The situation
A wholesaler sells through a network of thirty dealers in three countries. Its own sales team knows the story, but every dealer tells it differently. Some dealers sell mainly on price, others are loyal ambassadors. The sales director wants the brand to feel the same everywhere, without sending the dealers an eighty-page manual that nobody reads.
The approach per building layer
- Building layer 1 · Sales foundation. Sales channels states that you sell directly and indirectly through dealers. A promise that also works for dealers, and an account matrix that sorts dealers by revenue and potential.
- Building layer 4 · Customer journey. Three win points that a dealer delivers to the end customer, for example a product demonstration on site.
- Building layer 3 · Activity matrix. The rhythm towards the dealers: in Contact cadence and Weekly rhythm visits how often the account manager speaks to and visits each dealer class, and in Prospecting norms how many new dealers he approaches per quarter.
- Building layer 5 · Organization. In Meeting structure, a quarterly review per dealer with a fixed agenda.
The first 90 days
- Week 1 and 2. Scan and Plan: which building layers are already in place, which are not.
- Week 3 to 8. Capture and confirm sales channels, promise, win points and the weekly rhythm.
- Week 9 to 12. Create a one-pager for partners with the template builder, hand it to the dealers and schedule the first quarterly reviews.
What you have then
One story that your own team and the dealers tell, captured in the words of your organization. Dealers get one page instead of a manual. Your account managers know how often they speak to which dealer, and every quarterly review starts with the same questions.
Further reading
This is a scenario: a recognizable situation, not an account of a specific customer.