Lubezine Volume 8 * NOVEMBER 2013 - JANUARY 2014 | Page 30

LAST

WORD
SALES PROCESS

The art of selling
lubricants:
Perspective of a
Kenyan salesman

L

ubricants sales is no doubt one of the most complex sales processes
in petroleum trading, what with the endless list of types of
lubrication oils, greases and fluids not forgetting their very detailed
technical specifications, physical and chemical characteristics
and applications. In this regard, knowing your product is very
important if you as a salesperson are to represent your brand in the market
positively. A potential client needs to hear a presentation from somebody
who seems to know more about lubricants than he does himself. There
are important questions that should be answered in understanding a
lubricant.
By Richard Ndaka
Understanding Your Product
Is your lubricant blended from 100 per cent
virgin base oil or from recycled base oil or
ratios of both? Some lube companies are
marketing a brand that is blended from 50/50
or 75/25 mixtures of virgin and recycled and
then presenting the finished product to the
market as blended from 100% virgin base
oils. Without this important knowledge, the
salesman goes to the client clueless on where
his lubricant started.
In addition, basic knowledge of lubricant
additives and the specific roles they play
during the operation of the machine or vehicle it is applied in is imperative. Such information as SAE grades and API classifications
should be at the fingertips of any serious lube
salesperson. Knowing what a specific grade of
a lubricant is for and its particular application
is key. Understanding if your lubricant is mineral or synthetic is also an important detail
that one dealing in the sales and marketing
of lubricants should know.

Understanding Your Brand
What is your brand’s unique Selling Proposition (USP), otherwise known as Unique Selling Point? What distinguishes your brand
28

from the rest in the market? USP is defined
as the factor or consideration presented by a
seller as the reason why his product or service
is different or better than the competition.
Before you can begin to sell your product or
service to anyone else you need to sell yourself on it first.
This is especially important when your
product or service is similar to those around
you. In the petroleum sector, very few products are a one-of-a-kind and having uniqueness in how you present your brand to the
buyer is very critical.
Unless you can pinpoint what makes your
business unique in a world of homogenous
competition you cannot target your sales
efforts successfully. A product can peg its USP
on product characteristics, price structure,
placement strategy (location and distribution) and promotional strategy. These are
what marketers call the 4P’s of marketing.
They are manipulated to give a business a
market position that sets it apart from the
competition.

Understanding The Market
Before launching into the market, a business
will do well by trying to research to know the

requirements of any market. For example,
some grades of lubricants perform differently
from others based on climatic conditions like
temperatures. A SAE 50 grade of engine oil
will not perform well in a low temperature
location.
The buying behaviour of your target buyer
is also a factor to be considered seriously by
the salesperson before initiating the sales
process with the buyer. How is the creditworthiness of your prospect?
You may need to ask around and if possible
try to get trade references from businesses that
have done business with the prospect before
you sign up the customer for credit. Delayed
payments increase the cost of credit in the
long run. This is in addition to the emotional
pressure, time wastage and possible legal
costs associated with chasing bad debtors.
Finally, seek to understand the potentials
and opportunities that exist in your area of
operation. As a marketer your employer is
counting on you to identify and manipulate
opportunities that will drive up sales while
bringing in healthy profits for the organisation. Automotive lubricants resellers (distributors) move big volumes but smaller margins
compared to direct sales to big transporters,

LUBEZINE MAGAZINE | November 2013-January 2014