Optimum Results

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The Weakest Link – Improve Reseller Relationships

September 6, 2021
Improve Resellers

The Weakest Link – Improve Reseller Relationships

For a business, it is frustrating to see excellent Manufacturing and Distribution Companies lose sales revenue and bottom line financial performance because the people who engage with the end user customer don’t have appropriate levels of Product & Technical Knowledge.

 

Over the course of the past year, we have worked on three such projects with really remarkable and rewarding results for all parties concerned. The three client companies were very different in business type and size but the nature of our service and the relative Return on Investment (ROI) they experienced were similar. To quote one of the MDs involved “one of the best investments we ever made”. As well as these clients experiencing a very impressive increase in sales, our findings also showed that their Retailers’ salespeople were much more proactive in their conversations with prospective end user customers when they had improved levels of product knowledge.

 

The Weakest Link training programme focuses on improving your product sales with resellers and distributors. Once your product leaves your hands to go further down the supply chain it is unlikely the next person will have as much passion or even care about the product coming down the supply chain. The core idea of our Weakest Link training programme is how to communicate your product benefits and competitive advantage to your end users through any reseller staff.

 

Improving any area of supply chain management will always yield positive results for a business. Our programme is bespoke to your own individual requirements. The training is tailored to overcome the unique challenges that are facing your companies supply chain.

 

How Does Our Training Improve Your Reseller Supply Chain Management?

When it comes to creating your personalised training programme we focus on structure to ensure the delivery is capable of meeting the high standards we set for ourselves. Using a thorough process to prepare, deliver and record the training results is key to ensure we deliver value to your team. Some of our steps include:

  1. Buy In – Facilitating win-win co-operation and agreement with your resellers to be part of the programme.
  1. Measurements – Using on the ground market research, including mystery shopping, we analyse the current levels of product knowledge, POS visibility and customer service throughout your network of resellers. Using through measurement we establish key performance indicators which require improvement.
  1. Training Programme Design – Designed based on the results in the measurement stage. The training programme is designed by our specialist Online Training Team (SeamsCloud.com). The team will design product and technical online training modules for all reseller staff across different levels such as floor staff, line management and higher management. All training specifications are tailored to the needs of your product.
  1. Training Delivery – Bespoke training modules will be available at any time on any device for relevant staff members. Staff members will also be issued unique log in information for this service. We also host the online training process in co-operation with your resellers. As a result of hosting the service we also provide help desk services that is available to all trainees.
  1. Reporting – A training activity dashboard is available to check training results and progress in order to evaluate how effective the programme is. Reporting is key as it will be used to evaluate your Return on Investment (ROI). The mystery shopping reporting dashboard will also be accessible so you can have instant access to KPIs.

What are the benefits of “The Weakest Link”?

Training can be completed on any device (PC, Tablet or Phone), in any location and at any time. Modules can be in any languages and in many cases clients choose to have different levels and styles of training for supervisors or technical or service support staff. The Training Modules become your property to use as often as you wish and elements can be changed to meet the needs of different markets. Parts may also be updated as needs be should technical specification or industry regulations require and you can supplement your Product Knowledge Training Modules with personalised or subject expert video clips. Equally, the entire system can be expanded to provide numerous additional training and HR services such as Health & Safety compliance training with records together with topics such as Selling Skills, Customer Care, Managing Time & Stress, Personal Wellbeing and so forth.

 

A business has very little control over a reseller. Your brand and reputation could be directly affected by resellers depending on how they interact with your customers. This could be down to not having enough levels of product and technical knowledge. That is where “The Weakest Link” will come in to strengthen your partnerships with resellers. Overall the programme will increase your sales and profit margins and your brand image as resellers will have the required training with your product to understand and sell it correctly. Improving your product sales will also improve your relationship with resellers as a result of improving sales which encourages long term partnerships. Furthermore, your waste costs from unsold products will begin to reduce with sales improving.

 

Interested in training or upskilling your staff? Get in contact by emailing info@optimumresults.ie

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