Thousands of companies do it – that is engage third parties, such as authorised resellers, authorised dealers, brokers or agents to sell their products and services to the end user. For the purpose of this blog post I’ve opted to use the term “authorised resellers”.
When launching or reinvigorating an authorised reseller program, you will need to demonstrate to existing and new authorised resellers that you are able to support them appropriately. Authorised resellers are often small or medium-sized businesses and they will be demanding, so you’ve got to be prepared!
Tools of the job
First up you will need to provide sales tools to enable your authorised resellers to go out into the market and sell. Depending on your product these items are likely to include:
· Authorised reseller logo
· Brochures
· Posters
· Building signage
· Vehicle signage
· Uniform or badge
· Sales scripts
· Demonstration videos
· Order pads and other sales paperwork
· Welcome packs for customers
These items can be provided to authorised resellers via a secure internet site. The print-quality templates can be customised with their own business contact details. You may also wish to arrange an agreement with a printer to ensure quality and consistency of output.
Make them feel part of the family
Ultimately you will achieve higher sales from resellers if they have regular contact and feel supported by your company. Organise induction sessions, regular conferences or training sessions where you can reinforce product knowledge and explain the behaviour expected of them when representing your brand. Also, be sure to set up a dedicated point of contact for your authorised resellers, such as a national reseller support team or a regional manager who can visit them.
Information flow
Regular communications will also assist in boosting sales. Remember authorised resellers may also be selling other products through their business, so you need to find a way to keep your product to the fore. You could organise a regular email bulletin or write a newsletter to communicate company and industry news or interesting market data such as research and survey results.
Protect your brand and company reputation
Authorised resellers are not employees of your organisation therefore they will require a clear set of rules to adhere to in terms of how they represent your brand. This can be presented in a format such as a handbook and reinforced through regular training sessions. The handbook should include:
· Use of the logo
· Expected behaviours for face-to-face and telephone selling
· Adherence to industry codes of conduct
· Procedures for order processing
· Disciplinary action procedures
Incentivise sales
Your rewards program will be a key component to driving and boosting sales of your product. Here are a few SMART things to keep in mind when designing a rewards program.
Simple: Ensure your rewards program is easy to understand. Complicated programs will be hard to manage and may discourage reseller participation.
Measurable: Let everyone know how they are tracking in the program and have regular goals (eg quarterly or monthly). This will bring out competitiveness in your resellers and achieve greater buy-in to the program.
Achievable: Don’t set the goals too high. Equally don’t make it too easy either, or else it could end up costing you a lot of money.
Rewarding: Ensure the prizes are something to aspire to and worth working hard for.
Top performers: Recognise your top performers and celebrate their success with other authorised resellers. This will encourage a competitive perspective to your program.
These are just a few of the marketing components to running a successful reseller program. Hope you found them useful.
Jill Bynon has worked with several organisations on authorised reseller programs, providing templates, scripting, promotional activity collateral and communications. Contact Jill at CraftWrite if you’re looking to create or improve your reseller sales and marketing materials. jill@craftwrite.com.au
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