Manufacturer Promotions: Participate? Work?

Do national or regional promotions offered by the manufacturer work and are they in the best interests of the distributor?

That largely depends on what the distributor does with the opportunity. Most of us would call these “canned promotions”. Specifically meaning the manufacturer will offer this promotion to almost any distributor that wants to participate.

There are often many downsides to these promotions. I will get to those in a minute, but first I want to state that the reality of the situation is that most of the time it is in the distributor’s best interest to participate in these promotions.

National Promotion Challenges to Consider

The examples I would offer as a basis for this writing are hypothetical. They do not necessarily reflect any actual promotion from any specific manufacturer (need to provide some anonymity for some manufacturers!). I will also say that most manufacturer promotions are done with very good intentions and are usually well crafted.

Obviously, manufacturers produce these opportunities with the intention to drive sales. They are frequently advertised directly to the end user, or the manufacturer wants the distributor to advertise it to their customers. That puts the distributor, at least in the eyes of the manufacturer, in a position of having to participate (after all, if the distributor doesn’t the implication is that one of their competitors will.)  That is not always the case, but in many instances, participation is in fact in the best interest of the distributor.

My own opinion is that many of these manufacturer promotions are driven by concern on the national manufacturer level that distributors are not adequately representing their products to the end user. There could be a lot of reasons for that perception, including distributor bandwidth, the distributors lack of understanding of technological advancements in the product category, or limited marketing capabilities. And sometimes they do it to give their reps something to talk about.

One of the biggest reason’s distributors are hesitant to participate in these types of promotions is because they generally arrive late or with very little notice. I have never quite understood that about manufacturers.

Some items for consideration are included in both examples below. There are many variables that should be considered to describe each of these examples.  The information offered only covers the basics and is highly dependent on each distributor individual profile.

Hypothetical Example 1: Gift

The Promotion – The distributor’s manufacturer offers red widgets. One of the available packaging options is bags of 500. Inside every bag will be a coupon. For a redemption of a cool hat.

A few details –

1. The promotion started July 1. Today is June 30.
2. The local representative (Factory or Agency) lets you know that it is important to their boss that they get all their distributors to participate. (And as a distributor, don’t you want to make your local rep look good?)

Hypothetical Example 2: Product Introduction

The Promotion – The distributor’s manufacturer offers a very technologically advanced commercial building control system that bolts on to their existing less innovative product offerings. They have expressed a strong interest in your company being one of two (or a limited number of) authorized distributors in a specific geographical area.

A few details –

• The product introduction to the end user has already begun on a national level and will continue for the rest of this calendar year.
• To be an “Authorized Distributor” for this category the distributor must have 2 qualified specialists that have each completed 6 hours of online training.
• The local representative (Factory or Agency) lets it be known that they have opportunities in the queue, personally have received the qualification training required for the distributor personnel, but really don’t have not much firsthand knowledge beyond that.

A few of the basic questions the distributor should ask are listed below. Again, every distributor situation is different. And there are numerous questions beyond what I am listing. These may need addressing to achieve your definition of success.

1. Do I, or key members of my team, believe this is a good promotion and we should participate?  
2. Does this promotion rise to the level that justifies the expense that will go into the implementation process?
3. Do we have the necessary resources? That means people, money, and time.  
4. If we participate in this promotion, how will we differentiate ourselves from our competition?
5. If we participate in this promotion what will be our definition of success?
6. How important is this promotion to the manufacturer? Ranging from senior management to local field representation.
7. If we support this promotion, how does this impact any competitive issues we may have with this supplier’s competitors (whom we may sell)?

Much of what I have said here you already know. The question is, do you actively consider these types of questions when making decisions about which manufacturer promotions to support, and how?  This link will take you to another article I recently authored concerning promotions I hope it might also be helpful.

One thing you should notice is that some common themes repeatedly come into play here. Relationships are the most important asset we have. Education is our biggest challenge. We suffer from both fear of failure and success. As an industry, the days where we can simply go with the flow are gone. You have all heard the analogy from time to time about the train. You have two choices. Get on it or stand in front of it.  If you look up, you will see the train coming right at us.

A Free Offer to Manufacturers and Distributors

If you’d like an unbiased view of an upcoming promotion that you are planning, want additional insights on how to evaluate a distributor promotion or deeper insights on how distributors evaluate manufacturer promotions, reach out to me at kcain5622@gmail.com or 240-682-3660.

And please feel free to reach out to me or anyone at Channel Marketing Group to discuss the value we could potentially bring to your organization. Your thoughts on this article or future subjects you would like to see covered are always welcome.