Prefer Your Preferreds!

The concept of “preferred” suppliers has been around for decades and I’m confident that the vast majority of readers have such a roster. Despite the good intentions, however, most travel professionals inadvertently and unwittingly minimize just how effective selling preferred suppliers can be for their business.

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Clearly, you need to have a relatively limited list of preferred suppliers, and if you don’t have such a core group in place, make it a point to do so immediately by leveraging your consortium or host agency. Even if you’ve had a list of preferred suppliers for years, consider the following.

How many is the “right” number of preferred suppliers?
If every supplier is preferred, no one is preferred. You can’t have a preferred supplier for every need or situation, and so your list should be extensive enough to cover most of your selling needs most of the time. If you have too many preferred suppliers, your sales volume will be highly fragmented, making you an insignificant distributor for all your suppliers.

If your preferred sales are less than 80 percent of your total sales, you’ve either got a roster that doesn’t support your needs or, more likely, you’re not effectively recommending—and closing—preferred sales often enough. While there are occasions when you might have more than one preferred in a competitive set, more often than not this is unnecessary. Typically, agents tend to have too many on their list, so think about paring your list down.

Are you completely intimate with your preferred products?
Your clients expect you to be the expert and if you have too many preferred suppliers, there’s no way you’ll have the in-depth product knowledge that’s required. The more familiar you are with the preferred supplier’s products, the more comfortable and confident you’ll be selling them. That means more sales for you and your preferred partner.

Are you as committed to your suppliers as you expect them to be to you?
When you ask your suppliers for support, whether in terms of marketing dollars, enhanced commissions, bonuses for achieving goals or other requests, they are rightfully expecting the same level of support from you in return.

Do you have a plan to deliver for the supplier?
Professionals develop and execute a blueprint to achieve a sales goal through effective marketing, public relations, selling, training and other strategies, so it’s entirely reasonable for the preferred supplier to expect a well-thought-out plan from you. What sales volume will you deliver? Doing the “best you can” is not a commitment! What increased or preferential access will your suppliers have to your customers?

Are your marketing and training activities aligned with your suppliers?
With rare exception, you should be exclusively promoting your preferred suppliers’ products and a non-preferred supplier “flash sale” is not justification for promoting that vendor. Don’t allow non-preferred suppliers to do product training. A professional sales representative will understand it’s not a personal insult and they will, albeit grudgingly at times, respect your rigid adherence to this.

Do you consistently deliver results for your suppliers?
“Selling” is not necessarily executing what customers think they want to buy. While there certainly are occasions when it’s acceptable to sell the customer a non-preferred product, the vast majority of your sales (80 percent of the time or more) should be with your preferred suppliers. Converting the customer from what they think they should buy to what you want them to buy—because it’s the best product for them—can usually be done if you possess good selling skills.

Do you still think “pushing” preferred suppliers is “stiffing” the customer?
You selected your preferred suppliers because they are financially stable and offer the consumer a quality product that’s a great value, not just because they’re paying you a higher commission or providing you with some other incentive.

Consistently selling from a preferred supplier list is one of the most important things you can do in running a profitable business, even if you are a “one-person show.” The benefits to you—and your customers—are immense, but the concept requires you to have the “right” list and to consistently support it. When you do that, the suppliers will support you and your customer. Everybody wins.