FALL 2019
DSA SupplierSource Summer 2019
Harry Drajpuch - Amware Fulfillment
Internet Retailer just published a research report whose title posed an essential question for all B2C sellers, including direct selling companies: Are Your Fulfillment Operations Good Enough?
Interestingly, many of the 100 mid-sized e-retailers who responded to the survey don’t think so.
They rate the “importance of fulfillment” as a well-deserved 8.77 out of 10, while assessing the quality of their fulfillment operations a comparatively “meh” score of 7.31.
A deeper dive into the survey’s findings begins to uncover the reasons for this performance gap.
44% of e-retailer respondents do not believe or are unsure if their current fulfillment warehouse network is sufficient to meet customer requirements for faster delivery. Of these respondents, more than 50% fulfill orders for national distribution through a single warehouse.
According to the authors of the survey report, a single warehouse strategy makes it “impossible to do two-day, nationwide delivery using efficient ground transportation,” adding that, “many companies don’t have enough warehouse coverage across the U.S. to fulfill orders quickly and efficiently.”
This begs the question: How many warehouses does your direct selling business really need to stay on pace with your customers’ delivery expectations – and to ensure your fulfillment performance is on par with the changing landscape?
The trend is undoubtedly toward expanding B2C warehouse networks to put products closer to customers to speed delivery times and reduce parcel costs by eliminating high-zone moves.
Read the full survey report at www.amwarelogistics.com/IR-survey.
Jay Leisner - Sylvina Consulting
Compensation plans should be designed to motivate and reward specific behaviors. To find out how your compensation plan is really doing, answer the following questions:
- Personal Consumption - Do your independent representatives personally use your products when they are not earning money?
- Sales to Retail Customers - Is the percentage of total company sales to non-participants in the income opportunity increasing?
- Retention - Is your rate of retention of representatives above average for companies like yours, or if not, is it on the rise?
- Recruiting/Sponsoring - Are you seeing increases in the percentages of representatives who have recruited at least one person and the percentages of representatives who have recruited at least two people?
- Supporting Others - Is your compensation plan driving a team-building culture?
- Becoming a Leader - Do you have an effective Leadership Training Program?
- Developing Leaders - Are there sufficient financial rewards and recognition for developing leaders?
Your Score
If you answered “no” to any questions, you have some work to do.
The first step is to measure the performance of your compensation plan over time so that you gain increased clarity about what is working. Are the performance results of your sales force beating industry averages?
Once you’ve identified your targets of opportunity, you can proceed to the next step: adjusting your compensation plan to achieve optimum results.
Be sure to include a transition plan to introduce the plan changes to your field and to minimize the effects on individual representative compensation.
When you encourage and reward key behaviors appropriately, the success of your representatives will propel your company forward faster.
Sean Eggert - Hanna Shea Executive Search
Look across the table at your next executive meeting and ask yourself, “What would tomorrow look like if one of these people were to leave the company today? What kind of knowledge, leadership, and skills would our team and organization lose as a result?”
For many of us, we’re looking into 2020 with fresh sales strategies, structuring our budgets and assessing long-term goals -- but don't forget to add succession planning into the conversation.
As the saying goes, “Expect the best, plan for the worst, and prepare to be surprised.”
Pose this question to your peers: “Who on your team is prepared to fill your shoes if you were to get hit by the proverbial bus?” Such a question should ignite a thorough discussion and reinforce the importance of developing and appointing successors for all executive leaders, not just the CEO.
You may even discover which members are focused on equipping their employees for advancement, or possibly which ones are “territorial” of their careers by protecting their knowledge.
A true succession plan includes a robust internal leadership development strategy and contingency plans that would allow you to take the proper action should the unthinkable happen, which, like it or not, is highly likely.
Successful companies are proactive and deliberate with their succession planning -- is yours?
Richard Fuchs II - PRO Insurance Managers
President Donald Trump in 2018, along with the Department of Labor (DOL), crafted an “expansion ruling” permitting individuals to join Association Healthcare Plans (AHP).
Challenges and lawsuits were filed immediately by multiple states, ultimately resulting in that ruling being struck down in Federal District Court “State of New York v. United States Department of Labor” in March 2019. The U.S. Department of Labor is appealing the federal district court’s decision.
Yet, opportunities continue to arise:
Medicare - President Trump recently signed an executive order pushing for further privatization of Medicare. It will provide seniors with more benefit choices and improve upon the role of private insurers to offer benefits rather than the government.
Prescriptions - Trump also called for a drug importation plan. “We will soon allow the safe and legal importation of prescription drugs from other countries, including Canada,” the president said. The Administration has signaled a growing interest in a drug importation plan in recent months.
