Those of us who work with distributors are generally of the opinions that ‘you don’t sell to the distributor, you help it to sell to the enduser’. That’s rule number one in the game. And if it’s true about selling there’s a strong implication that it’s also true about marketing and that’s reinforced by rule number 2 viz ‘don’t expect your distributor to do any serious marketing; that’s your job’. And as rules go these two are pretty good: most of the time.
Trouble is if the distributor has not bought into the relationship it’s not going to do anything meaningful for you and that’s why you do actually have to sell and market to the distributor. But you’re not selling products your selling the relationship. And before you start to think about that just make sure that you’re not in violation of rule 3 which says ‘don’t expect your distributor to do anything for you of it won’t make money as a result’.
If your distributor is going to do well by and for you then you’ll need to challenge and support it in equal measure. But in order for this challenge and support to be effective you need the distributor to be receptive. It needs to have bought into the relationship which calls for a little one-to-one marketing and since you’re not selling a product (you’re selling the partnership) you’ve got to think beyond the 4Ps.
But before going onto Ps 5-7 what are the 4Ps when it comes to selling the relationship?
- P1 product is just that: the relationship;
- P2 price is the time and resource commitment that you’re asking of the distributor;
- P3 place is direct sales; you are going to be selling to the distributor through your distributor management; and
- P4 promotion is mainly personal through face to face contact and communication (but not exclusively)
Ps 5-7 relate to the marketing of intangibles. To some extent they are an extension of P4 and that definition works pretty well in this case. They add the substance which enables an intangible to be experienced and, as a result of the experience, bought into. Ps 5-7 are people, process and physical evidence.
- P5 people means that the relationship is experienced by the distributor through the behaviour of the people with which it interacts;
- P6 process means that it is reinforced by the processes whereby the elements of the relationship are delivered; and
- P7 physical evidence means that it’s not fully appreciated unless there’s some lasting evidence that you are delivering.
Many companies do this naturally but in a world where there’s competition for a share of the distributor’s mind (rule 3 is relevant here) all companies should be mindful of the state of the relationships with their distributors and what they can do it to improve it. If a distributor is failing it may be because it’s not buying into the partnership and that maybe because you’re not selling to it.
It’s worth considering your approach to distributors. Do you market to them and/or do you market to ‘your’ end-users? Companies who do both well are successful. Those who only market to the distributor are detached from the market and are surprised by distributors which are seemingly unable to sell. Those who only market to end-users fail to engage and become frustrated with distributors which do not respond. Those who do neither, and there are many, fail miserably and deservedly so!
Check out the matrix.
