How can manufacturers get messages about new products or price promotions in front of trade customers?

An industry average: around 70%-80% of trade products are bought either by phone or online.

The chance to see new product/price messages is limited, with most orders being repeat purchases of known and trusted brands.

Plus, the act of ordering by phone/online is often very calculated: I know what I want, I’m ready to purchase and I don’t have the time or inclination to listen to any alternative sales pitches.

End of story? No!

There’s still a 20%-30% sales opportunity when the trades go to the distributor/wholesaler.

Remember, they start early and that often means a call in to the branch closest to the job.

The obligatory coffee and to purchase additional product or items that were out of stock when ordering by phone/online.

Getting promotions and marketing collateral in-branch/on-the-counter can be a challenge.

But if the promotion is compelling enough to both the distributor/wholesaler and trade customer it’s by no means impossible.

An eye-catching and persuasive offer seen at the right time will often result in a trial purchase in-branch, which will readily convert to a future repeat order by phone or online.

To drive my point home, let’s look at the science. Yes, that’s right…the science!

An experiment by CBS Outdoor and TNS in 2008 called Total Recall*
290 participants split in to two groups:

Group 1. taken directly to an interview room, passing through a corridor lined with sample ad posters.
Group 2. held in a waiting room full of ad posters for three minutes before being taken down the same corridor to the interview room.

The results: Group 2. Those with the longer exposure to the ad posters were:

six times more likely to recall the ad,

four times more likely to remember details,

and fourteen times more likely to correctly remember the brand in question.

Now, change the context from the waiting room to the trade counter. I now have time on my hands whilst the counter staff go to the store to pick my order.

I flick through the free trade mag on the counter. There’s a sales leaflet on the counter, and walk over to the merchandising stand located close to the coffee machine. I’m more open to new product suggestions from the counter staff because I trust them, they know their business.

I hope from reviewing our campaign work you’ll think we know our business too. If so, we’d welcome the opportunity to help you increase customer engagement and product sales with your trade audiences.

* Source: This experiment was recounted from Richard Shotton’s book ‘The Choice Factory – 25 behavioural biases that influence what we buy’. This is a must-read for all left-brain marketing professionals!