A Powerful Sales Tool

BY KEVIN GAMMONLEY

Iam just back from the AWFS Fair in Las Vegas where I met with many distributor and manufacturer executives in the woodworking/ decorative surfacing industry. They were at the event primarily for one reason – to establish and/or deepen relationships that will help them grow sales. Now that the 2023 AWFS Fair is behind us, many distribution executives have shifted their focus to the upcoming 2023 Annual Convention of the North American Building Material Distribution Association (NBMDA) scheduled for November 14-16 in Colorado Springs. The NBMDA event is focused exclusively on strengthening the distributor-manufacturer relationship. Early registration for the NBMDA event is pacing well ahead of our historical trends clearly indicating that savvy distribution executives understand the value of such a relationship-building opportunity.

Simultaneously, I came across an extremely interesting article by Mark Mitchell who is a respected building material sales and marketing consultant titled How to Use Associations to Grow Your Building Material Sales. This article outlines a unique strategy for industry executives to increase their sales which has not been widely covered. The premise is to remind us that strong relationships have been and always will be the cornerstone of sales but many firms have drifted away from this thanks to impersonal technologybased platforms and strategies. An incredibly powerful sales tool that many do not take advantage of is the basic idea of using your customer’s associations to help you grow your business. Why do many firms miss this easy growth opportunity?

Mitchell goes on to explain that simply joining your customers association is not going to cut it. Paying your dues, slapping the association’s logo on your website and showing up at events to network won’t move the needle. To see actual growth, one needs to be more involved, take proactive steps and not shy away from leadership opportunities.

He goes on to outline five keys to succeeding with associations:

1 | Find the right person. Not everyone in your company will be suited for this kind of approach. Remember, it’s all about relationships, so the person taking the lead on this should be a people-person who knows how to make a great impression.

2 | Be patient. Joining an association isn’t going to grow your sales overnight. If you have start trying to sell your product right away, you’ll leave a sour taste in the other members’ mouths. Don’t even think of it as a sales strategy. Stay focused on helping the association and let the sales come organically.

3 | Find out what the real problems are. Every association has a few challenges they really struggle with, like difficulty moving initiatives forward or trouble with outreach. Find out what those problems are and do what you can to help solve them

4 | Bring new ideas to the table. As an outsider, you can bring a fresh perspective and push members out of their rut. So, don’t waste your time on a committee waiting for someone to give you a task. Propose ideas and volunteer to move things along.

5 | Don’t be afraid to shake things up. Focus on the elected leaders of the association. They want to earn their title by making a difference. You might just have the big idea they need to achieve that.

Sales not coming as easily as they had been over the past 2-3 years? Do you like relationship selling? Do you need to revive your relationship-building skills?

Selling through associations is only one of the many ways you can sell to various types of customers and become more successful. But it’s one that should definitely be in your arsenal. It may be time to refresh your approach to industry associations to ensure that your firm is getting the maximum return on your involvement. Following the five steps outline by Mark Mitchell is a great place to start. s p

KEVIN GAMMONLEY has served as the Executive Vice President of the North American Building Material Distribution Association (NBMDA) for more than 30 years. www.nbmda.org