A good starting point is to sit them down and objectively do the maths with them. Here is a formula I used recently to persuade a dealer network to wrap itself in the manufacturer’s brand:

• Estimate the percentage of your total revenue from product sales, A.
• Add to this number, the percentage of your product sales which comes from the main supplier, B.
• Estimate the percentage of the rest of your product sales which is dependent upon the sale of product from the main supplier and add this, C.
• Estimate what percentage of your services revenue comes directly or indirectly from main supplier product, add this, D.
• Finally do the sum A + B + C + D ÷ 4.

Then refer them to the diagram (see below).

Let’s assume they end up in the 60% plus window.  I find that what often follows is a frank discussion.  Maybe you, as the supplier, need to admit that being this dependent has its drawbacks, as well as its advantages for dealers. You can mull these through with them and then suggest that, as they are in this position, why not take advantage of the upside and use a powerful supplier brand to build their credibility and win new customers?

In my experience what really electrifies them is if you can bring up an example of a dealer who has done precisely this, and who, as a direct result, has enjoyed huge success. 

Dealer resistance to all this will vary from sector to sector and industry to industry. I was recently working for a heavy engineering client whose dealer chain couldn’t wait to exploit the supplier brand, as this was the strategy that the supplier’s largest competitor had adopted long ago.  In other industries there may be more resistance.  But even in industries where resellers have resolutely maintained their independence, such as IT, a very large number of dealers have built their business on an Oracle, a Cisco or an IBM.  They could be a lot more effective if they were prepared to unleash the brand power behind such names.