• Distribution

    Finding and winning over the customers

Distribution in Shopfitting

mong the customers of shopfitting (depending on the respective field) are original retail, chains, worldwide acting business groups or producers of consumer goods like cosmetics or electronics. The areas of banking, professional caterers or car dealerships are among the very important customers of a shopfitter.

Different types of distributors have evolved within the sales environment of shopfitting:

The Hunter

The Hunter is someone who likes to acquire new customers, or so to say, who opens the door for the company’s professionals to get to the customer. The Hunter is responsible for socialising with new customers.

What are the characteristics of a Hunter:

  • 1.

    The Hunter is an outstanding investigator. He finds out who the person in charge of a potential new customer is, in order to systematically contact the right persons.

  • 2.

    The Hunter is curious, he wants to know about all incidents on the market, which means to permanently get informed which customers are about to expand, which customers are reconstructing shops or stores, which colours or materials are up to date and which people are changing.

  • 3.

    The Hunter is a networker who constantly meets various people, is very communicative, might have extraordinary high monthly expense reports and is very likely to be seen at trade fairs or customer events.

  • 4.

    The Hunter does not mind a high failure rate. If he cannot win a customer, the Hunter tries to win the next one. Even if he gets 99 rejections, call number 100 will be successful.

  • 5.

    The Hunter is persistent, keeps at it and sticks to his guns.

Farmer or Key Account Manager (KAM)

The Farmer is the person who makes sure the door stays open. He comes to the aid of the customers to let them evolve further and further. The term KAM implies that this salesperson is responsible for key-customers.

What are the characteristics of a Farmer:

  • 1.

    The Farmer consists of extraordinary expertise, e.g. is able to provide the customer with information regarding which materials can be used; has an excellent overview on recent hardware and is aware of the industry’s specific trends.

  • 2.

    The Farmer is an excellent listener and is very responsive to the customer. At the same time, it is of great importance for the Farmer to understand the needs of the customer so that he is able to give purposeful advices.

  • 3.

    The Farmer is available at all times for the customer, if the assembly is not successful, or an order is not on time, one call is enough and the Farmer immediately cares for the needs of his customer.

  • 4.

    The Farmer is a great sparring partner for the project manager and therefore is a central interface between customer and shopfitting company.

  • 5.

    The Farmer is patient and diplomatic.