DSRs, what if there was ONE THING you could do that would make everything else in your daily sales routine easier? What if that ONE THING could dramatically grow your sales, increase your profit margins, reduce will-calls, and give you more time for yourself, your family, and your customers?
Well, there is. And it all comes down to COMPANY SALES HISTORY DATA.
🔹 The DSR ONE THING is identifying and selling your company’s Top 200 most-sold items—the products that your company is BEST at in your market.
🔹 These are the items your customers trust, that have proven demand, and that create the foundation of your business.
🔹 Selling more of these products simplifies everything: fewer out-of-stocks, fewer returns, and fewer headaches.
How I Discovered the DSR ONE THING
For more than 25 years, after every sales meeting, workshop, and ride-with, DSRs have asked me:
“Dave, if you had to boil it down to ONE THING that helped you sell as much as you did, what would it be?”
For years, I resisted the idea that there was just ONE THING—I always told DSRs that it was a combination of little things. I even had a Top 20 List of daily principles to practice.
But after reading The ONE Thing by Gary Keller and completing the workshop, I went back and reconstructed the key to my own sales success. And one dominant theme kept showing up…
📌 Identifying and selling the items on my company’s Top 200 list, most sold items.
📌 Learning everything about those products.
📌 Sampling and teaching my customers about them.
The Lightbulb Moment
This all started when my IT director, Stan the Computer Man, pulled me aside after I got reprimanded for the THIRD time for making too many will-calls.
He said:
“Dave, you’re making too many will-calls because you’re selling the wrong stuff. You’re pushing whatever was in the last sales meeting, whatever is on special, or whatever a broker put in front of you. But look at this…”
Then he handed me the Top 200 report.
Turns out, I was only selling 20 of the 200 most sold items in my company. The rest? Random stuff that customers asked for and products I was used to selling. Not using COMPANY SALES HISTORY DATA or any method.
Once I focused on the Top 200, everything changed.
✅ Sales skyrocketed from $1.2M to $5M in under a year.
✅ My average order went from $300-$400 to $4,000.
✅ Fewer will-calls. More efficiency. More profit. More time.
How the DSR ONE THING Impacts EVERYTHING You Do
DSRs, this isn’t just about selling more—it’s about making your job easier. The DSR ONE THING touches almost every part of your business:
🔹 Fewer returns & adjustments – You’re selling the right products.
🔹 Fewer will-calls – Customers aren’t running out of staple items.
🔹 Better margins – These are your strongest, most profitable items.
🔹 Stronger customer loyalty – They trust you for the right products.
🔹 Smarter prospecting – You know exactly which items to lead with.
🔹 Better broker relationships – You know which vendors matter most.
🔹 Easier training for new DSRs – Teach them your company’s best.
💡 YOU ARE THE BEST IN YOUR MARKET with these products—or they wouldn’t be on the list!
Your Action Steps
🔹 Get a sales history report for the past six months.
🔹 Sort it by cases sold in descending case order. Identify your #1 most sold item.
🔹 Identify your Top 200 items (or Top 25, 50, or 100 if you’re at a smaller distributor).
🔹 Start learning the story (Broker) of each of these products and sell them FIRST.
Distributors: Implementing the DSR ONE THING – If you want to train your DSRs to sell smarter and more efficiently, reach out: dsrdave@afdr.org
Be a Resource and Sell Something!
