Saturday, February 18, 2006
10 things that you need to know about your distributor..
If your in sales you need to be reading what Restaurant Business is telling the independant operators about. Read on.
It’s the distributor’s job is to serve you. Your job is to place the orders, receive the perfect products when they arrive and keep the distributor honest by squeezing the best prices out of them that you can manage. After all, you’ve got your own customers—and profits—to worry about. Let them worry about theirs. No wonder the relationship can get tricky.
But the more you know about distributors up front, the better your odds of building a good partnership with yours. We’ve rooted around beneath the sales reps, the (sometimes) shiny trucks, the pricing strategies and the cost structures of foodservice distributors to.....get the rest of the story here.
It’s the distributor’s job is to serve you. Your job is to place the orders, receive the perfect products when they arrive and keep the distributor honest by squeezing the best prices out of them that you can manage. After all, you’ve got your own customers—and profits—to worry about. Let them worry about theirs. No wonder the relationship can get tricky.
But the more you know about distributors up front, the better your odds of building a good partnership with yours. We’ve rooted around beneath the sales reps, the (sometimes) shiny trucks, the pricing strategies and the cost structures of foodservice distributors to.....get the rest of the story here.
What is Fair Pricing?
This is a question for the ages. Fair pricing? The company has an idea what this is. The manager has an idea what this is. The commissioned sales rep has an idea what this is. While in reality it is the customer that you are calling on who truly will determine what is fair pricing. Pricing is about perception.
Now, every company sells their products at a markup or margin over their cost. This is where the dilemma of fair pricing gets started. What is fair, 10%...20%...30% over cost. Once again, the customer will typically let you know what they believe is fair. Depending on what you are selling there is perceived value involved when setting your pricing. There is also other factors involved, such as, geographic location, customer type, volume, the item, the product mix, competitive pressures and the market conditions.
Value, by definition, is an amount, as of goods, services, or money, considered to be a fair and suitable equivalent for something else; a fair price or return. Providing value, i.e., exceptional customer service, on-time deliveries, quality products and value-added services allows for charging a certain price. Charging high prices without providing the much needed value is a recipe for disaster. It is a short term fix to increasing profitability and increasing commissions. Remember that you should be earning your commissions. Getting paid for that job that you do.
If you are looking to build long term relationships, create a steady income and enhance your companies profitability you must have fair pricing. Fair pricing is about value. Fair pricing is about consistency and integrity. Fair pricing is about balance.
Now, every company sells their products at a markup or margin over their cost. This is where the dilemma of fair pricing gets started. What is fair, 10%...20%...30% over cost. Once again, the customer will typically let you know what they believe is fair. Depending on what you are selling there is perceived value involved when setting your pricing. There is also other factors involved, such as, geographic location, customer type, volume, the item, the product mix, competitive pressures and the market conditions.
Value, by definition, is an amount, as of goods, services, or money, considered to be a fair and suitable equivalent for something else; a fair price or return. Providing value, i.e., exceptional customer service, on-time deliveries, quality products and value-added services allows for charging a certain price. Charging high prices without providing the much needed value is a recipe for disaster. It is a short term fix to increasing profitability and increasing commissions. Remember that you should be earning your commissions. Getting paid for that job that you do.
If you are looking to build long term relationships, create a steady income and enhance your companies profitability you must have fair pricing. Fair pricing is about value. Fair pricing is about consistency and integrity. Fair pricing is about balance.
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Developing Your Network
In sales, the network that you create is the lifeblood of your career. It is the only way to consistently grow your sales and income year after year.
If you are a tenured salesperson you most likely have created and continue to have a very solid network. This is developed through years of relationship building.
If you are a relative newcomer into your sales position, you are probably in dire need of a solid network. You are asking yourself, how do I develop my network?
Let's take a look at how to get this started.
If you have an existing customer base, that is the first place to start. I would recommend talking with each of your contacts about their network. If your customers are satisfied with your products and services this makes it quite easy to talk with your contact about their network that might have a need for your products and services. Nine times out of ten your will get a favorable referral from your customer when you ask them for their help.
This method works very well on many different fronts. One, you now have a contact name to go to the new prospect with which now makes it a warm call. Two, you can now name drop your existing contact as a point of reference and common ground. A small icebreaker on any new call. Third, you now may have your contact discussing you and your company with his network in support of your calls.
There are a wealth of other ways to gather information to start on your network, but, much more generic and quite a bit more challenging. There is the phone book, industry journals, local business associations, social events, lead generation firms, the Internet and of course the old stand by, the "Cold Call".
