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What Every Food ManufacturerWants from Sales & Marketing

Successful food manufacturing solutions depend heavily upon the effectiveness of their sales and marketing efforts. For food manufacturers, sales are the primary source of revenue and, therefore, the lifeline of the business.

Sales personnel identify potential customers, engage them with the company’s products, and close deals. Marketing teams create (and distribute) content that attracts customers, initiates relationships, and engages and motivates customers.

Sales and marketing teams formulate manufacturing solutions and strategies to help the company reach its goals, such as increasing revenue, promoting new products, and expanding market share. They gather insights on customer needs and preferences, identify market opportunities, and find ways to help maximize company ROI.

Food manufacturers want their investment in sales and marketing to pay off in the short and long term. A powerful sales team will support today’s food manufacturing operation and fuel sustained business growth.

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Direct Sales & Marketing

It is no easy feat to build, train, and manage a successful direct sales and marketing organization. It takes considerable investments of time and resources. To succeed, manufacturers must have a clear vision that drives the sales enterprise and build a structure that allows team members (usually distributed) to work together efficiently.

Experienced leadership is the foundation for direct sales and marketing success. Building a team for scalability and volume requires the implementation of standard processes that are repeatable, measured and monitored to drive continuous improvement. Leadership must manage and train the sales force and equip them with marketing and training resources needed for success. The sales team must be large enough to cover all territories but not so large as to be unwieldy, unproductive, or too expensive. Sales and marketing professionals must be managed in such a way that they remain motivated, loyal, and aligned with the organization’s goals.

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Cost Considerations

Building and maintaining a direct sales and marketing team is a capital-intensive undertaking. The costs of operating a sales force include three main categories: recruitment, retention, and training. Manufacturer recruiting prices include salaries, benefits, bonuses associated with hiring salespeople, and any additional fees related to onboarding activities.

  • RRetention costs include incentives to keep experienced sales personnel on board, such as salary adjustments and bonuses. Benefits such as health insurance or other employee perks are in the retention costs.
  • RTraining costs relate to ongoing training and support programs to keep sales personnel informed, engaged, and motivated. Training costs may include sales meetings, webinars, and the production of training materials.
  • ROther expenses of running a direct sales force include marketing activities such as trade shows and exhibitions, travel expenses for sales reps, and administrative tasks related to managing the department.

These items define the costs of building and maintaining a direct sales team. These costs can limit scalability and go-to-market speed during the development phases of the in-house sales team.

Additional Concerns
  • =Extended timeframe to build a sales force
  • =Low scalability/slow go-to-market speed
  • =Difficulty in acquiring experienced leadership
  • =Added demands on senior management
  • =Fulfillment of management and training programs
  • =High recruitment costs/competitive environment
  • =Retention costs that grow over time
  • =Additional administrative and HR overhead
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Traditional Sales & Marketing with Brokers

There is an abundance of outside sales and marketing options for food manufacturers to consider and many good reasons to do so.

Manufacturers can look to third-party sales and marketing groups to help reduce overhead, administrative, and labor costs while extending the company’s sales reach by providing more “boots on the ground.”

Working with an outside sales and marketing partner for most food manufacturing solutions can minimize capital outlays related to building and managing a sales organization and dramatically accelerate time-to-market.

For manufacturers, third-party sales and marketing partners offer an efficient way to streamline sales operations and leverage in-house senior management expertise.

A logical choice for many manufacturers is to enlist a national foodservice or retail food brokerage company. There are as many variables in this scenario as there are brokers who service the industry, but not all brokerage services are equal.

Key Considerations

In addition to sales expertise, independent sales and marketing companies can provide insight into local trends, competitive landscapes, and customer shopping patterns.

Their effectiveness in performing these roles will depend on their specific market expertise, areas of specialization, geographic presence, leadership structure, go-to-market capabilities, quality of training programs, reporting systems, contract (in) flexibility, and more. When evaluating a potential national or regional sales and marketing partner, consider the market segments and areas of specialization where the organization has succeeded.

