The Right Handoff for a Business-to-business Customer Is Critical
Each customer has unique needs and relies on the distributor to meet those needs
No one would deny good customer service can go a long way toward growing or, in its absence, hurting a business. While there are innumerable approaches to keeping customers satisfied, happy, or, in the best case, overjoyed, one solid approach is to consistently meet or exceed their expectations. While that precept is common across many channels in a supply chain — from manufacturer to wholesaler, wholesaler to retailer, retailer to John and Jane Q. Public — the needs of various customers can be dramatically different. In the case of a business-to-business relationship between wholesale distributors and professional contractors, the customer has a unique set of needs critical to their business, and they rely on the distributor to meet those needs. Whether the contractor is relying upon a plumbing, electrical, HVAC, or other industrial distributor, several keys allow contractors to identify a great partner from merely a good one.
The first key item is, well, the item, or, more specifically, item availability. Does the distributor have the item or items a contractor needs in its inventory? This does not mean a similar or substitutable item, but the particular component from the manufacturer that the contractor prefers. The contractor may only be working to satisfy their customers’ needs or demands for a particular item from a particular manufacturer. (Customer demands do tend to flow uphill within a supply chain.) A preferred distributor partner will have the precise item its customers desire in stock, even if that drives a larger-than-average item count in on-hand inventory through the stocking of a single item from multiple manufacturers along with stocking infrequently needed items. If fact, stocking a broader selection of items can be a differentiator between distributors that drives contractor customers to one distributor over another.