CR: Based on face-to-face interviews with their management teams, we compiled a SWOT analysis – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats - for that organisation in the marketplace.  And we also sought to really understand how we fitted into their objectives and market segments. This data was particularly helpful to our national, regional and European  sales mangers as it brought clarity in a very rigorous way.

RTM: So how did you use this process to compare them?

CR: We assigned values to each of the core elements: their sales capability, the segments they covered, their marketing capabilities and ambitions, their training and support status, their financial capability and the SWOT. So you would end up with a mark out of 100 for each reseller.

RTM: And you took it further than that?

CR: Yes, we wanted to score them at a more subjective level. Here we looked at alignment/cooperation and what we called quality.

So, on the former, they were grouped into four broad categories. Firstly, those who understood our products but had no real commitment, secondly, those who actively promoted and sold our brand,  thirdly, those who engaged in business planning at least one year ahead, and, finally, those who engaged very proactively with Trimble on their current and future business strategy.
By quality we meant: the quality of their management, whether they really did the things they said they would do and whether they were managing their business effectively.
 
RTM: So were you able to start doing international comparisons?

CR: Well yes, but cautiously. We ranked the top 40 resellers into four quartiles and we carefully assessed how they were being scored. It might be that, say, a northern European Trimble manager was scoring high, whilst a southern European manager scored low. 

RTM: It all sounds a very time consuming and intrusive process.

CR: It was certainly time consuming!  We operated it tentatively in one region in late 2003 and then rolled it out across the rest of Europe during the middle half of 2004. Trialling allowed us to gauge how best to approach and work with the resellers to obtain quality input. We were concerned at the very start as to how the whole process would be accepted. In the end, when they saw value to themselves in rationalising and documenting this information it was a very cooperative project.

RTM: So what did they get out of the process?
 
CR: We learnt that we needed to be pretty open with people to develop their trust. And, to get this, you have to deliver to the resellers information as well as the usual expectations of great products, appropriate discounts, excellent customer fulfilment and after sales support.

Basically, we give the senior sales manager or managing director the majority of sales information that we have that relates to his business. For example, we provide a weekly update to dealers. This includes a list of exactly what they purchased in each week in detail, exactly what orders are on the system, and any product difficulties with deliveries (order by order), along with a calendar month summary that builds through the year. We also list their engagement with us on support and service queries and their order status. 
So the reseller managers have a clear picture of issues which might affect their business, such as how they are doing against target, how many orders have been placed, how many technical queries their staff  have put in, etc.  This is something they value very strongly because most of them can’t get this from their own organisations.