Are you frustrated with complacency and mediocrity among your sales force?
This could be keeping you awake at night. On one hand, your sales force has gotten so ingrained in the habits and routines of the past, that they can’t see any other way to do the job. On the other, the market place has changed so dramatically that you sense your people are falling behind the times.
Don’t think you are alone. Complacency and mediocrity have reached epidemic proportions among wholesale distributors today.
Read the stories below of three other distributor executives, and what they did about it.
Bill Fidler is the Executive Vice President of Brenntag, North America, Inc., the billion dollar + US unit of a multi-national chemical giant. Like you, he recognized that he had to begin to wake up his sales force, to start to instill some best practices in the sales department that were such a part of other aspects of his organization.
Looking for resources outside of his organization, he discovered Dave Kahle, and asked him to work, at first, with a few of his sales managers. The results were so dramatic that he standardized all his sales managers on the Kahle Way ® Sales Management System, and then required every salesperson to be exposed to Dave’s Top Gun System for distributor sales.
Bill is sleeping easier these days. Here’s what he said, "We have never had such an immediate, positive and measurable impact from any training. This has been the single most significant investment in training we have ever made. It has changed the nature of the communication within our sales team…We wholeheartedly endorse it."
If you’d like to see what else Dave has to offer, click here. If you’d like to dig into this issue, then Dave will send you a series of 12 of his articles, spread over the next 12 weeks so you can digest them one at a time. Click here to receive them.
Tom Rosendahl, Vice President of Dakota Supply Group, Inc., a large regional firm, was facing the same issue that you are facing: How to focus and energize a sales force that may have grown lethargic. He took the plunge and brought Dave in to teach the Kahle Way ® Distributor Sales System to his sales force of 50, plus a number of his key vendor reps. Tom is sleeping better these days as well. Here’s what he said, “Bringing in 50 of our own sales reps and managers, plus twenty of our key supplier personnel during our busiest season, was a big move and investment for us. I can now say that it was not only a big move, it was the BEST move….I have had overwhelming positive feedback from those attending…I have already seen tangible growth in sales and in professionalism from our team. We are ‘far better today than we were yesterday’ as a result of your training.”
If you’d like to see what else Dave has to offer, click here. If you’d like to dig into this issue, then Dave will send you a series of 12 of his articles, spread over the next 12 weeks so you can digest them one at a time. Click here to receive them.
Garry Miller at Crystal Flash had a bit of different problem. He saw the problem as bigger than just education, motivation and inspiration of his sales force. His problem was a sales system that just wasn’t functioning. His sales force was part of the issue, but so was the way they were organized, managed, and compensated.
After hearing about some of the success Dave Kahle had with Farmers Co-Operative Elevator Co.-- increasing their revenue 12% the first year -- and D. C. Martin & Sons Scales, Inc. where sales increased 79% the first year, Mr. Miller decided it was time to get some help.
He contacted Dave, the nation’s leading authority on distributor sales, and explained his plight. The difference in expectations between what management wanted and what the sales force believed important was a daily source of conflict, resentment and frustration. He knew the company needed a new system. Caught in this kind of malaise the company couldn't implement its strategic initiatives.
Dave and his team did a "Sales System Audit" to decide which of Dave’s many unique programs would work best for Crystal Flash. After deciding that a custom-designed in-house program would get the quickest results, the staff at DaCo implemented a number of profitable solutions.
They worked with the IT department to create reports that measured sales behaviors.
They created new job descriptions and a new compensation plan for outside sales people.
They created a sales management system and instituted nuts and bolts ‘how to’ training on implementing it.
They developed new processes for recruiting, interviewing & hiring sales people.
They created a unique sales training program.
They helped hire and train a handful of new salespeople.
The sales force, now more accountable, directable and effective became masters at creating new business.
Sales people learned how to become a valued part of their customer's business, advising them on the best use of the company’s products while making it nearly impossible for the competition to get a foothold.
Here’s what Garry said: “In the first full year of the program, the program has been responsible for generating $5,000,000 in new sales and acquiring 658 new customers.”
The moral of these stories?
If any of these situations sound at all like yours, contact us and talk to the staff at DaCo. Or, click here to see what other resources Dave has to offer. Better yet, if you’d like to dig into this issue, then Dave will send you a series of 12 of his articles, spread over the next 12 weeks so you can digest them one at a time. Click here to receive them.
Or, you can continue to fret, worry and lose sleep. |