Partner Research
Past Research
Three major studies have been completed since 2005:
- Buyer Seller Interaction
- Inside Sales – Inside Sales Support
- Channel Selling & Marketing Strategy
Buyer Seller Interaction Study Highlights
Over 120 companies participated in this study.
We interviewed buyers and sellers in several distribution channels.
What we learned was surprising:
- Companies spend twice as much training people than recruiting them
- Sellers think that their people are well trained… buyers think that sellers don’t listen to them
- Over 85% of selling companies use a salary plus commission or bonus structure, customers think the root cause of dissatisfaction with service that account reps provide is their compensation structure
- 90% of manufacturers believe they have partnerships with key accounts yet only 5% of customers believe that partnerships exist!
Inside Sales Study Highlights
We investigated inside sales and inside sales support efforts on behalf of one of major partners We interviewed senior management of 21 divisions of the company as well as 2 agencies. We learned that there are 3 major opportunities where inside sales support has proven to financially beneficial in supporting the sales efforts for the company:
- Vacant territory coverage – More cost effective and more productive in reducing lost sales. Minimizes lost sales from sales people from adjacent territories forced to cover vacant territory.
- Combination sales coverage plans are very effective in maximizing volume and minimizing cost particularly where inside sales is responsible for geographically disparate territories, and
- Inside sales (promotion) support has improved sales for many field sales operations by increasing customer touches and service satisfaction.
Channel Selling & Marketing Strategy Study Highlights
In this study we investigated and secured insight regarding channel management changes from 15 of America’s premier grocery manufacturers concerning the following facts:
- America’s consumer base is changing dramatically. In the next 10 years we will witness real changes in: racial composition, ethnic diversity, and age distribution.
- These changes will change the shopping behavior and appetites of millions of Americans affecting: where they shop, what products they buy, what quantities they purchase, and how those products purchased will be consumed.
- We will also be far better informed of these new purchase dynamics with research that is more accurate and collected more expeditiously.
Planned Research
In 2008 we plan to initiate a major research study across all program partners to better understand the hiring, on-boarding and retention process for undergraduate college students recruited for their first career assignment. This study will explore:
- Student expectations of employment and the reasons for selecting their employer
- First year employee experiences
- Reactions to their work environment and company culture
- Satisfaction with socialization
- Current levels of job satisfaction
- Revised career expectations after their first year on the job
- Reasons that employees leave in their first year of employment
- Investigate the second year experience and reasons behind employees leaving during that year