BLOOMINGTON, MN (BRAIN)—Quality Bicycle Products recently brought on its first two independent sales reps after three decades of employing only an inside sales team.
The distributor is looking to hire four more territory reps by the end of the year, said Todd Cravens, director of sales and marketing for QBP.
That's in addition to 11 full-time sales employees who work from the company's headquarters in Bloomington, Minnesota. The field reps will be based in northern and southern California, Oregon/Washington, Colorado/Utah, New York City and Massachusetts. The positions in Oregon/Washington and Colorado/Utah positions are already filled.
QBP has traditionally staffed a sales team that focused solely on selling the distributor’s entire catalog or QBP as a company to dealers.
The new sales group will focus primarily on Ridley and Lazer—both of which are distributed exclusively by QBP in the U.S.—and QBP-owned brands Salsa, Surly, Civia, All-City. They will also sell QBP's general P & A products.
“The brands that we have chosen sales reps to sell have very good sell through, offer great product value and are backed up with strong logistical support. Our goal is that our sales reps will add additional value beyond what QBP has historically been able to offer,” Cravens said.
Reps will also provide shop staff education and warranty and event support.
Cravens said the new program was developed based on feedback from retailers and vendors, as well as looking at how its competitors operate.
“We’ve had active sales group for quite some time. What we’re doing is putting a sharper focus on it in terms of priority and I think that helps the person in the field,” he said.
The new rep structure takes the place of QBP’s Euro Sales Group, a short-lived division formed by the distributor last year to focus on Ridley, Lazer and Fulcrum.
“We’ve closed that program and replaced it in a more robust fashion. There are more brands in this. That’s something, it was an experiment and we learned a boatload. ESG was a really small number of people, we definitely have more people in this initiative,” he said.
Cravens said, moving forward, QBP would continue to look for additional brands that fit in with the new sales initiative.
—Nicole Formosa
nformosa@bicycleretailer.com
