As a manufacturer, continual evolution and innovation help drive growth, but it’s your distribution network that is fundamental to your success in the marketplace. You rely on these key supply chain partners to promote your products, increase your brand awareness, and drive sales. With that said, your focus should be enhancing and expanding your network to find opportunities to enter new markets, team up with digital-savvy distributors, and create deeper partner relationships so you both thrive.

Before you start expanding your network, take a look at your current distributors to assess their effectiveness. Ask yourself these questions:

• Do your distributors have successful online sales channels to help sell your products?
• Do they provide their customers with tools that make searching and buying your products easy and hassle-free?
• Are your distributors knowledgeable about your products?
• Do they use social media and other channels to promote your brands and products?
• Do they have a large customer base?

If you answered “no” to any of these questions, read on to learn tactics that can help you empower your current distribution network while attracting new distributors so you can sell more, remain competitive, and build your brand.

3 ways to improve and expand your distribution network

The B2B competitive landscape continues to shift, forcing manufacturers and distributors to rethink how and where they sell to buyers. Today, wholesale industry players must adopt technology and a customer-centric mindset if they want to maintain marketplace relevance. Sellers that don’t have multiple sales channels – including an all-important eCommerce site – will be replaced by their competitors who have given their B2B customers a 24/7 buying experience while continuing to provide great customer service, vast industry experience, and expert product knowledge. As a manufacturer, here are three ways you can help your current distributors better sell your products and entice new distributors to join your successful network.

1. Make selling your products easier with better product content

The more information distributors have about your products, the more likely they will want to promote and sell them to buyers. Robust product content empowers sellers, eliminates any questions, and ensures they can suggest the right product for a customer application. Providing comprehensive product information is important but keeping it up to date and consistent across your distributor network is crucial. Outdated, incorrect, or missing data can cause distributors to lose not only a sale but their trust in you.

Create a more efficient and convenient way for distributors to access your current product content by submitting it to a trusted content service provider that syndicates the data across your distribution network for you. As the leader in connected product content and commerce, Unilog’s content syndication program gives manufacturers a single point of syndication to ensure their data and branding are consistent and correct across their seller sites. The content we syndicate includes more than just specs; it features descriptions, images, manuals, videos, and pricing so your distributors have the most robust information available at the click of a button. The more material they have about your products, the more empowered they’ll be to sell your products.

Distributors who subscribe to Unilog’s vendor-managed content subscription program can access the content to use on their eCommerce sites and other sales channels. Because we continually update and normalize your data for you, our subscribers know they are getting the most current content for your brands – all from one trusted location.

If you want to simplify your product content syndication efforts and feel confident that distributors are getting the latest information for your brands, consider joining our program. It costs nothing for manufacturers to participate, it takes little effort on your part, and the benefits are enormous. Besides building trust and loyalty with your current distributors, your brands will gain exposure from new distributors who may be a great fit in your network.

2. Offer incentives to your sellers

Sweeten the deal between you and your distributors by offering them different types of incentives that align with your goals as well as the distributors’ objectives:

• Rebates are great motivators to move your product. Issue volume rebates or discounts to distributors based on the number of products purchased or sold within a specific period.
• Implement SPIFF programs (sales performance incentive funds) to deliver immediate financial rewards to individual salespeople in your distributor network when they sell a certain amount of your products. This incentivizes the distributor’s sales team to focus their efforts on your products.
• Create some healthy competition with contests that award prizes like trips, cash rewards, and merchandise when distributors reach their sales goals.

Incentive programs should include a mix of short- and long-term rewards that are both attractive and relevant to your distributors’ needs to maintain engagement. When implemented properly, you’ll find incentive programs can deepen your relationship with your distributors, encourage long-term loyalty, and drive higher sales volumes.

3. Establish yourself as a responsive and supportive B2B partner

Build trust and loyalty by providing your distribution network the support they need to best sell your products. Have dedicated staff in place to work with your distributors to provide product training, sales training, and marketing support. Offer live demos of your products, explain their applications, and highlight the customer benefits so they have a full understanding and appreciation of your product line.

Consider giving co-marketing funds to your distribution network to help market and promote your products through advertising on their websites, on social media channels, in-store flyers, and at events. One of Unilog’s eCommerce customers, Hill & Markes, is a janitorial supplies, office supplies, and industrial packaging products distributor that built a digital marketing program for their vendors utilizing their eCommerce site. With a monetary investment from the manufacturer, Hill & Markes promotes their products with banner ads, blog posts, product spotlight videos, dedicated landing pages, social media promotion, and email campaigns. Their efforts result in a huge jump in sales for those products, higher customer engagement, and increased brand exposure for both the distributor and the manufacturer.

As you evolve your business to drive revenue and create growth opportunities, remember the crucial role your distribution network plays in your success. Empower your current distributors and partner with new sellers by advocating digital selling, arming them with the best product content and resources to make them product experts, and rewarding them for boosting your sales.