Selecting the right sales channels for your product or service is a crucial decision that can make or break your sales performance. However, many sales managers make some common mistakes that can cost them time, money, and customers. Here are some of the biggest mistakes to avoid when choosing your sales channels and how to overcome them.
One of the first steps in selecting your sales channels is to understand who your ideal customers are, where they are, and how they prefer to buy. If you don't have a clear picture of your target market, you might end up choosing the wrong channels that don't reach them, don't appeal to them, or don't match their buying behavior. To avoid this mistake, you need to do some market research and segmentation, and create buyer personas that describe your customers' demographics, needs, preferences, and pain points.
Being in sales you can never take anything personal, no matter how nice or rude the client/customer may be, they like you and I are human to, all you can do is be there and listen and wait for them to finish. That call you may not sell anything its ok but if you gave them an outlet and said thank you for your time and leave. Next call cycle, just act like nothing happened, and see how the sales call goes.
1. Align Channels with Value Proposition: Ensure sales channels resonate with your unique value proposition, reinforcing brand impact and customer experience. 2. Thoroughly Evaluate Channel Options: Conduct a comprehensive analysis; considering your goals, resources, and market dynamics. Choose channels that align with your strategy. 3. Regularly Test and Optimize: Implement a dynamic approach to channel management by continuously testing and optimizing based on KPIs. Stay responsive to market trends and customer feedback. 4. Effectively Manage Relationships: Proactively address conflicts and dissatisfaction by maintaining clear communication, providing adequate training and support, and aligning incentives and expectations of partners.
I was guilty when taking responsibility for a product I’d not sold before in wasting time talking to the wrong people and positioning them wrongly. I also concentrated on my strengths, selling products I was more use to, via a supply chain I was more familiar with, believing this approach would lead to the best results. Fast forward six years and with confidence to talk to new customers in a sector that was alien to me, I helped work on specifying these products and land one of the companies largest global clients with a successful contract. I’ve since helped grow and develop the account which is now successful in many Countries with continual sales to date.
When you try to be everything to everyone, be all over the place, you are destined to fall, unless your product demands so. The GTM for a cola brand and for an apparel are both different. The former can be present at every nook and corner but the latter may not unless it value says so. Understand who you want to sell to, connect with and accordingly choose your channel. Every target audience will have a skew towards a particular channel for buying, find that out. Tone your GTM accordingly so that you are neither too loud not too soft to be missed.
As channels evolve so rapidly, a beneficial piece of research can be to better understand how target consumers arrive in each channel. This can save valuable time and resource within wider GTM plans. Big data is more readily available than ever before, and so is the ability to engage with customised, or even specifically defined audience groups. Brands are therefore able to adopt a very targeted approach when marketing to their desired end users, and it's this activity that adds value to channel partners who can ultimately benefit from the sale.
Another common mistake is to choose your sales channels without considering how they fit with your value proposition. Your value proposition is the unique benefit that your product or service offers to your customers, and it should guide your channel strategy. For example, if your value proposition is based on convenience, you might want to choose online or direct sales channels that make it easy for your customers to buy from you. If your value proposition is based on quality, you might want to choose indirect or partner sales channels that can provide more support and service to your customers.
When selecting sales channels, not aligning them with your value proposition can significantly dilute your brand's impact and customer experience. Each channel must reflect and amplify what you promise your customers, whether it's convenience, quality, or innovation. For instance, a luxury brand would diminish its value by selling through discount outlets, just as a convenience-oriented service would by not offering online purchasing options. The sales channels should be an extension of your brand promise, ensuring that every touchpoint reinforces the customer's perception and experience of your value. As a CRO, I recommend regularly reviewing your channels to ensure they evolve with your value proposition and market expectations.
Absolutely, aligning with sales channels is crucial for the success of your value proposition. The sales channels you choose should effectively convey and support your value proposition to the target audience. A seamless integration between your value proposition and sales channels enhances customer understanding, trust, and satisfaction, leading to increased sales and brand loyalty. Consistency across all touchpoints, from marketing to sales, strengthens your overall brand positioning and contributes to a positive customer experience.
