Bruce Merrifield, President — Merrifield Consulting •competitive strategy •sales practices •management strategies •how to compete with AmazonSupply •new opportunities for distribution industry •sales management •sales management styles in distribution •distribution industry sales management •sales training Wednesday, May 9, 2018—Do you expect your salesmen to act as "one man bands"? In this video interview, Randy MacLean sits down with Bruce Merrifield to discuss how the most successful companies are adopting specialized sales functions. "We're seeing a lot of specialization in the sales force, and it's having a major impact on the success of our clients and other companies in our view," Randy explained. "Specialization has provided a significant advantage to the companies using it, especially over those companies who have never even heard about it." "The idea could be seen as an extension of service models," Bruce added. "When a WayPoint client starts using our service, they break their customers into three piles each with its own model. You have an enterprise model where an entire team works on an account, a standard model, and a very bare-bones model for minnows." "Of course, this takes things a bit further," Randy said. "Most companies recognize the value of having people who specifically handle inside sales, outside sales, and counter sales. In this case, rather than rely on one salesperson to handle every aspect of the sales process, that role is broken up in multiple, smaller pieces." Many companies have salespeople who only do 1 or 2 presentations a week because those salespeople are busy handling the various other parts of the job. However, if you have a person or team to specially handle each one of those functions (and only that function) – such as prospecting, setting up appointments, responding to customer complaints, making collections calls, and such – suddenly that salesperson who is really good at presentations can go from being able to deliver 2 presentations a week to 20 presentations a week! The obvious advantage to this system is that you're having a salesperson highly skilled in one specific area working ONLY on that one specific thing. After all, salespeople are often asked to handle 15 or 20 different parts of their job and no salesperson in good in every area. This specialization of labor allows salespeople to shine in their brightest area and streamlines the process so everybody is very efficient at their designated task. For instance, a person who does nothing but prospecting quickly becomes very good at prospecting and will outperform salespeople who only prospect part of the time. "In all of human endeavors, there's a good deal of specialization," Randy said. "We couldn't have the lifestyle that we do without specialization, whether it's farmers growing our food or factories producing our clothes. The only place where this hasn't been the case is sales." "There are still a lot of companies that hire the most capable, most persuasive salespeople they can find and then waste those salespeople's talents by expecting them to do their own prospecting, line up their own calls, handle customer maintenance, and a variety of other tasks," Randy continued. "It just doesn't make sense." The idea that a salespeople should be responsible for any number of administrative tasks goes back to the early days of sales when things were still very growth-oriented and distributors had very large sales forces. Rather than let people go as growth began to slow down, companies tried to find things for their sales people to do. In other cases, it's because the technology wasn't available to streamline some of these processes. The old sales model is completely dysfunctional by today's standards. Companies that still rely on this system will find themselves outpaced by competitors using a more specialized sales force. For more information about Bruce Merrifield, visit: www.merrifieldact2.com |
A Culture of Innovation Starts at the TopSteve Epner and Randy MacLean discuss topics from Steve's book. In this video: How to Innovate. Staying Effective in the Changing World of SalesThe top business know not only how to innovate, but where to spot opportunities where innovation will bring the greatest results. Optimizing Salesforce Pay Through Deep Data AnalysisCompanies are developing more and more sophisticated approaches to sales compensation and here Bruce Merrifield and Randy MacLean examine the trends. Webinar: Profit-Based Sales Incentives (part 1)Webinar: Quantum Sales Compensation - How to Create a powerful new kind of sales incentive plan Using Profit Analytics to Manage Your Sales ForceUse profit analytics to help drive radical profit gains by balancing volume, margin and service costs for every account, doubling and tripling territory profits 