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Sales Growth Rate Analyze the growth of sales. In principle, a distributor with significant sales growth is considered excellent. However, the growth must be analyzed in detail. Sales representatives should compare the distributor's growth with market growth and the average growth of the company's products. If a distributor's sales are increasing but market share or the average growth rate of the company's products is declining, it can be concluded that the sales representative's management of this distributor is inadequate.
Sales Statistics Analyze annual and monthly sales, and also check the content of sales. If annual sales are growing but monthly sales fluctuate significantly, the sales situation is not healthy. Stable growth in distributor sales indicates sound management. Balancing off-season and peak-season sales is a key responsibility of the sales representative.
Sales Ratio Check the ratio of the company's product sales to the distributor's total sales. If the company's sales are increasing but the ratio is low, the sales representative should strengthen management of that distributor.
Expense Ratio Even if sales are growing rapidly, if expenses grow faster than sales, it is unhealthy. If the distributor only stocks up when discounts are offered, and otherwise does not purchase even when inventory is low, and buys from competitors with higher discount rates, this is not a good trading relationship. Lack of customer loyalty indicates inadequate customer management.
Payment Collection Status Payment collection is a crucial part of distributor management. Even if sales are high, if payments are not collected smoothly or are delayed significantly, the problem is even greater.
Understanding Company Policies Sales representatives should not blindly pursue sales growth. They should ensure distributors understand the company's policies and comply with them, thereby promoting sales growth. Unfair practices such as disrupting market order or cross-region selling may increase sales but harm the company's overall interests. Therefore, helping distributors understand, comply with, and cooperate with company policies is an important aspect of management.
Product Assortment Sales representatives should first understand whether the distributor sells all of the company's products or only a portion. If the distributor's sales are high but they only sell best-selling or easy-to-sell items, and are unwilling to sell promotional, high-margin, or new products, this is not ideal. Sales representatives should encourage balanced selling of the company's products. Additionally, distributors often categorize products as key, developing, or series products. To strengthen management, sales representatives should prevent the company's products from being treated as merely key or developing products.
Product Display The display of products in the distributor's store is very important for promoting sales. Sales representatives should support and guide distributors in displaying and showcasing products.
Inventory Status Frequent stockouts indicate that the distributor does not value the company's products and that the sales representative has insufficient contact with the distributor, which is a serious dereliction of duty. Stockouts cause the company to lose many opportunities, so inventory management is a fundamental responsibility of the sales representative.
Participation in Promotional Activities Does the distributor actively participate and cooperate in various promotional activities organized by the company? If they participate in every promotion and sales increase as a result, management is effective. If the distributor is unwilling to participate or cooperate, the sales representative should analyze the reasons and formulate countermeasures. Without distributor participation, promotional activities will only waste money.
Visit Plan Management of distributors is mainly conducted through sales visits. Sales representatives should review their visit plans. A common mistake is to frequently visit large or well-related distributors, while visiting less frequently those with lower sales but potential, or those with high sales but poor relationships. This practice should be absolutely avoided.
Visit Status Sales representatives should analyze their visits to distributors. First, check whether the visit plan is strictly implemented. For example, if the plan is to visit a certain number of distributors daily, compare with actual results. If the monthly plan completion rate is low, analyze the reasons. Second, visits should be constructive, meaning each visit should help the distributor's operations. If distributors welcome visits and do not see them as a nuisance, the visits are successful.
Interpersonal Relationships Good emotional relationships between sales representatives and distributors promote sales. Maintaining good relationships is an important part of sales work. Sales representatives should regularly review their relationships with customers and strive to deepen emotional bonds.
Level of Support Sales representatives should determine whether the distributor supports the company or competitors. For example, does the distributor prioritize the company's promotional activities? Are new product promotions conducted according to company guidelines? In increasingly competitive markets with little difference in products and terms, winning distributor support greatly impacts product sales. Therefore, gaining active support is a critical management task.
Information Transmission Information transmission means that sales representatives convey the company's promotional plans to distributors and then check whether distributors follow the specified methods and actively promote the company's products. If distributors fail to follow company guidelines, it indicates problems in their operations. Sometimes, sales representatives must address "follow-up issues" and improve management methods.
Opinion Exchange Sales representatives should frequently exchange opinions with distributors. Reflect on whether you regularly exchange views with key distributors. If not, consider how to improve interpersonal relationships. Opinion exchange and negotiation should occur simultaneously to strengthen the relationship.
Concern for the Company The distributor's level of concern and positive attitude toward the company is an important aspect of management. Sales representatives should regularly explain the company's policies and guidelines to distributors to keep them interested and hopeful.
Evaluation of the Company Is the company's position significant to the distributor? In other words, does the distributor actively expect to increase sales? Sales representatives should establish their own standing in the distributor's mind.
Frequency of Suggestions Each distributor has unique characteristics, so management should be tailored to achieve twice the results with half the effort. Analyze what strategies should be adopted for each distributor and what suggestions should be made. If sales representatives actively manage distributors, the frequency of suggestions will increase significantly.
Organization of Distributor Data If sales representatives can recite sales statistics, growth rates, and sales targets for distributors, it indicates good management. Conversely, if they know nothing about distributor data and only blindly sell, any sales increase will be short-term. Therefore, recording and organizing distributor data is essential.
These are the 20 key points of distributor management. Methods for managing distributors include:
- Distributor Data Cards: Sales representatives must regularly check distributor data cards to ensure the above items are accurately recorded, organized, and updated.
- Analyze Distributor Data: Analyze all data related to distributors in detail.
- Distributor Visits: Identify problems and find solutions through conversations and observation of store conditions.
- Other Opportunities: Use occasions such as distributor visits to the company, industry information, and sales meetings for management.
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