A two sided perspective

Having worked for both vendors and distributors many of my customers ask me for my thoughts on vendor sponsored incentive programs with their distribution partners. IT industry vendors for years have used incentive programs to influence distribution sales staff to recommend their product over a competitors. My answer? There is a place for incentive programs, but, the program must be designed with distribution management consultation to minimise conflict. Secondly, the incentive program must be an element of an overall campaign to be most effective. Many vendors have a one program fits all mentality that misses the mark in most distribution organisations.

In identifying the reasons why Incentive Programs are not always effective it is important to understand the objectives of each partner. The main objectives of each partner are as follows:

The Distributor - The executive within the distribution organisation have the following objectives that relate to the incentive program:

Sales managers directing staff not vendors.Sell through aged stock.Achieve revenue and margin targets.Sell stock that attracts more margin.Spread sales across all vendors.Receive target rebates.

The vendor - The vendors objective:

Encourage sales staff to convert other vendors product sales to theirs.Encourage sales staff to speak about their products to the distributors customer base.Encourage the distributor to purchase more stock.Develop product evangelists or product specialists within the distributors sales teams.Sell through aged stock within the vendors warehouses.Clear end of life stock.Launch product.

To ensure an effective incentive program both partners need to discuss and agree to the purpose, processes and implementation of the program.

Some tips on designing a successful incentive program:

Work with your partner to understand their requirements and negotiate a mutual beneficial agreement.Include the incentive program as an element of your overall strategy.Do not make the program too general.Do not run the incentive program for too long or too often.Launch the program, with sales and marketing management present to display their buy-in.Make sure there is clarity in the messaging and the programs terms and conditions.Do not make it difficult for sales staff to submit their sales data, where possible use the distributors internal data. Work with marketing to create internal sales collateral even if you provide a template as a start.Always provide updates to the sales team throughout the program.Prior to the start date makes sure stock is available and staff have received their product training.

Successful people surround themselves with the right people, call Productive Sales and Marketing today on 02 95233269 or visit our website and complete the contact form www.productivesm.com.au

Help our kids choose the right subjects at school and university Many parents with teenage kids will attest that they all face or are about to face the daunting task of assisting their teenagers in choosing the right subjects at school or university, starting their journey on their career path.

I am passionate about this topic as I remember my days in high school, the advice offered to me by teachers and career advisors was to choose 'Chemistry, Physics and 3 Unit Maths'. My career path has led me towards sales and marketing roles and, more recently, towards business consulting, learning and development occupations. Stating the obvious... they were wrong.

Similarly at university I chose a double major in Marketing and Accounting. Half way through my accounting subjects I realised that I was not an accounting type of guy, and yes, I changed my major.

As a psychometric assessments practitioner I am happy to announce that there are assessment tools that can assist you and your teenagers in choosing their career path. There is a relationship between occupations and personality type.

Other advantages of using psychometric assessment instruments, they enable personal transformation by giving your teenagers a powerful tool for improving how they communicate, learn and work.

The report together with our consultation will give you a great deal of insight to help you assist your teenager to make informed decisions about their future:

Careers that reflect their interestsPossible education and training programsSatisfying work environmentsIdentify job families, or broad occupational categories, to help get them started in their career searchChoose a specific job or careerSelect a University or college major or course of studyIdentify strengths and potential weaknesses of their type for the career search processPlan their career development strategy and action steps

There are a few instruments that can be used in the career assessment process, it is important that you have a discussion with your certified practitioner to access the instrument that best suits your needs.

A clear direction of your child's career path can help them make the best decisions about training, education and personal development. Many disciplines require specific degrees and certifications. Understanding the requirements of your child's chosen path will allow you to assist your child in planning to prepare them for the career they want.

Many may think that this is an expensive exercise, this is not the case.

Start exploring career options today, for an obligation free discussion call Productive Sales and Marketing today on +61 423454033 or e-mail me on robert@productivesm.com.au

Organisations often support their staff's professional development by sending their staff on courses or providing in-house training. A skills gap that affects individual performance is often overlooked, that is, the ability to effectively manage one’s time, 'Time management'. The effect of ‘bad time management’ and in particular the knock on effect when not addressed affects all of us. More importantly that behaviour seems to entrench itself in the culture of the business.

How does time management impact the entire organisation?

Being late for customer meetings may create the impression that you are not reliable.You may not have time to write an agenda and send to attendees before the meeting.You can turn up at the meeting flustered and not prepared.Attendees are not prepared for your meeting or may attend not knowing what the meeting is about.May cause your customer to lose trust in you when you set an expectation only to let them down by missing the deadline.When running a tender, bad time management may result in multiple departments being on standby waiting for your direction, effect? Other projects and obligations are delayed.

