Ever Been Caught New-Skilling A Buyer? You Sounded Insincere
Communication skills are trainable, yes, but with any new skill it takes practice until you get proficient. If done effortlessly and totally naturally, then your technique will be dynamite. Like when learning to drive a car, you know you’ve got it when you don’t need to think about it. Unconscious competence, they call it. It’s […]
The Art of Selling Hasn't Died – It's Just Changed Shape a Bit
Here’s a thing. Have you noticed that astute young sales directors and wise old experienced ones seem in agreement that the ‘art of selling’ has died in grocery? Both types see that our current sales forces are technology-obsessed, process-driven and that their sales skills are diluted across such heinous disciplines as finance and logistics. They […]
Selling Requires you to Adapt your Style to the Situation at Hand
Seeing the despairing face of the Asda food hall manager, I paused. He was sitting at his desk, looking at a hand-written report. I always waited for a nod before walking in. This guy was a nightmare – the type who’ll keep you waiting an hour then shout at you for being late. That day […]
Trust, Commitment and Insight Needed for Joint Planning
Looking back, visionary joint planning has proved elusive. Suppliers have never really committed to it because it’s never long before the customer starts demanding short-term gains and the whole thing collapses. Many want to take a longer-term collaborative view, but retailer pressure is inevitable. We employ many ex-buyers as part of the Sentinel team. Gamekeepers […]
Closing Time – Making a Specific Proposal is Key to Closing a Sale
From time to time, I see it as my duty to dismantle some of the old myths of selling. How about this one: ‘ABC — Always Be Closing’. What on earth does that mean? Don’t buy it. This is an Abstract Bleedin’ Cliché, and At Best Codswallop. If you check online you will find 50 […]
There are no two-day courses to ensure buyer collaboration
How to sell? Well, that rather depends : on what you are selling. There’s the ‘technical sell’ in engineering, the ‘pity sell’ if you are door-to-door, the ‘pressure sell’ for double glazing or, of course, the ‘mis-sell’ if you’re in banking! In grocery we generally have suppliers wondering why they struggle to get the ‘visionary […]
Get crunching with the numbers – it can transform results
Read these words: footfall, basket spend, purchase frequency, cash cycle, margin mix, promotional mix, shelf productivity, stock investment, stock cover, waste reduction, mark-downs. Feeling a bit nauseous? Don’t assume the only way to motivate your customer is by conceding margin and paying fees. The buyer’s commercial motivation is driven by all these business fundamentals. But […]
A Warning For Suppliers
Have you noticed the retailers talking about their wonderful supplier relations, just when the new Groceries Code Adjudicator is announced? Funny that. Christine Tacon seems keen to do her bit to ensure fair play in the supply chain. However, I sit in a trusted position among suppliers and I can guarantee that most think invoking […]
Buyers will only listen if they think they need your help
Let’s say you can clearly see that a customer is missing a trick in category. There is a gap in their range for a product that has shown huge incremental category sales where you have introduced it in other customers, say. It’s an open goal, a ‘no brainier’, yet still your buyer is not listening. […]
With every call, find out something new about your customer
Twenty five years ago, selling in the grocery industry it was all very relationship dependent. The old lags slapped each others’ backs and told jokes. Then powerful customers became more demanding and relationship went out the window. Smarter sales teams replaced jokes with expertise and insight, and found that they had a new reason to […]