Health Insurance – the Administration also is working on alternatives to Obamacare to provide Independent Contractors with more coverage choices. One we are closely watching would allow individuals/families to join Association Health Plans (AHP’s), an option typically only available to small businesses. AHP’s offer added buying power, potentially more affordable pricing and - in most cases - expanded coverage.
Rest assured: with the right guidance, DSA member company’s attraction, retention and motivation initiatives to their field can easily be augmented that do not necessarily need to be funded by the company.
Paul Eschen, Maritz Travel
Recently, Charlotte Blank, Chief Behavioral Officer of Maritz, recorded a webinar encore of her presentation at the 2019 DSA Annual Meeting: The Behavioral Science of Direct Selling Performance.
In the webinar, she explains how executives and sales leaders can use behavioral science to improve direct selling incentive programs, including:
- Why cash is NOT king when it comes to rewarding direct sellers
- Optimal strategies for direct selling performance, based on a predictive modeling study of a large multinational direct selling organization (over 110K Independent Consultants)
- What motivations will unleash the potential of your sales network (For example, how to include Intrinsic Motivations in your incentive program)
Todd Dunlap - Landry & Kling
Many direct sales companies use incentives to attract and retain the best people. Offering an incentive trip is a powerful tool to increase sales productivity and motivate distributors.
But for travel programs to be effective, they must be unique and provide authentic, immersive, and engaging experiences.
Consider the following as you create incentives that are sure to motivate and inspire:
- Create a trip that is a true “bucket list” item destination on a premium ship is the ultimate travel reward
- Ensure that a provider you work with is committed to delivering top-notch service and deluxe amenities along with memorable, once-in-a-lifetime destination experiences.
- Offer above-and-beyond opportunities for premium adventures that:
- Tap the talent of expedition teams to provide enhanced, immersive experiences
- Allow team members to create customized Itineraries that allow them to explore some of the most coveted places on earth
- An intimate environment - complete with amenities such as complimentary wine with gourmet meals, excursions and fitness facilities - on smaller vessels to ensure a relaxed, friendly voyage
As your provider about private ship charters with the capacity for 100 to 500 passengers, and know that a range of voyage lengths can be tailor made to your needs.
With a plethora of new premium and luxury expedition ships traveling around the globe, the possibilities for extraordinary incentive travel programs are endless!
Terrie Rickard - ADI Meetings & Events
Experiential meeting design evolved from human-centered meetings. It is a type of meeting that puts attendees and their individual needs first. Experiential meeting design engages guests in personal ways and often evolves.
One of the key ways experiential meeting design differs from other meeting approaches is that they start before the meeting even begins and continues well after it ends. Most events follow a natural course of planning from initial conversations to post-event survey reviews.
With experiential meetings the agenda design incorporates additional steps into the attendee’s experience during the meeting. As part of the experiential process, meeting planners and their stakeholders decide how they want guests to experience each stage of the meeting.
Adding experiential elements doesn’t have to mean a significant effort or higher budget. A simple change in room set or a stage making a participatory experience for attendees works excellent. ADI created a theater in the round for an awards dinner enabling all 550 attendees to feel a part of the show. A simple stretching exercise allows participants to get up out of their chairs and helps reinforce work-life balance. Another great experience is a scavenger hunt around a well-known neighborhood or landmark that lets attendees see a place through a new lens.
Experiences and Results are two small words that mean everything when it comes to a successful event with meaningful outcomes. To accomplish this, let ADI help you create experiences that make an impact and extraordinary experience.
Aleks Bogdanovski, Acquire BPO
Direct Sellers have constantly sought fresh, new ways to attract new distributors and customers while continually supporting their existing distributors and customers to retain loyalty. Balancing both areas is the only way to grow.
When you get it right, business takes off with rapid growth to a point of stress testing capacities in areas such as product supply, IT systems and unfortunately the area where the growth may be most impacted – customer support. This may result in a “piano accordion effect."
Ensuring you have the right CX solution is essential to success.
In addition to this, today’s distributors and consumers are seeking instant service and personalized experiences every time they transact whether it’s talking to a real person, engaging in chat or even responding to a chatbot. The fact is, it is difficult to stay up to date with new technologies and offer right blend of support in today’s fast-moving business environment.
This is where an outsource partner can help you leverage the latest Automation and AI tools to help your distributors have a quality experience with your company and focus on selling, while your outsourcing partner helps you achieve excellence in CX. Outsourcing also enables you to offer CX 24/7.
According to research, 67% of customers are willing to pay a premium for a great experience. It is a fact that customer experience is the fastest-growing component of your price proposition so make sure your CX strategy is on target.