In the
imaging industry, sales reps are often the most critical link
between the customer and the dealer, reseller and
manufacturer. Not only are they responsible for managing their
current clients, they’re also charged with finding new ones.
You train them, you often pay them a base salary and you send
them out the door armed with their good looks, charm and
whatever information they have in their pitch-book.
You sell technology. Yes, at the end of the day you want to
put ink on paper, but this isn’t the same era I sold in where
you walked into random offices and asked when their leases
expire. As cutthroat as things were in the 90s when I did it,
the competitive pressure today is far worse. Alternative
channels with inexpensive A4 products are eating your reps for
breakfast. Do they know how to sell against these? Do they
know the limitations of these machines on a product-by-product
basis? Do they have access to the tools you’re paying for them
to use 24/7? Are you leveraging available technology to help
them better manage their territory and their day and to simply
make them better than the competition?
It may be time to take a look at how your sales people do
their jobs and consider the return you are getting on one of
your biggest investments. Here’s a solution we’ve put together
for dealers, resellers and branches. You can add bits and
pieces of this on your own, but as a whole, this modular
solution has been proven to increase sales considerably. How
do we know this? Because our partner, the largest reseller in
his brand domain in the U.S., is the developer of one of these
components I’m going to discuss how he saw his revenue nearly
hit an all time high last year in one of the worst economic
conditions any of us have seen in this industry.
Here’s the program in a nutshell. First, you arm your sales
force with iPads. Don’t stop reading yet; I’m going to justify
this expense. You can also choose other tablets but since
we’ve been doing this with iPads, I’m going to focus on them.
Have you ever seen how people get in the presence of these
things? They become downright giddy. I was at a Canon event
last week and a colleague was showing the Canon CEO his review
of the announcement of one of the most expensive products
Canon ever developed.
It was on his blog minutes after the event and he put the iPad
in front of this executive, who immediately said, “Is that the
new iPad???” My colleague was trying to explain he wasn’t
showing him the device, but that this was his positive review
of their significant announcement and it was already on the
Internet. This Canon executive couldn’t get past it and was
totally gaga over the iPad. I don’t think he even knows what
he was being shown. We’re talking about a guy that can buy as
many iPads as he wants or even build his own version, yet he
couldn’t see past that device. That’s how powerful these
things are.
When your rep pulls one of these out in front of the customer,
there is an immediate wow factor and he’s instantly got the
customer’s attention. Imagine your rep now showing case
studies and videos from your brand to the customer. Then
follow this up with some perspectives on the competition where
he can show the customer beautiful side-by-side charts that
highlight areas where your device is more reliable than your
competitor’s.
And before your rep went into that office, imagine that he or
she was able to take advantage of their time spent in the
waiting area, looking up your products and the competition
identifying holes in your competitor’s line to exploit as well
as advantages in your own that they can tout. Maybe your
device uses polymerized toner and theirs uses pulverized and
your rep uses that five minute waiting period to review the
product comparison that will help him or her explain that your
device uses a more advanced imaging system that requires lower
fusing temperatures, which in turn means lower energy
consumption and a greener process. Green sells, doesn’t it?
OK, so now your rep’s got the customer’s attention, showed
them great marketing videos on an amazing screen as well as
competitive strengths of your product. They went into that
meeting prepared with research that took seconds, not hours to
obtain and it was all there in a slick, polished manner at
their fingertips.
But wait, there’s more! How about putting together a proposal
on the spot by filling in a few cells in a document right on
that iPad and better yet, filling out and signing an order
right there, digitally, and having it submitted to your
fulfillment department before your rep is even out of the
building?
So here comes the best part. What’s the number one gripe about
your sales force? They come back at the end of the day, hand
you a stack of cards of people they supposedly met with and
you have no idea what they were really doing or where they
were. You know they’re not always out there working 9 to 5.
How many times have you seen your reps walk in at the end of
the day with hair clippings on their shoulder or raccoon eyes
from the sunglasses they wore while getting in a quick nine of
golf; or maybe they took in a movie or a nap…
Our partner developed an app that follows your rep throughout
the day from nine to five. This app allows you to see where
the rep went, the path they took to get there and how long
they were at the account. Within the first two weeks of using
this app, our partner found two of his reps were at a
competitor’s location, obviously looking for another job. It’s
nice to be able to get rid of someone before they have a
chance to steal your data and customer list.
Many of you may be thinking this is a bit too “Big Brother”
and you trust your people. Let me ask you this: is your sales
force the same as it was five years ago or have you hired,
fired or maybe lost a few people here and there during that
time? That’s what I thought. You obviously don’t need to check
up on your strong performers, but how about those reps who are
underperforming or new? This solution allows you to go through
their day with them and try to identify ways to make them more
efficient. Maybe you’ll find that you’ve got a rep that
crosses his territory four or five times a day and spends
hours driving. Now you can help him plan more efficiently,
before he or she goes out; less time driving, more time in
front of customers and prospects. Better yet, tie it into the
CRM you’re using (and if you’re not, what are you waiting
for?).
The greatest benefit to this solution in my opinion is what it
does for your new hires. When you tell this kid sitting in
front of you that you’re going to give them an iPad loaded
with sales tools and it will track them throughout their day,
any rep that was going to waste your time and ultimately burn
you will never come back for a second interview. You’ll
eliminate those candidates that were going to waste six months
of your time then go on unemployment when you found they
weren’t meeting your goals. Now you can hire reps that don’t
care if you’re going to track them because they intend to work
for you, 9 to 5 like you hired them to do. If they don’t want
to work in an environment where you might check on them if
they’re not hitting their numbers, do you want them working
for you?
And that kid that’s just not going to make it? Now you find
out in 30 days instead of six months. Think about that. By
identifying a rep that’s not performing in 30 days instead of
six months, you’re possibly eliminating five months of time in
which this territory would have remained open. You’re also
going to be better protected against competitors raiding your
accounts because you won’t have someone managing them that
isn’t making an effort.
This is how my partner had one of his best years ever in a
down market. He’s staffed with a sales force that is
efficient, smart and willing to do the job. He can manage them
better when they’re struggling and avoid hiring those reps
that might be short timers and job hoppers. You know what I
mean—the ones that suck the life right out of your office.
This approach leverages available technology. It makes your
rep look polished and sophisticated and it gives your company
the appearance of success and a clear understanding as to how
to use technology to improve efficiency. Using one of these
ideas shows customers that your company leverages technology
to improve workflow. You’re putting your money where your
company’s mouth is. This approach will help your rep initiate
discussions about workflow because they’re holding a customer
workflow enhancement right in front of the customer’s nose –
instant credibility.
Some of the things I discussed in this article can only be
found through us but a lot of it is something you can do on
your own. Arming your sales force with tablets is a great
first step. Adding your CRM and figuring out how to put your
videos and brochures on there is another. Even with this
minimal investment, you still gain many of the advantages
discussed in this article. The point is, your rep will look
smarter and more successful than the competition because
they’re leveraging technology. You can easily pay for this
through increased sales and decreased turnover. At the end of
the year, your reps make more and so do you. Everyone wins.
For more information about some of the products and services I
mentioned in this article, or advice on how to set this up on
your own, feel free to drop me a line at
andy@industryanalysts.com.
Andy
Slawetsky is President of Industry Analysts, Inc. Much of the
company’s research and testing results can be viewed on their
website
www.industryanalysts.com.
