How To Increase Sales With Distributors: 15 Tips

Regular business reviews involve evaluating your current distributor's performance and discussing goals, challenges and opportunities. This fosters transparency and trust within your partnership.

Be sure to not only communicate how your business is performing, but also ask your distributor how their operations are faring. You may find ways to tighten up your relationships, make your products easier to sell and different sales tactics to test and capitalize on.

Importance: Understanding your distributor's performance allows you to identify areas for improvement, capitalize on strengths and align your strategies for mutual success and increased sales for your business.

Set an agreeable schedule to regularly conduct a business review with your distributor. That way, the business reviews don’t come as a surprise and both parties can be prepared and come with talking points.

Timely, open and honest communication is the bedrock of a successful distributor relationship. The odds are, transparent and honest communication began your relationship with your distributor. Continuing that pattern can open up new ways to collaborate and adjust marketing strategies to increase sales.

Importance: Effective communication ensures that your business and your distributor are on the same page, helping you adapt to market changes, respond to challenges and seize opportunities.

When your distributor feels trusted by your business and that you trust them to do their job well, they will be more inclined to sell your products more efficiently and effectively to keep that relationship strong.

Packaging should be tailored to your distributor's customer base. For B2B distributors, bulk packaging may be more suitable, while consumer-focused distributors may prefer retail-friendly packaging.

Ask your distributor adding eco-friendly packaging options would be an effective selling point or cut costs in other ways. Additionally, ask your distributor how the packaging holds up during transport and how it can be improved if there are issues.

Importance: The right packaging can make your product more appealing and help your distributors reach their target market effectively.

Remember that even your product’s packaging represents your business’s brand. Thoughtfully collaborate with your distributor to find what kind of packaging best suits your brand and makes selling smoother.

Offer promotions tailored to each distributor, such as volume discounts or exclusive SKUs. Be strategic when offering certain distributors perks and discounts. Depending on who they are selling your products to, different incentives will be more meaningful than others.

Importance: These promotions incentivize your distributors, encouraging them to push your products over competitors. Particularly if it’s clear to the distributor that your business was thoughtful in designing and presenting the incentive, your distributor will feel valued and understood, strengthening your relationship and their willingness to sell your products.

Implement an efficient inventory system to avoid stock-outs or overstocking. Communicate with your distributor the seasonality of your products so that they can be fully stocked for the rush or order lesser quantities during the down seasons.

Additionally, ask your distributor if a particular product sells more or less frequently and why. This conversation can equip both of your businesses to find a mutual solution to any inventory issues that might cause.

Importance: A well-managed inventory ensures your distributors can meet demand consistently, leading to increased sales. If your competitors are well-stocked and your products are not or take longer to reach customers, customers will choose your competition time and time again. Healthy inventory management shorts the sales cycle and offers an enhanced customer experience.  

Simplify the shipping process, making it hassle-free for your distributors. If you’re wanting to expand into new markets or territories, ask your distributors about their bandwidth and what needs to change to support them. If you’re wanting to add a new product to the market, educate them on how to safely ship it.

Importance: Efficient logistics reduce costs and lead times, improving your distributor's ability to serve their customers. Similar to having well-managed inventory, efficient logistics shorten sales cycles and improve the customer experience. It also reduces overhead costs for your distributor and logistics partners.

Identify and monitor KPIs that are crucial for the success of your distributor partnerships. Remember that the KPIs you might think are important might be less important to your distributor. Staying on the same page about which KPIs indicate success for both your business and your distributor is key to scalable growth.

Importance: Data-driven insights help you make informed decisions, adapt to market trends and align your strategies with your distributor's goals. Though you and your distributor might have a good sense of performance and future market projections, it’s important to consult the data and make decisions based on the information presented there.

Leverage predictive analytics to forecast sales and optimize stock levels. Predictive analytics can give your business a leg up as you can develop new products, meet new needs and generate deman ahead of the game. Communicating these evidence-based predictions with your distributor will help them prepare and be ready to sell at full capacity when the time is right.

Importance: Accurate sales forecasts allow you to plan production and distribution efficiently, reducing waste and improving sales.

