SALES & MARKETING
Enterprise Selling in the 21st Century A Need to Change BY ART WASKEY
A Art Waskey has over 45 years’ experience in the welding and industrial gas industry. He travels across the country consulting and giving seminars on business skills and has published 3 books of sales skills stories. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering, a Master of Ministry in Leadership Development, and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Ministry. You can subscribe to Art’s weekly sales tips and monthly articles on his website. Also, check out his Posts on LinkedIn. For services, contact Art at 720-341-9405, artwaskey@ ispeakd.com, www. impactspeakingdynamics. com
distributor asked for advice on creating new opportunities. His company was experiencing sales erosion to alternative channels. While sales of the company’s added value items that require technical assistance remained strong, its higher profit-margin products were not being ordered. The distributor bemoaned, “Since the pandemic, 15-20% of our revenue has been lost due to reductions in sales of our basic products.” The company’s bread and butter items— like consumables, safety products, and hand tools — were being shopped online elsewhere. The company needed a change.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF SALES
Sales techniques have always adjusted to economic and business trends. The industrial revolution made products available in large volumes for the first time and a network of distributors was developed to stock inventory locally. This represented a big change in distribution and a company’s approach to sales. Corporate sales cycles were introduced in the ‘60s and ‘70s by companies like IBM, General Electric, and General Motors. These commercial giants wanted goods sold on their timeline. Purchasing agents found this type of selling formulaically abusive and started resisting in the ‘90s. This ushered in the advent of relationship selling, working deals based on promoting higher levels of trust between sales and purchasing. In the 21st century, solution and consult-based selling techniques were introduced. All these transactional sales methods have had their purpose. Today, in response to digitization, a change in the sales process needs to be considered.
SALES CHANNELS SHIFT
The impact of online sales to the distributor channel is being felt. In their November 4, 2021, podcast, the Distribution Strategy Group (DSG) (distributionstrategy.com) predicted a 5-year revenue channel shift in commercial sales. DSG sees traditional distributor revenues potentially dropping an additional 13%, from 65% to 52% of all commercial sales. On the other hand, they expect to see a rise in the other channels: retail channels from 6% to 7%; manufacturer direct sales, 17% to 18%; marketplace with multiple sellers (e.g., Amazon business), 5% to 9%; and pure digital distributors, also 5% to 9%. Gains in these other channel sales are projected to be up 10%, rising from 35% to 48% of total sales. This analysis serves as a wakeup call for distributors. Like the innovative software solutions necessary to handle internal affairs in the digital age, distributors must realign outside salesforce practices to meet the challenge of shifting sales channels created by digitization.
A SWOT ANALYSIS
A simple SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat) analysis yields insight to the changes needed in the distributor sales force network. The Strength of the distributor is its local connection to the customer, which allows for better communication and options for delivery from nearby warehouses and facilities. The largest Weakness for the independent distributor is its relatively small e-commerce presence, which can lead to the loss of market share. The bright spot is the Opportunity distributors have to offer significant and unique solutions to their Winter 2022 • 111
