--- title: "A C'estbon Employee's 'Market Distribution' Notes: Truly from the Heart!" description: "Every salesperson spends a long time talking with store owners to discover their needs. 'Sometimes they care less about whether their sales targets are met and more about what we can help them with; they really treat me like a friend.' Enduring hardship and heat is the only way to achieve sales. In May, Wuxi's weather is mostly sunny and scorching, and the three days of distribution were no exception. Every day, we followed the sales representatives under the scorching sun, weaving through the streets and alleys of Wuxi, visiting various target stores. The first day..." author: "New Distribution" publisher: "New Distribution" email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com" telephone: "+8615854817671" published: "2016-07-11" language: "en" canonical: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/a-c-estbon-employee-s-market-distribution-notes-truly-from-the-heart-a34c14d7/" markdown: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/a-c-estbon-employee-s-market-distribution-notes-truly-from-the-heart-a34c14d7.md" original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/JJX5JWZscesv2pCgHA1fag" translation: "https://xinjignxiao.com/zh/articles/%E4%B8%80%E4%B8%AA%E6%80%A1%E5%AE%9D%E4%BA%BA%E7%9A%84-%E5%B8%82%E5%9C%BA%E9%93%BA%E8%B4%A7-%E7%AC%94%E8%AE%B0-%E7%BB%9D%E5%AF%B9%E8%B5%B0%E5%BF%83-a34c14d7.md" attribution: "New Distribution — https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/a-c-estbon-employee-s-market-distribution-notes-truly-from-the-heart-a34c14d7/" usage_policy: "https://xinjignxiao.com/ai-policy.txt" --- # A C'estbon Employee's 'Market Distribution' Notes: Truly from the Heart! > Every salesperson spends a long time talking with store owners to discover their needs. 'Sometimes they care less about whether their sales targets are met and more about what we can help them with; they really treat me like a friend.' Enduring hardship and heat is the only way to achieve sales. In May, Wuxi's weather is mostly sunny and scorching, and the three days of distribution were no exception. Every day, we followed the sales representatives under the scorching sun, weaving through the streets and alleys of Wuxi, visiting various target stores. The first day... Every salesperson spends a long time talking with store owners, discovering their needs through conversation. "Sometimes they care less about whether their sales targets are met and more about what we can help them with; they really treat me like a friend." **Endure hardship and heat to achieve sales** In May, Wuxi's weather is mostly sunny and scorching, and the three days of distribution were no exception. Every day, we followed the sales representatives under the scorching sun, weaving through the streets and alleys of Wuxi, visiting various target stores. On the first day, I was assigned to the university town area. Doing distribution there was far more challenging than I had imagined, and the experience and skills I had gained from distribution in Shanghai seemed of little use here. After all, different cities, different sales locations, and market conditions vary greatly. Because there are not many shops in the university town, the distance between each shop is considerable, and entering and exiting the university is quite troublesome and time-consuming. Even with time-saving efforts, the average time to cover one store was still quite long. This invisibly increased the time cost and difficulty of distribution, and combined with the hot weather, I couldn't help but feel anxious. The sales representative in my group quickly noticed my mood and at the next convenience store, he bought me an ice cream, saying with a smile, "It's scorching hot, right? Here, have an ice cream to cool down." Then he continued half-jokingly, "Actually, we in sales really like this kind of weather; the hotter, the better. The hotter it is, the better our water sells. But I have indeed gotten quite tanned; I used to be a fair-skinned young man, haha." Hearing this, the store owner also joined in the joke: "Yeah, I've watched him transform from a fair-skinned lad to a dark-skinned uncle!" In this cheerful atmosphere, we quickly "conquered" this store, and the results were quite good. I felt encouraged, and as we continued, I thought a lot. The sales rep's comforting words seemed light and joking, but they contained the most simple truth. After adjusting my mindset, I worked very hard during the next two days of distribution, learning and thinking as I went. By the last day, I even tried negotiating with store owners. In previous distributions, perhaps because I was worried about not knowing how to negotiate with store owners, or afraid that my rashness might ruin the achievements of experienced salespeople, I didn't interrupt during negotiations but quietly put up posters and organized shelves. But this time, thanks to the experience accumulated over the previous two days, the gradually familiar environment, and continuous learning, I gained confidence. Finally, I mustered the courage to chime in during negotiations, highlighting product advantages and practicing the eight-step customer visit procedure. This was a small gain during the distribution process. **Walk the streets, but also walk with heart** "Walking with heart" during distribution includes two aspects: **First, be sincere with customers**—fully understand the needs of target customers, think from their perspective, and make friends with them with genuine sincerity. **Second, be attentive to the business process**—continuously observe and summarize during distribution. During the three days of distribution, I noticed that every salesperson spends a long time talking with store owners, discovering their needs through conversation. "Sometimes they care less about whether their sales targets are met and more about what we can help them with; they really treat me like a friend," a store owner near Lingshan Grand Buddha scenic area told me. Besides being sincere with people, you also need to be attentive to matters. On the second day, while distributing around the Lingshan Grand Buddha scenic area, I made some discoveries. The area around the scenic spot has relatively few people, resulting in poor product turnover in nearby stores, and the freshness of beverages in these stores is not high, even inferior to ordinary stores in the suburbs. In contrast, supermarkets in small towns farther from the scenic spot, in more remote locations with few tourists, have higher product freshness, better turnover, and larger order quantities. Similarly, on the third day, while distributing in Wuxi city center, I found similar situations. "Don't judge a store by its appearance." A simple