This article is authorized for republication by the WeChat account 'Weizhi'. "Sales English in Plain Talk" is a series of articles Mobius wrote for internal use at SMI Consulting in his early years. When the editor recently took them out for a reread, he found even more meaning and fun in them than just sales and English, so he organized and shared them with everyone for mutual enjoyment.

PrefacePreface

I often encounter two types of questions from colleagues: "Can you recommend some practical marketing reference books?" and "Is there any professional explanation of sales English?" Having been asked so often, a sense of responsibility grew, and thus this series of plain-talk essays came to be shared with SMI colleagues. In the early 1990s, with the entry of several large international consumer goods companies, different sales concepts and operational forms were introduced, training a group of people, along with some concepts and "terminology" in the industry. After 1995, several Western retailers also flooded into the mainland, providing consumers with different shopping experiences while also bringing their management methods and "terminology." With the geographical expansion of retail outlets and personnel mobility, a set of industry-specific "jargon" or slang gradually formed and became widely circulated. Since these originated from foreign companies, most of these terms started in English; and these English terms, jargon, and slang often leave people dizzy and with nowhere to verify them. Most marketing dictionaries do not include them, and even if they do, the meanings are completely different from what is meant in the marketing field, let alone finding their origins and usage. So it is not surprising that errors and misuse are frequent. Salespeople are usually pragmatists; as long as it is helpful, there is no need to dig too deeply into academic research. Following the three principles of simplicity, usefulness, and readability, I will briefly share with colleagues the common concepts, viewpoints, and their English expressions in various fields of consumer goods sales, hoping to be of some help. In the English explanations, I provide both the relevant professional English terms and the widely used "industry English" or even "Chinglish"; giving professional terms requires academic rigor, while listing conventional and Chinese-style expressions requires more courage. The article focuses mostly on applications in FMCG marketing. FMCG stands for Fast Moving Consumer Goods, also known as fast-moving consumer goods or non-durable consumer goods. FMCG products are typically those with short consumption cycles and high repurchase frequency. According to industry standards, FMCG usually includes three major categories:

Packaged Foods and Beverage

Personal Care

Household Products These include roughly 50 categories in total. I have seen people write "快消品" as "快销品," a one-character difference that turns it into "fast-selling products." Although the character is wrong, it is very telling, reflecting salespeople's eagerness to sell goods and their fate of forever chasing sales targets without quite reaching them, vividly portrayed. Since everyone is so eager to boost sales, let's start with sales volume.

Chapter 1Sales Volume is the Absolute Principle

● Several Ways to Say "Sales Volume" Sales refers to those of us who are in the sales profession. Except for some special support functions, these people are ultimately responsible for sales volume. Interestingly, sales volume is often also called "sales." Your name is your reason for being. This expression is actually quite cruel, like calling a pig "braised pork" or "sausage." I think it would be hard for a pig to accept this, but salespeople seem to have no objection. There are many ways to describe sales volume:

  1. Shipment and Offtake. Sales shipped from the manufacturer or distributor can be called shipment; sales sold by distributors or retailers can be called offtake. To summarize: the closer to the upstream of the supply chain, the more likely to use shipment; the closer to the downstream, the more likely to use offtake.
  2. Volume. This word actually leans toward quantity (e.g., counted in cases or tons), as opposed to value (in dollars, yuan, etc.). But now, in most cases, Volume does not distinguish between quantity and value; it is used generically. Common usage includes things like Volume Report, which are unappealing but must be read.
  3. Contribution. The goods you sell constitute your contribution to the company. In this sense, the word is quite humanistic, having developed a deep connotation, which is not easy for marketing English.
  4. Sales figures. Last year's sales figures are illustrated in this report. Here, "figure" mostly refers to sales volume, but it is not limited to that; customer numbers, outlet numbers, expenses, etc., can all be part of the figures.
  5. Turnover refers to sales revenue in British English, but in American English it refers to inventory turnover. That is, if you are dealing with European companies like Unilever, Nokia, Tesco, Carrefour, etc., turnover usually means sales or revenue; if you are dealing with American companies like P&G, Colgate, Wal-mart, etc., it may mean inventory turnover. However, now that people in the industry move around a lot, it has become mixed, and this is even more evident in retail terminology.
  6. Revenue. This is also a big word, usually appearing in financial reports. Sales, especially collections, constitute revenue, so it is not surprising that the two are used interchangeably. ● The Evolution of Sales Volume in the Chinese Market We often hear people say, "We need not only 'sell-in' but also 'sell-through'." The general idea is that we should not only persuade the next tier to buy (sell-in) but also help them sell it on (sell-through), so that we can have long-term cooperation. Sell-in can basically be translated as "selling in" or "promoting stock-in." Sell-through is a bit harder to translate; a literal translation like "selling out" seems insufficient, so it might be better to paraphrase as "reselling" or "helping resell." The story behind these two simple words is not simple; it took many years of evolution to arrive at today's sell-through. Before 1992 in mainland China, manufacturers basically had no concept of sell-through. As long as they sold in, the product was ordered, inventory was transferred, and the manufacturer's sales were basically considered complete. After that, they only needed to handle accounts receivable (AR). This practice of stuffing goods into customers is still happening now; it is called trade loading, also known as loading up the pipeline or building pipeline sales. It is like filling a pipe with water, regardless of where the water flows. So in those days, salespeople regarded collection as the top priority, because it was usually difficult, and customers often delayed payment. Why did they delay? Because the goods were not selling; the pipe was full of water, and everyone was anxious if the water did not flow out. Even the landlord did not have surplus grain. "You work hard to pay, and I will help you sell the goods." Many companies' salespeople began this landmark evolution, from "trader" to "distributor," moving their supply chain control scope downstream from the distributor to the retail outlet. This formed the sell-through we see: helping dealers in the distribution chain to resell. Now, this downstream line has been moved to shoppers. It is not about helping the distribution chain sell-through, but helping retail outlets sell-through, directly influencing the final purchase and completing the full-line product sales. The pace of sales evolution is still fast. Several Versions of "Channel Stuffing" "窜货" (chuàn huò), also called "串货," "倒货," or "冲货," but none is as apt as "窜货." The character "窜" looks sneaky; from its etymology, it combines "rat" and "cave," meaning a rat scurrying in its burrow. Using this character to describe cross-regional dumping is very vivid, capturing the "sneaky" and "underground" nature of the operation. Translating this term is difficult, with many versions and no consensus. I cannot give a definitive answer, but I will list some for your reference: □ Transregional Dumping – I personally think this is the most accurate translation; "Transregional" is appropriate for cross-region, and "dumping" is suitable because channel stuffing is always a dumping behavior, i.e., using unconventional price compensation to achieve a large volume of sales in a short time. □ Transregional Sales – This term is neutral and can also express a positive meaning. □ Unauthorized distribution – This is a bit formal, like explaining "temporary parking" as "unscheduled motor vehicle parking." □ Trafficking sales – Originally meaning transporting people or smuggling contraband; some also use "smuggling," which is basically the same. But after all, it is just channel stuffing, not murder or robbery, so this word is a bit harsh; use it with caution unless you have a grudge. Source: WeChat account 'Weizhi' -END- The best FMCG distributor learning platform in China Dedicated to providing professional, practical, and actionable tutorials for companies 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 18 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]