The channel is the customer, and the terminal is the market. This is a common refrain among marketers in recent years. Indeed, as a part of the sales channel, retail terminals face consumers directly and are the gateway for products to become consumer goods, serving as the source of actual sales for manufacturers. To ensure their products cross this gateway and generate actual sales, manufacturers compete in terminal work. However, in actual terminal work, many terminal marketers fail in their business due to misconceptions.

Misconceptions

1. Content: Emphasizing Sales over Market Simply focusing on delivery, payment collection, and other routine business tasks, with product sales as the sole goal, while neglecting market development, maintenance, and network building, and forgetting to help customers in the market circle grow stronger together. In terminal marketing, is it about "building networks" or "making sales"? This confusion leads to a situation of "having sales but no market." In fact, sales and market should coexist; only with a solid market can there be long-term sales.

2. Target: Emphasizing Large Customers over Small Shops Failing to flexibly apply the principle of "grasping the big and letting go of the small" in customer development, leading to a bias towards large customers. We can categorize terminal customers into four types: high sales and high profit, high sales and low profit, low sales and high profit, and low sales and low profit. What is a key account (key terminal)? It is not measured by the overall sales volume or scale of the terminal, but by the proportion of our business in its total business volume and the profit generated from this business. Furthermore, small customers are also necessary to develop:

  1. Small customers can grow into large customers;
  2. Small customers can fill gaps in our terminal network;
  3. Small customers do not necessarily mean small business or small profit.

3. Carrier: Emphasizing Large Products over Small Products Large products, i.e., those with higher retail (supply) prices, account for a large proportion of terminal sales performance. This is especially evident in wholesale enterprises: they operate a diversified product portfolio. If salespeople only focus on such products, they easily become specialized salespeople for a single product, even "hanging themselves from one tree." Conversely, low-priced products are more popular, helping to create a fast-in-fast-out sales pattern, reducing inventory and the risk of payment loss. Moreover, we should not simply assume that high-priced products are large products; instead, we should measure by the profit margin that operating the product can bring, because the retail (supply) price is not directly proportional to the profit margin.

4. Method: Emphasizing Incentives over Management We always devoutly treat every customer as a god, blindly complying with their demands such as bargaining, gift distribution, etc., without any principle. While complying with customers, we must also monitor them. That is, while "respecting them as gods," we should also "guard against them as thieves." Prevent them from switching allegiances, using our policies to sell others' products, or even moving, closing, or going bankrupt overnight. Policy incentives are like storms: they come quickly and go quickly. Only thoughtful, timely, and comprehensive service and management can truly have a subtle and lasting effect.

5. Link: Emphasizing the Middle over the Two Ends Terminal work has three links: first, the products we supply to the terminal; second, the terminal with which we directly establish a buying-selling relationship; third, the consumers who establish a buying-selling relationship with the terminal. Some terminal salespeople only focus on the middle (the terminal with which we directly establish a buying-selling relationship), but neglect the two ends (the products supplied to the terminal and the consumers who establish a buying-selling relationship with the terminal). This leads to an inability to fully understand the products and systematically introduce them to customers, and an inability to establish typical consumer files to facilitate after-sales service, win customer loyalty to the product (brand), and attract repeat customers.

Business Failures It is precisely due to these misconceptions that terminal work fails. Many distributor bosses often sigh when inspecting terminal work: "Ask three questions and get no answers." That is, the terminal does not know which manufacturer (or merchant) and which salesperson is doing business with them on which products.

1. Not Knowing the Company of the Products: The terminal does not know the basic information of the manufacturer (or distributor), such as business scope, scale, and strength; what the advantageous projects are; and what the cooperation model is.

2. Not Knowing the Salesperson of the Products: The terminal does not know the name of the salesperson, which company they come from, what products they handle, what their responsibilities are, and what conveniences they can bring.

3. Not Knowing the Products the Salesperson Handles: The terminal does not understand the basic information of the products, such as specifications and prices; nor does it know the selling points, features, and sales policies at a deeper level.

