THE DIARY OF A PROTEAN SALESMAN

With

Rasheed Adewusi

(Rasheed is a Sales Manager in one the telecommunication companies operating in Nigeria. He also runs the personal blog, Wise, Wide and Wild)

This is arguably the most critical of all the fundamentals. Products/Services must never be unavailable, unless they are being phased out. It is totally pointless to put in the effort and then an order is made, but the obligation to supply cannot be met.

The Market is a dynamic place where products and services more often than not have several close competitors: for instance the diaper brand “Pampers” has over ten different diapers as competitors, while the dairy brand “Peak Milk” has over twenty milk brands as competitors; unavailability of these brands might force a customer to try out any of the available competitors and this might be the beginning of the loss of the customer. Unavailability creates a void which if filled by a competitive product/service might lead to the loss of a loyalist. Another perspective for the Salesperson is that the Wholesalers and the Retailers in the chain of distribution are usually business-oriented people with limited funds and looking for maximum returns; they are huge influencers who are not loyal to products/services, rather they are loyal to profits, and when a product/service is not available, they look for close substitutes and offer them to the end-users thereby not losing out on sales and profits. And once a competitor eats into your share-of-wallet, it takes real effort and commitment to get the share back.

Product/Service Unavailability also negatively impacts Brand Image and Perception. When an organization is not able to meet consumers/clients demands, the logical conclusion is that the organization is having difficulty staying afloat; this can cause panic reactions across board even leading to loss of company share value. Thus, a Salesperson as the foremost customer facing personnel for an organization has to ensure that his/her actions are not detrimental to the organization’s stability and progress. The onus is on the Salesperson to ensure the channels of the distribution are always free-and-through; and to always develop insights into Wholesalers/Retailers potentials so as to smartly advise them on their orders to factor in buffer-stocks as a means to avoiding out-of-stock situations.

Product/Service Unavailability is a critical lapse which has a far-reaching impact on an organisation’s stability, perception, and growth. Proper inventory management is the key to avoiding this; effective monitoring and motivation of the direct-sales agents is also very important. But when it inevitably happens, openness with customers viz-a-viz the timeline for resolution is the key to managing the situation.