At the heart of a thriving distillery business, you’ll often find sales and advocacy strategies involving sales reps and brand ambassadors.
They are two pivotal roles. Key to them being successful is understanding that while they overlap in certain functions they deliver fundamentally different objectives. But that’s easier said than done…
Given that both roles are often allocated to the same person – or more accurately, both advocacy and sales targets are often set for against an individual’s KPIs – the two often get merged. That said, it really does pay to understand that they are not one and the same.
This article aims to delineate some of the differences, and shed light on the individual skill sets that make a successful sales rep and /or a proficient brand ambassador.
If you are looking to hire the right individuals or understand how to better focus one person’s role, take a look. If you have both already – this will help you understand how to maximise your team.
The role of advocacy (and brand ambassadors) in the sales funnel
At first glance, sales reps and brand ambassadors work towards a common goal: driving the brand forward. They both serve as faces of the brand, working to amplify brand presence and foster trust with customers.
This is especially true when the customer is an on-trade account.
Because brand advocacy is the crossover area between both roles, all individuals are trained in the same way and need to be fully aware of brand values, tone etc.
On paper, they are huge crossovers. It quickly differentiates ‘in the field’ however.
Often, the way teams (in multinational companies) are deployed is to lead with ambassadors who lay the foundation for the sales team to then follow up. Between them, it creates a Sales Funnel (consideration / conversion).
That often looks something like this… Brand Ambassadors leverage storytelling, education, and engagement to build a community of interested customers and brand enthusiasts. Sales reps then use the ground prepared by brand ambassadors to convert leads into profitable sales and supply contracts.
This is not to say that ambassadors don’t seal deals, nor that sales reps don’t create new leads and nurture strong lasting connections all on their own – of course they do. The above is just the typical way of working for most of the big names like Pernod, Diageo and Baccardi.
This is great for the multinationals. But what if you are a small brand, small budget and it is a combined role? What happens when you don’t have two or more people doing each job?
Before we can answer that, you also need to understand how big brands set different targets. By understanding this you can set appropriate performance metrics and optimise results, structure teams and create coherent schedules.
Typical Targets expected of Sales Reps
Brand owners want sales representatives to be driven by numbers, and be directly responsible for increasing the sales volume. Many write their salary contracts to reflect this – baseline salary, bonus payments per increment of volume delivered over target.
This allows reps to work towards tangible goals, converting leads into customers through proven sales strategies and techniques. Brands train them both in brand values and in improving their sales techniques, as well as provide tools to aid them and ensure they are supported in their quest to deliver results.
A good sales rep possesses excellent negotiation skills, and a deep understanding of the market dynamics. They have the ability to forge long-lasting relationships with distributors and retailers. They excel in strategic thinking, numbers, and have an acumen for spotting opportunities and capitalising on them to drive sales.
Sales Reps are typically assessed on volume metrics such as quarterly sales, market penetration, and customer retention rates. (And yes, you are welcome to copy-paste the above for your ideal candidate the next time you need to advertise on LinkedIn).
Typical Targets expected of Brand Ambassadors
Brand Ambassadors orbit around nurturing relationships and fostering brand affinity.
A proficient brand ambassador is a master storyteller with intrinsic links to the brand values. They should be, in an ideal world, the physical manifestation of your brand ethos and able to authentically weave the brand’s narrative through every interaction.
Brand Ambassadors exhibit a profound ability to connect with customers on an emotional level.
They work towards building a trustworthy and reputable brand image, involving customers in a narrative that transcends mere products. Through trainings, tastings, organised activities and more – they build bonds with potential customers and the brands they represent.
That’s a much less tangible set of values to objectively set targets against compared to Sales reps. Performance is typically gauged through engagement metrics like leads generated, community engagement rates, and the volume of new potential customers reached.
The pitfall is clear: Volume metrics vs Engagement metrics can create friction.
Sales reps are guided by quantifiable targets – sales – and often have their success metrics rooted in tangible volume metrics – volume.
Contrarily, brand ambassadors operate in a landscape where success is judged based on the quality of engagement, the cultivation of interest, and leads that have potential for conversion. A lot of that is highly subjective and much of it relies on collaboration to be converted.
Each role employs different goalposts to judge success. Due to the very nature of them being so far apart – it can easily set colleagues at odds with each other for no other reason than they are looking after their self-interests and pursuing what’s incentivised and expected of them.
What is the solution? Focus on commonalities and crossovers.
