conducted by HubSpot Research. Truth be known, most people don’t trust most people. Recently, I
conducted research on the quality of relationships and level of trust between a group of mid-size health and beauty companies and their retail customers. What is hindering the engagement and sales growth between major suppliers and their retail partners and what can we learn from these results?
- Sales organizations shared the struggle of limited access to their top customers. This hindered the quality of engagement, ideation, and overall trust within the partnership.
- Manufacturers are grappling with reduced profitability due to incremental retailer requests (or demands). Coercive demands weaken the relationship, hinder candid discussion, and damage profitability.
- Both share frustrations in confronting limited creativity, minimal empowerment, alignment challenges and limited time available to collaborate with their retail partners.
Even the best brands in the packaged goods industry feel their customer engagements are too
transactional, fragile, and nonstrategic.
But I also heard direct and candid insights from senior retail merchandising and purchasing leaders and
asked a similar question: “What roadblocks or blind spots are getting in the way of growth with your top
brand partners?” Could any of these statements be your blind spot?
- “You are not as different as you may think.”
- “You don’t understand my problems.”
- “You should assume you are not the best. Learn to be productively paranoid.”
- “You don’t understand the value of my time.”
- “Your epiphanies aren’t epiphanies.”
- “You are not reading the room, nor adapting to the buyer’s pressures.”
- “80 percent of sales people fill the room with too many words.”
- “Companies don’t understand our evolving or future needs. They’re not paying attention.”
- “Each day you must earn your keep; your past doesn’t guarantee your future.”
A friend of mine loves to remind me that “We don’t see things as they are. We see things as we are.”
What do senior buyers and merchants want to see in their sales partnerships? Here is what they shared with me:
- “Executives want partners that solve problems, thinking holistically about the whole business.”
- “Insatiable curiosity, intent listening, and offering truly uncommon insights.”
- “More discovery, less speech; courageously pushing boundaries, challenging customers.”
- “Operate with a healthy obsession, questioning themselves and taking nothing for granted.”
- “Embrace speed, simplicity, transparency and a granular understanding of customer’s needs.”
- “Uncover future trends & challenges that no one is even aware of.”
- “The most productive are aligned on our expectations prior to sitting down face to face.”
- “They listen very well & adapt their model; supporting our organizational changes.”
Over 75 percent of the value of the Fortune 500 are in intangible assets. What unique or hidden assets do you possess that retailers value, that help address their higher-level agenda? Are you creating meaningful moments during your customer meetings?
Creating and protecting a trusting relationship is no longer an opportunity; it’s a necessity.
