49 / 110
the purchasing roles they have
held to better understand their
level of knowledge. If you aren’t
sure of their experience or famil-
iarity with your product, ask.
There’s no need to spend the
first 10 minutes of a call rehash-
ing what they already know—
share something new.
2
Educate yourself on the
company and clients.
Knowing your prospect is
important but understanding the
company’s customers is equally
important. Don’t shortcut and
ask them to explain who their
customers are—you should
already know. Most companies
have case studies posted on their
website. Read them. Others may
display customer logos and that
should help you understand the
types of organizations who need
their product and services. Your
time is valuable, as is theirs. So
the more research you do ahead
of time, the more respect you
will show and the more produc-
tive the call will be.
3
Know industry pain
points.
Successful sales-
people dig deeper in
their research to develop at least
a moderate understanding of the
market’s typical pain points, his-
torical data or shifts in the
industry landscape. It will be dif-
ficult to build credibility and
carry on a productive conversa-
tion if you can’t at least
empathize with their current
position.
And by all means, know your
own competitors. Imagine how
frustrating it would be for your
prospect to inquire how a prod-
uct feature compares with
Competitor A’s, and you don’t
even know that company exists.
You can’t sell someone on being
the best solution if you don’t
understand what your competi-
tors are offering (or have stopped
offering).
4
Listen first; sell second.
It’s a digital world and
prospects can purchase
most products online, but work-
ing with you will bring human
interaction and input—so bring
it. Take the time to listen and
offer fresh ideas as well as
caveats they may not have con-
sidered. You might get a bonus if
you can move more water bottles
or tote bags this month, but that
doesn’t mean those are wise pur-
chases for this prospect. If you
genuinely believe they should
choose a different product than
they originally thought, tell
them why. How will it improve
their company brand? How will
it be used more by their
prospects and customers? In
other words, behave less like a
sales vendor and more like a
marketing partner who’s an
extension of their team. This can
ensure a long-term client rela-
tionship, with a higher chance of
referrals.
5
Treat the first conversa-
tion like it’s the last
. If
you score an extended
conversation from a cold call or
MAY 2016 •
PPB
• 47
Answer These Questions
Before Launching A
Corporate Inventory Program
Challenge:
As a distributor in today’s fast paced promotional products
world, you’ll need to have consultative selling skills, be able to add
value for your clients and secure enduring relationships.
Solution:
There are many ways to accomplish this, but one surefire way
is to land profitable, well-run corporate inventory programs. These are
often won through competitive bid situations and once the agreements
are signed, a long, drawn-out set-up process ensues. In addition to bid-
ding and set up there is the financing of inventory, the ability to tie into
the client’s technology (and remain secure!) and make sure the pro-
gram flows smoothly with the client being satisfied.
With all that in mind you need to make sure that you can first run
the program and second can run the program profitably. A program
that doesn’t perform profitably will severely impact the distributor and
in some cases put them at risk for bankruptcy. Stay away from the lure
of the revenues and make sure at the end of the year that the program
generates money in the bank. To get you started, ask yourself the fol-
lowing 12 questions. These will provide a great starting point to make
sure you are moving in the right direction.
1. Who is going to finance the inventory? The client, you or a bank
loan?
2. If the program you acquire has inventory, who will buy that
existing inventory from the current distributor?
3. Who is going to build the website, what are the costs and will
it have features such as real-time inventory?
4. Will it be a real ecommerce site?
5. Who is going to manage the program? Will you have a dedicated
program manager?
6. When new products are requested by the client, what will be
your process to add them to the site? For example, who will do
the photo shoot, order the inventory and set up the web page?
7. If you are a salesperson working for a distributor, when will you
be paid on order entry? Monthly?
8. With the RFI and RFP who is going to do the presentations and
fill out the contracts?
9. Who will host your site?
10. Will you be able to have ecommerce integration with Ariba,
People Soft and/or procurement integration?
11. With all the data breaches, what will be your level of website
security and will you be able to have credit card encryption?
12. For multinational corporations, will you have translation
capabilities?
—
Peter T. Zeiger, MAS,
director of recruiting, Geiger