Smart moves to educate an outside sales force

Nation's Business, Dec, 1997 by Roberta Maynard

When a company depends on retailers for a large portion of its revenues, it's critical that the retailers' sales forces understand the product and present it properly to customers. But educating an outside sales force is easier said than done for a fledgling, company with limited resources--a firm such as Elixir Tonics & Teas.

Elixir is a two-year-old Los Angeles firm that makes herbal products, and about 40 percent of its $800,000 in sales this year will be to Nordstrom and The Nature Company. The remainder will come from mail-order and private-label sales and from sales made at Elixir's retail store.

Educating outside salespeople is particularly important to Elixir because of its type of product, says Edgar Veytia, co-owner of the company with Jeffrey A. Stein. "We have to overcome misconceptions about herbal products," he says, "misconceptions that there is no scientific data, that there is only folklore about such remedies."

For a start, Elixir sends its staff herbalists to train as many as 12 salespeople from each of the 15 Nordstrom stores selling the company's products. A video provides refresher training, supplementing the black-and-white training materials that Elixir produces in-house. Salespeople are encouraged to call the herbalists directly if they have questions about the products.

To gauge the effectiveness of the training, Elixir's staff monitors retailers' sales closely and gathers information from sales associates so it can make changes in the training as products are rolled out.

The owners' approach with retailers is to keep the information and the presentation simple. For example, to focus on best sellers and avoid product overlap, Elixir has pared its offerings at Nordstrom to 31 herbal products from 140 and to 10 teas from 24.

"We've spent hours and hours trying to cut away information, trying to eliminate ambiguity, to get just the right amount of information for them to make basic decisions," says Veytia. "Our system works like a Web site. It begins with clear, succinct sales information, with links to take you deeper if you want more information about herbal remedies." Soon, Elixir's point-of-sale materials will be supplemented by an information-by-fax system for customers.

Veytia has further advice for companies facing a similar challenge: "In thinking out and designing training for an outside sales force, you really have to start at the end user's perspective. Find out what that person needs or wants to know, then work backward."

Having a retail store, he adds, has been a tremendous tool, both as a way to get customer feedback and as a place to hone staff presentations.