Use Product Deliveries As Sales Opportunities

Pancero suggests distributors think of their drivers and what they do as “windows of opportunity.” To take advantage of these windows, Pancero recommends drivers carry brochures, pamphlets and business cards in their trucks. Another recommendation is for the driver to have the tools to be able to take down a potential client’s contact information and relay it to the sales staff back in the home office.

Pancero even suggests that janitorial distribution companies develop a training program that teaches drivers the most effective sales techniques. 

“Most (distributors) have nothing like this. Most are more likely to have their drivers pee in a cup rather than give them ideas on how to improve the business,” he says.

With a sales knowledge base, a driver will have a better opportunity to impress a client than a salesperson, says Pancero. For example, if a client asks a salesperson a question about a certain product, they are expected to know the answer. But if the client asks a driver the same question as they are unloading a delivery, they would be exceeding expectations if they knew the answer, Pancero says.

“Salespeople knowing the answer is expected. Drivers knowing the answer is amazing,” he says. “The drivers are a better opportunity to gain a competitive edge than your salesforce is.”

At T. Frank McCall’s, drivers are no different than other new employees and begin their employment by working at the company’s small storefront, where they become acclimated with the distributor’s product line.

“We would be doing the company a disservice if we sent a driver out there who didn’t know what they were pulling off the truck for the customer,” Parker says.