Brands and manufacturers: How can you build a community of ambassadors among your distribution partners?

Posté le 20 Mar. 2023

Our external sales teams operate in highly competitive markets. The high-tech sector, the company’s historic sector, is also one of the most challenging. Our teams need to be flexible, attentive, innovative and creative to maintain a close relationship with their business interlocutors.

In a world where salespeople are over-stretched by brand sales teams and retailers are increasingly looking for new ways to create in-store experiences, how can you stand out?

We let Florian, one of our Field Trainers, have his say to demonstrate the importance of building a community of ambassadors to strengthen the relationship with his retailers.

Listen to the full interview in this podcast in French.

Understanding your target group well: speaking the same language, living the same passion

I am a national trainer for an internet giant. I have been with the Baron Group for almost a year. Fifteen years ago, I started my career as a salesperson and then as a divisional manager. I have worked in big specialised shops like Boulanger or Darty, but also in small shops and for all kinds of products.

There I learned to understand consumer expectations and take the time to understand their real needs, which I believe is 80% of a sale. Today, when I am responsible for creating training content for salespeople, my background helps me to be credible with my business interlocutors. I know their challenges, their obstacles and their motivations. We speak the same language, that is essential, and that creates the connection.

You don’t choose a sector at random. This choice is motivated by a genuine passion. For me, it’s a passion for high-tech that I take very seriously. As a computer enthusiast, I started a YouTube channel called “Système 2 Barbus” Système 2 Barbus” together with a friend. The aim of this channel is to make the topic understandable for everyone! This industry is a true passion that plays a role in both my professional and personal life. It’s an honest approach that helps me to naturally build a close relationship with salespeople and provide them with relevant and, above all, interesting training content.

Finding the right balance between physical and digital relationships to motivate

A salesperson can be approached by 15 to 20 brands per day! As a brand representative, you have to know how to stand out. My work as a field trainer goes beyond designing and implementing training content, it also consists of uniting and motivating a community of enthusiasts. The key to success in building an authentic, engaged and loyal community is to find the right balance between physical and digital levers, depending on each content’s strategy and goals.

The physical point of sale remains a primary shopping channel for the shopper. It still accounts for 86.6% of retail sales. In the current health context, consumers have communicated a lot through digital media, both in their personal and professional lives. On the internet, however, there is a major hurdle: consumers are still looking for human and personalised advice to make their purchase decisions. New solutions to humanise the internet, such as Live Shopping, have emerged to meet this need.

For the sellers it is exactly the same! After difficult months, the human relationship is important in both B2B and B2C. I am working on my relationship with retailers as they do with their customers. I meet them at the point of sale, take an interest in my interlocutor, consider them, try to understand their need and adapt my communication. This exchange allows me to gain the “heart” of the salesperson, which is the differentiating element I am looking for. It is the emotional connection that sustains a relationship and facilitates its sustainability. In my view, personal contact remains an essential lever for gaining the credibility and trust of a salesperson. And that is the great advantage of an external sales team.

The on-site teams are present with the sellers almost every day, and digital becomes a means to prolong the relationship created in the shop. By engaging with the salesperson and taking an interest in their needs, I can create new, personalised sales tools by integrating feedback from the field. This content is available to the salesperson at any time, before, during and after a visit from an area manager or after a training session led by me.

Innovation to surprise its audience!

Digital means creativity and innovation. In this fast-moving world, we have to move with the times.

I was able to use virtual reality to deliver field training, which our teams across France really enjoyed. VR allows us to “meet” each other through avatars that resemble us. We actually exchange information live. We can even create sales sketches and work on our non-verbal communication. VR is more than just a trend; it complements the physical relationship, which remains indispensable for bringing teams together.

The effect has been positive, as the field leaders talk about this innovation in the field. This is the kind of theme that sticks in the mind of sellers interested in innovative solutions that stand out from the crowd. For the brand, we promote word-of-mouth and consolidate our position as an innovative and pioneering internet company. For Baron, we are developing a dynamic image in the field that attracts new talent.

Creating content for sales teams is key to bringing ambassadors together and building a real community. The emotional connection and personalisation of the contact will influence salespeople to deliver a better message to consumers.

Whether physical or digital, any regular and innovative communication promotes cohesion and promises a better brand and product understanding. A new way of working that has become essential for brands that are always looking for competitive differentiation.

We would like to thank our field trainer Florian for this exchange. To hear the full version of this interview, visit our podcast Helping you sell better.