In partnership with 212F, Stanley Black & Decker transformed a stagnant relationship with their business customers into a loyal network and increased their share of wallet.
Sales Growth
ROI
Stanley Black & Decker (SBD) is one of the world’s top providers of tools and storage solutions, sold through iconic and trusted brands such as Stanley, Black & Decker, DeWalt, Sidchrome, Powers Fasteners, and Irwin Tools. They are also the second biggest provider worldwide of security solutions and a global leader in engineered fastening.
The merger of Stanley and Black & Decker changed the way SBD went to market, with a sales strategy focused on key trade partners in their industry. This strategy impacted the large Independent Dealer network across Australia, which lost direct contact with SBD and as a result, began to purchase from competitors who gave them sales support.
The network was stocking and selling less of the Stanley Black & Decker product range and competitor activity was also eroding sales. Although Stanley Black & Decker often delivered tactical campaigns that influenced salespeople’s recommendation behaviour when selling to the consumer, other vendors had attractive incentives targeted at dealers that drove product purchases.
Stanley Black & Decker had to shake things up and add value to the Independent Dealer Network in such a way that they would impress and reconnect with customers.
To combat this, Stanley Black & Decker wanted a new direction and engagement strategy:
The Shed Rewards was created. This brand appealed to the predominantly male audience, as it was designed to be reminiscent of a tool shed, where you can find any SBD product across the diverse product portfolio, which was exactly how the program was branded.
The program criteria focused on encouraging Independent Dealers to stock and buy key products from all the product ranges. Participants earned points on all purchases of eligible brands, and points could then be redeemed for rewards, with additional points earned by meeting quarterly program sales targets of SBD key brands. to ensure seasonal engagement.
The points earned across all sales could be redeemed instantly, providing instant gratification, and reinforcing behavioural change towards stocking and selling SBD products. The initial points rate was set lower, with larger benefits coming from achieving beyond quarterly targets to trigger incremental points earned.
These increased earn rates allowed dealers to earn double the value of points previously earned, providing an additional sense of value from achieving these targets.
The second key area of the program, recognition for independent dealers, was provided through the ability to become Premium Dealers by meeting specific program requirements. This status came with benefits including product previews, deals, in-store marketing, and direct sales support, based upon feedback from the network.
The program was driven by supplemental launch marketing, including brochures and a fully branded sales website where participants could monitor their progress and redeem their earned points for reward catalogue items, and supplemented with frequent personalised communications.
At the end of the first year of Shed Rewards, the program had become the talk of the network and dealers reengaged to stock and sell Stanley Black & Decker.
Independent Dealers had a sense of being part of a select, hand-picked group of participants and achieved a staggering 26% sales growth over the previous year. The initial design the SBD ‘Shed Rewards’ targeted a 10:1 return on investment through sales growth.
However, with the increase of the share of wallet spend with SBD, the program delivered an amazing 40:1 return on investment. Returning SBD an additional $30 more benefit to every $1 dollar spent in the program. A result that delivered SBD more than expected.
Much of the return was attributed to Shed Rewards’ focus on incentivising sales volume across the entire product range and brands, as well as deepening engagement across all the network. In short, the design and execution of the Shed Rewards’ engagement strategy influenced dealer and salespeople behaviour significantly.
The overwhelming feedback from Shed Rewards’ participants was that not only had they been personally rewarded by Stanley Black & Decker more than any other manufacturer, they were extremely happy to be building stronger, mutually beneficial financial relationships with Stanley Black & Decker again.
Additionally, they were part of a network of Premium Dealers who felt they were doing the right thing by customers by recommending a quality product and getting rewarded for it, rather than recommending on price or even inferior product because of a back-end incentive.
