Vision Forward: Why Dealers Make Great Lobbyists
FEDA dealers are directing their sales expertise toward real-world advocacy that shapes the future of the foodservice equipment and supplies industry.
By Tracy Mulqueen
CEO
FEDA
One of the most remarkable things I’ve observed about dealers is how incredibly skilled they are at selling anything to anyone at any time. I know this shouldn’t surprise me, given the nature of what they do, but what’s especially impressive is how this skill carries over to so many other areas, including FEDA’s legislative advocacy work on behalf of members.
As it turns out, dealers make exceptionally good lobbyists. Their sales skills translate into knowing exactly how to convince elected officials to understand our industry and support our positions on various legislation and regulations. There’s no better example of this than the congressional visits FEDA organized last March. In each meeting with elected officials and their staff, dealers applied their core selling strategies as they walked through a bill’s merits or problems, acknowledged the concerns of the officials, then moved gently through alternative points. They also closed their legislative requests the same way they close equipment deals — with a promise to build a continued relationship that provides support and information as needed going forward.
Dealers make great advocates for an interesting list of reasons. First, the most effective lobbyists represent industries that are economically important and are positioned as influencers. Dealers make up a significant share of the foodservice industry and have extensive relationships with major players in foodservice, such as restaurants, schools and healthcare facilities. These relationships, coupled with experience, mean they can speak definitively about the needs of these industries and their own role in this ecosystem. Additionally, dealers possess the technical expertise needed to address specific, real-world examples of how legislation will impact their businesses and others in the industry.
It’s inspiring to see these skills aimed at championing the overall industry. Although it’s true that dealers are down-to-earth individuals who apply simple communication methods to build relationships, they are also experts at what’s called persuasion psychology. They use sophisticated techniques to mitigate “confirmation bias” and “psychological reactance,” putting customers — and elected officials — at ease and making them more receptive. In D.C., I witnessed this process in action as dealers took care to first get to know members of Congress and their staff and listened to the political challenges they were facing.
After forming a personal connection, dealers shared how their businesses and the industry operate, gradually demonstrating their expertise in areas less understood by the officials and staff they met with. In doing so, dealers built what’s called “epistemic trust,” establishing that legislative teams can view them as a reliable resource for business information. The trust was further reinforced by dealers’ extensive knowledge about operations, finance and regulations, creating an undeniable “command presence” that established dealers as industry authorities who can help solve problems.
But the most impressive attribute I was reminded of in D.C. is that dealers have what psychologists call “undefeatable mindsets.” They simply won’t lose the deal. In neuroscience, this term means that their brains see setbacks as only temporary and certainly surmountable. Persistence and resistance to defeat are trademarks of both ace salespeople and effective lobbyists, who often need to unfold complex policy issues over a long period of time. The roadblocks inherent in policymaking can be frustrating for many, but not dealers. They won’t let an issue rest until they’ve won it.
FEDA is fortunate to have dedicated members with these exact skillsets in our corner. Over the next several months, the association will be calling on dealers to contact their legislative officials by email and phone, through visits to their area congressional offices, and by joining fellow FEDA members in D.C. next March. FEDA’s policy agenda will include more work on the extended producer responsibility regulations making their way through state agencies and legislatures, federal data privacy and AI framework legislation, labor policy, and regulatory agency actions. We are excited about the potential influence of dealers as they do what they do best, this time in the legislative arena.