Welcome to the Jungle: Win with the Basics
Welcome to the Jungle: Win with the Basics
Episode 115: Leveraging Vendor Lunch & Learns to Build Knowledge, Relationships, and Sales Confidence
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Good day, everybody. Today we are discussing one of the most underutilized resources available to every citywide location, our vendor network. When most people think about vendors, they think about products, pricing, or placing orders. But some of the greatest value our vendors provide isn't found in a catalog, it's found in the expertise, education, and local support they bring to our markets. One of the best ways to tap into that value is through vendor luncheon learns. The concept is simple. Request a vendor schedule 60 to 90 minute session with your staff and or independent contractors. This will provide education on the products, services, equipment, or industry expertise. These sessions are designed to be informative, interactive, and practical. They're not sales presentations. They're opportunities to learn directly from the people who know the products best. For FSMs, sales professionals, operations teams, and independent contractors, these sessions provide an opportunity to better understand the solutions available in the marketplace and how those solutions can help solve customer problems. But product knowledge is only part of the benefit. Lunch and Learns also help build relationships with local vendor representatives. Those relationships can become incredibly valuable over time. When a customer has a unique challenge, needs technical expertise, requests a demonstration, or asks questions that go beyond our day-to-day knowledge, your local vendor representative can become an extension of your team. Think about the confidence that that creates. Instead of trying to solve every problem alone, you have a trusted local expert who can assist with recommendations, provide supporting information, attend customer meetings, or help demonstrate solutions that strengthen your proposal. In many cases, those vendor relationships can be the difference between simply quoting a service and becoming a trusted advisor to the customer. Another major advantage of Lunch and Learns is the hands-on experience they provide. Reading about a product in a brochure or watching YouTube videos on a process is one thing. Actually touching it, using it, seeing it demonstrated, and discussing it with your peers creates a completely different learning experience. These sessions function like workshops where attendees can interact with equipment, evaluate products firsthand, ask questions, compare solutions, and learn from real world applications. That hands-on exposure helps teams retain information and build confidence in recommending products and services to customers. The good news is that finding vendors willing to participate is easy. Citywide U contains a list of national vendor partners that actively support lunch and learn programs. These vendors have the resources, expertise, and desire to educate our teams and independent contractors. Many already have established training materials, product demonstrations, and local representatives ready to support your market. All you need to do is reach out, schedule time, and invite your staff and IC partners to attend. Vendor Lunch and Learns are the more than training sessions. They are opportunities to increase product knowledge, strengthen vendor relationships, create local subject matter experts, and provide hands-on learning experiences that improve confidence and sales effectiveness. The stronger your vendor relationships become, the more resources you have available to support your customers, your ICs, and your business. Thank you for listening today and consider scheduling your next vendor lunch and learn. The knowledge relationship and expertise you build may become one of your market's most valuable competitive advantages.