Smokestacking —
Definition of B2B Marketing and Sales Terminology
Definition of B2B Marketing and Sales Terminology
Smokestacking
Smokestacking was a popular sales term in the late 1960’s through the late 1970’s to describe the [rather unorthodoxed] practice of driving your territory, looking for “smokestacks,” that is, businesses large enough to have a chimney. The theory goes that if a business was large enough to have a chimney, it probably would be interested in buying what the Sales Rep was selling. In many ways, smokestacking was the first form of market segmentation, but in this case, the segmentation was done by the salesperson.
Today, smokestacking has survived in a similar form. When a Rep finds fertile soil with a particular kind of business, in lieu of a direct marketing program, Reps may get in their cars and drive their territory, looking for similar businesses. For example, if a Rep has success selling at construction sites, it may be far easier to look for other construction sites than to try to find a marketing list, create a direct mail piece, follow up on the piece, etc.
Smokestacking is also used to describe Sales Reps who claim exclusivity to certain accounts just based on their physical presence in their territory, regardless of the company’s sales potential. A Sales Manager worth their salt will see right through this. Savvy Sales Managers, now, institute a use it or lose it policy, meaning: if you can’t sell to a protected account within a certain timeframe, the account is no longer yours.
Today, smokestacking has survived in a similar form. When a Rep finds fertile soil with a particular kind of business, in lieu of a direct marketing program, Reps may get in their cars and drive their territory, looking for similar businesses. For example, if a Rep has success selling at construction sites, it may be far easier to look for other construction sites than to try to find a marketing list, create a direct mail piece, follow up on the piece, etc.
Smokestacking is also used to describe Sales Reps who claim exclusivity to certain accounts just based on their physical presence in their territory, regardless of the company’s sales potential. A Sales Manager worth their salt will see right through this. Savvy Sales Managers, now, institute a use it or lose it policy, meaning: if you can’t sell to a protected account within a certain timeframe, the account is no longer yours.
