Page 18 - BOSS Today Issue 19

Opinion

BACK

TO

BASICS?

t may not be ‘sexy’, but it is time
With the OP Ito go back to selling products! The public wants providers’, focused on providing
what the public gets?
cost savings to their customers
market having While the latest figures indicate While there may be many in and could leave product selling
shifted from that, after six difficult years, the our industry who share this to catalogues. Some 20 years on,
catalogues have been shown to
sentiment, within the context
UK economy is slowly improving,
selling products some recent data for the UK office of the CIM’s.definition of be reference books - not selling
to providing products (OP) market is indicating marketing, the implications of tools - and selling ‘cost savings’
has been found to be a ‘blind
such a view could be negative
that sales in 2013 are c9% below
solutions for last year, strongly suggesting that and damaging. Who knew that alley’. I would be interested
to know how many end-users
end-user the OP industry is not moving they wanted their own mobile now regard their OP dealer as
in line with the economy. Is this
playlist of music until they saw
customers, purely due to the maturity of the an iPod? Who thought that a ‘service provider’, rather than
OP market, or are other factors they had a use for sticky pieces a product supplier: not many, I
Martin Eames playing a role? If so, can this be of coloured paper until they suspect!
To my mind, there is nothing
argues that reversed? experienced Post-It® Notes? wrong with being a service
The Chartered Institute
Industries can only survive
something has of Marketing (CIM) defines and grow through developing, provider, but it is a very
marketing as ‘the management launching and creating demand different style of business to
been lost along process for identifying, for new products. Without this, being a product supplier, and
the way... anticipating and satisfying all industries deteriorate through one unfortunate result of the
customer requirements commoditisation and value transition has been that the art
profitably.’ However, two years erosion – a fate that has and of selling product - arguably an
ago I attended an industry is affecting many in the UK OP OP dealer’s traditional raison
conference in which, during a industry. d’être - has been lost, leaving
fairly downbeat presentation To make matters worse, I manufacturers as the only
on the prospects for the UK believe that there is a perception people in the supply chain who
OP industry, a very senior in the OP industry that products are proactively selling products.
executive of a major dealer - and the art of selling products However, at Product
stated: - have become unsexy! This Promotion Services, our
“We are no longer able to trend started in the mid 1990s, experience of working with
sell products to customers that when OP resellers were told that OP dealers has indicated that
they do not know they want.” they had to become ‘service many have the desire to focus

18 BOSS TODAY | October 2013

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