Overview:

Closed $5 Million Retail Merchandising Sale*:  Associate helped Retail Services Organization close the biggest sale ever for company in the Northwest United States, generating some $5 million in annual revenue.   (Additional results for company included redeploying reps geographically to reduce fuel costs and providing effective training to improve rep productivity).

    Problems / Challenges Faced:

·        Merchandising organization had represented this manufacturer for years in other parts of the U.S., but had never been able to convince manufacturer to use them to service the Northwest U.S.

·         Manufacturer was concerned that merchandising organization did not have enough experience in the Northwest

     Solution:

• Associate had worked for the manufacturer, so knew the key people

• Associate contacted numerous decision makers in the manufacturer to help them understand that the merchandising organization did have capacity to do the work

• Associate demonstrated that their merchandising organization could deliver "better service for the same dollars that the current merchandising services organization was charging"

  • e.g. Incumbent's reps weren't showing up for work

  • e.g. Manufacturer was getting calls from retailers that the incumbent was not doing their job (and were very unhappy about getting these calls.)

• Associate initially proposed just servicing manufacturer in San Francisco market, where incumbent was having most of their problems

• Proposal expanded to servicing all of the Northwest

• Closed merchandising work for all of Northwest, except three retailers

• Ultimately closed work for two of the remaining three retailers

• Key was manufacturer's  trust in associate.  Associate agreed to serve as single point of contact.  An additional strength was merchandising organization's systems and processes

• How they kept the business:  

  • Established and maintained manufacturer's confidence through honest, straightforward, communication

  • Kept manufacturer informed, told them about issues, even the little things

  • Brought in manufacturer's key person to meet with field managers.  Went through manufacturer's needs, special requirements, etc.

  • Had field managers contact manufacturer's field managers and work closely with them

  • Associate proactively contacted manufacturer  every week or every other week at a minimum - asked about problems / issues before they become major.  "We love ya... we are thinking about you..."

• Manufacturer has their own staff that does basic continuity merchandising

• Associate's firm did primarily sets, resets, new item cut-ins, overflow work for manufacturer, etc.

Results:

• Associate closed largest sale ever for merchandising organization in the Northwest United States, generating some $5 million in annual revenue.

• Three years later, still servicing entire Northwest, just underwent review, no significant problems in Northwest, though problems identified in other parts of the country

• Associate closed one retailer on putting merchandiser's space analyst on staff full time