Opinion - Sales in the 21st Century

By Rick McCarten

With the advent of the Internet we can now see three distinct forms of sales: retail sales, Internet sales and relational selling. Which form will dominate this century? This will depend on how each form adapts and utilizes parts of the other forms.

Retail shop sales: Get a building, stock it with products, and advertise to your customer to come in and take stuff off the shelf. You save costs by forcing the customer to incur travel costs.

Internet sales: Similar to the first, your product is on a shelf in a building, except your advertising is to get your customer to visit your Website—not your building. You save on costs for fancy buildings and knowledgeable staff on hand to assist, but you pay for the product travel costs.

Relational selling: This concept is where you and your staff go to the customer with product knowledge and high levels of service; you essentially build a relationship with the customer. Relational selling is the basis of our industry’s sales model; it entails three important constituents: manufacturers, distributors and reps. Relational selling cannot compete with the other methods when selling a product to a customer. Where this form competes is in the high volume, rapid product turnover market, where complex items are bulk ordered and jobs require multiple product groups to be coordinated.

In the book, “Dealing with Darwin”, author Geoffrey A. Moore states that though it has been tried many times before, you have to make a choice with your company. Either you are in retail or you are in relational selling. Companies that try to do both often fail. He argues that retail and relational selling are inherently two different disciplines that require conflicting expertise. The latest large company to try to do both was Home Depot; they ended up selling off the “relational” side of their business.

Since that incident, retail and relational selling have gone off and done their own thing… but then along comes the Internet seller.
It remains to be seen if retail sales can be complemented by Internet sales. Both involve advertising and require customers to visit—whether in-store or online. Clearly however, Internet sellers can interfere with retail sales. Look at records and books as front leaders. Retail sees the Internet sellers as a threat to their market. Most large retailers are going after the Internet with their own version.
Recently, Internet sellers have started to go after the traditional relationship sales territory. Amazon has added close to a million Industrial supplies SKUs to their Website. Prices can be greatly reduced as there is no “service” attached to the item.

Approximately ten years ago, a new method of buying was introduced; it was going to be the next big thing. It was called “reverse auctions”. Customers let it be known what products they wanted, and companies bid to sell it to them—with the lowest bidder getting the order. Most customers tried it once and found that the lowest bidder could not preform the services required that intuitively went with the product. Reverse auctions died shortly after as a bad idea.

The electrical industry’s ability to continue improving relational selling techniques will depend on our willingness to adapt the positive customer aspects of the Internet with our understanding of the relational value offered to customers. Done properly, it cannot be beat.

Rick McCarten is Vice President, Electrical Council, Electro-Federation Canada.

Contribute Your Product Knowledge to Develop the Industry’s Harmonized Data Model (HDM)

IDEA Harmonized Data Model Have you heard about the industry’s Harmonized Data Model (HDM) initiative? IDEA, in partnership with NAED, is calling all product experts to get involved and be recognized by the industry. People who join the Product Expert Task Force will impact the future of the electrical distribution channel.

In the next 6 months, subject matter experts (SMEs) will be harmonizing the categorization for dozens of product categories. It’s an opportunity for industry experts to participate as a SME in the HDM initiative.

For more information Go Here.

McKenna Agencies Selected to Represent EGLO Canada in Alberta, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Parts of B.C.

McKenna

By Rhonda Cox, Regional Sales Manager, Western Canada, EGLO Canada

It is with pleasure that EGLO Canada annouces the nomination of McKenna Agencies as our representation in the specification market as well as electrical distributor channel for the markets of Alberta, Yukon, Northwest Territories and parts of B.C.

Covering various interveners within the specification market (engineers, architechts and designers), McKenna Agencies is a privately-owned-andoperated company whose history under its current ownership dates back to 1988.

Sonepar Acquires CioffiRenato in Italy

Sonepar CioffiRenato

Sonepar has officially signed an agreement for the acquisition of 100% of shares in CioffiRenato. Founded in 1974, CioffiRenato is a company active in the distribution of electrical material operating in the Lecce province, with its headquarters in Casarano.

In 2021, with its two branches serving all the area, the company recorded sales of around €10 million. It employs 17 associates and 2 sales representatives. Thanks to this acquisition, Sonepar, already present in Puglia with six branches, will strengthen its business in the region.

Electrozad Announces Retirement of Sales Representative Chris Farrah

Chris Farrah

Electrozad have recently announced the retirement of Sales Representative Chris Farrah, on July 29th, 2022. Chris began his career with Electrozad on February 20th, 1983. His first position was doing deliveries as a truck driver, then advanced to a warehouse position, then a Customer service/Counter sales representative.

Finally in 1991, Chris was promoted to the position of Sales Representative where he continued to excel and increase his relationships with customers and vendors for the remainder of his career. Chris had been a valuable member not only of Electrozad's business but of the Electrozad family too.

Franklin Electric Releases 2022 Sustainability Report

Franklin Electric

Franklin Electric Co., Inc. released its third annual Sustainability Report this month, once again providing transparency, insight and data related to the Company’s performance toward Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) initiatives and goals. The commitment to these initiatives and goals led the Company to be named to Newsweek’s 2022 list of America’s Most Responsible Companies.

This year’s report includes several details related to product advancements, employee health and wellness programs, and manufacturing initiatives.

Doug Bunting Appointed Senior Sales Manager for ...

Ramy Yousif of Westburne is pleased to announce the appointment of Doug Bunting as Senior ...

Contribute Your Product Knowledge to Develop the Industry’s Harmonized Data Model (HDM)

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