In addition to the suggested criteria, I suggest adding two more considerations while selecting the right partners a) Maximize market coverage: a good target market understanding will help to identify geographic areas that need to be covered by one or more channel partners. b) Partner Value add: Depending on the market the partner should add value by contributing in at least one of the following areas - Customer relationship / Logistics / After Sales - Marketing and promotion - Local Value add - Bundling with other third party products - Commercial considerations - Maintaining Local stocks
One of the most critical mistakes companies and professionals can make is basing their channel selection decision solely on short-term gains like volume, revenue, or coverage. While these metrics may be tempting, they can easily distract from your key strategic themes like positioning, differentiation, segmentation, and Business Service Standards. In the rush for immediate impact, decisions that seem beneficial in the short run can undermine your overall strategy and erode market value. Remember, it's crucial to prioritize long-term success by aligning your channel selection with your core business goals.
Alignment is key. Understand how the partners go to market, which segment plays to their strengths, how they want to grow and how all these align to your value proposition.
There are many different types of sales channels, such as direct, indirect, online, offline, hybrid, and more. Each channel has its own advantages and disadvantages, such as cost, reach, control, scalability, and profitability. However, some sales managers make the mistake of choosing their channels based on intuition, habit, or imitation, without evaluating their options objectively. To avoid this mistake, you need to analyze your channel options based on criteria such as your goals, resources, capabilities, and competition, and compare them using tools such as SWOT analysis or scorecards.
Don't be afraid of trying something new and working in a new way. If you work with indirect channels (distributors, agents, resellers), why not consider platform sales organisations as well for example. Remember though that when working with a new channel it will take at least 6 months for them to return on initial investment, so don't be too hasty to terminate any new relationships.
Neglecting alternate channels limits your reach and potential audience. Diversifying channels ensures broader exposure and adaptability to changing market trends. Failing to consider alternatives may lead to missed opportunities, reduced market share, and vulnerability to disruptions in a rapidly evolving business landscape. Embrace a multi-channel approach for a resilient and comprehensive market presence.
Success in the market depends not only on a thorough SWOT analysis, but on the execution of a great strategy. It's crucial to choose the right channels based on sound reasoning rather than intuition or personal connections. This approach will help ensure that the strategic plan is successful and brings maximum benefits.
One of the mistakes often made by international companies comes by way of assuming channels work the same across the globe. Our experience points to this being one of the biggest problems faced by European organizations. Customers don't care how you do it in the homeland, matching channels to the country. Further, it is very difficult to judge distributors, vars, or agents by their name alone. The seller must understand the dynamics of each of the individual organizations. Further, the lines between different types of organizations is blurring.
Get out of the mindset that this is how we’ve always done it! Allow yourself to challenge the status quo and consider new approaches while mitigating your risk and controlling your channel costs. Start with your highest acquisition cost channel and evaluate the impact to truly understand the potential upside/downside of trying something different. You might be surprised how much control you really have and how it impacts profit!
Another mistake that can hurt your sales performance is to stick with your initial channel choices without testing and optimizing them. Sales channels are not static, and they can change over time due to factors such as customer feedback, market trends, competitor actions, and technological innovations. If you don't monitor and measure your channel performance, you might miss out on opportunities to improve your results or address any issues. To avoid this mistake, you need to set up key performance indicators (KPIs) for your channels, such as sales volume, conversion rate, customer satisfaction, and retention rate, and use data and analytics to track and optimize them.
While starting with business in target market. You should not use all your tools and spend your money and other resources as well. Just try to understand your brand ,price and product positioning on the market with your current partner. And it is not a good idea to run this business alone without a partner. Partner means navigator to help you understand the market grand rules, means no need to spend extra money and other resources. We called it a buying experience. That market transition period , you should monitorized your actions, review and check your plan, if needed make changes in your move, you are free to test the market. After all, drawing a big picture with your partner and based on your plan with your own experience in the market.
In my aspect of view when you build a sales channel, you should not incitement other Channel, Investment, support and marketing with them are mandatory even for a while, also the rising ( slow) sales flowchart should be monitored by you Sometimes if you don’t have any double visits with them could cause irreparable outcomes for that market ? In my experience, after 3 months when I visit one of my sales channels in an important city, I find that they put my products free of charge to some medical store and ask for money from them after the final sales I was surprised and stopped this job there.… But I still held training courses for their team and didn't change my channel to leads that asked me to be my agent.…
Testing, testing, testing because market trends change on almost daily basis. Optimisation and changes are crucial to understand trends and not missing opportunities that can be discovered in order to improve and perform at your highest!
Sales is a Dynamic process where one should be ready to adapt as per the market needs and demands. COVID times can be considered as a perfect example, when a lot of business understood the dynamics and shifted to E-Commerce platforms and Home Deliveries and hence have grown stronger when times were actually tough. Sales channels should be monitored and adaptive.
