Every salesperson spends a long time talking with shop owners, using conversation to uncover their needs. "Sometimes they care less about whether I hit my sales target and more about what they can help me with—they truly treat me as a friend."
Endure hardship and heat to achieve sales Wuxi's weather is typically sunny and scorching, and these three days of distribution were no exception. Every day, I followed the sales representative under the blazing sun, weaving through Wuxi's streets and alleys, visiting various target shops.
On the first day, I was assigned to the university town area. Doing distribution there was far from as simple as I had imagined, and the experience and skills I had gained from Shanghai seemed less applicable here. After all, different cities, different sales locations, and market conditions vary greatly.
Because there are few shops in the university town, the distance between each shop is considerable, and entering and exiting the campus is quite troublesome and time-consuming. Even with time-saving efforts, the average time per shop was still quite long. This invisibly increased the time cost and difficulty of distribution, and combined with the heat, I couldn't help but feel irritable. The sales representative in my group quickly noticed my mood and, at the next convenience store, bought me an ice cream, saying with a smile, "You must be dying of heat, right? Here, have an ice cream to cool down." Then he half-jokingly added, "Actually, we salespeople really like this kind of weather—the hotter, the better, because the hotter it is, the better our water sells. But I have gotten quite tanned; I used to be a fair-skinned young man, haha." His comment made the shop owner join in the joke: "Yeah, I've watched him go from a fair-skinned boy to a dark-skinned uncle!" In this cheerful atmosphere, we quickly "conquered" that shop, 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 put great effort into the next two days of distribution, learning and thinking as I observed. By the last day, I was even able to try negotiating with shop owners. In previous distributions, perhaps because I was worried about not knowing how to negotiate with shop owners, or that my rashness might ruin the results achieved by experienced salespeople, I didn't speak up during negotiations but quietly put up posters and organized shelves. But this time, thanks to the accumulated experience from the previous two days, the gradually familiar environment, and continuous learning, I gained confidence and finally mustered the courage to chime in during negotiations, highlighting product advantages and practicing the eight-step customer visit process. That was a small gain from the distribution process.
Walk the streets, but also walk with heart "Walking with heart" during distribution includes two aspects: First, be attentive to customers—fully understand target customers' needs, think from their perspective, and make friends with them sincerely. 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 shop owners, using conversation to discover their needs. "Sometimes they care less about whether I hit my sales target and more about what they can help me with—they truly treat me as a friend," a shop owner near Lingshan Grand Buddha scenic area told me.
Besides being attentive to 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 observations.
The area around the scenic spot has sparse crowds, leading to poor product turnover in nearby shops, and the beverages in stores were not very fresh, even inferior to those in ordinary suburban shops. In contrast, supermarkets in small towns slightly farther from the scenic spot, in more remote locations with few tourists, had fresher products, better turnover, and larger orders.
Similarly, on the third day, while distributing in Wuxi's urban area, I noticed similar situations. "Don't judge a shop by its appearance"—perhaps a humble shop built with wooden planks by the roadside has far better turnover than a supermarket on a bustling street; it's like a hidden dragon. 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 during this distribution was a small shop run by an elderly couple. It extended from their doorstep with wooden planks, covering only about three or four square meters, but facing the street. Due to scarce space, they could only display one or two "samples" of each category on a shelf, yet this shop carried almost the full range of C'estbon products, with no near-expiry items, and the small table and refrigerator outside were adorned with C'estbon posters...
So, if you observe and summarize more in daily work, future market visits and distributions will be more targeted, avoiding a "grab everything" approach.
Being attentive to matters also means paying attention to details. What impressed me most during this distribution was the "three-easy" posters (easy to fall, easy to tear, easy to blow away) that were criticized during the Shanghai distribution. After careful improvement by colleagues in the marketing department, they were well-received in Wuxi: they don't fall off easily, don't tear easily, and won't scratch your hands. Isn't this another gain for distribution staff beyond improving sales targets and market understanding?
Experience can be accumulated, but not copied Three days of distribution made me deeply realize that "taking things as they are" doesn't work in distribution. Different customers and different target groups require different, ever-changing distribution techniques.
For example, in the first two days, I followed the local sales rep who knew the market environment well and could conduct targeted distribution. For shops with good turnover, he would spend more time communicating with the owner, negotiating orders, and understanding the market.
For shops with poor turnover, he would complete basic distribution, organize shelves, count inventory, and understand the market, then not spend too much time pushing orders. Instead, he would focus on discussing how to accelerate the turnover of existing inventory. This not only "pleases the shop owner" and strengthens relationships with shops in his area but also prevents small shops with poor turnover from overstocking and having too many near-expiry products.
On the third day, I followed a different sales rep who wasn't familiar with the area. He would look for shops with high foot traffic or good locations, engage in long negotiations with owners to place orders, and if the owner mentioned poor past turnover, he would offer suggestions based on experience, help organize shelves, etc. If a shop had low foot traffic and a poor location, he would still talk with the owner to learn about the shop's specific turnover situation. If turnover was good, he'd suggest stocking up; if not, he wouldn't spend much time.
This approach allows someone unfamiliar with the area to quickly find "quality" shops for distribution based on sales experience, while also deepening their understanding of the market.
Once goals are clear, persistence leads to victory Goals address the question of where we're going; sometimes, work goals are even more important than the work itself. Our goal for this action was to achieve the sales targets set by the company's strategic expansion, seize terminal inventory early, and concentrate efforts on brand promotion. It's currently summer, the peak sales season for water and beverages, which greatly impacts the year's market performance. Once goals are clear, the next step is to break them down and execute persistently. Indeed, in the subsequent distribution process, beyond methods and techniques, persistence was essential. A tenacious will ensures steady progress in distribution work.
Though the three days of distribution were short, the gains were substantial.
Facing the scorching sun, I learned not to retreat; facing shop owners' cold stares and rejection, I learned to handle it 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 pitches; from being restless at first to becoming composed later; from simply observing to fully engaging... Every day, we improved and grew.
Sitting in the air-conditioned office, looking at the computer, my fingers dancing lightly and busily over the keyboard. Outside, the sun blazes; inside, the "logistics" staff are also busy. Salespeople are working hard outside, and I can only support them by working harder. Having visited thousands of shops for "ten thousand" waters, carrying the solemnity and purity from Wuxi, thinking about how to apply and integrate these insights into my work will be my next main goal. "If you give up, even rotten wood won't break; if you persist, even metal and stone can be carved." This saying shows that success requires a certain spirit. I believe that as long as we remain humble in victory and undaunted in defeat, and persist in making every ordinary thing extraordinary, success is within reach!
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