Marketing
-
Social Media Drives Sales
Online networking websites lead to sales for MHEDA distributors. -
Distributor Niche Marketing
Distributors can capitalize on growing end-user markets. As everyone knows by now, the last couple years were not among the material handling industry’s finest. Many of our customers reined in costs, and, as a result, revenues of both distributors and manufacturers took a hit. Notice I said “many of our customers” and not “all of our customers.” [...] -
Distributor Niche Marketing
Methods for distributors to capitalize on growing end-user markets. -
Taking It To The Streets
Use of vehicle wraps can be an effective marketing strategy for material handling equipment distributors. By Paul Bilson. -
You Can Win This Price War
A pricing strategy helps equipment distributors emerge from the price war victorious in the material handling industry. By Tom Reilly. -
Anniversary Scrapbook
Kudos to the companies celebrating milestone anniversaries in 2010. -
Happy Anniversary!
Companies in the Material Handling Equipment Distributor Association celebrating milestone anniversaries -
Interactive Marketing: A New Strategic Challenge
Marketing your material handling company online. By Michelle Kissinger. -
Changing A Negative Into A Positive
The challenging economy presents an opportunity for material handling distributors to increase marketing at a crucial time and maintain financial success. By John R. Graham -
MHEDA Makes Its Mark At ProMat
According to MHIA, ProMat 2009 was the largest event in the history of the show, featuring roughly 800 exhibitors, 100 seminars and visitors from more than 90 countries. -
Getting The Most Out of A Trade Show
Christine Corelli gives tips on how to gameplan for a tradeshow to get the most possible business out of it. -
First-Rate Voicemail Messages
If you’re taking time off for the holidays, you can expect the people calling you will hear your voicemail message. Help both the caller and yourself by following these tips and make your message as painless as possible. -
Marketing Your Dealership
MasterLift recognized the importance of taking risks and innovation when they created their own brand of customizable forklifts targeted towards end-users. By Gary Wilson -
Lifting Sales Through Marketing
Many Edgers who are new to the material handling industry are often placed in a marketing role, either as their sole focus or as part of their larger duties. What does it take to effectively market forklifts today, and what makes a marketer successful? -
To Show Or Not To Show…That Is The Question
Trade shows offer material handling distributors a chance to showcase their products to a large number of potential customers. By Meg Merritt. -
Powerful Marketing Strategies That Produce Sales
A nine-part sales results marketing strategy to increase your company’s market awareness and boost sales. By John R. Graham. -
Catalogs: A Great Complement To Your Marketing Program
With the variety of sales methods currently available, distributors may be overlooking the value of catalog marketing. By Lisa Berkeley. -
How Do You Know Your Customers Are Satisfied?
Customer satisfaction surveys help ensure customer remain satisfied with your service and show a dedication to communication with the customer. By Shiela Drao. -
Customer Events
Well-planned and well-organized customer events for material handling distributors are a powerful distributor marketing tool. By Gary T. Moore. -
Trade Show Sales Success
Material handling trade shows are an excellent place to increase market awareness and network with customers and potential customers. By Christine Corelli. -
Marketing Plans
A material handling distributor’s marketing plan should take into consideration market potential, core research, customer satisfaction and other targeted surveys. By Chris Doyle. -
Pre-Call Planning
Pre-call planning is a detailed, step-by-step process that involves research and analysis, and can help a salesperson reduce call time and achieve better results. By Don Buttrey. -
Marketing — More Or Less?
Marketing should not be put on hold during a down economy. There are twelve items a distributor should focus on when marketing in a slow economy. By Gary T. Moore. -
A Powerful Marketing Advantage: Your Company’s Anniversary
Company anniversaries offer an excellent opportunity to advertise, promote and demonstrate your company’s value to customers. By Stephen Fossler
Sales Management
-
Critical Sales Leadership And Coaching Skills
For material handling management professionals, the management of a sales force can be a daunting task. Keeping material handling sales professionals headed in the right direction can be simpler if you follow these steps. By Don Buttrey. -
Proactive Sales Management
Many material handling sales managers are running the risk of turning their job into a reactive one where they spend their time responding to things when they should be out there making things happen. By Joseph Ellers. -
The New Breed of Material Handling Managers
Recently, key leaders in the material handling industry were asked to discuss the traits all new managers must possess to succeed. The results of this material handling survey may surprise you. By William Sitter. -
Goal Setting And Material Handling Salespeople
One thing every material handling sales manager should spend significant time doing is setting goals with their material handling sales staff. Goals give salespeople something tangible to work for. By Landy Chase.
