Distributor salespeople may be their own worst enemy, according to an exclusive survey by Progressive Distributor and MRO Today magazines.

by Richard Vurva

Distributor salespeople looking for a way to differentiate their companies from the competition don’t need to look far. In fact, all they have to do is look in the mirror.

An exclusive survey conducted by Progressive Distributor and its sister magazine, MRO Today, reveals that salespeople have an opportunity to boost their standing with customers by raising their level of professionalism. Doing so will set them above their peers.

The survey asked end-user buyers of maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) products their opinion about the quality of the MRO distributor salespeople who call on them. Although 71 percent of the respondents rate the salespeople as “good,” nearly half say they don’t want distributor salespeople calling on them.

It begs the question: What are distributor salespeople doing wrong when nearly half of their customers say they could disappear and product specifiers would applaud or wouldn’t even notice?

A majority of the respondents indicate that the quality of the MRO salespeople who call on them has remained unchanged in the last three years. Twenty-six percent of the respondents said the quality has decreased.

When presented with a list of 10 factors that influence their purchase decision, buyers rank the salesperson far down the list, at No. 7. Delivery, price and product quality are the most important factors to buyers.

What does it mean?
The results raise serious questions about the perceived value that most distributor salespeople offer customers. Buyers could be saying, in effect, I don’t really care how good the distributor salesperson is, as long as I get what I want when I want it.

If that is true, distributors may want to re-evaluate their traditional sales model. Either customers don’t recognize the value salespeople bring to the table, or salespeople truly are becoming a dying breed. If so, this may be a good time for distributors to offer alternatives where customers can bypass salespeople by making purchases online.

Distributors that aren’t ready to make such a drastic change should at least take an objective look at their sales force. Companies that take steps to demonstrate what value their salespeople bring to customers can go a long way toward setting themselves apart from their competitors.

What areas should they focus on? Product knowledge and applications expertise are the two most important qualities a salesperson can possess, survey respondents say.

This article originally appeared in the May/June issue of Progressive Distributor. Copyright 2001.

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