The latest issue of 360 Magazine has a cover story on “Do Schemes Help Sales?”. It’s become almost mandatory these days for manufacturers to launch a scheme for nearly every product that is launched. Gold coins, movie tickets and scooters have become passé. Foreign trips and invitation to exclusive dealer meets are now the most sought-after rewards.
p____p Schemes were initially introduced to provide partners that extra push needed to boost their sales. And now in a competitive market scenario, manufacturers use this incentive tool as a means of gaining additional mind share and ensuring floor space in a partner’s already overstocked godown.
p____p Manufacturers have played this mind game well and have worked hard in conceptualizing and developing incentive packages that would increase sales. The unfortunate part is that most partners have been lured by the immediate benefits that these schemes offer and have lost sight of the long-term impact.
p____p In his haste to meet a particular target or to make it to that final list of “Partners eligible for the foreign tour’, the reseller could well be pushing a product that his client would have no immediate need for. And in doing so, he may make it to that list, but he would definitely have lost a customer.
p____p While schemes are important and do have a role to play, partners should realize that it’s important to sell a product that the customer needs and not one that he wants to sell. Just as manufacturers ensure that their product gets the relevant mind share when launching a scheme, so also a partner should leverage a scheme to gain permanent mind share in the customer’s mind.
p____p Or else his future might run into the same fate as some of the run-of-the-mill schemes have met.