The above are just a few examples of bad time management scenarios, all affecting the organisations bottom line.

How do we resolve this?

Training your staff to understand how to manage their time better, how to understand their organisational processes, understanding the effects on breaking process links, understanding the knock on effects holding up colleagues or customers, behavioural change in using timelines on projects and a strategy in influencing cultural behavioural change.

Six steps to better manage your time:

Create a task list and prioritise your tasks.Review your tasks and your progress religiously.Delegate tasks that are better completed by others.Create a project timeline listing activity owners, responsibility and completion dates. Release this timeline early to allow others to plan their schedule efficiently.When setting customer expectations include a time buffer to take into account possible delays.When inviting people to a meeting provide an agenda in advance to help attendees with specific requirements and input participation.

If you need help in training your staff call Productive Sales and Marketing today for an obligation free discussion. www.productivesm.com.au

When I ask this question the answer is often Marketing, Public Relations, Advertising and Social Media just to name a few. Most business owners also state that building their brand is an expensive exercise.

It is true building a brand like 'Coke' will cost you a fortune and take a long time. Most organisations do not have the budget or are able to raise the kind of capital needed to build their brand to a “Coke” level.

One of the most cost effective methods in building your brand identity is to use your evangelists to uphold your brand and identity.

Who are your evangelists?

Anyone who represents your brand, for example, your customers, your staff, suppliers, contractors and your distributors.

All these groups are involved in the process from the initial product development all the way through to the after sales service and they all need to understand and uphold your brand.

What does your brand stand for? Quality, Innovation, Reliability, Service etc.

Some examples of upholding your brand identity:

Product Development - reliability, consistency in quality;Marketing – brand guidelines, consistent tone and message in advertising including print, radio, social media, press releases, trade shows etc.Sales - recommending the right product for your customers needs;Distributors - stock availability and delivery on time;External Packaging - protect products, promote brand with the environment in mind;Internal Packaging - all contents, quick user guides and manuals present and easy to use:Technical Support - knowledgeable staff with live information, understanding previous issues;Faulty goods policy - easy to return faulty goods, process easy to understand and use;Customer Service - knowledgeable with the ability to make decisions.

Do you have a staff induction program for new staff?

How important is brand awareness to your business?

If you need help in training your sales staff call Productive Sales and Marketing today for an obligation free discussion. www.productivesm.com.au

I’m often asked by clients to evaluate their marketing efforts and often their benchmark is their competitors. They will replicate their competitors advertising mediums both online and traditional and follow similar structures or formats with website, newsletter and other collateral. The perception is 'if we have what they have and do what they do, we will also be as big and successful as them'.

Taking market share by replicating what your competitors are doing, even if you do it a little better, is a slow uphill battle and many wonder why their growth is still at a crawl.

Differentiating yourself is important but instead of focusing on the vehicle why not focus on your messaging instead.

So, how do you create a message that attracts the attention of your customers?

Simple, ask your customers.

What is important to them?What do they like about your product?What do they think about your service and delivery?What do your competitors do better?What do they like about their product?If they are reselling your products are they happy with your pricing and margins earned against your competition? What is the perception in the marketplace?What are your competitors saying about your product?What products would they like to see you introduce?

If you are addressing different segments of the market place it is important that you do this exercise for each segment.

The feedback you receive will assist in creating targeted messaging relevant and important to your customers in each segment. For example, if your research discovers delivery of goods is slow and often stock is not available then your new messaging can include 'introducing new delivery system to ensure product is delivered on time and when you need it'.

Instead of following your competitors and replicating their marketing efforts talk to your customers and create a stronger understanding of what their requirements are and focus on addressing their concerns … this way you can run your own race.

If you would like any advice about customer messaging contact me today for a 45 min obligation free discussion.

As a business coach and frequent traveller, I have identified a phenomenon that hinders meeting productivity that is more common than not... I call it 'Just in Time Travel'.

I’m amazed how often business people fly interstate and expect to get to their first meeting by 9:00 am. With airline delays and morning peak hour traffic it’s stressful for both the person attending the meeting as well as the people at the other end waiting for the meeting to start.

Some try taking carry-on luggage as a strategy, or may even have a private taxi on standby. If airline delays do not frustrate or delay you the peak hour traffic will.

Don't risk it!

Business owners name business travel as one of the costs to the business that adversely affects the bottom line. Although business travel is often first to be frozen when the market slows, business leaders acknowledge that face-to-face is necessary to develop relationships and better understand your customers business. Oxford Economics, USA, has researched the effects of virtual vs face- to- face meetings. The study identified when it comes to meeting prospective clients face-to-face, your odds for success are increased to 85%. Source: The return of investment of US business travel by Oxford Economics, USA.

