Many years ago you could only buy Copiers from Authorized Dealers. An Authorized Dealer is a privately owned company that is local to your geographic area. A Direct Branch is owned by the manufacturer and may or may not be local to your geographic area.
What’s your biggest hurdle when competing against Direct Branches? Most will say price, however that’s probably the last one on the list. Most Direct Branch reps tell the customer if they buy from them they’ll be buying from the manufacturer and they will have better service than any dealer! Take it from me, that’s a bunch of hog wash! The customer in the mean time will take it to the bank, just because they said it. However, they don’t back it up! You need to attack this and show them the value in your service. Your service is much better and you need to tell the story!
Lately, what I’ve seen is Direct Branches pushing only color boxes, and usually what that means is there’s a big incentive for the rep. If you run across this, ask the customer if they really need a color device and explain that a color device will cost more in the Total Cost of Operation. I recently won a deal where the Direct Rep only quoted a 50ppm color box, I grilled the customer about their needs for color and as it turned out, there was no need for color. They purchased a 50ppm monochrome device from me; based on the fact they did not see the need for color and did not want the added expense.
1. Ask the potential customer about the tenure of the Direct Branches service personnel and if you will see the same service technician. Having an experienced service person and the same person servicing the machine is important to quality work and troubleshooting. A company that sends inexperienced service reps and multiple reps to the same machine is not what you want. Too many chefs can spoil the soup. The systems of today require trained service engineers to keep the systems running at top performance.
Tell them about your strengths, such as emergency service, Service Awards, 24/7 support, how techs are dispatched, the training that they have to go through order to become a “certified service engineer”. Make sure you elaborate on service, anyone can buy a machine at the lowest price, and however do you want a cheap machine and poor service? Most of the Direct Branches know only how to sell on price and not value. Bring the customer value and they will buy from you!
2. No one manufacturer can be everything to everyone. Authorized Dealers will have multiple solutions from multiple manufacturers that they can pick and choose from. Direct Branches have to sell their solutions even if it’s not the right fit.
3. Tell them “your” story, how long you’ve been in the business, and how you can find solutions for their business. You are the professional with many years of experience. Make sure they know how long you’ve been with your company, most companies that have dealt with Direct Branches have felt the pain that the original rep that sold them the machine is no longer there and they have a new rep that knows nothing about their business and their workflow. Prove to them that you are the most knowledgeable and professional rep out there.
4. Get a copy of the sales contracts and service contracts from every Direct Branch. This may be hard to do on your own, however if you’re reading this you can reach out to your peers on the P4PHotel and I’m sure someone has a copy that they will send to you! Review their contracts and read the fine print, you can then consult if a customer tells you they are considering a unit from a Direct Branch!
Proposals are wishy washy documents and NOT THE CONTRACT! The contract will have many clauses to protect the Direct Branch and allow them to charge you extra for supplies, fuel surcharges and more!
5. Do you really want to buy from someone who offers the lowest price? Ask yourself, what are you sacrificing when you buy solely on the lowest price? Will it be the service, the training, or the support? You can bet the ranch it will be the support.
Typically, Independent Authorized Dealers have longevity with their customers, sales people, service staff and technicians. Typically, Direct Branches have the higher turnover with sales people, service staff, technicians and clients.
6. Have references from your clients with you at all times, and ask the customer if he or she could take the time to see if there is anyone they know on the list. Very powerful, and it shows you are successful especially if you have a 30 or 40 clients in the same area.
Now some of you who know me may say that I work for a Dealer and he doesn't know the other side. That's true; I have only worked for a Dealer and never a Direct Branch. My problem is that with 28 years in the business I don't know one rep that has more than 6 years with a Direct Branch while on the other hand I know 40 or more with Dealers who have over ten years with the same Dealer (they must be doing something right). Plus, why is it that I will get new service accounts from the Direct Branch and I don't lose any to them.
The end result is most Direct Branches (mind you there are a few excellent Direct Branches out there) are out there to capture market share for the manufacturer. They have a high turnover of sales people and support people. Since they have NO "Value" to sell, they typically sell on price. What is "Value"? It could be a number of items, the value of support after the sale, the value of competent support staff to conduct on-site training, the value of troubleshooting a problem and finding a solution. The value of providing the right solution at the right time.
We all want a good price; however a cheap price is long forgotten after poor service!
-=Good Selling=-
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