Author: Sienna Anderson

No one distribution agreement is made the same!

by Robert Savellis When negotiating distribution agreements both parties often have similar goals in common. Being, to enter a market they do not have a presence in or to increase their market share in a current market. In summary a new revenue stream. Sounds simple! However the devil is in the detail. Working within a number of industries I have been shocked at the risks distributors accept when signing distribution agreements. In many cases the feedback I receive from the executive team is “this is how it is with this vendor”. I cannot accept this statement, two distribution agreements are never the same. The skillset of the people or team that broker the deal influences the structure of the agreement and if they win the ‘Hearts and Minds’ of the other party. As in any negotiation scenario each party only offers what is necessary to achieve the required result. The importance of the agreement ending in a win/win situation cannot be emphasised. Both parties need to ensure that their key objectives are achieved to ensure a profit and longevity to the relationship. If you do not ask you do not get. Very often negotiators in the distributions side find it hard to say no, fearing that the vendor may pull the pin. Saying no is important in the negotiation process as it allows the vendor to identify your boundaries. You know your business and what you can and cannot do to meet your objectives. It is important to both parties that the agreement is robust enough to achieve results for all involved. Signing up a new distribution agreement is an expensive task in relation to recourses including cash-flow and can affect the bottom line in a catastrophic way. The most cost efficient and productive way to ensure the best possible results is to hire a professional to assist your negotiation team. A successful distribution agreement spreads the risk across both parties. Other than standard terms, a well structured distribution agreement should also feature:

1. Stock rotation policy
2. Rebate systems clauses – how rebate funds can be spent in regard to;
   1. Marketing funds
   2. Funded headcount
   3. Bottom line funds
3. Vendor support in relation to;
   1. Training and Accreditation
   2. Discounted demonstration products
   3. Vendor trade marketing
   4. Trade Shows
   5. Marketing collateral
4. Special pricing support for larger deals.
5. Termination agreement in regard to stock held by the distributor.

Robert Savellis as a Sales and Marketing Performance Specialist as the KONA Group If Robert can help you and your organisation to develop more opportunities, increase sales and grow profits please go to: https://kona.com.au//Hearts-and-Minds-Sales-Training https://kona.com.au//sales-management-training-and-coaching https://kona.com.au/call-centre-training-in-australia or Telephone 1300 611 288, or email info@KONA.com.au

Introduction to Experiential Learning for Professional Development

This is your opportunity to see and experience for yourself how partnering with horses in an experiential and transformational training can change the way you lead yourself and live your life. The Horse Sense approach uses safe ground only based activities to:

• Raise your level of – Emotional Intelligence (Self Awareness, Social Awareness, Self – Regulation and Relationship Management)
• Develop new and lasting neural pathways using Affective Neuroscience (cultivating neural complexity to promote adaptive responses to various workplace input and stimuli)

What you will learn working with horses:

• How to communicate with authenticity – using your body as a fine tuned communication device
• How to make better decisions through the congruent alignment of your 3 centres of intelligence – head, heart, gut
• Foster strong connections to collaborate effectively with others
• Identify your personal patterns of behaviour, and how they affect others
• Explore your social awareness and how to manage and improve personal and workplace relationships
• Tools to manage your emotions and the emotions of others

In this increasingly complex and rapidly changing world, to be able to lead yourself and others requires a strong sense of self responsibility and purpose. Magnetising others with your wisdom and emotionally intelligent head, heart and gut based leadership, is the ‘new’ leadership of the 21st century. If you are looking for an accelerated approach to learning these competencies, our 4 legged guides provide a perfect catalyst to change the hard wiring of the brain, developing new neural pathways. Horses provide the necessary practice to embody new behaviours to make a lasting shift. The experience is fascinating and joyful, as horses provide a safe, non-judgemental way to step outside of your every day environment and learn through self discovery. When: Wednesday, 26 November 2014 Where: Centennial Parklands Equestrian Centre 114-120 Lang Rd Moore Park, NSW 2021 Time: 8.30am – 12.30pm Cost: $30 p/person Bookings: www.trybooking.com/GHDK When: Wednesday, 19 November 2014 Where: Victorian Equestrian Center, 76 Beaconsfield-Emerald Road, Beaconsfield Upper Victoria Time: 11am – 2pm Cost: $30 p/person Bookings: www.trybooking.com/GEAL

