What is the path to success in sales when you are selling both direct and through a distributor? What is the best approach for you and your company? Even though it’s sales, I think it looks a lot like marketing based on my conversation with Drew Hamilton. He is the Southeast regional manager at VistaLab technologies.
He is playing the long game by building relationships with his reps (he has 200 from Washington, D.C. to Texas and everything below that line) that pay off in a win-win-win for Drew, his reps and their customers. He was kind enough to share his experience with me and some tips for anyone following this path.
Drew is pushing everything through distribution but describes his activity as 50% managing distribution and 50% “taking it to the people”, walking the halls and knocking on doors.
He has been at it for 11 years and admits the first few were tough. It takes a while to build those relationships. The reps need to check you out before they put you in front of their customers “because their customers are gold.” But after about three years, the investment in those relationships pays off “if you get that snowball effect and business just gets better and better. The job gets easier and more fun.”
I will say as a little tip, the number one thing any new rep needs to do is build a database of all their distributors.
I've got an Excel spreadsheet listed with everybody's email in there. And then I email or call everybody a once or twice a month, whether it's a stock report or a promo just to get myself on their radar, you know, whether they read it or not, and to get my company and my products on their radar. And it kind of builds from there.
That’s the logistics of the relationship, but the secret sauce is the human connection - “just be a real dude.” He’ll talk with customers about Star Wars, Harry Potter (see photo) and sports. And then he makes sure to keep his reps up to date with info they need. Staying in touch is key. He learned early on that bad news is better than no news.
Finally, about five years ago, he started sending Christmas cards. No mention of VistaLab, just pictures of him (dressed as a Jedi) and his family.
Be human. Keep in touch. Share valuable information. Looks a lot like marketing, doesn’t it?
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Managing Distributors - The Long Game