A LeadGen.com Case History
Marketing HVAC Systems to Hospitals
Many manufacturers utilize Manufacturers Reps to help sell their products in local markets. Such a strategy can enable the manufacturer to avoid having to hire, train, support and pay as many direct employees, reducing payroll cost, overhead and exposure. It often gives them an easier entree into local markets and customers because the Manufacturers Rep already has the relationships. And it enables the product to be integrated in larger systems that often get specified by third parties with whom they have no relationship.
The major downside that people traditionally have with this strategy is that you tend to have to give up a considerable amount of margin. And you lose quite a bit of account control. But if you can be profitable with the split, and don't care about account control, it can be worth it.
Many companies, however, find that the strategy sometimes fails to bring victory. The lower account control can lead to substitution. Relying on Reps for market intelligence means you really don't know what's going on in the market. And you still have to train and motivate the Reps, which can be a greater burden - given what you're giving up in margin - than it's worth compared to just having salespeople.
For a manufacturer of HVAC equipment, these minor issues were adding up to major problems. They were losing market share. They were under price pressure. And they weren't hearing about many major deals they could have qualified for. So they called in LeadGen.com.
For a fraction of what it would have cost for an in-house market research, lead generation and sales force, LeadGen.com was able to identify opportunities, and generate leads and appointments that the manufacturer then gave to their independent Reps - enabling the company to dominate the hospital and lab markets they were targeting.
And as icing on the cake, they've been able to virtually eliminate substitution, and get specced in on projects - effectively locking out their competition.
