By Elizabeth Hilla
Making an effective joint sales demo
Elizabeth Hilla
Medical products distributors and manufacturers each serve two very unique, yet vital, roles when selling to healthcare providers. If you’re a distributor rep, asking your manufacturer counterpart to join you on product demonstrations is almost always a good idea.
Your results can only improve if you stay committed to building positive relationships with your supplier counterparts.
But conducting a successful joint demo requires close coordination and communication between distributor and manufacturer reps before, during, and even after the call. Here are some considerations to help facilitate these partnerships and push presentations over the top:
- Know your role. To create an effective sales demo, first you must clearly define sales rep roles. A good rule of thumb is for distributors to assume the role of ‘customer expert’ – arranging demos, quoting prices, and coordinating product orders or deliveries – while manufacturers position themselves as ‘product experts’ – demonstrating the product or equipment, providing installation or training, and gathering financial or outcomes analysis to justify the product.
- Plan well in advance. No demo is successful without adequate pre-planning. Use this time to discuss the customer in depth – their motivations, purchasing history, and personality – as well as who will speak and answer questions at different points in the presentation. Knowing exactly what customers want from the products they purchase will help you identify product specifications, pricing models, and delivery benefits that can be converted into key selling points.
- Test your products. This may seem like a no-brainer, but it’s crucial that any product you demonstrate is in working order. Usually, manufacturer reps will test a product ahead of the demo, but it could be an added benefit to do this with distributor co-presenters to give a better understanding of the product’s functionality.
- Work the blueprint. Distributor reps should open the presentation, and then introduce their counterpart. Manufacturers can then demo product features and benefits, handle customer objections, and answer product questions. Once completed, the distributor should close the call, ideally by obtaining a purchase order and arranging follow-up training or equipment service.
Conducting a successful joint demonstration requires close coordination and communication between distributor and manufacturer reps before, during, and after the call.
If a customer agrees to buy from you after your demo, congratulations! Remember that selling is a continuous process and your results can only improve if you stay committed to building positive relationships with your supplier counterparts. Maintain open communication with your trading partners and seek out new ways to participate in continuing education opportunities like webinars or conferences. This will keep you up to date on the latest supplier offerings and product developments, as well as ensure that your next joint customer demo is even stronger than your last.