Five Steps for Managing Problem Dealers
Five Steps for Managing Problem Dealers Let’s talk about managing problem dealers. We’ve mentioned them before. Several times. Because if you’re a typical brand you’re spending as much or more than 20 percent of your time managing them, and it’s critical that you get this under control and focus your energy on the rising dealers and […]
Your Dealer is the One Person Who Can Undo All Your Marketing
Your Dealer is the One Person Who Can Undo All Your Marketing If you aren’t giving your dealers the support they need to sell your brand, then all the brand marketing in the world won’t save you. With very few exceptions, getting a consumer to specify your brand in the custom kitchen and bath category […]
Building Dealer Loyalty to Your Brand
Building Dealer Loyalty to Your Brand Dealers have no loyalty to brands. Those aren’t my words, and that’s not my sentiment. But representatives of the two dozen manufacturer brands I met with at the National Kitchen & Bath Show (KBIS) in Las Vegas believe it. Strongly believe it. But before we accept this as an […]
A Common Sense Guide to Evaluating Your Dealers: Part I
A Common Sense Guide to Evaluating Your Dealers: Part I (This article is adapted from a webinar presentation by Gary Thompson, president of Ten Pound Hammer. He’s an advocate for turning dealers into brand heroes.) Let’s start with the notion that this is a “common sense” guide to evaluating dealers. For us, this means understanding: why we […]
A Common Sense Guide to Evaluating Your Dealers: Part II
A Common Sense Guide to Evaluating Your Dealers: Part II Questions & Answers (During our webinar on dealer evaluations, which we adapted for our last article, we got a lot of good questions. This time, we’re giving brands the floor and offering our answers to their burning questions.) “How many people should be on the review […]
The Senseless Death of a Sales Lead
The Senseless Death of a Sales Lead Sales leads are perishable commodities. From our national survey of kitchen and bath dealers, we also know that the number one concern on dealers’ minds is lead generation. Nobody is disputing on either the brand or dealer side. So why is this such a difficult issue to resolve? […]
Three Steps Toward Dealer Lead Generation
Three Steps Toward Dealer Lead Generation Helping your dealers generate sales leads is the ultimate win-win for any brand-dealer relationship. It not only promises to deliver sales, it builds dealer loyalty. In our 2015 survey of Kitchen and Bath Dealers, dealers overwhelmingly identified lead generation as their number one concern, followed closely by maintaining a consistent […]
How to Build the Perfect Manufacturer Sales Rep
How to Build the Perfect Manufacturer Sales Rep For years, we’ve worked with companies who have been on a quest to build the perfect manufacturer sales rep. Failures are more common than successes, and when things don’t work out failure generally lands squarely on the head of the reps. Reps depart and the building process starts […]
Three Proven Tactics to Increase Dealer Sales
Three Proven Tactics to Increase Dealer Sales We’ve worked in several vertical markets, and all of them share common attributes of the dealer/brand dynamic that challenge conventional wisdom. We view the dealer as that critical last mile between a brand and the end customer or consumer. We believe the dealer should be the hero of your […]
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.
The Right Way to Reward Dealers
Awards. Rewards. Incentives. Whatever you call them, brands struggle with the right way to use them to engage and motivate dealers.
