Customer Care & Feeding: The Ultimate B2b Selling Strategy

By Caroline Perkins

Customer Care & Feeding is a system of selling for business-to-business sales reps who want to grow their careers and increase their income. The CC&F system is based on the concept that if sales reps help their customers be profitable and only work with customers that they can help be profitable then profitability for the reps and for the reps companies will follow. The book is filled with examples and tips from successful sales professionals in the foodservice distribution industry, one of the most challenging selling environments. The principles of CC&F apply to face-to-face selling relationships in any industry. To support the wealth of customer-focused, solutions-selling ideas in the book, there are quizzes and discussion topics to ensure a valuable learning experience.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 17, 2010
• ISBN: 9781453549797

Caroline Perkins

CAROLINE PERKINS has built her expertise in sales and marketing during more than 25 years in the food industry and five years of teaching marketing at the graduate level. As editor-in-chief of ID, a trade magazine for the foodservice distribution industry, she interviewed and observed hundreds of distributor sales reps, many of whom have acted as advisors for this book. Caroline is co-founder of SPEAK Foodservice, a training and communications company dedicated to increasing understanding of the inner workings of the foodservice industry in order to improve supply-chain collaboration and foster successful business growth. She is active in the industry as an editor, writer, consultant and speaker. She lives and works in New York City.

Book preview

Copyright © 2010 by Caroline Perkins.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2010913260

ISBN:   Hardcover   978-1-4535-4978-0

ISBN:   Softcover   978-1-4535-4977-3

ISBN:   Ebook   978-1-4535-4979-7

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

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Contents

What’s on the Menu

What Is Customer Care & Feeding?

Lessons from the Hidden Industry

Why This Book Is For You

How Does CC&F Work?

Why You Need to Get Beyond Predatory Selling

Who Should Not Read This Book

How to Read This Book

Easy as Reading a Menu

Recipe for Your Career

What You Bring to the Table

Quiz and Discussion Topics for What’s On The Menu

Starters

You

Your Industry

Your Company

Your Products

Your Services

Your Mise En Place

Quiz and Discussion Topics for Starters

Entrées

Prospecting Like a Detective

Targeting the Right Customers

Products as Solutions

Service as Added Value

Maximizing Teamwork

Account Management

Quiz and Discussion Questions for Account Management

Sides

How to Increase Customer Insights

How to Increase Product Knowledge

Resources for Career Growth

Quiz and Discussion Topics For Sides

Desserts

Your Customers’ Profitability

Business Reviews

Mentors and Mentoring

Personal Development

Your Profitability

Goal Setting

Quiz and Discussion Topics for Goal Setting

Acknowledgments

Illustrations by Camille Morgan, Graphics by Patty Duffey and Tim Scully

Many thanks to my colleagues for their guidance and support: Libby HaLevy for ideation sessions and keeping me on track and Kay Taylor for in-depth explanation of sales strategy and tactics. Kay Taylor, Patty Duffey and Dana Tanyeri were excellent editors, adding their industry expertise to the text. Camille Morgan, Patty Duffey and Tim Scully captured my concepts and transformed them into illustrations. A special thanks to my mother, Grace Perkins, who turned 101 two days before the book was finished.

The following sales reps, sales managers and sales and marketing gurus very generously shared their experience and expertise that laid the foundation for this book. Thank you all. I couldn’t have done it without you. Steve Afflixio, Bob Arnold, Sam Arnold, Don Arredondo, Snelling Brainard, Jane Brett, Dave Bubniak, Kevin Burke, Rodney Carillo, Doug Coen, Michael Cohen, Jim Cremins, Ron Duggan, Phyllis Flaherty, Wayne Gauldin, Bob Goldin, Nancy Hasselback, Todd Hauser, Mike Hirsch, Bill Hornung, Rob Keeney, John King, Ruth Levy, Bill Main, John Martin, Kevin McNamara, John Miko, DSR Dave Miesse, Ken Monacelli, Bob Oros, Patti Rangel, Karen Shinney, Joe Sullivan, Walt Waschick, Barbara Willis. Forgive me if I have missed anyone.

What’s on the Menu

Introduction

WHAT IS CUSTOMER CARE & FEEDING?

Customer Care & Feeding is a process that can change your sales career.