Many years ago I was promoted to Sales Manager and was asked to go ahead and create as many of me as possible. Recipe for success? The competencies of a Sales Executive and Sales Manager are very different. I did not take long to realise that sales management is a science, nothing happens by chance. The best coaches whether in sport or business lead their team and bring out the best in people, they do not clone themselves. Many people who are promoted to a management position do not understand the challenges and responsibilities that come with the role. Decisions made by rookie Sales Managers may haunt them for the rest of their time in that role. They may even burn out at no fault of their own. Senior executives do not have the skills or time to coach their staff. In my experience success comes sooner when senior management have the foresight to hire the services of a professional coach to ensure their new sales manager hits the ground running. The First 90 days in a new Sales Manager’s role can be a minefield, and everyone wants to give them advice on what needs to change. However beware, as the advice may sometimes also be biased. It is important that a line is drawn and a transition is made from Sales Executive to Sales Manager. Your Sales Manager will need to step back, set aside any biases and see the things through the eyes of a Sales Manager. 5 Steps to ensure success 1. Have discussions with your executive team outlining your plans and expectations. 2. Meet with your Sales Manager and clearly articulate your expectations in terms of company goals, budgets, Minimum Activity levels; management reporting systems etc. 3. Prepare an induction schedule and development plan for the Managers First 90 Days; set meetings with all stakeholders and ensure all stakeholders are presented with an agenda and clear meeting and coaching objectives are outlined. 4. Set regular meetings to ensure you are briefed on progress. 5. Do not assume that your Sales Manager will ask for your help, as some people may feel uncomfortable making you aware of what they do not know. Remember your Sales Manager will need to develop skills in managing staff, working with other departments, hiring staff etc. Bottom line KONA’s tag line is Hope Is Not A Strategy and far too many organisations in Australia ruin good Sales People by promoting them, then adopting an overly ‘macho’ attitude of ‘sink or swim’ Smart organisations just don’t need to let that happen Robert Savellis is the Sales Performance Specialist at The KONA Group, Australia’s leading corporate Sales and Sales Management Training and Coaching organisation. If your business is are not making the sales and profits you need, bring in the specialists in Australian Sales Training, Sales Management Training and Coaching and Call Centre Training from the KONA Group and provide your business with the expertise and tools to turn your results round Call 1300 611 288, or email info@KONA.com.au Or go to https://kona.com.au//Hearts-and-Minds-Sales-Training or https://kona.com.au/call-centre-training-in-australia https://kona.com.au//sales-management-training-and-coaching

Earlier on this year you may have read several blogs and videos related to our 1,100 kms cycle from Brisbane to Sydney to raise funds for young people with Cerebral Palsy at a charity called Fighting Chance KONA would like to say a very big ‘Thankyou’ for the way you supported us and to let you know where your donation went All up we raised over $345,000 for severely disabled young people and a big part of it was invested in their new van, including money for modifications and ongoing expenses including insurance and on-road costs (see picture below) The van is making a huge difference to Fighting Chance and they are already planning to extend their services to change the lives of more young people with disabilities, including providing transport runs to pick them up from home where otherwise they would have been housebound We have attached a 45 second video of the team decorating the van with handprints, relating to the Make Your Mark campaign we ran last year Please click on the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTUJ4RkaSXs. Without your help we simply would not have this very important piece of equipment, so thank you all on behalf of the whole KONA and Fighting Chance team for the massive contribution you have made Best regards Glenn

It is not rocket science to know that every organisation needs great customer service skills as they are essential to maintaining existing clients and securing new ones. Excellent customer service is at the heart of a clients purchasing process and organisations that give extraordinary service to clients are immediately distinguished from other organisations in their competitive marketplace. This is the primary purpose why successful companies make this an imperative component of their business plan and make a special effort to provide better customer services through the following 5 Conversational Skills.

Clear Communication Skills

Client service providers must convey information and thoughts positively and clearly whether it’s on the telephone or through email. It is vital that the individuals who interact with the clients every day can pass on information about products and services to clients effectively and accurately, without going into a diatribe of features with no benefits and specifications with no value. Over the telephone, and via email, if your people can’t get their message across in short insightful and ‘client focused sentences’ then your clients will switch off.

