Preparing sales forces for the future

摘要

Distributors have good reason to re-evaluate their sales forces and company selling strategies. As customers increasingly use on-line self-service, they no longer value - and refuse to pay for - a company's outside sales force, whose traditional strengths lie in product-education and in-use applications. Therefore, the path to profitability lies in accommodating customers who take more active roles in the buying process. Customers move to self-service when they perceive added value. For instance, they may see benefit in investigating products on-line, rather than using their distributor's line card. In addition, customers who think distributors are more concerned with their margins than servicing their customers may conclude they can do better jobs themselves.