By early 2020, the nature of distribution sales was already changing thanks to the rise of ecommerce. But then the pandemic hit and shook everything up even more. Buyers changed their expectations and priorities, and those changes seem to be permanent. Whether that’s a problem for your business or an opportunity depends entirely on your company’s ability to transform itself.
Sales transformation, along with digital and analytical transformation, is key to any distributor’s success moving forward. It’s a tall task – according to McKinsey, 70% of such efforts fail – but standing pat isn’t an option. How can you be part of the fortunate 30%?
Four key principles you can use to find your way to sales transformation success:
- Rethink the sales team. Customers now prefer less face time and more time researching products on their own. Shift your focus inside and increase collaboration across sales functions for a more unified process that meets customers where they are.
- Be selective in how you deploy outside sales reps. With more of your resources inside, you can free up your most effective outside sales reps to strategically go after high-value targets.
- Prioritize good communication and employee engagement. It’s not enough to be transparent about your transformation plans—you also need to get enthusiastic buy-in. Otherwise, your people won’t be pulling in the same direction.
- Update sales compensation plans to reflect the new process. When you change your approach to sales, it’s necessary to change how you compensate your reps accordingly. Incentivize adoption of the new approach and motivate them to work strategically and sustainably.
Learn more in my guest post for FEDA – The Foodservice Equipment Distributors Association.