Keeping Things Positive

A simple trap to fall into is when telling a client “no,” and not giving them an alternative Switch selling is a skillful technique to transform a negative into something positive. “No, we don’t have any of those left” or “No, we can’t do that this week”, is a very different response to “while unfortunately we don’t have those we do however have these and what they will do for you is….” Or “while unfortunately we can’t do this week we can in-fact do next week and the benefit to you of that is….”

Patience

Too many Customer Service Teams and Call Centres are focused on AHT, Average Handling Time, or the Quantity of calls and minimum amount of time a Customer Service Person spends in a telephone conversation with a client. Quality of conversations is highly important to clients, who frequently need support when they are frustrated and confused. Successful Client Service People offer a good service rather than a fast service, which lets the client feel that they have been listened to, and cared for, even when they might not get the outcomes they wanted.

Listening Skills

Customer Service People need to have the capacity to listen to a client’s issue, assess situations and find appropriate solutions. However, while common sense, not everyone has the ability to listen carefully. Good listeners make the best Customer Service People on the grounds that they are going to identify customer needs accurately and quickly, and not jump in or talk over the client.

Negotiation Skills

Customer Service teams are frequently placed in the position of negotiating with clients to buy an item or accept a certain policy. To reduce ‘delayed service’ by regularly escalating a decision to a Team Leader or Supervisor, they must have the ability to ask intelligent and insightful questions to discover shared ground with a client. Spouting a list of features, product specifications, timeframes, prices, and stock levels, while getting the customer off the phone quickly, doesn’t add value or strengthen their relationships. Customer Service Teams must be given the skills and a basic structure so that they can negotiate with a client to achieve a beneficial outcome for both the organization and the client Going forward All employees should understand the importance of their role in providing excellent service that doesn’t only involve helping the clients, it tries to go far beyond client fulfillment. Going an additional mile to provide amazing service will keep clients returning and directly increase sales. Monica Wynne is the Customer Service and Call Centre Training and Coaching Specialist of The KONA Group, Australia’s leading corporate Sales and Management Training and Coaching organisation. If your business is needs to increase sales and customer retention contact Monica at: 1300 611 288, or email info@KONA.com.au Alternatively go to https://kona.com.au//customer-service-training or, https://kona.com.au//Hearts-and-Minds-Sales-Training

The financial year 2013/14 was a good year for Australian organisations with many businesses incorporating new business development initiatives aimed at increasing sales and profits. With the ongoing changes we are seeing due to the digital revolution, managing sales results by revenue and profit numbers alone is becoming increasingly ineffective Unfortunately too many sales operations are making the profession of sales far too complex and while nothing in sales is easily predicted many of our clients believe that the following trends will positively impact their sales results this coming financial year.

Sales trend 1. Commercial Awareness

This year your sales people will have to be more commercially astute and professional than ever before, rather than relying on their technical and product knowledge Business leaders are saying that they want to work with a salesperson who understands their vision and strategy rather than one who just knows how their own products/services work In short, do you have ‘product flogging, order taking, proposal writing, fact spouting’, sales people or are they seen as a Business Resource to your clients and customers?

Sales trend 2: Current Day Marketing

This trend is seeing more and more business managers employing current methods of marketing and especially through social media. Instead of seeing online marketing as a tack on to their advertising budget, businesses are now increasingly setting up their own social media platforms, especially Facebook and Linked In to build their brand, promote their expertise and advertise their products and services When business is quiet with the low cost and real time flexibility of Online Marketing, organisations now have no excuse to cut costs by reducing their marketing spend (And if you are sitting back saying we are already doing this, KONA Group recently surveyed over 200 clients of one of Australian Top 100 businesses, and 85% of their clients didn’t even have a website, and were wondering why they weren’t winning more new business!)

Sales trend 3. Managers as Coaches

Sales management will have to get out from behind their desks and become better field sales coaches Too many sales managers are being pressured to cut costs to make more profit rather than working on how can they generate a greater ROI from their sales resources As a result the main focus will be on sales managers becoming better ‘on the job’ coaches and building on the Quantity of sales activity by developing Quality sales activity of their people as a gauge of success

Sales trend 4: Change your sales and marketing language.

