Gift Rep Sandy

Archive for the ‘Working with Buyers & Shops’ Category

Using your time wisely and effectively is an on-going goal for all sales reps.  The saying, “Time is money” is true.  Statistically, the more buyers you visit in a day, the more sales you make.  You want to move along in your sales presentations without making your buyers feel rushed to make a decision.  Quite a balancing act!!

Also important is to respect your buyer’s time.  If you are a good customer service sales rep, you want to protect your buyer’s time as much as your own.  Be considerate of their meal time, their busy schedules, their customers and their various time restrains.  Don’t interrupt them during a discussion with their employees or their customers.

On the other hand, be considerate of your own time as well.  Buyers who are typically late for appointment, or don’t show up at all, may not be worth your time to maintain as customers.  Avoid getting into lengthy discussions about buyers children, problems with their bosses or customers.  It is your job to keep the discussion and sales presentation on focus and flowing towards an order or re-order.  On the other hand, make sure to leave time to reinforce your relationship with your buyer by listening to their concerns about their store or their customers.  Once again, quite a balancing act!  If you have a particular buyer that likes to “chat”, it is best to leave such appointments for the end of the day where time is not as crucial.

Using email is a great tool in good time management.  If you devote the work day to meeting with buyers, the early morning and evening are open to focus on other tasks that need to be done — like corresponding with vendors and web customers.

Setting up and maintaining a database is another good customer service system which will also be a time saver for you.  Microsoft Access is a simple program developed for this purpose, but there are lots of advance customer management programs you can use effectively.

Once your database is set up, you can format information into reports that give you numerous types of useful information.  One of the most useful reports is, of course, your current contact list.  You can separate your customers (and potential customers) into sales routes and print a listing of all your customers within a certain route.  If you are like me, you occasionally forget a buyer’s name, but with the system I have described, you have all that information at your finger tips.  If you add a column for product line purchases, you know which products to visually inventory and discuss with the buyer.

This may seem like a small consequent to customer service, but you would be surprised!  I receive frequently complimented on my ability to remember buyer’s names and their buying habits when it was just the database management system that is my “memory”!  Remembering little details about an account helps solidify your relationship with your buyers.

When using your customer management programs or databases, make sure they are up to date at all times.  Buyers frequently change, lines of products are added, and numerous changes can occur over a short period of time.  If you input new data regularly, your job is easier.

Hard-copy newsletters are another tool for keeping your name and product lines in the minds of your buyers.  Printing and mailing newsletters can be a costly project, so much care and planning needs to be done before you decide to implement mailers into your yearly marketing systems.  Sending out too many newsletters may not be cost effective, but sending them too infrequent may slow the momentum of your sales and marketing.

Timing of the newsletters increases the effectiveness of this tool.  Since there are two major buying seasons, sending out a newsletter in the beginning of these two seasons made sense for my business.  If you decide to send out newsletter twice a year, send them in the spring time to target the tourist buying season and in the fall to target the holiday buying season.

Newsletters are an excellent tool to introduce new products or lines for the season.  A small listing with pictures of the new products can prompt immediate orders or prepare a buyer for your sales call.  Other items to list in a newsletter are the best selling products for the coming season, listing of your travel schedule, announcements of product discounts or specials, and any other information you want to pass along to your buyers.  Along with sending your newsletter to your current buyers, send one to your list of prospective buyers.  And I always print off extras to leave or mail to new stores who have asked for information.

Of all the different types of marketing I have done with my customers, the hard copy newsletters were one of the most effective tools.  I noticed buyers often keep the newsletters and refer to them often during visits and phone calls.  And of course, newsletters encourage buyers to submit orders within days after I send them out.

E-newsletters or email letters are another tool to keep your products in the minds of your customers.  Collecting email addresses from your customers for email newsletters is one of the easiest and most effecting ways to market new products to your customers.

Mailing, emailing and handing out sales literature is an on-going requirement of sales people.  Unfortunately, buyers often ask for price sheets and flyers, only to forgot or misplace them later.  At times, you wonder why they ask or why you leave flyers, but there are numerous reasons to continue this practice.

