On this episode of DSR Live, Sarah Rau Goessler, DSR of the Month, and DSR Dave have great discussions, offer insights, and action items that should help you sell more stuff!
- A/R: Sarah’s policy is that customers no longer have an option for writing a check.
- Taking orders the “OLD-SCHOOL way” by taking them herself because she gets a better order, and she continues to build/keep her relationships strong.
- Discussion about how DSRs have changed the way they take orders and the preference of many customers who would rather see and talk to their DSR while placing their orders. Many distributors and DSRs are adjusting to order management since the rise of the Online Ordering.
- Goessler explains how she writes 16 million by taking the orders herself.
- Relationships: This business is about relationships more now than ever. She likes the sharing about each other’s families.
- Personal problems and any company issues or problems she keeps to herself, so things are positive.
- Goessler never turns her phone off because she wants the customer to call her for everything including a ride home.
- Customers calling her at nine o’clock on Saturday night is okay with her because she might be the last resort for a customer.
- Vacations: Sarah finally took a vacation after 8 years of not taking one. Goessler lays out some good action items for DSRs to do before they take a vacation so when you come back, things are in better shape than if you didn’t do these things.
- Order guides that are cleaned up and in perfect shape before you leave for vacation are the roadmap for your customers while you are on vacation.
- Penetrating and selling more to her existing customers is something she works on every week while taking a customer’s order. She walks around in storeroom, cooler, and freezer to visually see products they are buying from competitors and then she ASKS FOR THE ORDER!!
- Teamwork is the only way to sell as much as she does. She gives drivers gift cards and even Gatorade on hot summer days.
- Communicating with all of her team in a positive way daily helps her and the company to grow sales and not have unnecessary OUTS. She lets buyers know when one of her customers orders a new product (especially if it’s more than a few cases) so they can adjust their purchasing and so the company does not short another customer that is buying that product on a regular basis.
- GREENHORNS: If you make a mistake, call your customer, own up to it and get it fixed. Don’t lie to them. They will respect you so much more.
- You have to be wired to do this job because you have to be willing to work seven days a week, just like the chefs do.
- VETS: Motivation for Sarah is the way she gets paid. She wakes up with zero dollars every day so, she’s out to make the most she can that day.
- “Every day I have a plan, who I’m going to see, what I’m going to talk about, if I’m going to show them something new. I have a plan, and it makes my day run so much smoother because I’m not shooting from my hip. I don’t get flustered. It’s BECAUSE THE PLAN WORKS!!”
Be a RESOURCE and SELL SOMETHING!