Foodservice and retail are two vastly different markets. Within either segment, the category-specific experience can vary widely by broker.

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Questions to Ask When Evaluating the Capabilities of a Third Party Sales & Marketing Provider

  • RDo they have an established network of salespeople and distributors?
  • RAre the representatives well-trained, equipped with the latest technology, and able to drive sales in their assigned territory?
  • RConsider the quality of leadership, broker training, and management programs. For example, is the company providing consistent, high-quality training resources to support its sales force?
  • RCarefully evaluate the reporting systems used by the broker. For example, what type of data do they offer (sales, pipeline, etc.), at what frequency, and in what format?
  • RHow valuable and timely will the sales data be to support your operations?
  • RFinally, closely inspect the business arrangement as defined in the contract. Does nonrenewal of the contract put the manufacturer at risk of large-scale broker termination?

Contract flexibility (or lack thereof) is a critically important factor. Ensure the broker offers contract options such as long or short-term contracts and different levels of services. Beware of contracts or business structures that can leave an organization vulnerable to large-scale broker cancellation. Weighing these considerations will help food manufacturers determine if a particular national, regional, or single-market broker suits their needs.

Additional Concerns
  • =Lack of category/segment expertise at a local level
  • =Inadequate regional/national network
  • =Weak or slow go-to-market performance
  • =Quality of leadership
  • =Inferior training processes/programs
  • =Poor reporting capabilities
  • =Contract inflexibility
  • =Risk of large-scale brokerage cancellation

The Presenture Approach

Manufacturers must chart a course to build and maintain a stable and sustainable national sales and marketing solution to ensure long-term success.

Can an independent food sales and marketing firm be engaged to drive that process? The answer will depend on many variables, such as the current business stage of the manufacturer (emerging/mature, small/mid-size/large), the company’s near-term and long-term growth objectives (along with the production capacity to meet them), existing management and sales structure, and quality of the outside sales and marketing solutions available.

For established manufacturers, an internal management team (e.g., national director and regional managers) might focus on national accounts or noncommercial segments while leaving general market sales to Presenture.

For emerging manufacturers, a company might assign general sales and marketing to Presenture while retaining certain accounts or niche markets in-house.

In these scenarios, the manufacturer engages Presenture based on a desire to achieve a defined set of manufacturing solutions. Presenture enables a manufacturer to identify the best way to coordinate its processes and resources to focus on its core competencies – manufacturing, innovation, and big-ticket sales. Continuous improvements in these core competencies would not be as successful if the manufacturer is still burdened with non-core competencies.

A consistent ingredient in the long-term success of this inside/outside arrangement is the quality of organizational alignment. From formulating a strategic vision to defining organizational responsibilities and interactions, alignment around the manufacturer’s long-term objectives drives a successful engagement.

Traditional Vs Presenture Model

Direct Sales & Marketing

Manufacturer is responsible for all aspects of sales and marketing

Senior Management

Director of Sales

Regional Sales Managers

Sales Representatives

Marketing

Inside Sales & Administration

Responsibilities

  • RRecruitment
  • RRetention
  • RManagement
  • RTraining

Traditional Sales & Marketing with Brokers

Manufacturer and broker share sales and marketing responsibilities

Senior Management

Director of Sales

Regional Sales Managers

Marketing

Local (Broker) Representation

Inside Sales & Administration

Responsibilities

  • RRecruitment
  • RRetention
  • RManagement
  • RTraining
  • RLocal Brokers
  • RInside Sales
  • RAdministration
  • Manufacturer Responsibilities
  • Broker Responsibilities

The Presenture Model

Presenture handles all aspects of sales and marketing

Senior Management

Director of Sales

Regional Sales Managers

Local (Broker) Representation

Inside Sales & Administration

Marketing Support

Responsibilities

  • RRecruitment
  • RRetention
  • RManagement
  • RTraining
  • RLocal Brokers
  • RInside Sales
  • RAdministration
  • Manufacturer Responsibilities
  • Presenture Responsibilities