To outperform the competition, distributors must understand the real drivers of customer behavior and continuously align resources to match, says Steve Deist in Improve Market Access to Unlock Potential.

It is important to gain a clear understanding of customer behavior segments before making any changes, and big data gives distributors the tools to understand their customers and their own businesses far better than in the past. 

Rearranging, or completely revamping, the structure of the sales organization will likely be a necessary step in aligning resources. For many distributors, this will involve investing more in technology and marketing, and less in classic field sales.

"Because selling costs are probably the largest part of your controllable expenses, adjusting the structure of your sales organization is likely to be a big part of this step," Deist says. "This is why you can’t just leave it up to the sales force." 

Read more about achieving better sales alignment in Improve Market Access to Unlock Potential.