Manufacturers reps and distributors: Here’s how to optimize your profile to engage prospects Last month, LinkedIn — the business-focused social network — reported it has 562 million users. That’s up from the 500 million figure it recorded in 2017. While the total number of LinkedIn users is interesting, what’s more relevant for today’s sales rep […]
Here’s how to build a sales pipeline that converts opportunities into revenue. At its most fundamental, a sales pipeline is simply insight — the ability to see every stage of your sales process front and center from prospect through to deal closure. Why should today’s distributor define a formal sales process? The more control […]
Inherent in a distributor sales force model is a lack of communication and understanding between separate entities on the status of their leads and sales pipelines. Manufacturers send leads to their distributors, but rarely get feedback on what happens with those leads, the opportunities they represent, forecasted sales, or the pipeline as a whole. In […]
We recently conducted a survey of more than 4,475 manufacturing sales and marketing professionals and the message was clear: They need more engagement and feedback from their channel partners on sales leads. Here is a key stat that we uncovered: 60% of companies do not get feedback from their channel partners on leads and opportunities. […]
Sales managers understand that channel partner engagement is the lifeblood of successful indirect sales. The more effective your channel partner engagement program, the easier it is for your distributors to do their job of selling and servicing your products every day. Market fluctuations and rapidly changing customer needs, however, have created an increasingly challenging environment […]
Business leaders today rely on data in order to make calculated, smart decisions for their organizations. To stay ahead of the competition and constantly changing business environments, seasonal trends or economic indicators are no longer good enough — particularly with the technology tools available today. Data is the new currency of the digital age. Whether […]
Imagine you want to buy a car on a Saturday. You go to dealership A and the salesperson says he’ll call you in 24 to 48 hours. Meanwhile, you go to dealership B, test drive the car you want, ink the deal, and drive home. When the salesperson from dealership A gets around to calling […]
As a distributor or channel partner, you work with dozens of different manufacturers — maybe as many as 500 — who send you sales leads in various formats on a daily basis. Some of those leads arrive via email, others in spreadsheets. Your manufacturing partners might even ask you to log-in to their CRM to […]
In a typical B2B or B2C environment, an internal marketing department provides leads — ideally qualified ones — to its counterpart down the hall in the sales department. It’s well known and certainly well documented that the process of sales and marketing alignment is both a challenge and a great source of opportunity. Just try […]
If you’re a distributor that partners with manufacturers, odds are that a few of them generate and share sales leads with you. This indirect sales distribution model has numerous benefits for both you and the manufacturer. You obtain sales leads at little or no marketing expense, and the manufacturer enjoys expanded market share without the […]