Wired for Sales

Distributor-land reports indicate business is slow. Flat is the new growth goal with a few of the more optimistic folks predicting growth in the low single digits. That’s the bad news, but the good news is that respected economists consider this a short and temporary thing. The winds of change in the last quarter are predicted to carry the sweet smell of economic growth. Better still, the next couple of years promise more growth.

With the promise of better times ahead and the pressing need for sales today, there is good reason to ponder what can be done now to eke out some growth and prepare for the good times that are coming.

In your established territories, think about this: The sales experts tell us it is six to seven times easier to sell to existing customers than to find and bring in new customers. For knowledge-based distributors selling non-commodity items, the number is nearly double – 12 times easier.

Think of the activities required to find and convert new business. Finding a new customer and identifying anyone outside the purchasing department can take weeks, maybe even months. Identifying needs, providing workable solutions, and building trust to drive anything substantial takes even more time. While prospecting is always important, doing it now during an economic downturn will not likely produce meaningful business in the next few months.

If you want to grow your business right now rather than later, skip thoughts of finding new customers. This goes against common wisdom. During slow periods, many distributors often go into full scramble mode, focusing on finding and attracting new customers to boost business. Don’t be like the others.

GO AFTER LOW-HANGING FRUIT

Review and evaluate existing customers for gaps in the products they currently purchase. A simple example of this is a customer who purchases DC sensors but does not buy the power supplies required to make them work. Even your best accounts buy products from others. Since the sales they make are often insignificant compared to their best customers, some of these competitors may curtail making sales calls on the customer. Others could be web-only sellers who only provide minimal service and support.

The gap analysis reveals the low-hanging fruit. There is a good chance the products are tied to the application of your offering and, better yet, products your best customers need and are already buying. These are the proverbial low-hanging fruit of sales.

If your company uses a smart sales portal, such as the one provided by MITS (now called White Cup Solutions – BI), the analysis is straightforward and can be accomplished in minutes. Even if your work requires manual sorting via Excel, running through the process on each of your sellers’ top 10 accounts is a worthy exercise.

While the concept of gap analysis is not new, it is surprising how few distributor sales managers take the time to drive the process forward. Most assume their salespeople are naturally aware of lost/missing sales. Experience shows that this is rarely the case, especially with larger customers that have a high volume of traffic. One sales manager lamented his team got orders for the big stuff and “high-fived” their way back to the office. But, along the way, they missed another 50% of the potential of the order – the little things required to make all the products work. Now is the time to develop greater customer wallet share.

ALL ECONOMIC DOWNTURNS END

Distributors who can rapidly accelerate out of an economic downturn can maximize profits and develop the power to capitalize on the weaknesses of their competitors. Further, early and rapid growth improves the standing with key suppliers who see the distributors driving early growth as critical to their future.

During these times, it is imperative that distributors build customer-centric financial knowledge. Sadly, this is an area where most distributor sellers fall short. Now is a critical time to begin gathering information. Distributors must know these specifics for their top customers:

• What will the customer do once the downturn is over?
• Which customer projects will be the first to move forward once the economy picks up and why?
• Is the customer “eye-balling” new markets for growth and how might you be of service?

Being wired for sales means changing to match economic conditions.