Sales Staff
-
What Drives Your Top Performers?
During these tough times, focus on keeping your top performers engaged and replacing salespeople who don’t have what it takes to step up to the challenge. By Patrick Sweeney. -
Beyond The Sales Pitch
A comparison of how veterans versus new comers in the material handling industry view sales. -
The Sales Professional
Sales Professional Training Inc.’s Don Buttrey outlines the 10 requirements to be a material handling sales professional. By Don Buttrey. -
We’re Walking. We’re Walking.
12 tips for staying sharp while attending your first Annual Convention. By Meg Merritt. -
Restoring Value To The Selling Process
With greater competition, the lift truck industry is seeing purchasing decisions center around product price. This is not surprising. What is surprising is the change in the relationship between price and value. By Matt Senecal. -
Becoming A Selling Organization
Sales Professional Training Inc.’s Don Buttrey explains how to create a culture of selling at a material handling company. By Don Buttrey. -
The Personality Of A Top Salesperson
Caliper’s Herb Greenberg, Ph.D., describes the personality of a top material handling salesperson. By Herbert M. Greenberg, Ph.D. -
Sales Superstars No Shortcut To Success
Profiles of top material handling salespeople.
Sales Success Stories
Selling Strategies
-
Sales of Used Storage Equipment Benefits Both Customer and Distributor
Keeping an inventory of used equipment helps save customers money and reuses materials for sustainable business practices. -
Sales Success On The Web
Five proven methods to sell material handling equipment online. By Art Arellano. -
10 Tips To Better Pricing
Setting the right price is a key to sales success. By Rafi Mohammed, Ph.D. -
How We Did It
Material handling equipment distributors share their secrets to earning Top Dealer recognition from suppliers. -
Get Serious About Customer Service
Sales expert Christine Corelli offers tips for first-class customer service at a material handling equipment distribution company. -
Earning Customer Loyalty
A material handling equipment manufacturer describes how he was able to develop a loyal customer base and explains five lessons that enabled him to do so. By Ron Gilleland. -
Sales Is A People Business
70% of success is how you manage your relationships with other people—only 30% of success is attributable to technical skills. For salespeople and managers, this means keeping the focus on customers. By Tom Reilly. -
Sales From Another Perspective
By looking at sales and selling from a different perspective, salespeople can increase their productivity and maximize efficiency. By David Rubinstein. -
Solution Selling In A Flat World
The Design for Six Sigma methodology is an approach to strategic account management that involves five steps: define, measure, analyze, design and verify. By Mike Ensby. -
Thank-You Notes: The Why’s and How’s
MHEDA Edge shows the importance of writing thank-you notes and gives tips on how to write them correctly. -
The Bane Of Salespeople
Customers object to product prices for a number of reasons including attitude-based reactions, emotional objections and ego-driven objections. By Tom Reilly. -
Selling Warranty Contracts
Selling service contracts along with a forklift or other piece of material handling equipment offers benefits to forklift dealers and end users. By George Schmid and John Burkart. -
Prospecting
For a sales professional, prospecting involves looking for new customers and looking for new decision-makers at existing customer locations. By Joe Ellers. -
Who Am I?
Customers in today's material handling market are more educated and more knowledgeable than previous generations, and expect a higher level of service from their material handling distributor. By Christine Corelli. -
The Seven Touch Points of Communication
It would seem that in today’s high-tech world, communication would be simpler than ever before. Oddly enough, though, there are 7 touch points of communications that can have you fouling up enhancing a business relationship. By Nancy Friedman. -
As Doors Close, Windows Open
Slow economic times offer opportunity for material handling distributors to supplement sales with new forklift maintenance programs and other incremental sales. By Tim DeMarse. -
Selling Excellent Service
Selling service is critical to maintaining sales and ensuring long-term sales success in the material handling marketplace. By Don Chance. -
Incentivize Your Technicians
You must help your material handling equipment technicians understand they are a fundamental part of your business. By Lars Flink Jr. -
Hiring A Sales Trainer
Hiring a sales trainer can increase a sales team’s efficiency, but the employer must evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the team and determine what type of training the employees require. By Daren Froeschle. -
Overcoming A Selling Slump
Sales slumps can be broken by reversing negative thinking, getting back to basics, adapting to the market environment, being creative and focusing on relationships. By Christine Corelli. -
Selling Through Hard Times
During a recession, material handling salespeople must keep in mind that times will get better. By Herbert M. Greenberg. -
Raising Customers’ Levels of Efficiency
MHEDA Edge spoke with a random sample of salespeople and asked them about the inefficient practices they’re seeing in their customers’ operations and how they’re striving to help the customer to meet those needs. -
Veteran Instills Project Tips
Jeff Ross, president of ESS Group, offers a few tips on how to make you first project go as smoothly as possible. -
Does Your Sales Team Sell Products Or Solutions?
