Indian River Consulting Group Partner Steve Deist’s column, Is Your Sales Force on the Right Track?, was published this week on trade magazine Industrial Distribution’s website and featured in the magazine’s daily e-newsletter.
The article takes a closer look at the need for distributors to transition from a self-directed sales force to a market-driven one.
Steve writes:
“Experience from other verticals shows it is possible to obtain profitable growth while protecting the existing revenue base. By systematically examining the needs of customers and restructuring sales and marketing assets to better fit those needs, your sales force can drive sales based on the market’s needs. At Indian River Consulting Group, we call this ‘market access’ and define it as aligning resources to match market opportunities. In essence, it is about taking the resources companies spend providing services that are less valued by customers and redeploying them where they will provide a far higher return on investment.”
Steve writes that the near-term financial rewards of transitioning to a market-driven sales force can be substantial. It’s common for distributor net profit to improve by 2 percentage points or more through this type of realignment. And in the long-term, this model supports ongoing productivity improvement and adaptability to the future.
Read the full article: Is Your Sales Force on the Right Track?