Customer Care & Feeding is a sales approach that will set you apart from your competition.

Customer Care & Feeding will create loyal customers and allow you to increase your sales volume.

In other words, by putting Customer Care & Feeding (CC&F) to work, you will build stronger customer relationships, sell more solutions, and increase your income! It is the ultimate selling strategy.

This concept has evolved over time. I have taught marketing and have had experience in marketing and sales in the real world. I have also spent years of my career as an editor, a writer, and a researcher. During the last 20 years, I have had the good fortune to observe sophisticated, consultative selling and to see the difference it makes when you follow a strategy. I’ve gained a wealth of insights into the process and have used my research and experience for this book so that others who wish to may take their selling career to a new level of success.

Who are these sophisticated sellers that I’ve observed? They are salespeople who have some of the most complex and influential selling relationships in any industry that of foodservice. They are distributor sales reps or DSRs in industry jargon.

LESSONS FROM THE HIDDEN INDUSTRY

I call foodservice distribution the hidden industry because, unless you’re working in the foodservice supply chain or know someone who is, you probably haven’t heard of it. When you are a consumer, you just eat food—you don’t make the distinction that you are eating foodservice. But to those in the industry, foodservice is a separate entity with its own language, its own modus operandi, and its own sales strategies.

Foodservice has its own supply chain, and the retail grocery industry—stores that sell you food to be prepared at home—has its own supply chain. Products are similar but are manufactured, packaged, and distributed differently. The sales process is also very different. As you will see, the sales force for foodservice products has evolved to a degree of sophistication that is based on solution selling and relationship building.

Foodservice is the industry that serves up any food that is

not prepared in the home.

When America sits down to eat in one of the nation’s 800,000+ foodservice locations, the food on the plate, as well as the plate, the tableware, and perhaps the chairs, have been supplied by a powerful industry behind the scenes: foodservice distribution.

Foodservice distribution is the industry that brings products and services to 900,000+ foodservice locations ranging from restaurants to school lunchrooms to executive dining rooms.

While restaurants and other foodservice operations are highly visible in our culture, foodservice distribution is pretty much unknown. Yet it is a $207-plus billion industry and is made up of more than 3,000 distribution companies, many of whom have been around for more than 150 years.

The critical link between these distribution companies and their customers is their team of distributor sales reps (DSRs). There are around 40,000 DSRs in the United States. Each of them has anywhere from 8,000 to 40,000 products to sell and, in many cases, is responsible for helping his or her customers stay profitable. The selling process is somewhat unique in the frequency of sales calls and direct contact with customers.

In case you think this is easy, consider this ad for a job as a DSR that comes from the Web site of a large corporate distributor.

Not all the thousands of DSRs are Customer Care & Feeding (CC&F) Pros, of course. I have interviewed the ones I consider to be the best of the best. These top DSRs have generously shared their relationship-building strategies and tactics with me. I have organized them into a series of steps that a good salesperson can take to turn him or herself into a CC&F pro.

For a CC&F pro, the customer is more than just an order giver and the rep is more than just an order taker. In the optimal sales-customer relationship, a partnership is built up in which the sales pro acts as an integral part of the customer’s business, providing products and services that build traffic and ensure profitability.

Care is manifested in the ongoing consideration the sales pro has for customer success. Feeding is the execution of every creative action the sales pro can take to keep that success consistent.

WHY THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU

While observing and talking to DSRs about their sales strategies and selling skills, I’ve come to appreciate the passion, focus, and expertise that the best of them bring to their work. I’ve also recognized that there are many DSR strategies and skills that are relevant to any salespeople, no matter what industry they are in. This book is written for all salespeople who want to take advantage of the CC&F approach to take their career and their income to the next level.

The examples in this book are taken from business-to-business, face-to-face selling. While some industries have metamorphosed into electronic relationships, foodservice is still very much characterized by personal relationships. This is primarily because of (1) the complexity of the product categories, (2) frequency of ordering, (3) the need to keep customer offerings fresh, and (4) rapidly changing consumer trends. However, the care and feeding of customers is universal and can be applied in any sales situation.

The key to CC&F is to take a personal interest in your customer’s business and to keep the relationship face-to-face. Only then can you truly become a business partner and provide solutions that will ensure long-term profitability.