I’ve put together a quest survey for newsagents about in-store sales reps – how you engage with them and their value. You can participate in the survey by clicking this link.
I have put together this survey because of a change by some suppliers in their sales rep strategy. I’ll publish the full results here for newsagents and suppliers to see sometime next week.
Just completed the survey , i do like having sales reps pass through BUT they must call first and never come on jackpot lotto days . We do not always order off reps ,we mainly would place the order online but most times they can show you something new that you may have missed on thier web site
Done. I’m starting to think most reps are a waste of time. A lot just refer you to a web site anyway. Then there’s the rep that can visit you and then visit the store down the road and share what they have seen in your store. Thinking very seriously about the role reps play in my store.
Al
I like having reps visit the only problem is with all the cost cutting going on in distribution they seem to get “downsized” on a regular basis,to be honest over the last 2 years they’ve been dropping like flies (as well as the companies they work for).
One simple rule for reps,if you don’t have a full function web site I can order through I don’t want to know you.
Sales reps are incredibly old school. I don’t need to see a rep for a supplier to communicate new products to me.
Use email to communicate important information and new products. It’s a lot cheaper than a rep.
If a supplier doesn’t have a website then I guarantee you are loosing a HUGE number of sales. I can order products from a website anytime I want. With a rep I have to wait until they show up every few months.
And if a supplier does build a website, please make it a decent one (especially if you have a large range of product). If your site isn’t easy to navigate and doesn’t have a range of features that allow users to see things like new products, out of stocks, pre-orders, etc then it hasn’t even met a basic standard or usability. Best practice sites will employ features similar to that used by consumer-based online-retailers. Things like products suggestions (based on what you’re looking at, or what you’ve purchased in the past) and helpful sections like top 25 selling products. It’s not just enough to have a site – it needs to both be helpful to retailers in discovering what you have and in driving additional sales. These kind of sites are not difficult to implement – with the right e-commerce solution provider they practically create themselves!
I would hazard a guess that many companies would be better off reducing the size of their rep workforce (so that their service areas are bigger and visits less frequent) and investing a chunk of that saving into constant website maintenance.
Being “shop bound” most of the time I find reps really valuable. Lets me know whats new and coming up (also new trends they are seeing) and keeps me in touch with special deals. I am able to touch and feel new products so no disappointment when deliveries arrive. GOOD reps always make appointments, I wont see them without one previously made.
100% with Jarryd on this One.
Reps = Time
Email is Best by far.
And really why not a listing of the top 50 selling items a Link just for that I know I am always wanting this be it GNS or Dynamic.
Bretts,
There are high school kids that could make better e-commerce websites than GNS. It’s an abomination.
60 survey responses logged so far.
I love my books and gifts sales reps. they add value. I hate GNS web site. It is seldom that I visit websites to place orders. I use my Pos sales to make the orders. The reps tell me what is new and what is working. I would love to Know the top 10 products for each rep/company.
I love some of my reps. They add value to the business by helping with merchandising, cross promotion etc. These reps use visits, email and phone to communicate. There are more and more companies sending reps with no idea – I often can use their technology faster and know the product better. Websites are important, but in the case of some suppliers we don’t want to stock the same as the shop down the road and a valuable rep will allow exclusives at both.
Suppliers should commit to great websites and great reps!
This survey is not quite specific enough and will therefore give spurious results.
I’ll bet that Jarryd and Brett have entirely different kinds of businesses in the city to those of Sarah, Willy, Michelle and myself
in diverse areas. Any company reading this needs to be aware of their sales base before dumping reps on an ad hoc basis especially to country areas.
P.S. I have no difficulty at all with the GNS websites (Vic or NSW), but I only have to use them a couple of times a year for things that have had the same codes forever.
On the whole I love reps, because I have only 24 hours in my day, and to have 375 different companies think that I can log I to their sites even occasionally to discover what wonderful new and irresistible products they have for sale is ridiculous.
h,
I’m in Singleton (Hunter Valley) which is definitely not a city area!
Your response surprises me because country areas get far less reps than those stores in city/suburban areas. Half the reps already don’t visit you and your missing out on so many product opportunities if your not using supplier websites.
Suppliers should be using both email and their website to communicate new product. An email will prompt you to look at their website only when new products arrive. You shouldn’t have to check the website of every supplier every week to see what’s new.
For the 5 minutes it might take you to look at new products on a website, a rep could take half an hour or more.
The GNS website completely ignores best practice and does nothing to assist retailers. It works in the sense that it allow one to order products online, but its clunky and not at all user friendly. Its a myriad of little things (and some big things) that make it a very outdated platform.
H, the last question helps qualify responses. As for the value of reps, they are cost of doing business that is unique to independent retailers like us. If we want better prices we need to help our suppliers reduce costs.