Issue 275 - At the NASFT Fancy Food Show

Some light fare as you return from the holiday weekend, a quick report on The National Association for the Specialty Food Trade's Summer Fancy Food Show. I've found the food show to be a great opportunity to take the pulse of the industry, see what's up and coming, and catch up with my customers. We also feature a quick but important reminder about what the state of the industry means to your business and your sales force. Happy 4th.

A few minutes looking at the Fancy Food Show floor, watching deals being written, and you can get a solid feeling of the health of the industry and, I've got to say, it's looking positive...almost. I was pleased to see the States were buying block booth space to sell to the little guys that can't afford the burden of the show costs individually. The International Community has been buying "country" space for years. Our little processors make great products that can help food distributors differentiate themselves without all the currency, import fees, etc. that comes with imported products and the real benefit is the jobs are at home for these producers.

The most common response I received when asking "How is it going" was some variation on "Everybody is looking, but not a lot are buying." I also heard "Everybody is eating." but how could you not? Floor traffic looked good, booths looked full, with lots of new entrants.

This reflects the state of the industry I've been hearing day to day. Many are he holding their breath waiting for someone else to take the first step and sound the all clear. Others are still working to get their houses in order. But a small trickle of business as sneaking ahead taking advantage of other's hesitation to pick up business. Along the same lines to the victor (or at least the survivors) go the spoils as several business owners I spoke to were seeing upswings in their business volume as competitors faltered.

What does this mean for your business?

First off, protect your customer base. New competitors entering the market can quickly erode your customer base, and even if those companies fail (the majority of small business ventures do) they can put a big dent in your profitability. One strategy for protecting your customer base is following the motto that "The Best Defense is a Good Offense." A strategy I recently saw put in play by Michael Douglas of Primero Foods.

Michael brought on two new salespeople but instead of focusing on expanding his market, he focused on penetrating it, and it's working. He has already increased sales by 50% in 2010 alone and expects to end the year with sales up 100%. With every new item he adds to the customer's buy list he locks in the customer just a little bit more.

I've heard this sort of success story echoed enough times now that it's gone from a handful of individual stories to a trend. Companies taking advantage of the surplus of unemployed workers and the ability to outfit them at low costs using Software as a Service products, web technology, and cellular/wireless internet to bring extremely effective sales teams to bear. Which brings us to our second point.

Get your sales team up and motivated! After a few years (hard to say but yes we're going on years now) of 'hard times' a sales team can get beaten down into survival mode. Even a "great" salesperson can find themselves bogged down in tedium taking orders, making the same call every week and after 2 years hearing "we don't need anything else" they might have made the mistake of believing it.

ExecutiveBluePrints.com had a great way of summing up Sales Force Motivation:

Sales Motivation does not come from Posters or Slogans
Professional Sales Associates are evaluated based purely on performance, not on buzzwords, catchy phrases, or slogans that appear on motivational posters. Some other career position evaluations are conducted with a yearly review, summarizing teamwork, progress, and ability to follow or give direction. Sales professionals are evaluated daily, monthly, and quarterly based on financial metrics. Performance is determined by the bottom line. In the language of the sales professional, actions and attainment speak louder than words. If you want to motivate the professional sales force, be prepared to speak in the same language.
How to Motivate the Sales Force
There are three critical elements to motivate a successful and high performance professional sales force. These elements are Appreciation, Recognition, and Compensation. It is necessary to provide all three ingredients with integrity.

Be sure you're taking the right steps to motivate your sales team, and if your motivational programs have fallen by the wayside (which can happen when you don't meet your goals for months at a time) kick them back into high gear and get your folks moving.

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