So how are you going to start developing the quality network needed to launch and maintain your career? Just think referrals! And when those referrals become customers, you have an entire new group of satisfied contacts to harvest the next group of possible prospects.
If you are a tenured salesperson you most likely have created and continue to have a very solid network. This is developed through years of relationship building.
If you are a relative newcomer into your sales position, you are probably in dire need of a solid network. You are asking yourself, how do I develop my network?
Let's take a look at how to get this started.
If you have an existing customer base, that is the first place to start. I would recommend talking with each of your contacts about their network. If your customers are satisfied with your products and services this makes it quite easy to talk with your contact about their network that might have a need for your products and services. Nine times out of ten your will get a favorable referral from your customer when you ask them for their help.
This method works very well on many different fronts. One, you now have a contact name to go to the new prospect with which now makes it a warm call. Two, you can now name drop your existing contact as a point of reference and common ground. A small icebreaker on any new call. Third, you now may have your contact discussing you and your company with his network in support of your calls.
There are a wealth of other ways to gather information to start on your network, but, much more generic and quite a bit more challenging. There is the phone book, industry journals, local business associations, social events, lead generation firms, the Internet and of course the old stand by, the "Cold Call".
So how are you going to start developing the quality network needed to launch and maintain your career? Just think referrals! And when those referrals become customers, you have an entire new group of satisfied contacts to harvest the next group of possible prospects.
Sunday, February 12, 2006
I Believe
There are many things that make up the model of a successful sales person and I am sure that there are just as many perceptions as to what makes up that sales person. One of the key and distinct attributes that comes out in successful sales people is a strong belief system.
Whether you are working on selling to new business prospects, existing customers or just plain old networking, you have to go out every day with a very strong belief system.
First and foremost is a belief in yourself. This is in relation to your ability to believe that you can sell better than the next rep, take care of the customer better than anyone else, can impact a customers business and profitability, can impact your companies profitability and achieving your own goals and objectives. This comes across as confidence to your customers and peers. You also have to believe that you have the best products and services available on the market. Now this will come from real world selling, referrals, testimonials, training and your own success, but, you will always have to continue to want to learn about your products and services as well as making sure that you are monitoring your competition to ensure where you stand.
Do you believe that the company you work for is the best on the planet? This will go a long way in establishing your positive image that you want to present. If you are having a hard time in believing this, you may want to talk with your peers, the management team, the board of directors, etc. to get the thought process going in the right direction. Lastly, you have to believe that your customers will be better off using your products and services versus your competitions. Having a strong belief system will allow you to work in a very sincere manner with your customers and present that powerful, professional image that leads to sales success.
Whether you are working on selling to new business prospects, existing customers or just plain old networking, you have to go out every day with a very strong belief system.
First and foremost is a belief in yourself. This is in relation to your ability to believe that you can sell better than the next rep, take care of the customer better than anyone else, can impact a customers business and profitability, can impact your companies profitability and achieving your own goals and objectives. This comes across as confidence to your customers and peers. You also have to believe that you have the best products and services available on the market. Now this will come from real world selling, referrals, testimonials, training and your own success, but, you will always have to continue to want to learn about your products and services as well as making sure that you are monitoring your competition to ensure where you stand.
Do you believe that the company you work for is the best on the planet? This will go a long way in establishing your positive image that you want to present. If you are having a hard time in believing this, you may want to talk with your peers, the management team, the board of directors, etc. to get the thought process going in the right direction. Lastly, you have to believe that your customers will be better off using your products and services versus your competitions. Having a strong belief system will allow you to work in a very sincere manner with your customers and present that powerful, professional image that leads to sales success.
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Customer Expectations
Creating exceptional customer service starts with you. Providing service to customers and prospective customers starts with you wanting to meet or exceed the expectations presented to you by the customer or circumstance. You will need to keep in mind that exceptional customer service is not what you believe it to be, but, it's what your customer perceives it to be.
In every interaction you have with a customer, there will always be expectations that are set and need to be achieved. From the smallest of details like returning a phone call or an email to introducing a new product or troubleshooting an issue, there comes a certain amount of an expectation.
Your customer places their order with you on their regular day, at the regular time and for the regular scheduled delivery day. Seems like a pretty normal sequence of events for you and the customer, right. Now, let's take a look at the expectations this scenario might create. The customer now expects the order to come on the correct day, at the normal delivery time, delivered by a pleasant and efficient driver, all the items ordered on the truck and at the correct and agreed upon pricing. If all of this occurs then the expectations are met and you have a satisfied customer in this interaction. Now I have taken for granted that this customer has those expectations I have stated.