Imagine introducing a new product to your distributor with no prior conversations about how the product fits the market and how the distributor should sell and pitch the product. The distributor would feel in the dark, not trusted and ill-equipped to do their job well. The result is a broken relationship and a product with plenty of potential not getting sold, with wasted resources left behind.

Use social media to make your products more desirable, creating demand that your distributor can fulfill. Social media marketing is only effective if your business’s target audience is using it. Collaborate with your distributor to identify how best to market your products on social media and which social media platforms will be most lucrative. 

Importance: Social media can help create a buzz around your products, making them a preferred choice for consumers. The power of social media for brand awareness and authority cannot be understated. Additionally, social media has become a strong lead generation tool that should not be overlooked. 

If your distributor has any qualms about advertising your products on social media, be prepared to present compelling evidence as to why social media will help increase sales.

Create co-branded content, such as blogs, whitepapers or videos, to educate potential customers. Running co-branded advertising can also be a powerful tool to introduce your brand to a new pool of customers and create a potential referral partner with the co-collaborator.

Importance: Collaborative marketing efforts enhance your brand's visibility and provide value to your distributor, making your partnership more valuable to the distributors success. Additionally, if your co-marketing strategies result in forming referral partners or preferred vendor partners, make sure your distributor is ready to handle the influx of sales.

Share customer testimonials and case studies in both company and distributor marketing channels. Sharing with your distributor how their work is impacting real world individuals, families and businesses can boost morale and create a stronger sense of loyalty to your business and products.

Importance: Positive reviews and real-world examples build trust and stimulate demand. Have your distributor share testimonials wherever and whenever appropriate. Client reviews and testimonials humanize products and can make them easier to sell.

Create promotions around holidays, seasons or events to generate buzz and demand. Consider offering sales promotions in advance of holidays to help your distributors plan their inventory.

Remember to ask for your distributors feedback on how previous year’s promotions performed and what could be done better this year. You might be surprised to learn what they share.

Importance: Timely promotions capitalize on seasonal trends and events, boosting sales. Don’t feel pressure to alter your products for the holiday season, unless there’s a new specific feature that’s related to the season. Focus on changing up marketing language and adding an emotional and festive appeal to your sales tactics.

Organize customer event nights, such as Contractor or DIYer nights, to engage with your distributor's clientele. If both you and your distributor can be present to gain customer testimonials, and hear first-hand what their pain points are, then you can easily work together to create an effective marketing plan that will meet those needs and increase sales.

Importance: These events not only create excitement but also provide an opportunity for customers to interact with your products, leading to increased sales. Make sure a variety of your products are on display: budget friendly options, state-of-the-art-tech and eco-friendly options should all be present to capture a wide net of leads.

Engage in joint marketing activities like events, webinars or co-branded advertising to strengthen your partnership. Unlike creating a marketing campaign with a complementary business, creating a co-marketing campaign directly with your distributor will increase brand awareness and streamline product messaging throughout every stage of the sales funnel.

Importance: Joint marketing not only expands your reach but also fosters a sense of camaraderie and mutual success. The customer experience is also improved since they  are hearing the same information and seeing the same branding throughout every touchpoint with your distributor and product.

Maintain a dynamic relationship that can adapt to changing market conditions and distributor needs. The market in which you began your relationship with your distributor is likely an entirely new landscape now. Learn from one another about how conditions have changed over the years and how your partnership may need to flex to remain competitive.

Importance: A flexible approach allows you to stay relevant and continue to grow together. Since customer needs, expectations and behaviors are always changing, ensuring that your products and distributor grow alongside them makes for increased customer trust and long term loyalty.

Working with distributors offers tremendous potential for your business’s growth. Understanding your distributor's needs, optimizing products, managing the supply chain efficiently, using data-driven insights and creating pull-through demand with marketing are all essential elements to maximize sales.

Moreover, building long-term relationships through joint marketing efforts and adaptability is the key to sustainable success. By applying these tips, you will not only increase sales but also strengthen your partnerships, leading to a brighter future for both  of your businesses.

We encourage you to put these strategies into action and share your success stories. By doing so, you'll contribute to the collective knowledge of the industry and help others achieve similar success. Venveo wants to help your business succeed in the digital world. Together, we can build a stronger and more prosperous future in the world of distribution. Contact us to learn how we can help.