VXP

Smarter Analytics For More Profitable Results

Tapped In Podcast Sales and Strategy for beer distributors

Tapped In – the podcast for Beverage Distributors that want to empower their sales team to drive business results

Hosted by Bud Dunn and Mike Hall of VXP

Tapped In Podcast is the ultimate resource on topics of interest to Sales Teams in the beverage distribution industry

Listen On Apple
Listen On Spotify

Episodes

Two things actually matter on a route. Maximize your space and the turns in it, and manage the relationship. Ross makes the case that every objective and incentive you add on top is a distortion of that job, and that's fine as long as you know you're doing it on purpose. From Episode 124 of Tapped In Sales: Programmed Reps vs. Scout Reps: Are You Over-Programming Your Team? 🎧 Full episode: https://youtu.be/VfT_svdbC1c @TappedInBeveragePodcast
Everything Else Is A Distortion #beersales
Ask a rep how they make more money and most of them say incentives. That means whatever you put on the incentive becomes their top five, every account, every day. So the question isn't whether incentives work. It's whether the right things are on them. From Episode 124 of Tapped In Sales: Programmed Reps vs. Scout Reps: Are You Over-Programming Your Team? 🎧 Full episode: https://youtu.be/VfT_svdbC1c @TappedInBeveragePodcast
Your Incentives Are The Priority List #beersales
About 20% of a hive ignores the waggle dance and goes looking for the next food source. Take those bees out and the hive collapses when the old source dries up. Same math on your sales team. If every rep only runs what's on PFP, nobody is finding what's next. From Episode 124 of Tapped In Sales: Programmed Reps vs. Scout Reps: Are You Over-Programming Your Team? 🎧 Full episode: https://youtu.be/VfT_svdbC1c @TappedInBeveragePodcast
No Scouts, No Hive #beersales
One client caps sales programs at six a month. Another runs 12 to 15, and the reps there can't name half of them. That's mental load, and it's quietly eating the execution you already paid for. Bud, Mike, and Ross get into how many programs a rep can actually carry, what happens when you blow past that number, and the difference between a rep who goes looking for the opportunity and a rep who only runs what you programmed. 🧠 Why mental load, not effort, is the real ceiling on execution 📋 The ride-with that produced 40 to-dos, and why the cap became five 🎯 Ross on why every objective and incentive distorts the job you actually hired for 🐝 Programmed reps vs. scout reps, and why you need the 20% who work off the list 🧹 Cleaning the clutter vs. spoon feeding, and where team leads cross the line 🔎 The one question audit: ask your reps to name last month's programs and count 🥤 Vodka aid is scaling fast. Spike Aid, Super Light, Rally Dog, and whose volume it's taking The gut check from this one: a senior leader walks a top account, can't find his hottest brand, and the rep says it isn't on PFP this month. The rep didn't think he did anything wrong. He was right. You programmed him. CHAPTERS 00:24 Ross discusses primary objectives: space and relationship sales 02:54 The concept of mental load and program complexity 06:53 The importance of prioritization and focus in sales programs 11:27 Ross on managing incentives and distortions 14:41 The role of team leads in mental load management 19:54 Signs of spoon-feeding and babying in sales teams 25:57 The scout bee analogy and innovation in sales 32:57 The dangers of overprogramming and program overload 36:37 Industry trends: RTDs, vodka aids, and innovation 41:52 Market size, scale, and new product launches 47:52 Cannibalization versus expansion in beverage alcohol 48:41 Closing remarks and listener engagement Tapped In Sales is the podcast for beer distributors, by beer distributors, brought to you by VXP. Questions, pushback, or a topic you want covered: info@vxptech.com Drop a comment with how many programs you ran last month. We'll tell you if it's too many. #BeerDistribution #SalesLeadership #PayForPerformance
Programmed Reps vs. Scout Reps: Are You Over-Programming Your Team?
