Distributors who’ve been selling disposable gloves for a while understand the quirks of the market. To a distributor who’s new to the business, though, starting a profitable glove-selling program might seem a bit daunting.
We frequently get questions about getting started. What follows are the top 3:
Which gloves are the essentials?
The first step is choosing a carefully curated glove lineup, says Corey Townsell, vice president of sales at AMMEX. That way you won’t be overwhelmed with too many products right from the start.
“You don’t want to carry our entire lineup,” Townsell says. “That’s too much, even if your salespeople want access to everything in the catalog because they think they can sell anything. You can always build off of it.”
Usually, three to four products with three SKUs—medium, large, and extra-large—per product is a good starting point, he says. For example, 3-mil nitrile, 5-mil nitrile, and 8-mil nitrile will cover probably 90% of industrial use.
What will ‘Wow!’ my customers?
First, Townsell says that any lineup needs to start with at least one glove from the Gloveworks heavy-duty nitrile suite. Featuring Raised Diamond Texture—our most aggressive, with 60% more surface area to channel away liquids for an unbeatable grip—these are ultra-premium products designed for professional environments.
Whether 8-mil orange or green, or 6-mil royal blue or black, they are the gloves your customers will want most. Once they’ve tried them on, they won’t want to go back to whatever they used before.
Glove No. 2 would be a premium nitrile like the Gloveworks Industrial Black (product code: GPNB). These durable, multi-purpose gloves are exceptionally popular in automotive and industrial uses because they look professional and don’t show dirt, grease, and grime. There are countless other applications for these gloves as well, including manufacturing, safety, and even food service—restaurants like them both for kitchen and front-of-the-house wear.
The third glove is a lightweight nitrile or vinyl that’s suitable for multiple industries like janitorial & sanitation, auto detailing, beauty & salon, tattoo parlors, restaurant, and other short-duration uses where frequent glove changes are required.
We recommend X3 Blue Nitrile (X3) and X3 Black Nitrile (BX3), which combine the strength, fit, and comfort of nitrile in a glove that features excellent dexterity, and X3 Clear Vinyl (GPX3), a versatile all-around glove that delivers real value.
Samples: A key ingredient for selling gloves
After you’ve chosen your base products, sign up for the support you need. AMMEX offers a number of tools through our Online Portal to help our partners compete for and win business. It’s a proven system to grow your disposable glove revenues.
So with AMMEX’s simple sales and marketing program—which utilizes flyers, laminated charts, and most important, glove samples—“you don’t need to do some super-complex training where your reps need to know the molecular structure of a disposable glove,” Townsell says. “You want them just to feel comfortable enough handing out a flyer, saying we have gloves, referencing the glove chart, and overcoming any tough questions in the field. Then use samples to overcome quality objections.”
Pro tip: When it comes to sampling, the customer must try the gloves on in front of you. Don’t just leave a few bags and say you’ll get back to them—get their immediate feedback.
AMMEX also has sales videos that can get your reps started quickly. All they need to do, Townsell says, is watch, listen, and leverage their relationships with customers.
“AMMEX does all the work,” he says. “What we get out of it is if you grow your sales, we grow our sales. There are no hidden gimmicks. All this potential is just sitting there.”
Contact AMMEX today to learn more about becoming a distributor.