Outside parts salespeople play an important role within your dealership, distributorship or service garage because they represent your business when they sell the products and services you offer.
They are responsible for building relationships, acquiring new business, maintaining existing accounts, taking orders, delivering parts, informing your customers about pricing specials and new products and resolving your customers’ problems.
In order to perform all of these tasks, outside salespeople must possess a unique array of attributes. Dave Dawson, parts manager, Portland Freightliner, Portland, OR, said that outside salespeople must be able to establish a rapport with different types of people.
“We sell many of the same products and services that our competitors sell, so the personal relationships our salespeople build can be the deciding factor in a purchasing decision,” Dawson said.
One of the keys to building relationships is to visit customers on a regular basis. Doug Johnson, parts manager, Kenworth Spokane, Spokane, WA, said his outside parts salespeople contact their customers at least once a week. “It’s imperative that our salespeople visit their customers regularly so they can maintain the relationships they’ve established and deal with any problems that creep up,” he said.
Outside salespeople usually run regular routes and see the same people on the same day at the same time. “Many customers rely on the regularity of their salespeople’s schedules. If the customer is out of our regular delivery area, he can call the day before to ask the salesperson to bring him something he needs instead of calling another supplier. It’s also easier for customers to show their salespeople what they need rather than describe it over the phone. If the customer knows his salesperson will be stopping by on his regular route, he can show him then,” Dawson said.
The types of tasks outside salespeople perform are dictated by their customers’ needs, which could change with each visit. The key to anticipating and meeting your customers’ needs is to have your salespeople visit them on a regular basis and maintain weekly sales reports of those visits.
