Global Fastener News

Campbell at STAFDA: Turn Order Book Over to Sales Reps?

“Just imagine a world where the distributor would give the purchase order book to their sales rep,” Jeff Campbell envisioned in his state of manufacturing speech at the Specialty Tools & Fasteners Distributors Association 30th annual convention.
The trust to do that has to be earned, noted Campbell, vice president for sales at Irwin & Lenox Industrial Tools, a division of Newell-Rubbermaid.
Campbell recalled a sales call early in his career when he asked a customer “what are your expectations of me, and what can I do to help your business the most?” The customer responded that in his 25 years, he had never been asked that by a supplier, much less a sales rep.
Campbell urged sales professionals to “not only ask those simple questions, but more importantly, act on the feedback you receive.” Not doing what we say “gives our profession a bad reputation” in addition to hurting the customer relationship.
Campbell urged distributors to share their goals with suppliers.
“I know this is getting way out there, but have an operating rhythm where the progress is measured each month by the supplier rep, your sales manager and purchaser, and review quarterly with management from both sides to ensure progress is being made.”
“The supplier and distributor are not unlike a marriage,” Campbell analyzed. “For it to work well and last, it depends on communication. Infrequent, bad or no communication equates to a poor relationship. But frequent, good and meaningful communication, including listening by both parties, makes for a great marriage.”
Suppliers and distributors “can all do a better job at working together to achieve our ultimate goal, which is to win more share of the professional contractors business.”
Campbell has made sales calls on STAFDA members for 17 years as a territory or regional manager, national sales manager and now sales vice president. “I still make over 100 personal visits to STAFDA customers every year and through it all, one thing has remained constant,” Campbell reflected. “This business is still based on relationships, people working together who enjoy each other and have mutual respect and trust for one another.”
Suppliers “would like to think” they have strong relationships with distributors, but Campbell acknowledged that in some cases they “are not where they need to be.”
Attention to big boxes, email replacing personal touch, consolidation and other reasons have affected relationships, but Campbell finds “the biggest reason for the tension is that “STAFDA suppliers and distributors do pick partners and not everyone is going to be happy, especially when sales and profit dollars are negatively impacted.”
Editor’s Note: More from Campbell’s State of Manufacturing speech will appear in the next issue of FIN. �2006 FastenerNews.com