Many distributors continue to struggle as year-to-date industry sales remain down from last year. Basically, they need to get sales growing NOW and don’t have time to wait for a long-term plan to deliver results.
Lots of distributors have been reaching out to our consulting practice to ask about marketing software, lead generation companies, prospect lists, AI and more. They’re looking for that magic pill that will deliver easy and immediate results. While these ideas should be considered as part of a long-term growth strategy, I rarely see the kind of immediate results that distributors are hoping for.
If you want fast results, here are two strategies that deliver more sales right away.
Focus On Current Clients
I still recommend splitting your sales focus into two components: business retention (current clients) and new business development (new clients).
Let’s start with the fastest way to get more sales right now, which is to grow your business with existing clients, and more specifically, your TOGA (Top Opportunities for Growth Accounts) clients. Every sales rep on your team has at least five to 10 clients who give you good business, but you know you’re only getting a small portion of their overall merch spend. This is the fastest way to get more sales now as you already have a good relationship with this client. They already know, like and trust you!
Randy Conley
President, Promo Consulting
Start by asking each sales rep to identify their top five TOGA clients – you can download a free TOGA Planning Worksheet here. Work with them to develop a customized plan to get more business from each client. Some general strategies may be the same for most clients, but make sure each client feels like you’re speaking specifically to them.
Research is a good place to start:
- What do we know about their business? Make sure they know you’ve done your homework.
- What corporate or departmental initiatives are they working on right now that would benefit from the addition of merch?
- Which departments don’t we do business with yet? Can we get an introduction?
- Do we have case studies ready to remind the client about the successful projects they’ve already done with you? (Especially if you bailed them out with some rush orders or dazzled them with your creative solutions!)
- Is your sales team and the client clear about your value proposition and why they should spend more of their merch budget with you?
Next is to try and schedule a discovery meeting – this is ideally in-person but could be Zoom or a call if needed. This is your opportunity to show the client your knowledge of their business, ask questions to explore opportunities and if you currently have a transactional relationship, attempt to transition to more of a valued partner type of relationship that can help differentiate yourself from the competition.
Don’t be afraid to make it clear that you’re here to help them and get more business. Get started by asking to participate in the next project, which hopefully is right now or soon.
New Business Development
The fastest way to get more business from new clients NOW is to ask for introductions.
Notice I didn’t use the word “referrals.” While referrals too often result in just a name, introductions imply that you’re looking to be connected and even recommended. Start with long-time clients that love you as they’ll be more than willing to help you grow your business – all you have to do is ask.
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Make sure to explain what type of clients are best for you and ask if they know anyone inside or outside their organization that would benefit from the type of great merch experience they’ve had by working with you. Distributors that run introductory programs with their sales team and track the results always see immediate success. Sales activities that get tracked get done, so here are some weekly KPIs to drive success and many ERP systems have “Tags” that make tracking easy:
- Number of clients asked for introduction – to grow sales now, ask each rep for one per day
- Number of introductions received – you’ll be surprised at the success rate here
- Number of new prospects engaged
- Number of new opportunities (projects) started
- Number of new opportunities won
- Revenue won from introductions
If your YTD sales are down and you want fast results, focus on TOGA clients and introductions. These are two proven methods that deliver immediate opportunities for growth.
As an entrepreneur with over 40 years of promo experience, Randy Conley has built his own successful distributorship, been an executive at a leading industry SaaS provider and worked with some of the top distributors in the industry as a consultant. He’s currently president of Promo Consulting, which is focused on helping distributors do better.