Bev alc is down, so most teams stop selling. The market didn't take your whole truck away, it took part of one segment. Mike on why non-alc and the rest of the portfolio are where GP per CE is still sitting when volume falls apart. From Episode 123 of Tapped In Sales: Three Places to Find GP When Volume Falls Apart. 🎧 Full episode: https://youtu.be/h1yfcSLlo-c @TappedInBeveragePodcast
Sell The Whole Truck #beersales
Growth covered a lot of sloppy decisions for a long time. It isn't there anymore. Ross on why the days of consistent 5% growth are probably gone, and what that means for how you run your portfolio, your margin mix, and your coverage. From Episode 123 of Tapped In Sales: Three Places to Find GP When Volume Falls Apart. 🎧 Full episode: https://youtu.be/h1yfcSLlo-c @TappedInBeveragePodcast
The Tide Just Went Out #beersales
Cutting 5% and growing 5% are two completely different numbers, and two completely different outcomes. One is painful and one is fun, and most distributors reach for the painful one first because it's the one you can do alone in a room. Bud on why you can, and should, do both. From Episode 123 of Tapped In Sales: Three Places to Find GP When Volume Falls Apart. 🎧 Full episode: https://youtu.be/h1yfcSLlo-c @TappedInBeveragePodcast
Cutting 5% vs Growing 5% #beersales
Worst week since April. Down 8.6% on volume, down 5% on dollars, third bad week in a row. So why are clients running down 10, 11, even 15 still growing GP? The industry's official answer this month is that it got too hot outside. Nobody needs another weather report. What operators need is a list of places to go find the dollars when the cases aren't coming. We found three, and one of them is the exact cost cut most distributors are about to make. In this episode, we break down: 📉 What down 8.6% actually looks like at the client level, and why "soft" is the wrong word for it 📊 PPI at 4.7% against a 2% Fed target, and what your suppliers do with that number next 🚚 Selling the whole truck: packaged beverage is still growing 4 to 4.5% while bev alc bleeds 🎯 The client who took 160 under-serviced accounts, put three people on them, and projected 145% of target ✂️ The cost cut with no line on the P&L, and why trimming routes accelerates the volume decline 🥤 Good Boy up 150%, 14 RTD families in the top 50, and why this cycle doesn't look like malt 🔮 Bud changes a prediction in August, Mike calls it what it is Key takeaways: Same market, same consumer, same products, new attention. That's the whole story on those 160 accounts. "It's easy to tell my boss what the market did to me. It's not as easy to tell him what I did with the market I was given." Cutting 5% and growing 5% are two completely different numbers, and two completely different outcomes. There's no accounting line for the value of attention. You only see it later, in the volume. Sustainability isn't a cost-cutting project. It's being able to do this next year, and the year after that. Chapters: 00:00 Worst week since April 01:31 Fuel, energy, and the PPI number nobody watches 05:03 Down 10, 11, 15 on volume and still growing GP 09:26 Sell the whole truck, not just bev alc 11:40 160 accounts, three people, 145% of target 16:46 Six distributor deals and what sustainable really means 19:05 The cost cut with no line on the P&L 24:06 RTDs: Good Boy, Sazerac, and why this isn't the malt cycle 32:51 Spending more money to drink less 33:21 Molson Coors keeps giving up share 34:42 Prediction swap: does A-B buy Good Boy? 39:52 The Tapped In hat, one run only Drop a comment if you're seeing this in your market. Tapped In Sales is the podcast for beer distributors, by beer distributors. Hosted by Bud with Moneyball Ross and Data Mike of VXP. Questions or comments: info@vxptech.com #BeerDistribution #GPperCE #TappedInSales
Three Places to Find GP When Volume Falls Apart
"They're just a relief route, they don't need that." Heard it more than once. That relief person is covering your accounts when your rep is out, and they're the next rep you promote. Train them like it. From Episode 122 of Tapped In Sales: Covering the Route vs. Selling the Route. 🎧 Full episode: https://youtu.be/WuYGvRUSWek @TappedInBeveragePodcast
Relief Reps Deserve The Playbook #beersales
Subscribe