'The Strike Force' paying off for Ryobi Power Tools

In October last year, Ryobi introduced ‘The Strike Force’, a concept that is part of an exciting new sales strategy that has already been successfully implemented. The reason behind the sales strategy is to ensure a new approach to sales and service that benefits the consumer, the retailer and Ryobi. Effectively it is a new approach to how direct and indirect sales are achieved through the implementation of the strategy as a team.

The teams ‘strike’ a store to achieve the following:

1 STOCK INTEGRITY – the Strike Force team go into the store in a planned and strategic way and put an action plan in place together with the store owner or manager to move stock quicker, using in-store promotions, price adjustments, order manipulation etc. The outcome is one where stock integrity is achieved – ordering issues are sorted out and slow moving stock is a thing of the past.

2 INDIRECT SALES – The Strike Force team negotiates with the store on the acquisition of space – be it gondola ends, shelving, display stands, snake aisles, promotional bulk space and so on to allow for clever and clear merchandising of all products and accessories. This effectively results in more sales for the retailer as newly delivered and older products are merchandised in such a way to ensure convenience for the customers and sales for the retailers.

3 DIRECT SALES – the team come into stores in a planned manner to help sell the products. The team can sell a combination of slow-moving items at the same time as promoting the faster moving products. This is achieved by making a ‘bang’ with the ‘strike’. This involves music, demos and advice for the customers. The aim is to create a stir, engage in conversations with the consumer, listen to their needs and educate them on choosing the right product for the correct application. This also creates an opportunity to upsell regarding spare parts and accessories. The consumer is engaged rather than intimidated and leaves the store educated and confident with the right product for their needs. This has a knock-on effect of turning over more stock benefitting for both the retailer and Ryobi as happy customers are also returning customers. The Strike Force can assist with after-sale service; pick-up and drop off of machines as well as assess and troubleshoot products as required.

This strategy has been so successful for Ryobi and retailers alike, so much so that Ryobi recently ordered a Superlink truck and trailer to meet the current demand of Ryobi products, says John Stevens managing director of Stevens and Company (agents for Ryobi).

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