How are distributor reps demonstrating their value in the point-and-click world? Repertoire asked Richard Bigham, vice president, primary care market, IMCO, for his thoughts.
Repertoire: Name three ways in which tomorrow’s distributor rep must demonstrate his or her value to the millennial-generation customer, who’s used to a convenient, point-and-click world.
Richard Bigham: Successful distributor reps will need to understand and gain proficiency with the communication preferences of millennials. Rep activities will need to be adjusted to meet buyer requirements. Millennials tend not to talk on the phone, and they expect real time exchanges through text messaging and social media. Failure to meet these expectations will create the potential of a lost customer or opportunity.
Millennial buyers expect sales representatives to be extremely knowledgeable about their customer’s business. Historically, reps have relied on traditional one-to-one relationships during the sales process. As multiple influencers are now involved in buying decisions, the successful rep must thoroughly research and understand the needs of these sometimes disparate parties. Reps should understand the clinical, financial, regulatory, workflow and patient satisfaction implications of potential solutions and be able to clearly enunciate these to the influencers.
Millennial buyers will expect a customized solution for their needs as opposed to the traditional one-size-fits-all. Choice and connectivity have created an empowered customer who is looking for a new type of customer experience, which highlights and rewards collaboration, customer care and the overall procurement process. Reps and their organizations must strive to provide a seamless buying experience with efficient processes and systems that do not slow the buyer down.
Repertoire: What new skills will that require on the part of the field rep, particularly the older rep who has been used to one way of working with customers and potential customers?
Bigham: Tenured sales representatives were trained and have spent much of their selling career following a traditional sales approach comprised of lead generation, lead qualification, proposal, negotiation and close. Traditional sales presentations and product demonstrations are being utilized less frequently due to the proliferation of product information available to today’s buyer. These buyers utilize multiple platforms and networks to research potential products and suppliers, resulting in a highly informed consumer and nontraditional sales cycle. Adoption and utilization of social media for communication with their customer base and to provide visibility to potential customers will be a necessary skill set and behavior for these tenured reps.
Repertoire: Will the wants and needs of tomorrow’s customer require field reps to work differently with manufacturer reps? If so, how?
Bigham: Given the millennial customer, distributor reps will still require the partnership and technical support of manufacturer reps. Delivery of information will change from an in-person meeting to delivery of required information through an online modality. We are currently seeing the effective utilization of webinars to detail some types of capital equipment. The expectation of real-time responses will require enhanced cooperation and service level expectations for both distributor and manufacturer. Buyers expect the ability to research products online, which will necessitate the enhancement of many distributors’ online resources. Coordination with manufacturers to populate these sites with pertinent documentation has become a necessity.
Repertoire: How are successful IMCO members preparing their reps for this future?
Bigham: Millennial buyers tend to seek out smaller enterprises that can provide flexible solutions specific to their needs. IMCO members are expanding their social media presence and continually refining their e-commerce platforms to mimic those utilized by buyers in their personal consumer activities. Member reps are continually provided learning opportunities on how to incorporate social selling as a component of their value proposition to current and potential customers. In addition, training is provided on reaching and addressing decision-makers outside of historical call points in customer organizations.
Selling in the point-and-click world
Want to step up? Here’s what manufacturer and distributors recommend.
- Do your homework. Before a face-to-face meeting, learn more about your customer than you’ll need to know.
- Rely less on phone contact, and focus on text messages, email and social media.
- Be prepared to offer your customers market insights and professional consultation beyond what can they can find on the web or the general market.
- Be prepared to offer customized solutions.
- Provide near-real-time responses to customer requests.
- Be as familiar around social media as your customers are, in order to be seen as “relevant.”
- Monitor strong customer networks, including advocates as well as adversaries of your company and its products and services.
- Elevate conversations beyond the product to a solution sale, which addresses higher-level problems.
- Understand the clinical, financial, regulatory, workflow and patient satisfaction implications of potential solutions, and be able to clearly enunciate these to the influencers.
- Provide a seamless buying experience with efficient processes and systems, which do not slow the buyer down.