Small business owners must work hard to forge stronger ties with their wholesale distributors, now that the lockdown is over. Distributors are platforms from which businesses spread their products far and wide. Into every nook and cranny in the land, your products are allowed to expand thanks to the far and wide-reaching power of your distributors. They will want to quickly open their doors, restock their shelves, demand more stock from you and need to re-energize their logistical units. This is a major task that you will need to tackle with every fibre of your being since we’re all trying to climb out of a huge recession right now.
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A general update conference
You need to touch base and inform your B2B clients what you’re doing. Distributors will want to be updated on a number of areas and they will ask you the following questions.
- What is the state of your products? Do you have any updates, and together with that, any marketing changes and what state of readiness is your new product?
- How is your production plant or service doing? Are you able to produce their desired stock level?
- How soon can you deliver this stock to them and to that end, what is the state of your logistical arm?
Have an online conference call with your wholesalers, inform them of what you’ve been up to and how the lockdown has affected you. Work with your clients to figure out how you can meet their needs and if they can help you in return.
Get ready to haul
Now that orders are flooding back in, you must formulate a plan for how to deliver your products to the wholesaler. Start off by working with the warehouse service you have hired to manage your stock. Speak with them via email and by phone, to let them know when your delivery service will be picking up the stock, so they can select it for transportation, then get it ready for loading. If your delivery service isn’t up and running or you need to hire another, take a look at a notable express courier service. They offer double manned vehicles, ADR, insurance and small vans for shorter distances and loads. They also offer express, dedicated freight haulage trucks, which can travel long distances with large stockpiles. It’s just like having your own fleet because you can reroute them while on the move.
Feedback and agility
Are you ready in the event of your products flying off the shelves? What if the wholesaler you work exclusively with, runs out of your product inventory a week sooner than expected? You need to respond to feedback and remain agile to their demands. If they give you customer data showing your product pages have a high bounce rate, consider the reasons why, and change your pricing, marketing or discount strategies. Remain in constant contact with them, to properly feel the changing mood of consumers.
Wholesalers are incredibly powerful and it’s where the majority of shoppers get their everyday items from. Now is the time to effectively communicate with your distributor and meet their needs so your sales figures make a sharp rise.
