A distributor satisfaction programme for an electrical products maker

What is shaping manufacturing

Manufacturers sell to distributors, OEMs and industrial buyers, and compete on quality, delivery and service as much as price. Many are also digitising plants, sales and finance processes.

• Distributor networks remain central to reach
• Buyers expect consistent quality and on-time delivery
• Digitisation of operations and reporting is accelerating

An electrical products manufacturer, working in South Africa, UAE & Saudi Arabia. Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.

Organisation

An electrical products manufacturer

Sector

Manufacturing

Team engaged

Market Research

Services

Business panel, Offline data collection (CATI), Data analytics & dashboards

Distributors were switching to competing brands, and the company only learned about dissatisfaction when a relationship ended.

• Deliver on the brief: a distributor satisfaction programme for an electrical products maker.
• Understand the views, needs and behaviour of distributors.
• Produce results that can be compared across groups and locations.
• Set up a repeatable measure the client can track over time.

The work focused on 650 distributors.

• distributors650

Audiences we typically reach in manufacturing

Procurement and plant headsDistributors and dealersOEM buyersService engineersFinance and operations teams

Coverage: South Africa, UAE & Saudi Arabia. Markets: South Africa, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

• South Africa
• United Arab Emirates
• Saudi Arabia

A structured quantitative design, so results could be compared across groups, locations and time.

1. 1Brief
2. 2Annual distributor survey
3. 3Dashboard
4. 4Insight

We set up an annual telephone survey of distributors and dealers covering supply reliability, schemes, credit, sales support and complaint handling, with a dashboard by region and sales manager.

Business panelOffline data collection (CATI)Data analytics & dashboards

distributors

650

• Business respondents were screened on role, company size and involvement in the decision before being invited.
• Online respondents were drawn from verified panel members who matched the screening criteria, with quotas on key profile attributes.
• Telephone contacts were dialled from verified lists, with quotas tracked live by the field team.

• Telephone interviews were run from our CATI centre, with calls monitored for quality.
• The online survey was mobile-friendly and offered in respondents' languages.

• Live call monitoring and recording review
• Call-back verification
• Digital fingerprinting and duplicate checks
• Attention, speed and straight-lining checks
• Review of open-ended answers
• Logic and range checks on the final data
• Work carried out under our ISO 20252 quality procedures

• Cross-tabulation by key groups and locations
• Significance testing on the differences that mattered
• Interactive dashboard for ongoing tracking

• Supply delays and slow claim settlements emerged as the main frustrations.

Regular, structured feedback turns relationships into something measurable and manageable.

• Build on the core insight: regular, structured feedback turns relationships into something measurable and manageable.
• Focus effort where the evidence was strongest: supply delays and slow claim settlements emerged as the main frustrations.
• Re-measure after the changes to confirm the effect.

• The company tightened claim timelines and made distributor satisfaction part of regional managers’ reviews.

What changed in the business as a result of the work. Impact is described qualitatively.

• Cleaned data file and data tables
• Interactive dashboard

• Continue the routine and review results every period.
• A natural follow-on question: where do customers feel service falls short?