This shift is underway in several industries as prophesied 15 year ago by Cluetrain Manifesto, which stressed the need for organisations to talk to their customer/clients in their customer/clients language and not in the “soothing, humourless monotone of the mission statement, marketing brochure and ‘your call is important to us’ message”. Organisations are realising the time has come to stop playing ‘buzz word bingo’ by overloading their Value Proposition statements with as many verbs and adjectives that their sentences can carry If your sales and marketing people can’t get your message across in short sharp and easily understood sentences then how can your customers/clients really know what you can do for them

Sales trend 5: Collaboration is a key to getting a bigger piece of the pie.

Smart businesses are continuing to collaborate with other companies in their space, instead of being in competition, to win their share of a larger opportunity or project On the back of Jim Collins   Good to Great Hedgehog Principle, identifying which organisations can add value to your business will help you get specific projects over the line. Typically, 50% of 100 is far better than 100% of 30, and businesses are realising that collaboration will increase sales and profits without increasing overheads, as well as opening the door to other opportunities that you can work on together In conclusion: Irrespective of the emerging trends, organisation’s managers and leaders must start or continue to focus on enhancing customer engagement activities and capabilities, rather than ‘Internal navel gazing’ and ‘I am SO busy’ projects Glenn Dobson is the Managing Director of The KONA Group, Australia’s leading corporate Sales and Management Training and Coaching organisation. If your business is are not making the sales and profits you need, bring in the specialists in Strategic Marketing and Australian Sales Training from the KONA Group and provide your business with the expertise and tools to turn your results round. Go to https://kona.com.au//Hearts-and-Minds-Sales-Training or https://kona.com.au//Marketing-Strategy Or call 1300 611 288, or email Glenn@KONA.com.au

After an increase in mobile and communication media the last two years, this financial year is going to be a year of reaction, recovery and backlash. The Soccer World Cup and winter Olympics will increase Australian business’s International target market and many organisations are looking to how they can promote their products and services to a wider, more Global prospect base To achieve this we are going to see some of the recent software innovations like programmatic ad buying systems and mobile shakeup reach a more accepted stage in the market. Consumers are often unpredictable and they may reach a point where they will start rebelling the overindulgence of electronic connections in their day to day life. Thus marketers will have to deal with the overflow of digital information with no human connection which will eventually lead to a focus on qualitative research and personal interactions to win the Hearts and Minds of their customers. Bottom line: “We want to do business with people, not with a machine” Here are some of the trends to look out for in 2014/15

Trend 1. Mobile Advertisement

Desktop is no longer at the top of e-commerce due to the explosion of tablets and smart phones, and the targeting of mobile users is going to be the top of mind to campaign successes. Mobile ecommerce is growing faster and marketers are now shifting their attention to marketing everything through the phone or tablet.

Trend 2: Short and Precise Advertising

With the rise of mobile, information has to be reduced to fit the smaller mobile screen and capture the attention of consumers easily. Long videos and detail heavy ‘wordy websites’ are losing the race gradually. If consumers can easily understand a brand faster, the rate at which they spread will also increase.

Trend 3. Programmatic Buying

In an interview with Ken Weiner, the CTO of display advertising platform Gum Gum, he said that in 2014/15 there would be an increase in programmatic buying of digital advertising which will rise into premium placements such as in viewability, content and image. This program is growing as publishers look for ways to increase efficiencies and reduce costs of advertising

Trend 4. People Engagement Research

Most marketers are investing a lot of money in Qualitative research this year, where the consumers are being asked about their experiences with specific products and services, rather than Quantative research, which is based more on maths, stats and numerical data.

Trend 5. Elimination of banners

There is a strong possibility that online video will substitute banner ads in the year 2014/15. Most people this days are spending most of their time with their tablets and not the television screens. (Thank goodness for the ability to record our favourite TV programs so that we don’t have to watch those endless boring adverts!!) Video advertisement will now shift to become more prevalent in maintaining brand awareness, market share and business development. However they must maintain quality messaging and customer focus as that is what most consumers are yearning for these days.

Going forward

These are just five trends that organisations need to watch out for in 2014/15 and considering how to incorporate them is essential to keeping you in front of the game. If your business is not making the sales and profits you need, bring in the specialists in Strategic Marketing and Australian Sales Training from the KONA Group and provide your people with the expertise and tools to turn your results round Go to https://kona.com.au//Hearts-and-Minds-Sales-Training or https://kona.com.au//Marketing-Strategy Or call 1300 611 288, or email Glenn@KONA.com.au