Any entrepreneur needs to be ready to face obstacles and react in a fast and flexible manner. Business is always in flux with plenty of challenges that hinder success. Above all, having an excellent system to remove any unnecessary roadblocks will put your business at an advantage.
While mistakes are part of any wholesaler’s journey, plenty are avoidable. In fact, many have learned the hard way, so you don’t have to. Here are some wholesale business mistakes to avoid. Go ahead and learn from our pain.
Not Using the Cloud
Writing down orders with a pen or pencil and paper is a definite no. Besides, storing physical paperwork is a job in and of itself. Here is where data can be misplaced. It is not advisable to store data on your hard drive either, as accidental destruction or virus could compromise your system or storage and make data inaccessible. An optimal approach would be to store all the data in the cloud. Not only is data stored in this format easy to access ANYWHERE, but it is also easy to share and organize.
Failing to Provide your Sales Rep with the Right Tools
In today’s increasingly competitive business environment, a thriving wholesale business cannot be run on just business cards and internet-enabled devices.
A robust inventory solution that keeps sales reps well informed about stock and available product, advertisement, and expected delivery times is vital. Also, this creates an effective and efficient sale process. We recommend that you share as much information about quotations, sales orders, purchases, invoices, and shipments as possible with your team to enable them to make informed decisions.
Selling Price Instead of Value
This practice is a common trap that most businesses fall into; Emerge App even wrote a whole piece of that topic. Often, wholesalers spend too much effort on making the sale and not enough on delivering relevant, valuable products or services. However, while it may seem that price wars are inevitable in today’s crowded marketplace, cutting prices to take sales from your competitors is often not the best measure
Instead, try to understand, address the needs of, and provide value to customers. When you offer higher value to buyers, you increase retention and prove to them that you care more about them than money. Cost matters, but the value will always mean more to the right type of clients. Providing a valuable product or service will enable you to stand out in a market full of price-cutting competitors who only care about making the next sale.
Assuming Customers Have the Same Tastes and Preferences
Another mistake salespeople often make is that they make assumptions when they sell. Moreover, they think every customer wants the same thing. However, you have to be careful and not assume that all clients see the products/services in the same way.
It is important to realize that each customer is unique and as such, have differing tastes, preferences, and buying habits. Instead of being presumptuous, try to understand your customers regarding their similarities and differences. Then, you can quantify their relationship with your product/service and better serve current customer demographics.
Ultimately, segmenting your customers allows you to price products differently, customize features, better focus your marketing efforts. Thus, discovering unmet needs and deliver better products and services to new groups of people.
These mistakes seem apparent, but many times are just overlooked.
Laying a solid foundation, devoid of these, for your business will only create scalability. Then, you can ensure further success in the wholesale market.
