Effective and Interesting Ways for Suppliers and Distributors to Plan and Implement More Effective Distributor Sales Meetings, or, How to Avoid Borin
August 1, 2005

Recently, I wrote about the problems that arise when suppliers periodically conduct ineffectual, unfocused and disengaged distributor sales meetings. More specifically, I alluded to the problems that often occur resulting from poorly planned, monotonous, one-directional, "telling" distributor sales meetings conducted by well-intentioned suppliers.

In case you didn't read the article, it zoned in on the significant, negative impact that poorly developed and/or implemented sales meetings can cause. These include:

• Poor impression and reduced perceived professionalism of the supplier representative conducting the distributor sales meeting
• Product knowledge and training provided in an ineffective manner by the supplier to the distributor that will come across to the customer in the same way when and if the distributor actually attempts to present the product to his customer
• Disengaged distributor management, sales representatives and other personnel who don't feel connected to the supplier's message
• No way of knowing who on the distributor sales team actually "gets it," and who on the sales team needs additional training and support
• Reduced willingness by the distributor to share leads with the supplier, as well as lost opportunities for the supplier representative to work collaboratively with the distributor in the field with consuming customers
• A horrendous waste of time, collectively, by the supplier and distributor personnel involved in the sales meeting
• Name your flavor...

Suppliers and distributors both are impacted negatively by bad sales meetings. However, the end-user who may benefit from the product or service being reviewed loses, as well.

So, I've pointed out some of the problems and consequences associated with sales meetings that don't make the grade. Clearly, the supplier and distributor both require and want to have a strong sales meeting experience, and would likely be pleased if a solution that makes strong meetings happen was available and easy to implement.

Here are some ideas that you may want to consider, whether you are a supplier or distributor, to help you plan and implement effective sales meetings:

• Establish clear sales meeting goals and outcomes in advance of the meeting
• If the distributor, work with your supplier to ensure that he understands your particular training needs, and ensure that meeting details and requirements are covered in advance of the live sales meeting
• If the supplier, don't be afraid to lift up the training needs you perceive the distributor has in advance with the distributor management. This way you can develop your agenda and key training around the areas you and the distributor agree need attention
• Develop an agenda that is focused and supports the agreed upon outcomes and goals. The supplier and distributor should work together and approve the agenda before the meeting is conducted
• Remember that adults can not absorb a large quantity of information easily over long periods of time. Provide training that is as short and sweet as possible
• Adults, like children, tend to learn by doing. Make the meeting interactive: Consider breaking the participants up into groups of four or five people that enable the presenter to create live interactive work tasks that can be divided up among two or more groups of people, depending on the number of participants
• Resist reviewing information that can be easily read or obtained through collateral material, websites, etc; Instead, find ways to educate the participants on how to use the materials in the most effective manner with their customers
• Engage the reps by getting them to think about the products from their customer's point of view, thereby finding ways to more effectively build end-user desire for the product. This can be achieved by having the reps think about the background, problems, consequences and gain they want to develop and derive from their customers, and stimulate the questions required to do so. Using the correct meeting techniques and format, the supplier can make this an integral part of the sales meeting experience
• Provide applications and real-life examples of how a product or service has been effectively positioned and sold to a consuming customer. Review who the decision makers are in the buying cycle, as well as the typical buying cycle duration and key milestones
• Consider asking the distributor reps to develop a list of target customers for the products presented, to be submitted before the meeting ends, to provide immediate opportunities for collaborative calling
• Decide what you want to happen as a result of the meeting. If you are a distributor, you may want a specific number of presentations to occur at your target customer. Or, you may want to have specific products presented and sold within a given period of time to coincide with a stocking program or promotion that you have developed with your supplier partner. If you are a supplier, you may want to expand the number of distributor reps who are actively promoting your product. Or, you may want to generate more collaborative calls with shared target customers

Perhaps the most important point of all is that the supplier and distributor must work together to plan, implement and measure the effectiveness of their sales meetings. Sales meetings are great opportunities to share information, distributor brochures, samples, etc. However, the greatest opportunity afforded the supplier and distributor is the ability to creatively and actively engage the distributor team in a manner that is built on creating customer demand for the product or service.

The supplier and distributor must work together, using proven sales meeting tools and methods, to enable the distributor team to most effectively build customer demand for the supplier's products and services. This is a shared responsibility, and will improve the working relationship and esteem of both the supplier and distributor representatives, ultimately driving sales and satisfying customer needs.