For those with different people fulfilling the roles –
Crafting a competent team entails understanding the distinctive skill sets required for each role and how to dovetail them together. Get high performers geared to the specifics of each role and make the boundaries and the expected ways they will be collaborating clear upfront.
Set communal targets. Build the understanding of how each service a different part of the act of selling and delivering customer service. The more this is spoken about and embraced, the better the team.
Alternatively, if you only have room for one person – accept that the metrics are mixed and openly discuss where your priority lies. “A bit of both” gets very messy, very quickly.
How can the roles of brand ambassadors & sales reps be dovetailed at a structural level?
By implementing the following structures, distillery owners and marketing managers can ensure sales reps and brand ambassadors function as a cohesive unit. It will pool their strengths and insights to drive brand growth and increase sales volume more effectively.
This structure is also a good way to work with Distributors (who typically provide sales reps). So, if you have a distributor and you want to support them by adding a Brand Ambassador, the following also applies to how you could co-ordinate their roles.
1 – Collaborative training programs
Develop training programs where sales reps and brand ambassadors learn side by side. Focus on building an understanding each other’s roles and fostering a collaborative spirit.
This could include workshops where they brainstorm to come up with strategies that utilise both their strengths, thereby creating a united front that leverages both sales tactics and brand storytelling effectively to increase volume.
Training BA’s to learn about sales and Sales Reps about brand does more than you can imagine. It anchors the understanding of the challenges each face. It builds cohesion, and develops a vested interest in setting up the other person well.
2 – Integrated communication channels
Establish platforms for seamless communication between the sales and brand advocacy teams (or individuals). It could involve setting up regular meetings or creating digital channels where they can share insights, feedback, and strategies.
This would ensure that vital information, such as customer feedback collected by brand ambassadors, can be used by sales reps to refine their strategies, and vice versa.
It also ensures that everyone is working towards an agreed Route to Market Strategy.
3 – Unified campaigns
Design marketing campaigns that involve both sales reps and brand ambassadors working towards a common goal. That could be new listings, increase volume rate, cementing customer retention etc.
For example, New Listings campaigns could encompass events where brand ambassadors build brand awareness and foster relationships, followed by strategic sales pitches from the sales reps to convert the engaged audience into customers.
Campaigns like this are frequent in the UK, where local ambassadors build word of mouth and interest ahead of the brand signing in with a regional distributor.
The key here is scheduling in appropriate team sequencing at planning level.
It’s not always about NEW customers!
Often the best way to increase a distillery’s volume is through existing accounts. “Selling through” and “selling out” ought to be every distillery’s obsession.
Leverage both your assets – Sales Reps and Brand Ambassadors to deliver this objective.
Sales reps should handle all the admin of ongoing sales – from invoices, credit and ensuring stock is delivered on time. They often dovetail into marketing teams, operations, and are actively managing distributors to keep stock flowing. Being out of stock = no sales!
As distillery owners, ensure they have success metrics that reflect service and supporting existing customers. Sales teams that are optimised for new accounts only will chase those goalposts. By contrast, those who have a more balanced target will ensure a better service levels that are likely to increase volumes over time.
Meanwhile, Brand Ambassadors aren’t just useful to create awareness and trust before a sale. They are key to continuing a valued relationship with existing customers and support ongoing volume drives through repeat training, support, and advocacy building. Factor this in their targets too – not just lead generation!
If you want to ensure you are consistently selling through – make sure you have incentivised both roles to continuously nurture relationships, going beyond the first sale to create engaged customers. Be obsessed by assisting that pull through, not just selling into accounts and leaving them to it.
TLDR – What is the big takeaway?
Understanding the interplay between Sales Reps and Brand Ambassadors is vital.
While interconnected in their goal to elevate the brand, they operate in slightly different spheres. One focuses on sales conversion and continued sales and the other on building trust and nurturing ongoing relationships.
The distinction in how success is measured for each — tangible volume metrics for sales reps and engagement and lead metrics for brand ambassadors — underlines the necessity to hire with different skill sets in mind for each role. It also explains the importance of proactively instigating a holistic approach to the sales chain.
If you don’t, two roles can either double up the workload, underperform or worse still – not create the desired outcome altogether.
Recognising these differences can be the cornerstone in building a good team. Fundamentally, getting it right involves understanding that the value of either role is greatly increased when they are fully co-operative and integrated.
Last but not least – if both roles fall to the same person, understand that their targets should be split too. There’s a lot of crossover, but it’s not one and the same. Be clear and fair about what’s expected.