One of most important reasons for leaving sales literature is to keep you and your products in the top of your buyer’s minds. Rather than giving out producer’s price sheets willy-nilly, I discovered handing out a product line list is a very effective tool to use when visiting buyers.  Being a sales rep, it is not in anyone’s best interest to leave a flyer or catalogs for every company you represent, but leaving a line list give your buyers a snap-shot view of what type of products you represent.

Much information can be included on a product line list, but the following information, listed on an 8 ½ x 11” flyer, is most effective:

• Photos of some of your best selling products
• Detailed contact information on front and back of flyer including any or all of the following:  name, business name, address, phone number, cell phone, toll-free number, fax number, email address and website
• Opening paragraph listing your specialization and/or niche product categories
• Listing of each company with a short one-line description of the product lines (may be helpful to categories by product type such as cards, gourmet foods, personal care items etc.)
• List of any special or personalized services available (such as name-drop, etc.)

The easier it is to order, the more likely buyers will order from you.  On the other hand, if you are difficult to get ahold of, buyers will often buy from your competition.  The list of selling tools describedearly was formulated with the customer’s convenience in mind.  This is one area where you can have an edge above your competition.  Let’s go through the suggested list again:

Having a cell phone is a must on the road.  Buyers do not appreciate trying to contact you on a phone line where you cannot be reached while you are traveling.  While you are on the road, transfer your calls to a voice mail system which you access when you are available to talk.  Responding quickly to phone messages facilitate the ordering process.  Using a toll-free number which is forwarded to your cell phone is even a better customer service option.  Once again, make it easy for your buyers to contact you.

Setting up a toll free fax number is a good customer service tool.  Personally, I use a virtual toll-free fax number which forwards faxes to my laptop that I take on the road with me.  Once again, you want to make it as easy and convenient as possible for buyers to contact you.

Every business card, flyer or literature you distribute should list your cell phone, fax number, toll free phone number, email and website address (if you have one).  If you are easy to reach and follow up promptly on your messages and emails, your buyers feel good about contacting you when they need to re-order.  You would feel the same if you were buying a product from your local store.  Do you shop where you know you will receive good and quick service or in a place that makes you wait for help or wait to check out?

As an added extra service to your customers, you can develop a wholesale website listing all your products.  Retail seems to be a bit behind the curve when it comes to technology, but putting up a website has certain advantages. 

Prompt and effective follow through with orders, requests and problems is a crucial issue which every business deals with on a daily basis.  Problems need to be dealt with as soon as possible in order to preserve good business relationships.  The faster you response to a specific issue reflects sub-conscientiously how important the customer is to your business.

Listed are some of the response time I used in dealing with required issues:

Process orders the day they are received (or at least within 24 hours)

• Return phone calls the day they are received.  Check voice mail after EVERY appointment and acknowledge the request or concern with an immediate callback even if the solution is not immediately available.
• Answer emails daily or within 24 hours of receiving them
• When needing to contact a vendor for more information, do not let more than a day or two go by without getting an answer for your customer.  If needed, email or call the vendor again if you do not receive a response.

One of the best customer service systems you can practice in dealing with your customers is to take 100% responsible for any problems having to do with your products or vendors and helping to find a solution to the problems.  In other words, if a store calls you with a problem concerning a product or shipment, make it your responsibility to fix the problem!

Remember when I suggested earlier to spend time studying the store and the products they currently have on their shelves?  This principle applies EVERY TIME you visit a customer.  When you walk into a store, before you even ask for the buyer, visually inventory the last gift items you sold the store.  Check their shelves and displays looking for product which sold there previously.  What products have been sitting there for awhile and which products are missing?  Which products are displayed predominately, and which are tucked away on a lower shelf, out of sight?  These basic observations help you collect very important data that you need when you talk to the buyer.

I visited with one store who was disappointed about the poor sales with a product I sold them previously.  When I asked the buyer to show me where the product was displayed, I was told, after much searching, that the product was sitting on the inventory shelves in the back room!  Of course, the sales were less than were expected, but until someone pointed this out and action was taken, this buyer may not have known why the product was not selling.

