Proper execution of direct store delivery (DSD) can really help your business take off. By winning in the store, capturing more shelf space, building customer loyalty and growing your local, regional or national presence you can begin to distinguish yourself from the competition.
Making the commitment to becoming a DSD wholesale business as a means to drive growth is not a decision you or anyone takes lightly. It starts with having a vision for the ideal outcome at each step on the sales and delivery chain. How you will operate in the store is the most important of all.
Success In The Store
Let’s say you set a goal for your driver rep to visit 12 customers per day. Assuming they work 10 hours, spend one hour per day loading and unloading, 30 minutes pre-planning, and two hours driving the route, plus thirty minutes for lunch, that leaves 6 hour of customer time, or a half hour in each store.
Here is what you potentially need to accomplish at each customer stop:
- Count shelf inventory (including for PAR level purposes)
- Create route sales (selling directly “off the truck”)
- Complete delivery orders (delivering pre-existing orders from the back office system)
- Initiate return orders / credits for expiring or overstock products
- Perform product exchanges as necessary
- Process credit cards or other forms of payment from C.O.D. customers
- Create next day or next visit pre-sale order
- Merchandising / stock rotation / lot expiration management / planograms
- Evaluate and track promotional displays compliance
- Check pricing
- Review customer performance versus goals and competitors
- Conduct any kind of customer survey
- Monitor key performance indicators (KPIs)
- Competitive intelligence gathering
- Drop off, pick up, otherwise service company-owned assets such as racks, signage, display cases, coolers, coffee makers
The Role of Technology
Ensuring success for your rep in the store requires organization and discipline. There are no two ways about it, you need to have high character personnel in-store, in the warehouse and in the back office to make this all work.
But you your reps are going to accomplish everything we’ve listed above, the tools you provide them with will have a huge bearing on their success.
Working with xkzero
You can transform your business and win versus the competition if you have great product, great people and great systems. If you have great product and great people we’d love to talk with you about how xkzero can help you with systems part. You can reach us at 847-416-2009 or [email protected].