Companies often make the mistake of targeting other companies. That's fine in industries where direct sales doesn't dominate the marketing mix.
But more often that not in wholesale distribution dominated channels, the job of taking share depends on breaking up the relationship between "good old Joe" at the competitor and the account you want. So let’s turn to good old Joe. How do you break up his relationship with the account?
But more often that not in wholesale distribution dominated channels, the job of taking share depends on breaking up the relationship between "good old Joe" at the competitor and the account you want. So let’s turn to good old Joe. How do you break up his relationship with the account?
I'm going to use an analogy that every guy knows because he's probably tried it or seen it done in high school or college. And ladies have seen it done too. Maybe that's how a guy got you!
Generally, if you’re a guy, and you want to date a girl that’s dating the other guy, you do two major things. You start doing things so the girl can get to know you, and you evaluate the other guy for weaknesses you can exploit. Here’s the drill in detail:
Generally, if you’re a guy, and you want to date a girl that’s dating the other guy, you do two major things. You start doing things so the girl can get to know you, and you evaluate the other guy for weaknesses you can exploit. Here’s the drill in detail:
1. You start doing things so the girl can get to know you. You throw compliments her way. You send notes. You call. You make notes of the things she likes, places she likes, and the things she likes to do. You send her information about those things. You get her birth date. You invite her to come to the game in which you’re playing. You go to the game she’s playing or the concert in which she is starring. You send her your Facebook profile, and maybe your Twitter username. You do all this politely and without embarrassing her in front of others. You find out about her parents and siblings. You make a point to engage with them at events. You take an interest in them and what they do. If you get to know them you might ask them about her and what she likes, but not invasively so. You might mention that you admire her for some specific talent, character trait or accomplishment. You might find out what she wants to do with her career and what school she wants to attend. Be smooth, not geeky. Get her to know you by seeking to know her.
2. You evaluate the other guy and keep an eye out for an opening. Most importantly, you look for her reaction to what he says and does. You watch how he acts in public around her. Does he pay attention to her or look around? Does he flirt with other girls around her? Does he smother her? Is he a showoff to get her attention or be admired by those around him? Is he shy? Does he give up easily? You watch how she interacts with him at public events. You watch her reactions to him, her facial expressions, and body language. You watch for signs about things she doesn’t like but is reticent to talk about with him. You wait for the opening, the screw-up. You never say anything bad about the guy. You just say and do the opposite of all the things he does wrong. You win with diligence, attention to detail, and persistence. You win with offensive strategy. This is the essence of it.
Many salespeople spin their wheels quoting customers and then receive a “Thank you for your proposal, we decided to stay with our current supplier. We would be happy to consider you again in the future.” You receive this or a similarly disappointing response.
What happened? They took the proposal and the ideas from it to good old Joe. You might have been low on price and offered a few unique services, but Joe scrambled, lowered his price a bit, and got his company to do the most important additional services on your proposal.
The customer really did not want to switch. He or she wanted to stay with good old Joe. What happened? You didn’t develop a relationship. You didn’t position yourself in a way that boosted your stock and made them realize they should sell Joe’s.
Now that you know how to get a girlfriend, let’s see if you can do that on a grander scale: the multiple account full court press.
The Salesman/Key Prospect Matrix
The real share positions are not distributors with customers in this business unless the owner is very connected to the account contacts. The real share positions are salespeople with accounts. If you recognize that, you will array your competitive landscapes accordingly so you can see the true battlefield.
The whole science of military strategy is based on battle positions and what you can do from those positions. So, you need to know the strength of those positions in addition to where they are.
You probably determined distributor positions by market segment to evaluate the strength of competitor positions. those are not really attackable positions. You need to go deeper.
Now you’re going to list the top 50 to 100 accounts in the territory by segment in rows, what they are worth in annual business, and the top three competitors’ salespeople in the columns, so you might have more than one column per distributor. Go down the columns and list who is #1, #2 and #3 by account. Plug in the sales they get if you know that, but at least list their relative positions at the top 50-100 accounts in the segment.
Involve your salespeople using an Excel spreadsheet and a projector. Again, depending on how much you can trust them, bring in supplier reps to help you fill in the missing information. The news about what you’re doing would send a cold chill down the spine of your competitor with this one. Keep it quiet.
Now you’re going to list the top 50 to 100 accounts in the territory by segment in rows, what they are worth in annual business, and the top three competitors’ salespeople in the columns, so you might have more than one column per distributor. Go down the columns and list who is #1, #2 and #3 by account. Plug in the sales they get if you know that, but at least list their relative positions at the top 50-100 accounts in the segment.
Involve your salespeople using an Excel spreadsheet and a projector. Again, depending on how much you can trust them, bring in supplier reps to help you fill in the missing information. The news about what you’re doing would send a cold chill down the spine of your competitor with this one. Keep it quiet.
Using this information, if you know a competitive salesperson’s strengths and weaknesses in addition to the distributor’s service capabilities and lines, you can put together a full court press on multiple accounts simultaneously with almost the same “positive opposite” approach for each. This is the kind of thing that rattles a competitor. You can create mismatches this way, just as a football team does with misdirection, pulling guards, getting the other team out of position and double teaming players left to defend on the side of the field you chose to give battle.
It’s extreme;y effective when you stay with this approach long enough to see it start working. It has been known to cause salespeople to quit and go elsewhere, maybe to you. Be prepared for what happens and don’t try this if you are faint of heart or if you want your competitors to like you. Quite the opposite will result.
If you want to give battle, you have to see the battlefield and apply pressure at the precise points where your approach will win. Good hunting, growth warriors.
It’s extreme;y effective when you stay with this approach long enough to see it start working. It has been known to cause salespeople to quit and go elsewhere, maybe to you. Be prepared for what happens and don’t try this if you are faint of heart or if you want your competitors to like you. Quite the opposite will result.
If you want to give battle, you have to see the battlefield and apply pressure at the precise points where your approach will win. Good hunting, growth warriors.
Remember how you got that girlfriend.
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