While conducting your visual inventory of the store, the missing products should be those that have sold out!  Retail buyers, as busy as they are, may not notice that a product is sold out until you tell them!  Often a sales clerk puts another product on the shelf in the empty spot rather than making a point to re-order the original product.  Having a good selling product does not ensure re-orders unless some one knows the product needs to be re-ordered!  Sounds simple, but this situation is a major obstacle with keeping your vendors’ products moving in a store.  Conducting visual inventories before you talk to the buyer can ensure that your products continue to remain in a prominent location in the store.

Often, when I am visiting a store that moves several products or lines I rep, I take a written count of those products still sitting on the shelf.  I keep a large supply of 4 x 6” index cards with me where I record a rough inventory of select products needing re-ordered.  While in a larger store, it is a time saver to have a prepared form listing all the products with a column for the physical inventory taken on a particular day.  Armed with actual inventory figures, you can tell the buyer which products need to be re-ordered.

When you first walk into a potential account, remember that the selling process is just one purpose of your visit.  If you make it your priority to develop systems to make it as easy and convenience as possible for the buyer to place orders with you, sales will automatically follow.  Nearly anyone can sell, if they work at it, but not everyone has good customer service systems.  Listed below are some of the high quality customer services that set your business apart from other sales reps your buyers come in contact with:

• Honest answers to their questions and problems
• Quick follow through to their issues and concerns
• Taking 100% responsibility for their product order problems and finding solutions
• Feedback on new trends and products in the market
• Easy access for ordering products
• Knowledge about your products that have sold in their store
• Knowledge about growing trends

Stores come and go, but when they plan to go out of business, they can leave unfinished business and unpaid bills.  Watch for any communications from your buyers that may indicate a serious problem or change.  You DON’T want to be extending your vendor’s credit with these stores.

In some cases, the buyer or owner will tell you their plans to close their doors.  Other times, you need to look for signs telling you that a store is in trouble.  Some of these signs can include the following:

1.    Slow or non-payment on orders, especially when their payment record was good in the past.

2.    Consistently blaming their bookkeeper or other employees for lack of payment or follow through with ordering.

3.    Does not reorder products that have sold well in the past.

4.    Fills their shelves with new products when they have not paid for their previous stock.

5.    Buyer or owner who allows inventory and/or store appearance run down.

6.    Payment checks bounce.

If you see any of these signs, the best course of action is to discontinue taking orders from this high risk store.  Also, I often alerted my vendors of the potential problem as some of these stores continued to buy direct even if they know they are in financial trouble.

Over time, you want to evaluate your current customer base to see which customers are making money for you and which are not.  The beginning of the year is a good time to review your customer list to determine which accounts are worth of your attention for the following year’s sales.  Here are a few ways to approach this in a systematic fashion.

Using the 80/20 Principle, which states that 80% of results flow from 20% of causes, is a good system for evaluating your customer base.  In sales term, 80% of your sales will come from 20% of your accounts

Here is a system to help put this principle in black and white.

Separate your customers into three groups by their sales and buying habits:

Group A – your top 20%

Group B — middle 60%

Group C — bottom 20%

1. Group A are your best and most profitable customers.  They need your best time, resources, and follow up.  Contact these customers at least every month.  If you are unable to visit them monthly, touch bases with them by phone or email.  Using the 80/20 principle, 80% of your business and sales will come from this group of customers and they need to be your top priority.

2. Group B are your customers that add a significant amount to your income, but don’t need your time or services as often.  Call on these buyers every two or three months.

3. Group C are the customers you need to review more closely.  Can you find a way to increase sales with this group thus moving them to Group B?  If not, you will need to decide if it is a good use of your time to visit these stores.  Many of this group may need to be dropped to make room for more profitable buyers.

Every sale is important – especially in the beginning.  Your sales income will come from a varied source of buyers, and not from that ‘one big sale’ off in the horizon.  Success sales repping is a accumulation of all the little sales that you make today that grow into bigger and bigger sales as you continue to work with your customers.