wooden shack by the roadside might have much stronger turnover capability than a supermarket on a bustling street—truly "hidden dragons and crouching tigers." In Shanghai, internet cafes are key areas with good performance, but in Wuxi, internet cafes have low foot traffic and a cold atmosphere, so beverage and water sales are naturally poor. The biggest dark horse encountered during this distribution was a small store run by an elderly couple. It extended from their doorstep with wooden boards, covering only about three or four square meters, but facing the street. Due to limited space, a shelf could only display one or two "samples" of each category, yet this store carried almost the full range of C'estbon products, with no near-expiry items, and the small table and refrigerator outside were also adorned with C'estbon posters... Therefore, if you observe and summarize more in daily work, you will be more targeted in future market visits and distributions, avoiding a "grab everything" approach. Being attentive to matters also requires attention to detail. What impressed me most this time was the "three-easy" posters—easy to fall, easy to tear, easy to blow away—which were criticized during distribution in Shanghai. After careful improvement by colleagues in the marketing department, they were well-received in Wuxi: not easy to fall, not easy to tear, and won't scratch hands. Isn't this another gain for distribution personnel beyond improving their sales targets and market understanding? **Experience can be accumulated, but not copied** The three days of distribution made me deeply realize that "taking things as they are" (borrowing without adaptation) doesn't work in distribution. **Different customers and different target groups require different and ever-changing distribution techniques.** For example, in the first two days, I followed the local sales representative who knew the market environment of the distribution area well and could conduct targeted distribution. For stores with good turnover, he would spend a long time communicating with the store owner, negotiating orders, and understanding the market. For stores with poor turnover, after completing basic distribution, organizing shelves, checking inventory, and understanding the market, he would not spend too much time urging the owner to order more, but rather focus on discussing how to accelerate the turnover of existing inventory. This not only "pleases the store owner" and deepens the relationship with store owners in his area, but also prevents small stores with poor turnover from overstocking and having too many near-expiry products. On the third day, I followed a sales representative who was not local and unfamiliar with the distribution area. He would look for stores with high foot traffic or good locations and negotiate orders through long communication. If the store owner thought previous turnover was poor, he would offer suggestions based on experience, help organize shelves, etc. If the store had low foot traffic and a poor location, he would learn about the specific turnover situation through conversation. If turnover was good, he would suggest stocking up; if not, he wouldn't spend too much time. This method allows someone unfamiliar with the area to quickly find "quality" stores for distribution based on sales experience, while also deepening their understanding of the market. **After setting clear goals, persistence leads to victory** Goals answer the question of where we are going; sometimes, work goals are even more important than the work itself. **The goal of our action is to achieve the sales targets set by the company's strategic expansion, seize terminal inventory early, and concentrate efforts on brand promotion.** It is currently summer, the peak sales season and golden period for water and beverage markets, which greatly impacts the success of the entire year. Once the goal is clear, the next step is to break it down and implement it persistently. Indeed, in the subsequent distribution process, in addition to methods and skills, persistence is even more needed. Only with tenacious will can we ensure continuous improvement in distribution work. Although the three days of distribution were short, the gains were numerous. Facing the scorching sun, I learned not to retreat; facing the cold rejection of store owners, I learned to respond calmly; facing the tediousness and fatigue of distribution, I understood the true meaning of persistence. From initially not daring to speak up to later helping with sales; from being restless at the beginning to being calm and steady later; from simply following and watching to fully engaging... Every day, we made progress and grew. Sitting in the air-conditioned office, looking at the computer, my fingers jumping lightly and busily on the keyboard. Outside, the sun is blazing, and the "logistics" personnel in the office are also busy. Salespeople are working hard outside, and I can only support them by working harder. Having traversed a thousand stores for the sake of "ten thousand" waters, carrying the solemnity and purity from Wuxi, thinking about how to apply and integrate these insights into my work will become my main goal for the next step. "If you give up, even rotten wood will not break; if you persist, even metal and stone can be carved." This saying illustrates that success requires a spirit. **I believe that as long as we C'estbon people remain humble in victory and undaunted in defeat, and persist in making every ordinary thing extraordinary, the day we achieve the 10-billion-yuan goal is not far away!** -END- The best FMCG distributor learning platform in China Focused on providing professional, practical, and actionable tutorials for enterprises and distributors Committed to helping Chinese FMCG distributors grow rapidly **The most professional and practical knowledge base in the FMCG industry** Reply with the red number below to get the corresponding content Reply with number 1 to view the complete knowledge base | **001** Excellent article selection | **002** Distributor market operations | **003** Terminal visit management | **004** Sales supervisor skills | **005** Sales improvement techniques | **006** Channel expansion | **007** Managing distributors | **008** Distributor development | **009** Distributor internal operations management | **010** Team management | **011** Efficient distribution techniques | **012** Sales manager's eighteen skills | **013** KA operation methods and strategies | **014** First lesson for new salespeople | **015** Internet, brands | **016** Distributor B2B transformation | [Long press QR code to follow] --- ## Copyright and AI use This article is sourced from New Distribution. 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