training on more than just products.
5) Factory Advocate
A good rep needs to be able to go to bat with his manufacturer
partners to help his dealers gain better sales deals, terms, and credit
limits. The rep is in charge of helping his dealers flourish with the
brands they carry.
6) Business Advisor
Reps should be able to share best practices with their dealers, evaluate
their facilities, their showroom, employees, pay, contracts, and ideas
to help them grow.
7) Communication
Dealers should have one or two days a month when all reps are asked
to visit. A savvy dealer will send their reps an agenda of what he wants
to cover, well in advance of this meeting.
8) Provide Sales and Training Support
From simple product literature to deep training on how to program
or install, if a rep doesn’t have a car full of samples and sales support
materials, then they are doing their dealers a great disservice by
not providing tools that manufacturers spend millions of dollars to
produce.
Your local rep is your friend and advocate, so use them all you
can, because their commissions range from one percent to more than
10 percent on every product you buy. Become important to them by
establishing sales targets and hitting them, and I promise that if the rep
is worth their salt, they will take good care of you.