Sales channels to reach your customers
Selling through retailers, wholesalers and other distributors
Selling through an intermediary may be a more cost-effective way of reaching your end-customers than selling to them directly.
If you are targeting business customers who prefer to deal with large suppliers, selling directly to them may not be a realistic option. Instead, you might aim to supply wholesalers who have existing relationships with those businesses.
If individual consumers buy low value quantities of your products, the best option might be to target retailers that sell similar products. Or you might choose to focus your efforts on a relatively small number of wholesalers who can in turn supply your products to many retailers.
Other distribution channels may also reach your end-customers. For example, technology suppliers often sell to resellers who can configure and install the technology to suit end-users’ particular needs.
Managing your distributors
You need distributors who will value your product. If they sell competing products, what will make them push yours?
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Think about how you set your prices. Distributors will be more enthusiastic if they can make a large profit – but setting too low a price will eat into your own margins.
Effective advertising and promotions can be vital. As well as marketing to the distributor, you can promote your products directly to end-customers. Distributors will be keener to stock and sell products that their customers are asking for.
The key terms of the supply relationship should be covered in a written contract. Key issues might include:
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how much stock the distributor will hold
what the distributor will do to promote your products
how quickly you can resupply and minimum order levels
whether the distributor has exclusive rights to your product (for example, in a particular territory)
what happens if either you or the distributor want to end the relationship
Business ideas, Marketing and sales , promotions and advertising ideas , articles
The Buyers Journey
The Buyers Journey
brianoconn
Business Strategy, Business Tips
March 14, 2017
2 Minutes
Increasingly the buyers journey is now done online. Even B2B customers have adopted consumer-like behavior. They now conduct product research online and often make purchasing decisions without a sales reps involvement. Those B2B customers who engage with sales agents are already 57 percent of the way through the buying process before their first contact. This fundamentally changes the type and tenor of the interactions that sellers use to engage with customers.
The most often used description of The buyers journey is, the process a buyer will go through to become aware of, consider and decide to purchase a new product or service. This journey can be condensed down to a three-step process: The Awareness Stage: The buyer realizes they may have a problem. Consideration Stage: The buyer defines their problem and researches options to solve it and then the Decision Stage: The buyer chooses a solution.
During the Awareness stage, a buyer will identify an issue, or challenge they want to address. At this stage they decide what priority this issue or challenge should be. So ask yourself?
How would the buyer describe his or her challenges?
Where and how does the buyer educate themselves on the challenges facing others or their industry?
What would be the impact of non action by the buyer?
In your (the sales person or marketing) business, what are the common misconceptions a buyer could have in relation to addressing the issue or challenge?
What would be the compelling reasons when the buyer comes to deciding whether or not this should be prioritized?
At the Consideration stage, the buyer should have moved to having clearly defined the issue or challenge plus a commitment to dealing with it. They have self educated, read whitepapers, interacted with companies and sales people plus will have evaluated the different options available to pursue the end goal of resolving the challenge. Ask yourself:
Which categories of solutions do buyers investigate?
Where do buyers educate themselves on the various options or solutions?
How do buyers perceive the pros and cons of each solution?
How do buyers decide which option is right for them?
Lastly, at the Decision stage, the buyer have arrived at a decision on which solution matches their need. Some questions you should ask yourself to define this stage are:
What criteria or other considerations will a buyer use to evaluate the available offerings?
When buyers comes to investigating you (yes, they will) and your companys offering, what do they like about what they see or read compared to the competition?
What concerns will you need to cover off on your solution?
Is there a buying committee or who else needs to be involved in the decision? For each person involved, how does their perspective on the decision differ?
What is the buying process or will the buyer have expectations around sampling/trying your solution before they purchase it?
What is the true cost of acquisition, so outside of buying your solution, do buyers need to make additional plans around implementation, IT or training?
The answers to these questions will provide a robust foundation for your own buyers journey
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Taggedb2b buyers journeybuyer personabuyer personasbuyer profilesbuyers journeyideal customer profilessales processsocial media
Published by brianoconn
Online Sales training programs and online sales training courses via The Digital Sales Institute. Passion for helping salespeople succeed in their sales career.
View all posts by brianoconn
Published
March 14, 2017
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