My ultimate objective during the onboarding process and throughout my channel partner relationship is increase the mind share of my partners.  I want them to devote more time & resources to my product line. Their investment has to be earned and justified each step of the way so I advise putting your best foot forward from the outset., Starting out strong is important and relationship building is the foundation.  The three constituencies I try to reach with the distributorship/dealership are:

1. Owners/Top Management
2. Sales Management/ Field Sales Reps (FSR’s)
3. Distributor non line support staff

 
The initial onboarding process will occur at the distributor initially, plan on spending at minimum three days with the team or in the field together.

Owners/Top Managers
 
These people control the purse strings and determine the priorities of the organization so are key to mind share.  I don’t try to take too much of their time as they have competing principals jockeying for position.  I try to schedule their time at least a month in advance.  The size and importance of the distributor will determine the visit frequency and principal’s participating.
 
The types of matters we discuss are:

1. Annual goal setting.This a face to face exercise and usually results in an updated addendum to the business agreement with a review of the past year and an updated $ target and activity plan.This is usually reviewed mid-year either face to face or video conference.Use a basic agreement and put any market specific “peculiarities” into an addendum for regular updates.
2. Jointly review projected investments.This would include New Products, Headcount additions (especially field sales), Capital expenditures, Marketing investments (digital and traditional) and any types of trainings/distributor meetings involving cross border travel.
3. Annual rewards and recognition.Reward top performance, take pictures-share them within your distributor network and celebrate in some fashion.Review non- performance with action plans.
4. Review conclusions of distributor council if you have one and other discussions will ensue if they are involved.
5. Any major key OEM account factory visits they may require future planning and budgeting.

 
Get it started during the onboarding process properly and it becomes easier to set up the second meeting.
 
Sales Management/FSR’s
 
These are the doers.  Not all the FSR’s will be able to attend on site factory training so use this time to get every FSR trained.  This is a great kick off but the trainings can be delivered in modules over the course of time combined with field customer training visits.
 
The types of matters we discuss are:

1. Product training-basic training plus links to resources they can reference.Product competitive face offs should also be discussed with unique product positioning.
2. Application training-basics of proven applications and success stories so they know where to go.It is just as important to know where “not to go.”
3. Sales process training-use other experiences and your knowledge to show them how other sales teams have been successful “selling” the product on their non-technical aspects e.g. Sales tools.
4. Review leading and lagging sales indicators to ensure proven successful sales activities are in sync.This can be part of a monthly sales review with the sales management team.
5. Monthly project review.Target significant customer activities and updates.Build a joint template.
6. Monthly leads review of A and B targets.Start with global accounts with local operations.
7. Understand their current accounts need and if there are complementary product opportunities.
8. Regional and global distributor meeting schedules.Good opportunity for curriculum, networking.

 
Distributor non line support staff
 
These are also the doers, but handle multiple vendors so getting their time is fundamental to success during onboarding.  These support persons are usually not able to attend on site factory training so use this time to get everyone basic product and process trained. 
 
The types of matters we discuss are:

1. Customer service.Basic ordering fundamentals regarding logistics, pricing, delivery, warranty and the dreaded product return process.
2. < >< >Public recognition at distributor events.Reward both performance and tenure.Ensure long tenured distributors are performers.Group pictures at principal company events are usually proudly displayed at distributor and principal sites.It also tells you who enjoys these events.
3. Branding and bling-provide high quality corporate logoed clothing they can wear to customers.They are part of the team and need to proudly display the brand depending on local business culture.

 
Reward distributors openly and lavishly with mementos, plaques and pictures.
 
There is an associated I recommend for supplemental reading: http://www.upsizemag.com/business-builders/exporting-2.
 
I’ll be taking a 3-4 month hiatus from blog publishing to work on some personal projects this summer, but feel free write or call if you want to have a discussion and we’ll arrange a mutually convenient time.  Sign up on my web site or contact me directly by phone. 


Good Selling!

My career has been spent working for B2B SME’s (small-medium sized enterprises) that have been under resourced and seeking overseas sales growth.  In the seminal work by Steven Watkins, The First 90 Days, one of the strategies after landing in a new job is to build small wins.  I buy into that concept for new salespeople because positive results stimulate more positive activity and a winning attitude renews itself past the probationary period.
 
It is hard to start in a new sales role, learning new product, new sales process and new teammates so lighter lifting may be efficient to make a 90 day impact.   Seek customers in their comfort zone.  Wholly new customer relationships need to be cultivated but are hard to win in the first 90 days particularly if you have a sales cycle that exceeds that short time. An existing customer base that has proven it likes the product, has been set up in the sales system and is receptive to an appointment is a great alternative and a great initiation.
 
Do some simple analytical work.  Perform your A/B/C analysis of existing accounts.  Segregate your B accounts and high C accounts:

1. Chances are the previous rep lost their mojo over the past 5-6 months and did not vet these contacts for new opportunities.They may be sitting at the lower reaches of your pipeline. Eager new minds can be less critical of these undersold opportunities and have enough attention to generate.PS check product returns too for potential conflicts that may have been avoided.
   
2. Smaller customers, or a customer of just one part of the business for a long time may be ripe for cross-sell and up-sell opportunities with complementary products with a ‘fresh pair of eyes’?They also may not be aware of products introduced in the past 12 months.
   
3. Look at the CRM characteristics at these accounts.Have there been any customer organizational changes at these accounts?Don’t just look at buyers but contact the product or engineering managers.Is there a new VP or Director that could be making other organizational changes?Typically, new contacts like to be in contact with other new contacts so they can build their own relationships and not inherit a seller legacy. It is a fresh start for both.Not right yet but after awhile these new contacts can also provide a new referral network within 6-12 months if you win some new projects so keep this in mind as you build your 18-24 month onboarding process.
   
4. Review custom product applications for these accounts for the past two years.If they are currently buying a custom product application are there others in play that have not surfaced?If the custom project never turned into a revenue opportunity could it be won with a standard or modified product?
   

 
Channel partner relationships are critical too if that is a path to market.  Analyze and then hit the road. Go through the same A/B/C exercise for channel partners adding market position to the factors, and ask yourself:

1. Is the ownership team committed to growing your business?
   
2. Is the subject matter expert for your line or product champion the leader you’d want in charge?
   
3. Has the distributor team analyzed their customer base like you would have done for their direct accounts?
   

See https://www.jimthomasintl.com/blog/working-thru-channel-partner-issues for more channel evaluation tools.

As I learned early from one of my Tradewinds colleagues about the spotlight- “first you see the light then you feel the heat” when starting a new role. The metric with additional resources comes with the top management expectation of increased revenue, project wins and expanded sales/customer.
 
There are other tools to use to accelerate the new salesperson investment to break even above expectations, but winning new revenue is a direct path to success. 

Do you want to have a free fifteen-minute call to discuss successful onboarding new rep sales tactics?  Sign up on my web site or contact me directly by phone.  This will be the subject at the late May Tradewinds meetings https://www.jimthomasintl.com/the-tradewinds-councilcopy.html.


Good Selling!