Anyone, anywhere, is this your building product dealer strategy?

Or how selling to lots of dealers/installers/stockists does not win loyalty.

As a manufacturer your brand should be worth something. Your products should reflect your values and “speak” to your clients saying things such as quality, reliability, innovative, good value, etc. If this is not the case there is nothing to differentiate your products from the competition and they become just another generic commodity.

So in order to give prestige to your product range you need to create an image of value that make your products worth more than similar ones. Selling your products or systems to anyone does not maintain your quality or reputation. Selling to more dealers/installers/distributors may result in a loss of margin as well as turnover.

Case study:

I was UK manager of a building systems company that was not performing well. They had thousands of customers listed on their books. They would trade with anyone either via pro-forma or account or as a cash sale. The group MD criticised my actions but this is what I did to turn round the fortunes of the business.

I reduced the customer list to 600. I was selective as to who we would allow to buy and sell our systems. The new criteria was that they had to pay for training in our products and have instruction on how to fabricate and install. They had to invest in our tooling and software. They had to use our system as their only /main brand so their name became synonymous with ours and we would develop a synergy that would be recognised by specifiers. We wanted to be a top end of the market product, and our dealers needed to reflect this. The training, tooling and software ensured our quality standards were maintained. Having fewer clients meant we could offer more meaningful support in working with them to win work, giving them leads and supporting them as approved dealers with our marketing programmes. This gave our brand stability as we now had recognised approved dealers who had shown commitment via their investment and in return they had our support. We also developed 2 sales teams, one more focused on the problems and issues of the dealers and another team generating leads via specification.

By working in this way trading partnerships, trust and loyalty are strengthened. Customer satisfaction is greatly improved and recommendations and repeat business become a reality. The brand becomes more recognised and respected and can command a better price. Everybody wins. Less is more.