Who is our customer and how do we gain market share? This is a question frequently asked by manufacturers. Are we selling to distributors or users? Who is the most important part of this chain?

With today's fast-paced work environment we often overlook who the customer really is. Many manufacturers develop programs that often stop at the distributor's doors. Terms of sale, co-op, and freight terms are all important components to a successful relationship, but equally important is the user and the teamwork that has to be developed to pull the product through distribution to the ultimate customer.

Manufacturers' sales representatives are overloaded with customer demands. The mounting number of non-user focused tasks eats away at their time requirements. On the other hand, a distributor sales representative often wonders if the manufacturer's sales representative is going to take his customer to his competitor across the street. Ideally, they should be working together. With teamwork, the user focus becomes much easier to implement and the opportunity to grow market share increases dramatically.

The need for joint sales calls becomes especially important with more technical products. No sales representative wants to be embarrassed by his customer. As specifications become more and more demanding, users are asking for more help on the job. Questions like "How do I meet this building code?" and "What is the torque value of this bolt?" are being heard more often today than ever before. The distributor sales representative can answer these questions when he becomes more familiar with the product category by spending more time with the manufacturer's representative. Not only does the distributor sales representative become more valuable to the relationship with the user, he also becomes the go-to guy for product knowledge. Suddenly the purchase decision shifts from being price driven to being more performance driven. The result is higher margins and increased profitability for all involved.

As the average distributor sales representative takes on the responsibility for more and more categories, how can he possibly be knowledgeable about all products in each line? The natural tendency is to pick a few popular product categories (anchors, fasteners, power tools, etc.) and become an expert on them. The high margin, lower volume products tend to suffer. However it's those products, such as lasers, that can create high-margin, incremental sales and profits. For this to be truly successful, they need to be sold jointly with the manufacturer's representative. The distributor sales representative can be the expert on the products that come up on every call while letting the manufacturer's sales representative help with the special product requests that come up only once or twice a week.

Just as one pitcher rarely goes a full game, so goes the distributor sales representative when making a call. Use the manufacturer's rep as your relief pitcher. He can help develop user-focused programs that will increase the manufacturer's value to distribution and help grow market share for both parties.