Offering a customer creative ideas that are solutions to problems is a more effective selling strategy in the material handling industry than simply offering a product. By John Sweeney. -
The Lost Art Of Persuasion
Presenting ideas in an appealing manner, such as with PowerPoint, increase the effectiveness of a presentation, particularly when images are used. By Paul LeRoux. -
Don’t Be Spooked By Customer Complaints
Serving customers means fielding complaints. That’s the nature of business. What can make or break your company, however, is the way you respond to a complaint. By Don Buttrey. -
Hey, The Truck Is Going Right By There Anyway!
Incremental sales are sales that can be made without incurring any increase in expenses, such as delivering to another customer within the same area as a scheduled delivery. By Albert D. Bates, Ph.D. -
The Effects Of Discounting
Customers in the material handling market vary in their level of importance and profitability and pricing should be adjusted to reflect this variation. By Graham Foster. -
Do You Want To Be An Industry Leader?
Contact relationship management systems can be a boon to salespeople. By Judy Palmer. -
Change Your Sales Approach
A sales approach should focus on communication with the customer to determine their material handling needs and offer a new approach. By John R. Graham. -
Sales Force Pricing
Stockholm Syndrome in sales occurs when distributor salespeople identify with their material handling customers and lower prices out of empathy. By Albert D. Bates, Ph.D. -
Selling Casters
Casters are often overlooked as a value-added selling opportunity. In the competitive price market that is material handling, a little extra selling effort on features and benefits can net distributors increased margins on casters. By Brian Hakeem. -
Price Is Right
For many distributors, pricing pressures are taking more of a toll now than at any other time in recent memory. When is the right time to level a price increase, and what is the best way to help customers accept it? -
Know What You Want
The most effective salespeople (and those who ultimately make the most money) start every day with a very clear picture of what they are trying to do. By Joe Ellers. -
Selling Service
Selling service instead of a product is selling a relationship based on trust. Products can be seen and tested. Service is more intangible and constantly influenced by the interactions between provider and receiver. By Kevin Powell. -
Managing Commissions With Dealer Profitability
Today’s sales manager must be able to manage the sales process for his dealership. He must also be capable of reconciling his management team’s expectations for profits. By Chris Beckman. -
Fast-Paced Market Requires Fast-Paced Solutions
Speed reduces competition and increases margin. By Steve Lippert. -
Nowhere To Go But Up
How to tell your customer about a price increase. By Matt Maddock. -
Sell Like A Change Agent
Practicing value-based selling leaves a customer with little to differentiate between you and a competitor other than price. By Richard P. Farrell. -
Deadline Crunch
High-pressure, quick-turnaround orders can be successful if communication and cooperation remain at a high level throughout the process. By Bryan Duncan. -
Why You Should Lease Your Company Vehicles
All material handling distributors are faced with a decision whether to buy or lease their service vehicles. Leasing the vehicles preserves capital and gives material handling distributors more financial flexibility. By Jim Rose Jr., CVLE. -
Liability For The Sale Of Used Equipment
For material handling distributors, liability concerns are to be taken seriously. Lawsuits can cripple even a well-run company, so staying informed on the topic of material handling liability is a must. By David C. Field. -
Long Term Rental Or Lease
The difference between a long term material handling rental and a lease are small and hard to spot. It’s often a matter of perspective. Therefore, material handling distributors must understand their customer’s perspective. By Rick Kwiatkowski. -
Formal Sales Negotiation
Salespeople engage in both formal and informal negotiations, but must be aware that they are constantly negotiating with a customer, whether it is formal or not. By Jim Pancero.
