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📣 In the world of Direct Store Delivery (DSD): Sales representative🛒 The sales representative role goes far beyond mere transactions, shaping strategic value creation within the DSD ecosystem. Their multifaceted responsibilities include everything from fundamental order accuracy and communication to strategic insights, customer relationship building, and collaborative problem-solving. In this article, Nick Capuano and Jordan Mullins Senior Consultants at The Gap Partnership, explore the role of the Sales Representative, the contributor who often takes center stage. 👉 Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/efjRpNmn #DSD #RetailStrategies #Negotiation #SalesRepresentative #CreativeNegotiation #NegotiationVariables

  Retail sales professionals can be motivated by various factors that can be used to your advantage as a manager. Here are some common motivators and strategies for leveraging them: 1. Commission and Incentives: Financial rewards such as commissions and incentives motivate sales professionals to perform well.   2. Recognition and Appreciation: Acknowledging and appreciating sales professionals' efforts and achievements boosts motivation.   3. Career Development Opportunities: Providing growth and advancement opportunities motivates sales professionals.   4. Positive Work Environment: Creating a supportive and inclusive work environment boosts motivation.   5. Autonomy and Responsibility: Giving sales professionals autonomy and ownership over their work increases motivation.   6. Engaging Sales Targets: Challenging yet attainable sales targets and regular feedback keep sales professionals motivated.   7. Training and Skill Enhancement: Investing in training and development enhances motivation and performance.   8. Meaningful Work and Purpose: Connecting sales professionals' work to a larger purpose and mission increases motivation.   By understanding the motivators that drive retail sales professionals, you can leverage these factors to your advantage as a manager. Tailor your strategies to align with individual and team preferences, and regularly assess and adapt your approach based on feedback and changing circumstances. Remember that motivation is a dynamic process, so ongoing communication, support, and recognition are key to maintaining high levels of performance and engagement.

Why Systems Matter: A Quick Stop at Subway As a traveling sales professional, the day often slips by without a proper lunch. So, around 5 PM, my wife, son, and I like to head to Edmonds Beach to catch the last of the day’s sunlight. On the way, we stopped at a strip mall with two options: @Ono Poke (preferred) or Subway. Ono had a line out the door, and around the building, so Subway it was. We ordered a double Italian BMT to split and noticed a promo for Auntie Anne's footlong pretzel sticks. Perfect! But when I asked for a second tiny cheese cup for the pretzels, the Subway employee said they couldn’t sell it because their system didn’t allow it. I left wondering—was the breakdown in Subway’s system, or was it Auntie Anne’s cheese allotment? Either way, I felt I had paid as much as I would at Jersey Mike's Subs (#13 Giant, Mikes Way) but with less satisfaction. My wife and I are big cheese lovers, so this small detail stuck with us. This experience made me reflect on how crucial good systems are, whether you’re in sales, operations, or customer service. If you can’t meet the customer’s simple requests because of a system limitation, you’re creating a moment of disappointment. And in a competitive market, that’s all it takes for a customer to look elsewhere. Anyone else run into similar situations? How do you handle it when a system falls short of meeting a customer’s needs? And now I want poke.

I learned the essence of customer success during my first ever sales role at an early stage granola bar company… the story... For context: This was 4 years ago, at 21 years old. It was my first ever sales job. I had never worked in CPG. It was COVID-19. And within the first couple months, I was asked to manage sales across the country. I barely had anyone managing or mentoring me. I had no idea what I was doing. What did I do? 1. I first started with calling stores to understand how they saw the value of our product 2. I built relationships with store managers and grocery managers to understand what matters to them 3. I studied shopper behaviour, and asked shoppers questions to understand what motivates them to buy 4. I vetted retailers and even rejected some (declining opportunities for distribution), where I saw there wasn’t any synergy 5. I constantly checked in with accounts we were performing well in to understand why 6. I checked in with accounts we performed poorly in to understand why The outcome? I built really strong relationships. I learned what to prioritize from a communication perspective. But most interestingly, I identified a market gap and opportunity to rebrand. The product marketing was not resonating with consumers. And these conversations that I was having with our customers about what they’re looking for and what they value, opened up opportunities to change our product and positioning. So we rebranded completely. At the end of my 16-month term we saw +44% revenue growth, +110% distribution growth, and +300% velocity across retail and e-commerce platforms. But that's not the point. This sales role taught me that sales is about finding synergy between your product value and what value means the market. It also taught me the importance of having a purpose and engaging people to feel part of that purpose. It taught me that sales isn’t really about selling.  Sales is about fulfilling your customers' needs, desires, and goals and prioritizing that over everything. The actual sales are just the outcome.

