---
title: "A Heartfelt Note on Market Distribution from a C'estbon Salesperson"
description: "Every salesperson spends a long time talking with store owners to discover their needs through conversation. 'Sometimes they care less about whether our sales targets are met and more about what we can help them with; they truly treat me as 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: "邹佳金"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2016-05-06"
language: "en"
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markdown: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/a-heartfelt-note-on-market-distribution-from-a-c-estbon-salesperson-8768c44e.md"
original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/T-kVUfaooflSs74pkmMjyg"
translation: "https://xinjignxiao.com/zh/articles/%E4%B8%80%E4%B8%AA%E6%80%A1%E5%AE%9D%E4%B8%9A%E5%8A%A1%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%83-8768c44e.md"
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---

# A Heartfelt Note on Market Distribution from a C'estbon Salesperson

> Every salesperson spends a long time talking with store owners to discover their needs through conversation. 'Sometimes they care less about whether our sales targets are met and more about what we can help them with; they truly treat me as 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 our sales targets are met and more about what we can help them with; they truly treat me as 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, my assigned target area was the university town. Doing distribution there was far more complicated than I had imagined, and the experience and skills I had gained from distribution in Shanghai seemed to be 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 quite large. Additionally, entering and exiting the university is troublesome and time-consuming, so even if we tried to save time, the average time to cover one store was still quite long. This invisibly increased the time cost and difficulty of distribution, coupled with the hot weather, I couldn't help but feel anxious. The sales representative in my group quickly noticed my mood. At the next convenience store, he bought me an ice cream and said with a smile, "It's so hot, right? Here, have an ice cream to cool down." Then he continued half-jokingly, "Actually, we salespeople really like this kind of weather. The hotter, the better. The hotter it is, the better our water sells. But I have indeed gotten darker. I used to be a fair-skinned young man, haha." Hearing this, the store owner also joked, "Yeah, I've watched him transform from a fair-skinned young man to a dark uncle!" In this cheerful atmosphere, we quickly "conquered" this store, and the results were quite good. I was encouraged, and as I continued on my way, I thought a lot. The sales representative's comforting words seemed light and joking, but they contained the most simple truth.

After adjusting my mindset, I worked very hard for the next two days of distribution, learning and thinking while observing. By the last day, I was able to try negotiating with store owners. In previous distributions, perhaps because I was worried about not understanding the negotiation methods with store owners, or worried that my rashness might ruin the results of experienced salespeople, I didn't interrupt during negotiations but silently posted 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. Finally, I could muster the courage to chime in during negotiations, talk about product advantages, and practice the eight steps of customer visits. This was a small gain during the distribution process.

**Walk the walk, but also walk the heart**

"Walking the heart" during distribution includes two aspects: first, be sincere with customers, fully understand their needs, think from their perspective, and make friends with them with sincerity and honesty. Second, be sincere in the business process, constantly observe and summarize during distribution.

During the three days of distribution, I found that every salesperson spends a long time talking with store owners, discovering their needs through conversation. "Sometimes they care less about whether our sales targets are met and more about what we can help them with; they truly treat me as a friend," a store owner near Lingshan Grand Buddha told me.

Besides being sincere with people, we must also be sincere with matters. On the second day, when distributing around the Lingshan Grand Buddha scenic area, I made some discoveries.

Here, the area around the scenic spot is sparsely populated, resulting in poor product turnover in surrounding stores, and the freshness of beverages is not high, even worse than ordinary stores in the suburbs. In contrast, supermarkets in small towns farther from the scenic spot, with less convenient locations and fewer tourists, actually have higher product freshness, better turnover, and larger order quantities.

Similarly, on the third day, when distributing in Wuxi city center, I found similar situations. "Don't judge a store by its appearance." Perhaps a simple store built with wooden boards on the roadside has much stronger turnover capability than a supermarket on a bustling street. It can be said that "hidden dragons and crouching tigers" exist. 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, they could only display one or two "samples" of each category on a shelf, yet this store had almost all C'estbon product lines, with no near-expiry products, and the small table and refrigerator outside were also decorated with C'estbon posters...

Therefore, if we observe and summarize more in daily life, we can be more targeted in future market visits and distributions, avoiding a "grab everything" approach.

Being sincere with matters also requires 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 distribution in Shanghai. After careful improvement by the marketing department colleagues, they were well-received in Wuxi: not easy to fall, not easy to tear, and won't scratch hands. This is another gain for distribution personnel besides 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" (blindly copying) doesn't work in distribution. Different customers and different target groups require different distribution techniques, which are varied and changeable.

For example, in the first two days, I followed the local sales representative who was familiar with the market environment of the distribution area and could carry out targeted distribution. For stores with good turnover, he would still 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 asking the store owner to order more, but rather focus on discussing how to accelerate the turnover of current 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 hoarding too much stock and having too many near-expiry products.

On the third day, I followed a sales representative who was not from the local area and was not familiar with the distribution area. However, he would look for stores with high foot traffic or good locations, and after long communication, negotiate orders with the store owner. If the store owner thought previous turnover was poor, he would use his experience to suggest ways to improve, such as helping organize shelves. If the store had low foot traffic and a poor location, he would still communicate with the store owner to learn about the specific turnover situation. If turnover was good, he would suggest stocking up; if not, he would not spend too much time.

This method allows someone unfamiliar with the area to quickly find "quality" stores for distribution based on their sales experience, while also deepening their understanding of the market.

**After setting clear goals, persistence leads to victory**

Goals solve the problem of where we are going. Sometimes, work goals are even more important than the work itself. The goal of our action this time was to achieve the performance targets set by the company's strategic expansion, seize terminal inventory early, and concentrate efforts on brand promotion. Now is summer, the peak sales season for water and beverages, which has a significant impact on the success or failure of the year. Once the goal is clear, the next step is how to break it down and implement it persistently. Indeed, in the subsequent distribution process, besides methods and skills, persistence is even more needed. Only with tenacious will can we ensure that distribution work continues to rise.

Although the three days of distribution were short, the gains were many.

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 being able to help promote; 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 do my part to help and support them. Traversing thousands of stores, just for "ten thousand" waters, with the solemnity and purity brought back from Wuxi, thinking about how to apply and integrate these insights into my work will become my main work 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 are not arrogant in victory and not discouraged in defeat, and persist in making every ordinary thing extraordinary, the day of achieving the 10 billion target is not far away!

This platform will soon organize several experience-sharing salons titled "**How Distributors Should Operate B2B**". We will invite some domestic distributors who have actually operated for a period to share their experiences and how they operate in the local market. Interested distributors can long-press the QR code below to add the author's WeChat to participate in the sharing and exchange:

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