An attendee of the recent North Central Wholesalers Association annual convention in Huron, Ohio, would have been extremely hard-pressed to walk away from the Sawmill Creek Resort without having learned something.

NCWA’s latest gathering of member distributors, manufacturers, manufacturers reps and service providers was loaded with educational and networking opportunities.

A key highlight was Elkay’s Robb Best presenting his always exceptional take on brain research and scientific strategies to pinpoint key factors leading to expert performance.

After the convention dinner banquet, Best identified the four most powerful emotional selling reasons. “Four percent of salespeople are sales ninjas. They sell differently,” he said. “They dwell on the four reasons people buy.”

Those four include: 1) Makes the person feel good; 2) Makes the person feel special; 3) It feels easier to the customer; and 4) It feels safer to the customer.

“The brain is not designed to buy,” Best said. “It buys experience.”

Best noted 65% of sales in the industry occur via word of mouth. In that same word-of-mouth vain, he said a person on average will tell 14 people about a negative experience compared to only four about a positive one.

“The way most sales happens is me telling someone else and then it goes viral,” he said. “The only way you get word of mouth is when you exceed expectations. When you do something unexpected that’s when the word-of-mouth flood gates open.”

Best added focusing in on the end of the sales experience will lead to increased positive results. “Double down on that last moment of the experience,” he said. “That last touchpoint is what you need to focus on. Make it a good experience at the end and people are twice as likely to buy from you again.”

NCWA’s Young Executives breakfast meeting featured a panel discussion on setting yourself apart as a young executive/emerging leader. The panel featured Robertson Supply’s Scott Robertson, Preferred Sales’ Al Guidish and Bradford White’s Greg Eynon.

After the morning breakfast, attendees heard Mike Workman’s presentation on innovations in distribution technology.

Next year, NCWA heads to The Greenbrier in West Virginia for its 2019 convention (June 3-4).