Practice Basic Skills to Prevent and Cure Problems

1. Develop Three Major Strategies: Achieve Three Lock-ons

  1. Product Lock-on: · Be familiar with the products the company sells to promptly identify shortages or stockouts at terminals; · Be familiar with the specifications, prices, and features of each product and similar products to correctly introduce them to customers.
  2. Personnel Lock-on: · Lock on terminal sales staff; build deep relationships with them so they are "happy to sell" our products; · Lock on manufacturer (merchant) salespeople; form alliances to negotiate and solve various problems in terminal marketing.
  3. Customer Lock-on: · Carefully observe every relevant customer entering the terminal and seize sales opportunities; · Establish terminal files, track service, win word-of-mouth, and strive for repeat orders; · Attract, maintain, and consolidate direct customers with quality service.

2. Use Three Major Tactics: Carry Forward the Spirit of Three Diligences

  1. Diligent in speech: Communicate more with people you meet, introduce and promote products, yourself, and the company; explain more to others to eliminate doubts and misunderstandings.
  2. Diligent in legs: Visit more stores each day, and visit each store more often.
  3. Diligent in ears: Collect more market feedback; adjust strategies promptly to meet terminal customer requirements.

3. Fight Three Major Battles: Achieve Three Major Goals

  1. Promote your company: · Basic company information: location, founding date, business scope, scale; · Advantageous projects: product variety, price situation (compared with competitors or peers, whether lower or higher), service situation (whether it can eliminate the other party's worries); · Cooperation model: whether the terminal comes to purchase or the salesperson delivers; whether it is cash or consignment; · Welcome the other party to visit the company.
  2. Promote the products you operate (preferably with samples and promotional materials): · Basic product information; · Selling points and features: compared with similar products, what is the core concept of the product? · Sales policies: distribution area, anti-diversion and price control measures; · Promotional policies: advertising, terminal promotions (costs, gifts, premiums) methods; · Supply prices: what are the cash settlement price and consignment price?
  3. Promote yourself (different from a job interview self-introduction): · Your name: break it down and explain it word by word, linking it to a famous place for easy memory; · Your company: state the full name, avoid abbreviations to prevent misunderstanding; · Products you handle: introduce a few well-known or exclusive agency products to attract the other party; · Your responsibilities: what business services you can provide, what conveniences you can bring; · What support and cooperation you hope the other party will provide, such as checking sales volume, flow direction, and selling price.

In late August, the "2018 China Digital Innovation Conference (2018FDIC)" with the theme "Finding New Engines for Growth" will be held in Shanghai, hosted by the China FMCG Industry Association and organized by New Distribution. The conference will last for three days, focusing on two main themes: marketing and supply chain, with six parallel forums on brand, channel, communication, B2B, same-city logistics, and innovative retail. We will invite industry experts, CEOs, and brand executives to deeply interpret the trends and drivers of digital transformation in the FMCG industry. This conference will have over 5,000 enterprises participating. It will bring together outstanding explorers and promoters of digital transformation across industries, share case studies of digital transformation practices by industry enterprises and partners, discuss trends and cutting-edge applications of digital technology, and build a bridge for brand owners, distributors, retail enterprises, and marketing agencies to help FMCG manufacturers obtain the latest information and understand the best application practices. It will help brand owners and distributors find new engines for digital growth in the Internet era!

Conference Time August 22-24, 2018

Conference Venue Shanghai Baohua Marriott Hotel

Conference Content August 22: Full-day check-in Afternoon 14:00-17:30: Distributor same-city logistics parallel forum Evening 18:30-21:00: New Distribution Night Gala Dinner August 23: Theme: Marketing Digital Innovation Morning 9:00-12:00: Marketing Digital Innovation Main Forum Afternoon 14:00-17:30: Brand, Channel, Communication Parallel Forums August 24: Theme: FMCG Supply Chain Digital Upgrade All day: FMCG Supply Chain Conference

Registration Method Registration is now open. Long press the QR code below or click "Read Original" to register. Limited to 200 early-bird tickets at half price, available on a first-come, first-served basis!

Registration Consultation Ticket inquiries: Media cooperation inquiries:

Highlights of Previous New Distribution Conferences Click the links below to review the first, second, and third FMCG + Internet Conferences:

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