3 minute read
Your reps are busy, so why do the territories look the same as last quarter?
It’s easy for your sales reps’ schedules to fill up with service calls. The job seems to constantly be pulling your team toward repair and maintenance rather than actual selling. A week can go non-stop and not generate a single piece of new business.
Factory and distribution reps are known for being great at relationship selling and follow-through. New business development and proactive selling are areas that could use some attention. But what’s the difference, and how does your team make sure both get covered?
A strong relationship is what keeps customers buying from your team, but the growth it brings can plateau over time. Proactive selling is how a rep drives business past plateaus.
Examples of proactive selling:
Proposing a business or growth plan to a customer
Introducing a product, service, or solution based on a specific customer need
Re-engaging a dead account with a reason to reactivate business
Creating introductions to new departments, locations, decision makers, or potential customers
A rep can look at anything on their calendar and ask: what am I taking that creates growth?
The Gray Areas
A customer visit, quote, lunch, product demonstration, or follow-up does not automatically qualify as proactive selling. The difference is intent: is your rep responding to existing business or intentionally creating new business?
Two reps can have identical calendars, and one of them is growing while the other is going through the motions. A daily calendar won’t show it, but your year-end report will.
Three Moves
In my experience it comes down to three things.
Working With MB Resources
MB Resources offers sales coaching for distribution and manufacturing teams that want to improve performance, grow revenue, and sell more effectively.
I use real situations from their day-to-day selling, but the goal is broader than any one deal: stronger thinking, better execution, and more consistent results.
Because the coaching is built around their real work, it strengthens performance without pulling them away from selling.
I’d like to hear about your teams.
When can you make time to talk?
Matt Butler, MB Resources | 801.244.4844 | matt@mattbutler.org
Matt has spent more than 30 years in HVAC and distribution, starting at the counter and in the field as a mechanical trades technician. After 15 years as a manufacturers’ rep and co-owner of an independent rep agency, leading a high-performing territory, he started MB Resources to coach sales teams in distribution and manufacturing.
Learn more About Matt here.
See more in The Distribution Sales Gap.