Last week we presented comments from dealers on what they expect from their manufacturers. This week we’re turning the tables and asking manufacturers what they expect from their dealers. As with last week’s comments I think you’ll find the following responses predictable albeit valuable just the same.
Lou Stricklin
Lou Stricklin, director of marketing at Muratec expects two things from Muratec dealers and that is to continually educate themselves on key market trends, competitive issues, sales techniques, and industry programs as well as give their products a fair chance with their sales team.
“Muratec spends a great deal of time and energy studying the imaging market, understanding the competitive landscape, learning from both industry-specific and non-industry specific experts about programs and tools designed to increase competitiveness, and reviewing consumer and business technology trends so that we can position our products and dealer programs more effectively,” explains Stricklin. “Our area sales managers regularly share this information with dealers and in return we discuss with our dealers how these issues are impacting their specific market.”
He adds that dealers that invest the time in education and market study are much better positioned for growth, can expect higher margins and will ultimately lead to more opportunities for Muratec products and programs. Another expectation is for their dealers to give Muratec products a fair evaluation and chance for success with their sales teams.
“Muratec is a secondary partner for most of our dealers,” acknowledges Stricklin. “[The dealer’s] sales team has been traditionally focused on A3 MFP’s and rightfully so since they drive higher revenue and margin numbers for both the dealer and the rep. As A4 MFP opportunities have increased a number of competitors have released A4 products with more aggressive pricing, and many sales reps don’t spend the time to understand and aren’t expected to learn the value of our products. In the end they may put in a competitor’s product simply because it was priced a little lower than ours even though our product may have been a better fit or created a true solution for the customer. We simply ask that our area sales managers be given occasional access to the dealer’s sales team so that we can review the benefits of our products and show how both the dealership and sales rep can increase their margins by leading with our products. This creates a win for all parties.”
Larry White, vice president, sales, Toshiba America Business Solutions, Inc., zeroes in on two key elements. “The cornerstone of the dealer/manufacturer relationship should be built on two words, trust and communication,” he says. “For example, a manufacturer trusts that its dealers will use their best efforts to represent their products and services. At the same time a dealer trusts that the manufacturer will ethically provide products, pricing, programs and support to the dealer to be successful in their market. To make this happen a manufacturer must effectively communicate its expectations to the dealer while a manufacturer should expect to get feedback, good or bad, on the marketability of its programs. This is just one example, but this is an expectation for all aspects of our business. Trust is built by the actions of both parties and assuming that trust is built, communication is the vehicle that allows for a mutually beneficial relationship.”
Alan Nielson, executive vice president dealer sales and administration with Konica Minolta identifies six key expectations:
1. A relationship that is a real partnership based upon trust, respect and mutual business objectives.
2. The financial and technological strength necessary to meet customers’ needs and beat competition in the solutions and services world of today and the future.
3. Plans to invest and grow with Konica Minolta and offer our full line of products, services and solutions as their primary offering.
4. Plans to grow their customer base and market share in their market place.
5. Plans to invest in systems, business practices and people to increase effectiveness while lowering SGA as a percent of revenue.
6. Strategies to go deeper and wider into current accounts and become the customer’s primary products, services and solutions provider.
Alan Nielson
Asked which of those six is the most difficult to attain, Nielson says item #1, picking a manufacturer where they can have that relationship. “And it’s not just a vendor relationship but truly a partnership where they can trust what the manufacturer is likely to do and likely to act and they can also look at the dealer and say can I trust to have you be my company’s representative or my company’s primary representative in your marketplace,” notes Nielson. “A dealer always has the option to pick another vendor and that’s why we have to work so hard to be sure we’re their best choice. But it’s a two-way street; we do a lot to invest in them and want to have a partner who values that relationship, values our investment in them, and therefore stays with us.”
Nielson adds that it isn’t just who has the lowest-priced product right now but who has the best long-term strategy for success over the next five to 10 years. “I think that’s what dealers should look at when choosing a manufacturer and that’s what I look at—dealers who are willing to commit to the relationship and make the investment so our business objectives are headed in the right direction. They’re not always going to be the same, but in general they have to be headed in the same direction.”
Mike Marusic, Sharp’s senior vice president, Marketing & Business Solutions Group, expects the dealer owner to be engaged in all aspects of the business, understanding not only operations but what else is happening in the industry so they can see the trends and position themselves ahead of versus just focusing on the day-to-day business along with dealers who look at what their business is going to look like two years from now, five years or now, or longer and how they’re going to get their company in that position.
“Dealers who can do that always seem to be on the cutting edge of when the trends change. They have a foot in the water and are figuring out where they play, and sometimes they figure out they don’t play period. The earlier they discover that the better. That’s always, from a dealer perspective what we hope and encourage our dealers to do.”
Sales training is another Sharp expectation.
“Sales rep training has slipped backwards in the past couple of years,” opines Marusic. “Many manufacturers are doing less training and it’s getting harder for many dealers to send their sales people to training. Whether it’s video training or classroom-based training a lot of times dealers view it as pulling people out of the field.”
He adds that as the products become more complicated and the industry shifts to new models beyond the traditional CPC, this is a major transition. He uses what’s going on in the cloud as an example and how that fits in with the functionality of the copier.
“Whether it’s our OSA (Open System Architecture) or somebody else’s technology, how does that enable that company to access the cloud? If you don’t understand what the cloud is and the benefit to the end user, it’s hard to sell the features of a product that enables that.”
Continuing to emphasize the importance of sales training Murasic adds, “If I had to offer one tip to dealers it would be to increase the training of their reps whether it’s manufacturer training or technology training provided by one of the outside companies that enable them to understand what’s happening from an IT perspective.”
Phil Boatman
Phil Boatman, manager, business development, North American Business Channels with Lexmark International, concludes with, “Expect is a tough word to define with dealers. I’m very cognizant of the choices they all have as independent business owners. I guess I’d say we expect our dealers to give us fair and genuine feedback on both what we, as a manufacturer are doing well to help them grow, and what we need to improve for them to grow with the Lexmark brand. Additionally, I’d say we expect them to give our brand as many opportunities in proposals as possible as long as we are providing them with adequate sales and training support. Our goal (vs. expectation) is that dealers are genuinely excited and interested in our products and solutions and that they want to proactively look for more ways to partner with Lexmark.”
Again, not a whole lot of surprises with most of these comments, but it’s good to know where everybody is coming from when it comes to expectations.
