It remains a mystery to me as to why there is such a lingering chasm between distributors and manufacturers. Some business consultants are pessimistic about the possibility of a true, open relationship ever being a reality. These consultants cite the theory that the basic goals of supplier/manufacturers and distributors are fundamentally different.

I don't agree. Sure there are traditional, functioning frustrations; however, the commonality is that we both have the same goal: profitable market share growth. Minding this, I believe that the basics are in place to share the best practices that must be executed to succeed as a team in this decade.

When America was the OEM capital of the world, the purpose of a company was to make a profit. Today, in a global market, the purpose of a company is to get customers, and keep them, and profits are a result.

If we agree that a customer-centric focus is the path to the "end zone," then why do manufacturers put almost all their distributor training into product?

I watch young salespeople return from supplier product schools with a reservoir of product knowledge, and they proceed to march into the field, pass over the basics of customer-centric selling and immediately launch into a "product-feature dump." All the while, the customer is generally saying "so what?" to the features. The reason? The salesman, in the absence of performing a needs analysis, is selling in a "round hole-square peg" fashion.

Supplier training has got to wake up to the fact that the product and its great features will remain dormant until salespeople are adroit at "winning the line of scrimmage." Assuming a salesperson understands the art of dealing with the gatekeeper is the first mistake. How many times do highly engineered products never get off the ground because the salesperson can't locate and gain access to decision makers? It's scary!

Now shift to the decision maker. In the first 30 seconds, the people in buying positions begin to "discount" a salesperson for fundamental reasons: his or her dress, posture, lack of smile, manners, voice and professional demeanor are all potential "eject buttons."

If they make it past the first 30 seconds, they come to the first four-minute challenge. Does the salesperson "jump offsides" with inane, idle chatter or overbearing feature dumping without stating the purpose of his visit centering around the customer's stated pain or needs?

The following can close the perceived distributor/supplier gap quickly:

Incorporate supplier/distributor training to include role-playing on the art of winning the "line of scrimmage" along with the product. Remember, a feature is meaningless without a customer-driven specific benefit.

Suppliers should start inspecting the inputs that go into landing the customer rather than only judging outputs. Distributor management must do the same and openly communicate the status of the "drives" not just the "touchdowns." Technology will drive the tracking.

Let's break our "joint huddle" on Monday mornings knowing how to read the defense and run the right plays that result in winning the playoff line performance.