During my sales training workshops I emphasise the fact that sales staff need to prepare for their meeting. I have witnessed sales staff attending meetings late, hot and flustered, repeatedly apologising, thumbing their notepad and struggling to gather their thoughts.

In preparing for meetings there are four important steps:

Research the organisation – type of industry, competitors, offices, number of staff;Who are you meeting? What is their title? How long have they been working for the organisation? What is their background? Write an agenda;Be mentally prepared - just like an elite athlete you need to be focused before kicking that goal, not flustered.

'Just in time travel' also occurs at the end of the day. Some start looking at their watch or even book a taxi half way through the meeting to get to the airport on time. Not a good look.

A few tips for a successful interstate meeting:

Plan your trip agenda including a buffer to absorb any delays;Stay overnight to ensure you are fresh for your meeting;Take time to gather your thoughts and be in the right frame of mind before the meeting;Use a destination planner to plan your meetings;Pre plan your journey - taxi drivers are happy to pick you up usually by a quick text when you are ready to leave.

How do you plan for an interstate meeting? Share your comments below:

In last week’s blog we discussed why and how successful Trade Events and Australian sales training workshops need consistent focus and expertise

During my Sales Management training programs I often hear Managers lament that past trade events haven’t been successful and/or generated a poor ROI

Therefore part 2 of How to Make Your Trade Events a Success includes the following key recommendations:

6. Training staff on new products – there is nothing worse than staff being shown the product on the morning of the show and testing their knowledge on live customers. So ensure you train all attendees on new products prior to the show, as well as refreshers on more well established products or services

In addition, if you have ‘none sales people’ manning the stand ensure you give them sales training on how to approach and engage with customers as well as product training

7. Speaking spot – make the most of the show and try to get a speakers spot

Many trade events have international speakers who draw a strong audience however they often are looking for ‘backup speakers’ or fill in speakers if someone doesn’t show up or pulls out. Promote the event to your customer base.

8. Staff Roster – ensure that there is a roster prepared and agreed to by all managers outlining shift starting and finishing times and meal times. Make sure that you take into account that you need to split the shifts to enable staff to return calls, return e-mails and meet with customers.

9. re and post briefing – Most companies spend a lot of money on attending an event where the ultimate goal was to generate leads and/or sales. So what next?

It is crucial to develop a lead distribution and management process. Otherwise all of those business cards your team gathered at the event will end up lost or wasted. (If you are in doubt of this divide the total costs of the event by the number of leads and sales you generate)

10. Post-mortem analysis – investigate and learn from the event, document what has worked, what needs changing, what was the ROI, and what are you going to do going forward.

Successful trade events need focus and expertise

Very often clients are reluctant to invest in trade events as they have “been there, done that and the return on investment was not worth it.”

In all cases the post-mortem revealed that lack of proper planning was at the top of the list as to reasons why the event was not a success.

Follow the below list and the results will follow.

1. Event organiser – have a discussion with the event organiser and identify if this is the event for you, do not rely on a glossy brochure.

2. Booth positioning – Just like a retail store the key principle at an event is position, position and position

The position and size of your stand plays an important role in the success of the event so always consider the impact on ROI between the positions of a slightly more expensive stand, compared to a cheaper but out of the way stand.

3. Stand design – your stand needs to reflect your brand identity. Your design should be completed early to ensure all goes well and be sure to understand the limitations

Many events have restrictions in regards to height of banners and rigging, serving customers beverages etc. All venues have different restrictions so make sure you review the terms and conditions.

4. Feature Products – decide what products you will be showing, a good start will be with your product roadmap.

Always have a plan ‘B’ as delays may occur if your product is being shipped from overseas or is still undergoing testing production phase.

5. Demonstrations – when running demonstrations on products note what utilities and restrictions are in place that may affect or close down your demonstration.

Sound restrictions,Electricity (what phase is required),Water, drainage availabilityWIFI (most shows are saturated with WIFI signals which may affect your demonstrations).

For Tips 6 – 10 please check out next week’s blog

The importance of Sales and Marketing alignment – part 2

In last week’s blog we discussed how Channel Marketing Managers, driving a Channel Marketing Strategy, need to be specialists in many areas.

They not only need to produce marketing collateral to motivate and educate their distributors, while supporting their resellers who are potentially in different segments of the market, they also need to consider the cyclical purchasing habits and requirements of the end user.