Now comes the time when you can turn it up a notch and create that exceptional and memorable customer service by exceeding expectations and thereby creating more than customer satisfaction, you can start creating customer loyalty.
Take the same customer ordering scenario above and meeting those expectations. How would you start to exceed those expectations? You could always ask the customer exactly what they do expect out of this event, so, you could meet those and start to plan on exceeding them. Could you call to let the customer know what the truck's arrival time is? Could you call to let them know of any delays in that arrival time? Could you call after the delivery to follow up on the driver, all items delivered correctly and complete or any issues to resolve from this delivery? After these calls are completed and handled accordingly with the customer, you may want to ask if there is anything that needs to be worked on so you can plan for your next scheduled call. Better yet, make an appointment outside of the scheduled ordering day so both parties can focus on the new project at hand.
Think about meeting expectations and gaining customer satisfaction or focus on exceeding your customers expectations and creating customer loyalty.
In every interaction you have with a customer, there will always be expectations that are set and need to be achieved. From the smallest of details like returning a phone call or an email to introducing a new product or troubleshooting an issue, there comes a certain amount of an expectation.
Your customer places their order with you on their regular day, at the regular time and for the regular scheduled delivery day. Seems like a pretty normal sequence of events for you and the customer, right. Now, let's take a look at the expectations this scenario might create. The customer now expects the order to come on the correct day, at the normal delivery time, delivered by a pleasant and efficient driver, all the items ordered on the truck and at the correct and agreed upon pricing. If all of this occurs then the expectations are met and you have a satisfied customer in this interaction. Now I have taken for granted that this customer has those expectations I have stated.
Now comes the time when you can turn it up a notch and create that exceptional and memorable customer service by exceeding expectations and thereby creating more than customer satisfaction, you can start creating customer loyalty.
Take the same customer ordering scenario above and meeting those expectations. How would you start to exceed those expectations? You could always ask the customer exactly what they do expect out of this event, so, you could meet those and start to plan on exceeding them. Could you call to let the customer know what the truck's arrival time is? Could you call to let them know of any delays in that arrival time? Could you call after the delivery to follow up on the driver, all items delivered correctly and complete or any issues to resolve from this delivery? After these calls are completed and handled accordingly with the customer, you may want to ask if there is anything that needs to be worked on so you can plan for your next scheduled call. Better yet, make an appointment outside of the scheduled ordering day so both parties can focus on the new project at hand.
Think about meeting expectations and gaining customer satisfaction or focus on exceeding your customers expectations and creating customer loyalty.
Monday, February 06, 2006
Creating Customer Loyalty
Recently I experienced some real-life scenarios of businesses creating customer loyalty and some sound ways to keep and enhance customer loyalty. There is always so much focus and discussion about customer satisfaction. All well and good, but, let’s look at the difference between satisfaction and loyalty.
Satisfaction is defined as the fulfillment or gratification of a desire, need, or appetite and the pleasure or contentment derived from such gratification. When talking about loyalty, there are terms such as steadfast, unwavering devotion, allegiance and faithful used. Satisfaction is more of a short term feeling, while loyalty implies that there is something more concrete and long term involved. Providing your products and services to your customers may create satisfaction, but, those may be able to be purchased anywhere and still create the same satisfaction. Quality products and/or services, timely delivery, at a fair and competitive price, that work for your customer. Seems very easy to duplicate this.
The real-life experiences I encountered recently were getting my haircut at the same salon, Shear Design, starting my 24th year and going to AutoZone to try to resolve an issue with windshield wiper replacement. I sometimes wonder about the loyalty that has been created at Shear Design after 23 years and I would have to imagine going on 300 visits. I have had massotherapy there and I do get Nature’s Sunshine products there now as well. I know the staff and the staff knows me. It’s about relationships. The pricing is not an issue as I value the treatment and sense of importance when I am there. I feel that they value me as a customer. The same day I decide to stop at AutoZone to try and resolve an issue that I had with replacement wipers that I had purchased there previously. The gentleman that helped me told me that I couldn’t get a replacement blade for the wiper, but, did go as far as to come out to my car and work on the wiper arm, get the replacement wiper to fit and work correctly on my car. I feel that that was a lot more than a parts store clerk has to do.
Gaining customer satisfaction is the first step, exceeding customer needs and expectations is the next step, and gaining the customers loyalty long term is the ultimate goal. Both of these businesses will be getting my referrals and my continued business and loyalty.
