The assessment of indirect sales management efficiency involves four building blocks: analysis, business planning, support and execute, monitoring.

1. The Importance of Indirect
Sales Across Different
Industries in Europe
A study by students from the
Rotterdam School of Management

2. The assessment of indirect sales
management efficiency involves four
building blocks:
2
3
4
Analysis
Business Planning
Support and execute
Monitoring
1

3. Howaboutsales 3
155 companies who
had an indirect sales
strategy were analyzed
10.1%
2.4%
45.9%
34%
(rest of EU)
HEADQUARTER
LOCATIONS

4. Howaboutsales 4
Importance questions (Q1)
Aimed to determine the
importance of the building
block to the company’s
indirect sales management.
Questions for the Assessment of Each
Building Blocks
Need questions (Q2 & Q3)
Aimed to measure the
company’s need for
Howaboutsales’ BRM tool.
Howaboutsales 4

5. Howaboutsales 5
Figure 4.2. Companies’ scores on the importance of the building blocks
Business Planning
Support and execute Monitoring
86 percent (134 companies) found
it (very) important to understand
the potential of different channel
partners.
83 percent (128 companies)
found it (very) important to have
different business plans for
different business partners.
80 percent (124 companies)
found it (very) important to
support its channel partners in
the execution of their sales
strategy.
74 percent (115 companies)
found it (very) important to
constantly monitor what kind of
support works for their different
sales channel partners.
Importance of the Four Building Blocks
Analysis

6. Howaboutsales 6
“
”
Companies must be able to differentiate potentially
profitable partners, from those that won’t live up to
their full potential.
1. Analysis
14% (22 companies) said
they had little insight into the
potential of their different
partners.
28% (43 companies)
lacked the right tools to
analyse the potential of the
different channel partners.
“The personal fit is very important; we need
to believe
in the person to maintain a long-term
relation.”
“The current analysis of the performance
potential of
the indirect sales partners is done
unprofessionally.”
Co Owner @
Supplier to leading retailers
across Europe
CEO @
German Chemical Industry

7. Howaboutsales 7
“
”
Different partners have different needs, so there
should be different marketing and sales activities for
each partner.
2. Business Planning
23% (35 companies)
state that they have the
different business plans for
different business partners,
meaning 77 percent (120
companies) that do not have
this.
25% (38 companies)
indicate that they lack the
right tools to develop different
business plans for different
business partners.
For example, some partners may use an omni-channel approach,
manage leads, plan activities and allocate budget, and others may
get better results with a different mix of sales activities.
“There is just a general strategy to follow,
which is communicated mainly through email
and Skype calls.
It is a push strategy.”
“There is no individual strategy for each
dealer.”
Co Owner @
Supplier to leading retailers
across Europe
CEO @
German Chemical Industry

8. Howaboutsales 8
“
”
Support and execution ensures that partners have the
right resources and information through planning and
carrying out trainings and meetings.
3. Support & Execution
12% (18 companies)
declare that they are not able
to sufficiently support channel
partners in the execution of
their sales strategy and that
they do not have the right tools
to support the channel
partners in the execution of
their sales strategy.
This means 88% (137
companies) in the sample did
not have control over this
building block.
“There is very limited support, if at all.” “Support is lacking. It is often difficult to
support or offer possibilities like elearning
due to language barriers. Support is also
difficult to handle as the dealers are not
working exclusively for cph.”
Co Owner @
Supplier to leading retailers
across Europe
CEO @
German Chemical Industry

9. Howaboutsales 9
“
”
Involves observing, analyzing and evaluating the
partner’s performance. It compares multiple partners
to determine which partners are performing well,
and which ones are not.
4. Monitoring
“Proper monitoring is not possible because it is
difficult to get all data. Wholesalers who have
big selling volumes are powerful and less open
to share all the information.
They are not sharing the data because they are
seeing “name_comapny” as a competitive and
are afraid of sharing information.”
Only 25% (39 companies) indicate that they, through consistent
monitoring of their channel partners, are able to analyse what kind of
support works for different sales channel partners.
“The area manager calls the distributer like
once a month to talk, but these conversations
are very superficial and not professionally
done. There is no real monitoring of the
performance even though appropriate
monitoring and execution would lead to better
results.”
National sales manager @
World's largest brewery
CEO @
German Chemical Industry

10. Howaboutsales 10
The researchers considered the following
industries in the study:
• Agricultural and Forestry
• Arts, Entertainment & Recreation
• Business Service
• Electric Utilities
• Lodging
• Manufacturing
• Professional Service
• Real Estate
• Wholesale
The Importance of
Four Building Blocks
Across Different
Industries

11. Howaboutsales 11
The more important companies found these building blocks, the better they
are performing on them. This likelihood was less strong in the industries—
manufacturing, agricultural and forestry, and professional services sector.
At the upper right quadrant, are companies that consider the building
blocks as very important and have a high need for improvement.
Note: Most companies surveyed were from the manufacturing industry, so
there are more data points for it, as compared to the agriculture and
professional services industry.
Importance of the Four Building Blocks
Across Different Industries

12. Howaboutsales 12
40% of sales generated in the manufacturing
industry are from indirect sales.
Of the 40+ leading companies we recently surveyed, 75%rely on
Indirect Channels for a significant amount of revenue.
Source: Alexander Group
Indirect Sales in the Manufacturing
Industry
“The biggest problem with indirect sales is
that companies don’t know how their
products are used. If they knew more about
the end-products, they could be more
responsive to customer needs and improve
their supply chain.”
Manufacturing Branch Organisation
“
”
“There is a need to implement and execute
those four building blocks more and have a
software would be helpful. Both sides—the
dealer and manager—need to be more
consequent in information sharing.
CEO @ German Chemical Industry

13. Howaboutsales 13
48% of sales generated in the agricultural and
forestry sector are from indirect sales.
Mean score for Importance of four building blocks - 37.71 / 60
The agriculture and forestry industry’s got the highest average
percentage in indirect sales—48%.
Among milk producers in Germany, only 15% of farmers
sold their products directly to their customers.
Indirect sales channels for large firms: specialty stores,
production and marketing groups; supermarkets and market
vendors
Indirect sales channels of smaller and medium sized companies:
big corporations.
Indirect Sales in the Agricultural and
Forestry Industry

14. Howaboutsales 14
IT sectors rely on indirect sales. 23% of sales
generated in the professional services sector are
from indirect sales.
Mean score for importance of the four building blocks - 37.20 / 60
IT companies sell software through indirect channels
which have access to mid ranged companies.
There has also been a dramatic of a shift away from direct sales
and toward partnerships as the technology industry. Studies of
tech companies found a decrease in direct sales to end
consumers by over 20% in some cases. Moreover, more than
70% of global goods are sold through indirect sales channels,
and this number is expected to grow.
Howaboutsales’ competitors in the US also provide indirect sales
software solutions to IT service companies.
Indirect Sales in the Professional
Services Sector

15. Howaboutsales 15
How to Get Started
With Managing
Indirect Sales
Channels
Request a demo
Howaboutsales’ (HAS) Business Relationship
Management (BRM) software is the first software
to-date that enables businesses’ to collaborate
with indirect sales partners. Howaboutsales
focuses on businesses that sell through other
businesses (intermediaries, branches or agents).
Howaboutsales customers realise more than
10% production increase and 10% efficiency
gains.

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