Five Things that Will Make Dealers Sell Your Brand
Brands that sell through dealer networks rely on them to close the sale. So at a key moment – when money is about to change hands – dealers are in control of the brand promise and presentation. Here’s why:
- Consumers trust them and have confidence in their advice.
- The larger the project, the more likely that the purchase of custom items will cement the dealer/consumer relationship. Customers won’t walk to another dealer to buy add-on brands (e.g. a microwave oven as part of a kitchen remodel).
Just because they’re your dealer doesn’t mean that you are their first choice. There are several reasons they might insert a telling pause into a conversation about your brand with a customer, or say, “Brand X is nice, but there are more attractive options for you to consider.” The main reasons are:
- They don’t stock your product
- You don’t make it readily available
- You’re difficult to do business with
- You have inconsistent or unreliable technical or product support
- Margins on your products are too low
Our webinar, Three Proven Ways to Increase Dealer Sales, addresses a comprehensive way to make dealers your brand heroes. But if you’re just starting down that path there are five things you can immediately do to get dealers on your side. Every one of them is designed to make you a low-risk brand in dealers’ eyes.
- Run time-limited promotions that increase the urgency for consumers to buy now. In today’s everything-is-on-sale-now environment you have to offer something unique. Put yourself in the consumer’s place and consider upgrades that they would see as an attractive incentive.
- Offer value-added services for consumers and dealers. These can be extended warrantees, on-call tech support, installation videos or other services that give dealers greater confidence in your products.
- Make products available now. The number one dealer complaint in kitchen remodeling projects is a delay in completion. If you can’t make all products available right now, offer a select series of products for expedited delivery.
- Conduct an audit of product support. If your dealers can’t get immediate answers from a person or online resource, resolve to fix it immediately.
- Take a close look at warranty resolutions. If consumers are dissatisfied with your handling of warranty claims, their unhappiness will stick to the dealer. And, the dealer will likely lose referral business – their most important source of new customers.
When it’s time for money to change hands, dealers gravitate to low-risk brands. Those are the brands that can ship and support product that dealers can sell at a fair margin. If your brand, in their eyes, is high risk, continuing on your current course risks your brand reputation and relationships with dealers. And as we all know, relationships are hard to build, and much harder to repair.