Satisfaction is defined as the fulfillment or gratification of a desire, need, or appetite and the pleasure or contentment derived from such gratification. When talking about loyalty, there are terms such as steadfast, unwavering devotion, allegiance and faithful used. Satisfaction is more of a short term feeling, while loyalty implies that there is something more concrete and long term involved. Providing your products and services to your customers may create satisfaction, but, those may be able to be purchased anywhere and still create the same satisfaction. Quality products and/or services, timely delivery, at a fair and competitive price, that work for your customer. Seems very easy to duplicate this.
The real-life experiences I encountered recently were getting my haircut at the same salon, Shear Design, starting my 24th year and going to AutoZone to try to resolve an issue with windshield wiper replacement. I sometimes wonder about the loyalty that has been created at Shear Design after 23 years and I would have to imagine going on 300 visits. I have had massotherapy there and I do get Nature’s Sunshine products there now as well. I know the staff and the staff knows me. It’s about relationships. The pricing is not an issue as I value the treatment and sense of importance when I am there. I feel that they value me as a customer. The same day I decide to stop at AutoZone to try and resolve an issue that I had with replacement wipers that I had purchased there previously. The gentleman that helped me told me that I couldn’t get a replacement blade for the wiper, but, did go as far as to come out to my car and work on the wiper arm, get the replacement wiper to fit and work correctly on my car. I feel that that was a lot more than a parts store clerk has to do.
Gaining customer satisfaction is the first step, exceeding customer needs and expectations is the next step, and gaining the customers loyalty long term is the ultimate goal. Both of these businesses will be getting my referrals and my continued business and loyalty.
Saturday, February 04, 2006
Are you passionate in what you do?
Passion as described in the dictionary is boundless enthusiasm and the object of such enthusiasm. Do have passion for whatever is that you are doing? If you are in sales do you have passion for the sale? If you do have have that passion, it translates into many things such as monetary rewards, recognition, personal satisfaction, career advancement and the list goes on.
Consider what it is that you do and how you can apply that “boundless enthusiasm” to that job. Passion is not something that you can turn on and off if you are planning to or wanting to be more successful in your career. You will find that the top salespeople, CEO’s, managers in all walks of life and varying fields are excited about what they do.
I know that you are thinking to yourself, “Hey, I give 100% everyday in going through the functions of my job”. But, to be passionate about your job means so much more than that. It means that you are excited to go to work everyday for yourself, your company, your customers, your family and anything else that matters in your life. You go out every day in the hopes that you can help somebody else become successful as well. It means that you continue to learn about your specific field, the industry you work in, your customers and their needs and developing your own skills to put all of this knowledge to work.
There is no class, seminar or workshop to go to that will teach you or instill passion in you about your job or career. You have to look inside yourself to see how it is that you do your job. Do you do your job for yourself or do you want a co-worker, peer or customer to be just as successful or more than you? How do you think of your company as you do your job? How are you talking about your product or services? Are your excited about the prospect of helping others. Sincerely caring. When I have appointments, I want to help my customers solve a problem, get better service, increase productivity, etc.
So I will pose the question once more, are you passionate about what you do? All I would say is that you need to go out everyday and ask yourself that same exact question.
Consider what it is that you do and how you can apply that “boundless enthusiasm” to that job. Passion is not something that you can turn on and off if you are planning to or wanting to be more successful in your career. You will find that the top salespeople, CEO’s, managers in all walks of life and varying fields are excited about what they do.
I know that you are thinking to yourself, “Hey, I give 100% everyday in going through the functions of my job”. But, to be passionate about your job means so much more than that. It means that you are excited to go to work everyday for yourself, your company, your customers, your family and anything else that matters in your life. You go out every day in the hopes that you can help somebody else become successful as well. It means that you continue to learn about your specific field, the industry you work in, your customers and their needs and developing your own skills to put all of this knowledge to work.
There is no class, seminar or workshop to go to that will teach you or instill passion in you about your job or career. You have to look inside yourself to see how it is that you do your job. Do you do your job for yourself or do you want a co-worker, peer or customer to be just as successful or more than you? How do you think of your company as you do your job? How are you talking about your product or services? Are your excited about the prospect of helping others. Sincerely caring. When I have appointments, I want to help my customers solve a problem, get better service, increase productivity, etc.
So I will pose the question once more, are you passionate about what you do? All I would say is that you need to go out everyday and ask yourself that same exact question.