As a Sales and Marketing coach and sales training specialist I consistently drive the principle that Sales and Marketing alignment is crucial to ensure an organisation’s marketing budget generates an ROI and doesn’t disappear into a marketing ‘black hole’

In the modern digital age, most marketers have lost sight of simple methods that are essential to success

So following last week’s 1 – 5, here are Marketing Tips numbers 6 – 10

6. Obtain feedback from your sales team before producing marketing material. Ultimately they are the people who will have to take it out and discuss with customers (either in hard copy or on-line) and their input will make the marketing material more relevant. Plus, if sales feel past of the development process they will use it

7. As part of the planning process, schedule regular joint briefing sessions as part of your sales meetings so Sales and Marketing can articulate what is required from each person.

8. Promote the marketing department as an in-house marketing agency, who play on the same team and take responsibility for the Customers brief, as supplied by the sales people

9. As you would with an external marketing agency, if the brief is not good enough, send the sales people back to the market to gather more intelligence.

Sales people are the ones who are out there every day so should know more about customers requirements that office bound marketing

10. All employees are responsible for and play a part in the sales process of the business.

So whether you are building a brand or building a campaign to generate more leads and sales establish shared sales goals and metrics and reward their overall achievement.

The importance of Sales and Marketing alignment

The role of a Channel Marketing Manager is tough as they need to be experts in many areas.

Firstly, they need to able to produce material to motivate and educate their distributors that have different business models.

Secondly, they need to be able to produce material to motivate, educate and support their resellers who also address different segments of the market in different ways, and, Thirdly they need to understand the varying buying cycles and requirements of the end user.

In my current field of Sales Training and Marketing coach and trainer a common theme arises more often than not and is called Sales and Marketing alignment. In order to offer my 10 important steps to align sales and marketing we must look at the symptoms.

Symptoms

“We have a room full of marketing material and sales have not done their job in distributing the material to their customers.”“Sales staff should stick to their job and stop telling Marketing what to do.”“Distributors supply credit they do not generate sales.”“That’s a sales function.”“Trade events are not successful as sales do not follow up”

With these symptoms in mind, here are the first 5 of 10 Tips

1. Sales and marketing should be on the same team and efforts of both need to be aligned. So start with both Heads of Sales and Marketing having the same Revenue and Profit Target

2. Create a role of Sales and Marketing Director to better align both teams (as long as the Candidate has the required expertise. Being a good at Sales doesn’t make you good at Marketing, and vice versa)

3. Marketers do not rely on a brief from sales to understand the customer. Both sales and marketing teams must understand the sales process starting from distributor to the end-user buying habits.

4. Do not rely only on industry publications. How often does your Marketing team actually meet with your top ten partners, in their offices, to better understand how they can add value to their business through your marketing efforts? Is it enough?

5. Marketing must present to the sales team their strategic plans and marketing calendar outlining their key activities, and then agreement needs to be met on what will work and add value, and then most importantly articulate the strategy and support required from sales.

For Tips 6 – 10 please check out next week’s blog

Many years ago I was promoted to Sales Manager and was asked to go ahead and create as many of me as possible. Recipe for success?

The competencies of a Sales Executive and Sales Manager are very different. I did not take long to realise that sales management is a science, nothing happens by chance. The best coaches whether in sport or business lead their team and bring out the best in people, they do not clone themselves.

Many people who are promoted to a management position do not understand the challenges and responsibilities that come with the role. Decisions made by rookie Sales Managers may haunt them for the rest of their time in that role. They may even burn out at no fault of their own.

Senior executives do not have the skills or time to coach their staff. In my experience success comes sooner when senior management have the foresight to hire the services of a professional coach to ensure their new sales manager hits the ground running.

The First 90 days in a new Sales Manager’s role can be a minefield, and everyone wants to give them advice on what needs to change. However beware, as the advice may sometimes also be biased.

It is important that a line is drawn and a transition is made from Sales Executive to Sales Manager. Your Sales Manager will need to step back, set aside any biases and see the things through the eyes of a Sales Manager.

5 Steps to ensure success

1. Have discussions with your executive team outlining your plans and expectations.

2. Meet with your Sales Manager and clearly articulate your expectations in terms of company goals, budgets, Minimum Activity levels; management reporting systems etc.

3. Prepare an induction schedule and development plan for the Managers First 90 Days; set meetings with all stakeholders and ensure all stakeholders are presented with an agenda and clear meeting and coaching objectives are outlined.

4. Set regular meetings to ensure you are briefed on progress.

5. Do not assume that your Sales Manager will ask for your help, as some people may feel uncomfortable making you aware of what they do not know. Remember your Sales Manager will need to develop skills in managing staff, working with other departments, hiring staff etc.