Joel Goldstein — February 3, 2017 Follow @joelgoldsteinDistributors
spend a lot of their time on the road selling and delivering products to retailers. But, once in a while it can be incredibly beneficial to schedule a sit down meeting with your distribution team to catch up on business. Because you probably don’t have the luxury of having these meetings as often as you would like, make sure when you do have one, it’s as productive as possible by following these tips:
Exchange information.
You may be eager to hear how retailers and customers are embracing your product, but make sure you don’t let your distributor do all of the talking during the meeting. These meetings should be valuable for both you and the distributor, so prepare ahead of time by gathering new market or industry information that your distributors would find helpful.
Give recognition.
These meetings should also be used to motivate your team, and one way to do this is by recognizing each member’s accomplishments at the beginning of the meeting. It doesn’t matter if you’ve already thanked them for their hard work over email—make it personal by doing it face-to-face so they truly understand how appreciative you are of their efforts.
Follow up for feedback.
After the meeting is over, follow up with everyone who attended and schedule a date for the next one. In this email, you should also ask for honest feedback about the meeting that just concluded. Ask your distributors if they feel they are getting the information they need in a timely manner, or if there are things you can improve upon before the next session. The last thing you want is for your distributors to feel like your meetings are a waste of time, so make sure they get a say in how the meetings are run.
Get to know the business.
Distributors will respect you more if you are familiar with the top accounts in their territory, so spend time prepping when you see this meeting is coming up on your calendar. Plus, knowing this information will make meetings much more productive because you won’t have to ask as many questions before you get to the important part of the conversation. This will leave more time for you to talk about strategy with these key members of your team.
Set goals.
At the end of the meeting, discuss goals with your team. What is the sales target you want your team to meet before the next meeting? Do you have any other goals you would like to focus on regarding entering new markets or repositioning the brand? Use the time at the end of the meeting to broadly set the agenda for the next meeting. This way, the distributors know exactly what they should be working towards and what you will expect to hear when you meet again.
Do you work with a distributor? How do you keep meetings with him or her productive? Share your strategies in the comments below!
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