You better believe it – Distribution’s a business

So many marketers, particularly smaller marketers of consumer products, are under the impression that their distributors are their friends. Well they may be. But that doesn’t mean they handle your product at their sacrifice.

Distribution’s a business and they intend to make a profit as much as the manufacturer does. But being very close to the customer, they realize the key factor of marketing, the foundation of marketing is customer knowledge.

Distributors, be they grocery stores, hardware stores, bearing distributors or industrial distributors, work hard to build customer relationships. This takes work, effort, tools and money.

You see, for most distributors, the products they handle are essentially commodities. The customer can purchase the exact same product from some other distributor. Very few distributors have exclusives. Why should the customer purchase their Revlon shampoo from me rather than from the store down the street?

Because I have worked hard to build up a relationship with them.

Now you as a manufacturer want me to handle your product. Why should I do that? What kind of customer relationships have you built? Will my handling your product bring new customers into my store? Will it result in my customers being more loyal to me?

No? Well you better be prepared to “pay” because it looks to me like you want me to handle your product because of the customers I bring to you.

That’s going to cost you.

I may be your friend and we all prefer to do business with friends. But this is business now and we must be fair. I own the customer relationship and I’m not going to just give it to you.

I’m running a business.

Are you listening? They're talking to you.

I had the good fortune to address the MENG group (Marketing Executives Networking Group www.mengonline.com ) Tuesday morning regarding the essential premise of the book. Nothing like laying it out to almost sixty seasoned senior marketing veterans to get the day started right.

Afterwards the discussion was particularly stimulating. But the real challenge came with the thoughts regarding how to induce the change to solid marketing strategy in the corporation. The real need is for companies to pay attention to the needs/wants/desires/values of the consumer.

Chris Rollyson, (www.rollyson.net) Buck Brinkman and I continued the dialogue late into the morning when Chris suggested that companies may have no choice but to pay attention. The incredible spread of Web 2.0 allows all of us to bloviate about whatever, and favorite subjects are what’s wrong with what we buy, or perhaps what you sell.

You may be slandered without knowing it.

Great. You spend millions on advertising, your website, direct mail, catalogs, whatever and some punk customer is getting more exposure on the internet for free.

Think not?

Go to comcastmustdie.com and read a few of the entries. Bob Garfield, the columnist for AdAge Magazine started this last September with a post on his blog and it generated so much traffic and comments he had to create a separate site. This has been huge and still attracts tremendous following. Posters often include their phone numbers so Comcast can contact them, and some have even had luck. But Comcast attracts so much dislike management might want to consider taking control.

Now go to www.dell.com and click on the link at the bottom of the page, Dell Community. They have posted a blog for you, in fact several. They have taken charge; they have indicated they care; they have taken this further to indicate what they are trying to do. And it’s great. Involving your customers like this often creates remarkable loyalty.

That’s marketing. It starts with listening to your consumers, paying attention and then understanding. Dell took the challenge and delivered.

Comcastmustdie(.com).