Gaining Preferred Supplier
Status
Do You Own the Account?
Once you become a preferred supplier, you don’t have to sell to them because they want to buy from you!
This status does not happen by accident. And it does not happen overnight.
- Protect and grow the revenue from existing accounts.
- Become part of your customer’s planning processes.
- Develop long term plans for the purchase of your products and services.
There is a bigger objective than winning a sale. That is to win the account - to get yourself into the position of being a preferred supplier. When you are a preferred supplier you don’t have to sell to them because they want to buy from you.
This book describes how preferred supplier status has several gradations, each one represented by a closer relationship with the customer:
- Qualified supplier
- Approved supplier
- Preferred supplier
- Entrenched supplier
Preferred supplier status does not come about by accident. It is not some soft and fuzzy feel-good factor. In fact, it is a series of hard nosed commitments from the customer – such as giving you a place on their planning committee or developing a three year plan.
There are four activities in a Development Plan:
- The Vision – Having a long term view of where you are trying to take the account. What commitments are you aiming for?
- The Care Plan – Giving a top class service with current products and services you supply.
- The Sales Campaign Plans – Winning individual opportunities to avoid competition gaining a toe hold.
- The Prospecting Plan – Broadening and deepening the base of products and services sold.