Many many years ago when I was in sales... For a consecutive couple of days I was at office doing some reporting. Suddenly I was summoned by my supervisor at his room. With an angry face I was asked for a reason to be at office instead of exploring new customers. Business was bad in that quarter and being at office in such an important time was considered a sin. With no clue on why I was scolded I rushed out of office to visit a customer. I was doing a complex report for my supervisor. Later on I realized my supervisor was questioned by his supervisor on low sales on that month and he couldn't give a justified answer. I was in the right place on a wrong time and had to take the blow. So, you could be doing everything right but still be challenged by your supervisor. Managing your supervisor is an important skill which I lacked back then. Why? Your supervisor is your internal customer. If you can't manage him, how will you manage your external customer? #customerhandling

How To Cold Call Bars and Retail Accounts?

My new job description of being a sales rep to an E_commerce company has been a roller coaster for the past few weeks. You should know before now that anything sales related has to deal people and you've got to deal with lot of differences making it a whole ball game on its own. Being the firsthand person a client will reach until their products gets delivered with series of journey in between makes it all challenging and interesting at the same time. As some customers are giving you joy through their approach, complements and responses, others are frustrating you with no response, bad manner of approach to mention a few.  At some point, I wanted to respond to a client on the need to do better and stop passing aggression on people around, but I had to caution myself to maintain professionalism and not act based on emotions.  You can’t run business with emotions as you must maintain the goal of focusing on profitability by maintaining a good relationship with them till the sale is closed and the money is remitted. I couldn't wrap my head around some clients approach and that sharpened my realization that everyone reacts differently, influenced by different factors. Factors like background, personal issues, the current situation and so on. Where professionalism comes in is to first see from their point of view, keep in touch per time even before they do which will help you know the right words to say and the approach to use when there are issues. If I am to ask on what is keeping me going and helping me out, I would say I pay attention to details as much as possible, accountability puts me on check, and I take the business as thou it's mine knowing fully well the need to be profitable coupled with the fact that I have lots of bills to pay. I hope you were carried along on this my perspective when it comes to Customer Management? In short, it entails, excellent service, managing your emotions,  profitability focused, customer relationship and quality delivery.

“Make a customer, not a sale.” I learnt this the hard way! When I was initially starting off in my career in sales, the core focus of my day was delivering the number. Buy hook or by crook! I didn't care. I didn't know better. Every month if I was doing my numbers I was happy. The one who bought the most stock was my best customer for that month. I didn't have a customer approach. I didn't know what the customer really wanted. May be I am missing a big opportunity? I never knew It was when I lost an account to a competitor that I realized what I was missing. My proximity to the customer was poor. That's when I changed my ways of approaching how I did business. How do you manage your customer relations? Reach out to me in DM and lets discuss Follow me at --> Ovais Ur Rahman Khan Repost and Comment if you like this #sales #management #customerrelations

Sales Techniques for Retail Staff As a retail manager, you can equip your sales staff with effective sales techniques to boost sales and enhance customer satisfaction. Here are some ideas: 1. Active Listening: 🔹 Encourage your staff to actively listen to customers' needs and preferences. 🔹 Ask open-ended questions to gather more information and understand their requirements. 🔹 Show genuine interest and empathy to build rapport. 2. Product Knowledge: 🔹Ensure your staff has a deep understanding of your products, including their features, benefits, and target audience. 🔹 Conduct regular product training sessions to keep them updated on new products and promotions. 3. Customer-Centric Approach: 🔹Train your staff to prioritize customer needs and preferences over personal gain. 🔹 Encourage them to focus on building long-term relationships with customers. 4. Objection Handling: 🔹Teach your staff effective techniques to address common objections and concerns. 🔹Help them understand the underlying reasons for objections and provide solutions. 5. Cross-Selling and Up-Selling: 🔹Train your staff to recommend complementary or higher-value products to increase average order value. 🔹Use suggestive selling techniques to introduce additional items that might interest the customer. 6. Building Rapport: 🔹 Encourage your staff to build rapport with customers by engaging in friendly conversations and making personal connections. 🔹Use body language and tone of voice to convey warmth and sincerity. 7. Closing Techniques: 🔹Teach your staff effective closing techniques, such as the trial close, the alternative close, and the assumptive close. 🔹 Help them understand the importance of closing the sale without being overly aggressive. 8. Handling Difficult Customers: 🔹 Provide your staff with training on how to handle difficult customers calmly and professionally. 🔹 Teach them to remain empathetic and focused on finding a solution. 9. Follow-Up: 🔹 Encourage your staff to follow up with customers after a sale to thank them for their purchase and address any concerns. 🔹 Use follow-up as an opportunity to build stronger relationships and promote repeat businessBy equipping your sales staff with these techniques, you can help them become more effective and confident in their roles, leading to increased sales and customer satisfaction #retail #retailindustry #retailer #retaillife #retailmanagement #retailmarketing #retailbusiness #retaildesign #retailinnovation #fashionretail #groceryretail #ecommerceretail #luxuryretail #departmentstore #conveniencestore #homegoodsretail #electronicsretail #supplychain #inventorymanagement #customerengagement #omnichannelretail #storeoperations #merchandising #visualmerchandising #pricing #retailtrends #retailtech #retailfuture #retailchallenges #retailtransformation #sustainabilityinretail #customerexperience #retailanalytics