The next step was to teach our sales force about the new
products we had just added. There were just under 2,000
products in the new line. How did we do it? By making it
as easy and painless as possible. The perfect solution?
Television!
Cadillac Plastic and "Chemical Company is a manufacturer of
products and a distributor of products of other suppliers.
When our suppliers were in town for the Safety Products
premiere, we asked representatives from each company to
make a half-hour product presentation in our videotape
studio. These were duplicated and then sent to our
district offices throughout the country. Backup in the
form of supplier literature was also included.
By watching the product tapes on TV in a relaxed, informal
atmosphere, learning about the new products was practically
painless for our salesmen. The tapes could be stopped at
any time and replayed for greater comprehension. Later,
when our salesmen reviewed the supplier literature, they
were already familiar with the product so the literature
was more meaningful and retention of learning much greater.
Subsequent visits by suppliers rounded out the initial
training program and gave the sales force a chance to ask
questions' not covered in either the videotapes or the
literature.
Was this approach successful? An informal poll of our
suppliers found that they were extremely impressed by how
quickly our people had mastered their products. All
suppliers have since made additional videotapes to update
our sales force.
Motivating our salesmen to sell: a triple purpose catalog
At this point, our people were knowledgeable about the
OSHA-Spec line. Now came the big test. Could they sell the
products?
To motivate our people, we again decided to make selling
the products as easy as possible. First, we made sure that
our top-quality products were competitively priced. And,
of course, we made sure we had reasonable inventory levels
to assure good delivery. But beyond this, which is simply
sound business practice, we found aids which were
indispensable in making it easy for our salesmen to sell.
Most important of all aids was our safety products catalog.
We made this extremely attractive. But even more
important than its beautiful appearance, the catalog was a
solid selling tool.
Because many of our customers were confused and concerned
about the then-newly-passed OSHA laws, we organized our
catalog around the most common OSHA requirements that our
products fulfilled. Wherever applicable, we quoted right
from the OSHA directive. This helped our customers to
learn the most common safety requirements. It also helped
salesmen in organizing their sales presentations. The
customer could clearly see what products were required to
protect his workers and plant.
To make the catalog easy to follow, we relied heavily on
pictures and illustrations. After all, many of these
products were hew to everyone. Where color coding was a
factor, according to OSHA, as in certain signs and warning
devices, we printed that section in full color. Certainly,
it was more expensive. But it made our catalog a reference
source as well. We also tried, where possible, to show the
products in actual use. Again, it is easier to recognize a
need when one can see how the product is used.
To sum up the benefits of an-attractively designed,
intelligently organized selling catalog, let me offer this
advice. If you have to skimp on a budget, do it anywhere,
repeat anywhere, but on your catalog. It is that important
to your overall success.
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Thotsaporn is the owner of http://www.financeoffer.org
where he provides finance information and resources.
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