COVID changed every manufacturer’s sales budgets in April. Aside from top line revenue and maybe salaries (due to employment reduction), the one expense line that may have changed the most is travel and entertainment. The spender of these … sales organizations. As publicly held companies reported Q2 earnings, and are reporting Q3 earnings, a consistent theme is that they are … [Read more...] about Will Fear of Wall Street Impact Manufacturer Sales Organizations?
Sales & Marketing
Changing Role of Sales
It’s been almost seven months (March) since COVID exploded into the electrical industry. It’s been a roller coaster road for many with everyone expecting the business to fall off the side of the earth in April. And the role of sales has been the most disrupted. In the first 30-45 days many companies instituted workforce changes (furloughs and layoffs). While the … [Read more...] about Changing Role of Sales
Rep Opportunities Abound
2020 is a year of change in the rep community. And the change is creating new opportunities. There have been Many lines that have changed agencies which, considering the circumstances, was surprising.Some are being forced to make changes due to manufacturer consolidation.Agencies moving into new, contiguous, markets either by plan or at the request of a manufacturer.There … [Read more...] about Rep Opportunities Abound
Salespeople in Lockdown Could Cost You Share
Recently I visited a manufacturer rep client and spent time with their salespeople. As typically goes, the conversation “wanders” into what they are observing in the marketplace (the benefit of F2F meetings!). The salespeople I was talking to have been visiting with distributors and contractors while observing applicable COVID protocols and, most importantly, being respectful … [Read more...] about Salespeople in Lockdown Could Cost You Share
POS is About Getting Paid for Effort
In an industry awash with data, the issue of POS (point of sale) information being shared to ensure independent manufacturer representatives are compensated for their efforts continues to be an issue. And with COVID significantly impacting industry revenues for many, distributors who do not properly report sales through regional / central distribution centers and manufacturers … [Read more...] about POS is About Getting Paid for Effort
Reallocate Conference Funds to Support Growth
This year many companies should be able to find some “extra” dollars around to reallocate. The question is whether they reallocate them to investments to drive business, funding for incremental COVID-19 related expenses that they would do “beyond” what was planned or seek to take it to the bottom line (and perhaps use to satisfy Wall Street). The “extra” relates to “benefits” … [Read more...] about Reallocate Conference Funds to Support Growth
Are You “Zoomed” Out?
Zoom is now the generic term for webinars. The Kleenex of webinars. Teams may rival based upon usage, but from a lexicon viewpoint it is now Zoom, perhaps because of the media and stock market mentions? Whether you use Zoom, Teams, WebEx, Go-To-Meeting, Google Hangout or the umpteen more of these services, the end result is either another webinar or a meeting. Facetime … [Read more...] about Are You “Zoomed” Out?
