Becoming the Trusted Source
Henry Schein’s Sanchia Patrick believes a person’s individual brand can have a transformational effect on organizations, and the clients they serve.
In this month’s issue of Repertoire, Sanchia explains that highly visible brands in the marketplace are easy to spot and usually simple to define. Think Apple, Tesla, and Amazon.
As I read this article while proofing the February issue, it reminded me of how important branding is, even in today’s online buying world. I regularly quote a survey we did a year or so ago where we asked the audience the reasons why they buy a product or service. Hands down, the top reason was “when recommended by a friend or family member.”
I took two things from Sanchia’s insights:
1. For the distribution reps, creating your own brand ensures you stay front and center with your clients so that you can be that “friend or family member” recommending those manufacturers you trust will bring value to practices.
2. For the manufacturers, ensuring your brand is front and center to the distribution reps on a regular basis is more important than ever. They tell us they will not sell a brand they do not trust or a product they have not been trained on.
Manufacturers, I just painted the problem you must solve if you want to gain market share through the channel – staying in front of distribution regularly and educating them on how to talk about your product. Without being cheesy or sounding like I am trying to sell you on Share Moving Media, we can help. In fact, we have been helping best-in-class manufacturers for 30 years gain market share and mind share with the distribution reps. We provide a simple plan called ICE that allows you to be the “friend or family member” (i.e. the distribution sales rep) who can recommend your product to their customers:
I – Information. Through RepConnect, we house the information reps need to sell your products.
C – Communication. Through ads and content in Repertoire, we promote your brand to the reps on a regular basis.
E – Education. We build short two-minute videos to train the reps on how to recommend your products.
If you would like to better understand how we can help you build your brand as well as your category, please contact me at sadams@sharemovingmedia.com and I will get you to one of our business development directors.
Dedicated to the Industry,
R. Scott Adams