Although you do all the tests and optimization you think of , you maybe faced by failure in new channels that you decided to use in the company This is very frustrating and can lead to wrong strategic decision ”we will never use this channel again” Looking inside elements of execution and monitoring will keep you more informed with what went wrong !
Finally, one of the biggest mistakes that can damage your sales performance is to neglect or mishandle your channel relationships. This is especially true if you use indirect or partner sales channels, such as distributors, resellers, agents, or affiliates, who act as intermediaries between you and your customers. If you don't manage your channel relationships effectively, you might face problems such as conflicts, misalignment, confusion, or dissatisfaction. To avoid this mistake, you need to communicate clearly and regularly with your channel partners, provide them with adequate training and support, align your incentives and expectations, and resolve any disputes or issues promptly and fairly.
In my career in Technology Sales my largest deals have been nurtured and won through Channel relationships. Also large percentage of my deals have been again through nurturing Channel relationships. It is also important to understand the challenges faced by Channel Partner Organisations and help them through Challenging delivery situations, provide them right support, share customer feedback with them as well as stand by them sail through towards desired customer delivery outcomes.
La gestion des canaux de vente consiste à coordonner plusieurs canaux de vente afin d'obtenir une croissance maximale des ventes: 1.?établir une communication claire 2.?Définir les attentes en?matière de performances. 3.?Fournir une formation et un soutien Investir dans des programmes de formation 4.?Utiliser la technologie et les CRM pour rationaliser les opérations 5.?Contr?ler les performances des canaux?de vente
This is arguably the most critical component in building a successful channel strategy. I have worked on both sides of the channel (reseller and distributor to resellers), and it is clear that the direct sellers who are in front of the end customer will sell who they like and who they trust. In my experience, if you have a channel strategy then your resellers are your customers - they are equally important.
In this respect I see companies constantly arguing with their sales channel partners on exactly who the customer “Belongs Too” ask Depuy Spine who’s customers where who’s? In 2002 DepuySpine started the process of buying out distributor contracts believing that their customers where JnJ die hards. Look at them now. It’s called a partner for a reason. Companies that do best treat their partners with respect and appreciation and collaborate with each other on market share obtainment.
Here's a typical conversation with a partner & Partner Account Manager. PAM: How are things? How much sales/revenue do you expect generated this quarter? Need anything? Any questions-I'm here. If you manage channel partners-consider they're not intermediaries-they're you're client, which means they need advising & coaching. These questions will uncover new opportunities, strengthen relationships & deliver value so they hit their goals. What's your definition of great customer service? What are your expectations of me? If there's a challenge-how can we collaborate to resolve it? What's your go-to market strategy? What if I work w/ your sales team on sales best practices & how to sell more of our service? What do you hear from your clients?
Resist the opportunity to add too many new channel partners. Many companies expand their distribution and SI/dealers too quickly and do not get the current channel partners productive and profitable.
O maior case de volume de vendas de “adesivo” instantaneo no mundo se deu e se dá no Brasil por um canal alternativo. O gol de placa muito bem direcionado se deu via canal de alimento e tempos depois farmacêutico. Nos dias atuais o case n?o nos causa espécie mas a 4 ou 5 décadas n?o se falava em conveniência ! O fato é que n?o se conseguiu replicar tamanho êxito nas demais localidades do globo . A nossa deficiência logística histórica e atual favoreceu o canal alternativo . E ainda favorece ! Junto ao adesivo ainda temos a pilha e o barbeador. E por gera??es tivemos o café ?? solúvel ! é o Brasil ???? em que os pioneiros #atacadistas atuaram e ainda atuam como bandeirantes !
To get the best results from channel selection in a universe of coverage, you must conduct outlet mapping, grading and segmentations. These activities will ensure accurate selection and labelling of the channels. It will be easy to use the right channel for the target audience for the brands.
In my opinion, training is often under rated in the channel. Being able to have a strong message of why the product or service, how to best position, troubleshoot, and support the technology is very important and can all be covered in training. I hear “Train the Trainer” often, but have rarely seen it well executed. Setting up a repeatable outcome and have the partners deliver the message for you is a winning strategy.
Always ensure alignment of value... Synergies can't be forced if players aren't aligned. Understand your partner's dependency on your business. If you aren't relevant to their size or revenue, it's rare they will push this relationship.