9 Steps to More Profitable RelationshipsDiscussion about a 9-step process aimed at transforming a transactional relationship with an account into a partnership. The Advantages of SegmentationA discussion of the benefits of segmentation and how this approach can help distributors achieve far greater levels of profitability. How to Turn Big Data Into Big Profits!Top companies like Amazon can leverage big data to predict consumer buying habits. Bruce Merrifield discusses how you can do this too! Gross Margin Percent: A Poor Indicator of ProfitabilityMost distributors have naturally occurring, high gross margin percentage accounts and high gross margin percentage (small dollar pick) SKUs. Protecting Your Core BusinessHow to identify and protect the accounts at the core of profits. Triage Customers & Set Priorities to Increase PerformanceRandy MacLean and Bruce Merrifield sit down for a talk about the issues and opportunities, tactics and strategies for increasing profit performance. Discussing the Enterprise Account Selling Model (#3)Continuance of the Enterprise Account Selling Model video series. Refers to a preceding video. Drawn from Bruce's presentation at APIC on March 1, 2016. Getting Your Salespeople to Negotiate SmarterUsing the negotiation process to achieve CTS savings, allowing you to offer your customers lower prices while leaving the table with a larger profit. Looking at a Customer Whale CurveCustomer whale curves are a great opportunity to view the overall picture of your customer profitability and apply appropriate sales models to each Increase Innovation with a Rule and a ToolBruce Merrifield discusses the Wheel of Learning and how this simple tool can catapult you forward with innovative thinking. Cost-to-Serve Math: Why Gross Margin May Fool You Every TimeThis video by Bruce Merrifield and Randy MacLean describes why you can't rely solely on gross margin to determine profitability. The Changing Face of SalesAn in-depth look at some historical limitations to sales compensation, and why those factors no longer apply with the availability of LIPA. Maximizing Account Potential through SegmentationRandy MacLean discusses the value and utility of segmenting your customer accounts. Gross Margin FixationA fixation on gross margin – without looking at cost-to-serve (CTS) – has blinded countless distributors and limited their ability to achieve profitability. A WayPoint Client and Whale Curve Success StoryLearn how this distributor was able to massively ramp up its profitability even as it lost many of its customers. Cost Structures: What Makes for a Good Sale?Learn why distributors can't simply rely on gross margin when determining whether a sale will add to the bottom line. Changing Sales Strategy Using LIPARandy MacLean talks about the emergence of a new sales strategy. Why You Should Sweat the Small DeliveriesA discussion on how little extras can sometimes add up to a lot of infrastructure cost in wholesale distribution companies. It's Not Who You Think It IsRandy MacLean discusses key profitability metrics for QPM. A Two Step Strategy for Being Number One in DistributionIn this video, Bruce Merrifield turns the tables on Waypoint President Randy MacLean, and asks Randy to strategize on how to beat the competition. Using WayPoint's High Volume Account Report to Increase ProfitRandy discusses the benefits of the extraordinarily valuable High Volume Account Report. Prioritizing Your CustomersA discussion of the perils of a cookie cutter approach when it comes to sales and service in the wholesale distribution industry. How Customer Segmentation Unlocks Hidden ProfitsBruce Merrifield of WayPoint Analytics teaches the importance of customer segmentation and the insights it can offer your distribution company. The Element of PricingIt's not necessary to compete with AmazonSupply on pricing when you've got your ordering and delivery systems, fill rates and customer service at a high level. The Benefits of a Cost-to-Serve Math ProgramHave you had trouble conveying the importance of CTS to your team? Learn how this course provides an affordable and convenient educational solution. Why Come to APIC?What is the value of the APIC conference for a business, and why does it stand out above other education programs? Making Money by Giving Away ProductBruce Merrifield and Randy MacLean discuss profit strategies for wholesale distributors that will raise their cost-to-serve and profits. Webinar: How to Create a Sales Compensation Plan (pt 2)Webinar: Quantum Sales Compensation Plan Part 2 Webinar: How to Create a Sales Compensation Plan (pt 3)Webinar: Quantum Sales Compensation: Designing Your Plan Webinar: How to Create a Sales Compensation Plan (pt 4)Webinar: Quantum Sales Compensation for the Wholesale Distribution Industry: Launching Your Plan |