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In every industry, sales team communication can lead to cultural benefits if done right, or ongoing frustration if done poorly.
This is certainly evident in distribution and manufacturing sales, where digital communication tools have rapidly emerged and are now an essential part of every hour of the workday.
I vividly remember an interview I had with then-Lawson Products CEO Michael DeCata in late 2017, in which he talked about how the company’s sales team had become significantly more efficient after they started using Microsoft Teams as a group chat tool that spring. At the time, the tool and Slack were just becoming popular among organizations.
Fast forward nearly six years, and these chat tools are ubiquitous in B2B sales organizations. It’s amazing how much has changed in less than six years.
If distributors weren’t using it before the pandemic, they almost certainly started using it when their office workers were forced to work remotely or hybridly during the height of COVID-19 safety precautions, and I have to think the vast majority Most businesses adopted such communication tools during this period and never looked back. They will serve as an integral part of the office communication process.
Group chat tools are a big step forward from all B2B sales digital communications that rely on email, but today there is definitely more technology involved. Shared file folders have worked wonders in helping democratize file sharing.
But that doesn’t mean the sales team’s communication isn’t flawed.Recently I interviewed a vSimple technical sales specialist Katie Duvall On this topic, she told me that these new tools can sometimes be the cause of communication frustration.
Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky vSimple is a workflow-as-a-service provider that streamlines organizations’ communication and file sharing processes.
Duvall began her career in the hospitality industry, during which time she worked in the catering business and in 2014 gained six years of direct sales experience in a sales position at fan manufacturer Big Ass Fans.
“There were no middlemen. We had a sales, accounting and engineering building, an R&D lab, and across the street from our manufacturing facility,” she recalls. “So, selling a product that was actually manufactured and assembled within walking distance was very unique. To this day, I still remember running across the street in the rain to make a custom change request before the product even hit the assembly line. Or I could Have people take stuff off the truck before it goes out. Not a lot of companies have that capability.”
Duvall rounded out her industrial sales experience by joining electrical supplies distribution giant Wesco in January 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted supply chains, workflows and work environments.
“Not only was I trying to understand the ins and outs of the distribution world, but I was also trying to create new business outside of existing contracts,” she told me. “It’s proving very difficult because the lead times for everything are increasing. Gloves, sanitisers and masks are almost impossible to find. I don’t know what I’m getting into. I’m the middle man this time. I have no control over manufacturing or inventory delivery delivery times. The whole experience of calling suppliers has become more difficult and prices have become more competitive.”
Two years later, Duvall’s Big Ass Fans connections landed her a position at a software startup called vSimple, which involved another learning curve but allowed her to leverage her insights into manufacturing and distribution sales workflow pain points .
Q&A
I asked Duvall to compare the two companies’ workflows, outline their pain points, and explore low-hanging fruit that B2B companies can choose to improve.
Check out the rest of our conversation below:
Mike Hockett, MDM: I think your background gives you a comprehensive understanding of the manufacturer-dealer sales relationship and what’s involved in the workflow for both parties. What do you think is the biggest difference between the two?
Duval: On the manufacturing side, I was involved in sizing and design recommendations and provided education on product production, such as fan placement and most efficient methods of use. I had a unique role there, but it felt more personal. People share their home layouts and professional spaces over the phone with people like me, and they trust my advice. People also like that we manufacture across the street in the United States, so that alone earns us a lot of business.
When it comes to dealer sales, I am essentially the customer expert. Westco develops solutions that meet the complex challenges our customers face every day. My responsibilities are mainly MRO. I will research. Find and order the right parts to meet emergency needs and preventive maintenance schedules. The parts range from a 75-year-old heating element from a power plant in central Kentucky to more general parts like slings and casters.
Regarding workflow, I will work to ensure products and services are available when and where needed and meet customer expectations. So whether it’s manufacturing or distribution, I love learning about both. I believe it’s more important to understand how all the pieces work together, because now more than ever I understand how it all happens.
Hockett: We don’t want to badmouth either party, but what are the top 1 or 2 things that you think a manufacturer or distribution sales rep considers to be the worst or most annoying part of their workflow or internal communications process?
Duval: I think it always comes down to communication between departments. In my experience in manufacturing sales, the biggest challenge was communication between accounting and sales, not knowing that the customer’s credit was on hold for two months so their purchase order would never be processed. Or maybe between the production line and warehouse and sales. Maybe I made a promise to a customer that I couldn’t keep, such as providing a delivery date for a product that wasn’t ready to ship on time. It’s hard to answer these calls for someone who has been waiting and preparing for months for an item, but maybe we ran out of a part and it hasn’t been communicated to the salesperson. I despise disappointing people, especially after a positive sales order experience.
On the distributor sales side, it’s almost more challenging because we’re sourcing from suppliers for our customers, so there’s a lot of people involved. Sometimes things are delivered directly. However, most of the time it comes to our warehouse. Communication between warehouse and sales staff is not always optimal. The stuff would be delivered and sit in a warehouse for weeks, and the salesperson wouldn’t know until a disgruntled customer called looking for it, We’ll go find it.
I think it really comes down to technology, as it would be much simpler if there were the right systems in place for accurate inventory management, items picked, and communication with delivery.
Hockett: Manufacturers and distributors are always looking for ways to improve their sales processes and make the lives of sales managers and representatives easier. Generally speaking, what do you think are some low-hanging fruit in terms of how these companies can improve their workflows?
Duval: Until I joined vSimple, I didn’t even realize that most companies used email as their operating system. I have become accustomed to this method, which is the main form of communication between departments. Now, I talk to companies on a daily basis that are in trouble because of essentially a black hole created in emails with a “reply all” button, and the spreadsheets and shared folders that are passed around them. Before you know it, you’re lost and you don’t know whose ball is on which court.
You can also use programs like Teams and Slack, which are great for instant messaging with someone, but are another way to get lost in cross-collaboration between departments. It’s all private, and it creates a pretty serious lack of transparency, with the ultimate goal being optimization, improvement, and automation. When I say automation, I don’t mean hiring robots. I recommend that you consider a workflow management tool where a project or order exists from start to finish regardless of the workflow. Some people do, but you don’t have to hire a consultant to know that your employees use too many software and programs every day. I say, save your emails for communicating with clients, and those wonderful “cookies in the break room” notifications from HR.
Hockett: Our MDM audience is mostly small and medium-sized companies that do not have the human resources of large enterprises. But in terms of sales workflow, is that an advantage compared to larger companies in terms of flexibility and the ability to implement those workflow improvements faster?
Duval: Yes, absolutely. Some of these larger companies have been developing their own in-house software for decades. Trust me, I talk to them all the time. Most of them are unwilling or ready to give up the time and progress they have created over the years and are not very interested in learning new things. I’m not saying big companies don’t invest, but ultimately the investment really falls on the shoulders of the leadership team. If they have 10,000 employees and their focus is more on the big picture, maybe they don’t fully understand the gaps in the company’s day-to-day communication. So those small and medium-sized companies, maybe the atmosphere is more personal, they provide a more informal environment. Leadership is more likely to work alongside sales and management, which can give them a greater understanding of pain points within their teams. Not to mention, everyone is more willing to hear new ideas and participate in the company’s success.
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