Where Dealers Go Wrong If there’s an area in which dealers agree, it’s the importance of training, especially given the rapid pace of change. Zeeland (Mich.) Lumber offers its employees monthly training sessions through its Zeeland University, which covers “everything from improving skills at Excel to product training to customer satisfaction,” says president Mike Dykstra. “We’ve tried to make ourselves accountable to that once a month, one meeting, for one hour.”
But the amount and type of training provided to inside sales reps varies dramatically, and most of it focuses on product knowledge. What’s missing nine times out of 10, Lee says, is sales training. He feels that’s a mistake, especially in the current market.
“We’ve come off 20 years of prosperity,” Lee says. “It was so much volume and so much opportunity, nobody had to do very much selling. Today, we need sales skills.” He recommends weekly meetings that include sales reports and training on topics such as how to ask for the sale.
“They miss a golden opportunity to have their very best sales rep say, ‘This is how I sell windows,'” Lee says. “Record that and keep an archive.”
High says it’s tough to teach people to be sales reps, so he keeps it simple. He tells his staff, “Everybody who walks through that door has a problem. We’re here to solve that problem. They need our help. That’s our job. Solve their problem, and take their money.”
Dealers are divided on whether inside sales staff should have prospecting responsibilities. For those who support OSRs and process orders from their customers, the mindset is that they have their hands more than full without adding the responsibility of prospecting.
But given the sluggish home-building market, Lee says it’s time for dealers to try to recapture some of the business relegated to the big-box stores during housing’s boom years.
Lee suggests using inside sales reps to make calls to repair and remodeling contractors, government agencies, and commercial and industrial contractors. “We can’t afford to ignore all the outlets to which we could sell,” he says.
At Dan Boudreaux’s Ace Hardware, all the employees are expected to hunt for new business. Like many other dealers, they search the weekly list of newly issued building permits for projects they can bid.
“We get to know who’s out there and who’s getting ready to build,” owner Dan Boudreaux says. “It gets your foot in the door.”
Johnson says he and Ganahl’s 15 or so other inside sales reps drum up their own clients through “a variety of ways, including networking, calls, and referencing off of permit sheets.” he says. If the client chooses to open an account with a particular salesman, then the account is considered in that person’s zone. “This ensures consistency for the customer and also promotes a stronger working relationship between them and the salesman,” Johnson says.
He likes having the responsibility for prospecting because it’s helping him build a career path.
“Having the ability to be able to build a customer base and prepare yourself for outside sales is just great,” he says. “My goal is to be an outside salesperson, so this step is helping me prepare right now.”
As the work day winds down, Johnson will take stock of which tasks have been completed and what still needs attention.
“The last thing that I do before I leave is like the first thing that I do,” he says. “I make sure all my customers have been take care of.”
–Pat Curry is a writer based in Augusta, Ga.
