Cross-regional selling is a common problem that has been discussed many times, and it seems there is no good solution. In fact, cross-regional selling itself is a behavior that conforms to business common sense, and in a sense, it is reasonable and normal. The so-called solution to cross-regional selling is actually about maintaining the interests of distributors or manufacturers in a particular market. Cross-regional selling itself is just a business behavior with causes and effects.

There are three basic characteristics of cross-regional selling:

First, who initiates the cross-regional selling? Is it the manufacturer's sales staff? Or the local distributor? Or even the local secondary wholesaler?

Second, what is the purpose of cross-regional selling? Is it purely to maximize the interests of one party, or is it an act of revenge?

Third, what are the factors that restrict or influence cross-regional selling? Is it the commercial cost of cross-regional selling? If the cost is too high, it has no commercial value, unless it is purely for emotional revenge. Or is it the fear of encountering more severe retaliation from the other party?

Based on the above analysis, it is not difficult to find that small distributors are more likely to be harassed by cross-regional selling. Generally speaking, large distributors have stronger social relationships locally, are more sensitive to market information, are well-connected, and have strong social activity capabilities. In addition, due to their large sales volume, they easily gain the attention of senior management and have close relationships with them, so neither other distributors nor the manufacturer's sales staff dare to mess with them.

Small distributors, on the other hand, have a low status with senior management, and some senior managers may not even know them, so naturally they are not given much attention. Secondly, due to their limited strength, they do not have strong control over their market, insufficient coverage, and even lack the ability to collect market information, which makes it possible for market sales staff, other distributors, and even some secondary wholesalers to dare to bully small distributors. Small distributors often have no one to appeal to, and they can only watch helplessly as their market is severely impacted by cross-regional selling. If this happens repeatedly, how can they continue to do business in the future?

In fact, many distributor friends say that the most effective solution to deal with cross-regional selling is to fight. There is no use in reasoning; if the other party were reasonable, they wouldn't engage in cross-regional selling. Since the other party (the cross-regional seller) is unreasonable, why should I be reasonable? Just use force. If anyone dares to cross-regional sell, beat them to a pulp and confiscate the goods. See who dares to do it again. However, we are now in a society governed by law, so fighting is not a solution.

Every problem has a solution. Now we advocate a harmonious society, and there are many harmonious ways to solve the problem of cross-regional selling.

When a small distributor encounters cross-regional selling, they should first analyze and judge three aspects: first, who initiated the cross-regional selling? Second, what is the purpose? Third, what is the biggest problem in the other party's operation? Once these issues are clarified, the corresponding solutions will naturally emerge.

Who initiates cross-regional selling? There are mainly three types of people: first, the manufacturer's sales staff; second, distributors from other regions; third, local downstream distributors.

What is the purpose of cross-regional selling? First, to make money; second, to retaliate.

What is the biggest problem in the operation of cross-regional selling? First, the operation cost is too high, even exceeding the profit, which loses the meaning of cross-regional selling; second, the fear of retaliation from the other party, leading to a feud; third, the goods that are crossed over cannot be sold normally and end up stuck in their hands.

Next, let's analyze the reasons and related solutions one by one.

Generally speaking, the initiator of cross-regional selling is mostly the manufacturer's sales staff, or at least they are involved (of course, the vast majority of sales staff who engage in cross-regional selling are not responsible for the region where the goods are crossed into). Manufacturer's sales staff are not afraid of distributors. They engage in cross-regional selling mostly for personal sales performance, and the realization of personal sales performance is in the hands of senior management. That is to say, the manufacturer's sales staff may not buy the distributor's account, but no one dares not to buy the senior management's account. The only ones who can restrain these sales staff are the senior management.

As for senior management, they often do not pay much attention to small problems in a local market. Moreover, cross-regional selling has many aspects that can be disputed. For example, whether it is active or passive cross-regional selling, or just natural flow of goods, and whether cross-regional selling will stimulate distributors to manage and invest in their own markets. Especially for small distributors, if they encounter cross-regional selling in a single market, senior management rarely pays high attention. However, if there is cross-regional selling in a large area, or a trend of such development, it will have a very serious negative impact on market construction and the price system, which will inevitably attract the attention of senior management. Once senior management pays attention, the sales staff below will not dare to operate cross-regional selling. But small distributors often only encounter cross-regional selling in their own local market, far from the point of alarming senior management. What should they do?

Unity is strength. Among the distributors under a manufacturer, most are small and medium-sized distributors. If a small distributor can unite a group of similar small and medium-sized distributors and jointly raise an issue with senior management, senior management will naturally attach great importance to it. That is to say, after a small distributor encounters cross-regional selling, they should quickly contact and communicate with other distributors in the manufacturer's distributor group, inform them of the cross-regional selling problem and the resulting losses, and emphasize that this is the consequence of senior management's indulgence of their sales staff.

Today the incident happened to me, tomorrow it could happen to you. I have already suffered, and there is no need for everyone to experience the same. For safety and prevention, let's unite and report this issue to senior management to ensure everyone's interests are not affected. Imagine if a sales staff member operates cross-regional selling in a certain regional market, leading to continuous protests and complaints from multiple distributors nationwide. Senior management will naturally attach great importance to it. After all, senior management may not buy the account of one small distributor, but no one dares not to buy the account of a group of distributors.

In most cases, to appease the distributors, senior management will order a strict investigation, seriously deal with the responsible persons, and compensate for the losses. On the one hand, this can recover some losses; on the other hand, it fundamentally deters other sales staff. Although it is a small distributor, they have great energy and can cause trouble, so it's best not to mess with them.

The other two types of cross-regional sellers are peers, local or external distributors. Their cross-regional selling behavior is either for greater profit or for revenge. Based on these two points, we can seek solutions.

From cross-regional selling to the realization of profit, there is a necessary step: the goods that are crossed over must be sold smoothly. There are many aspects that can be attacked:

First, do the crossed-over goods have the relevant quality inspection procedures? Generally speaking, cross-regional selling rarely has these quality inspection procedures. Even if they do, they are issued by the market management department of the market where the goods came from. Domestic market management departments often do not recognize each other's certificates. Your goods may be proven qualified in another market, but they may not be qualified here; I need to re-inspect. If a local small distributor reports to the local market management department, it will definitely make the cross-regional selling distributor suffer.

Second, are the accompanying gifts or other items in the crossed-over goods in place? Cross-regional selling generally does not include gifts. If the local small distributor amplifies this information point, it will make it difficult for the cross-regional selling distributor to sell the goods at normal prices.

Third, many manufacturers have different product strategies for different regions. So, are the crossed-over goods produced for other markets? If there are differences in product applicability and grade lower than the genuine products sold in the local market, then the cost performance is reduced. If this information is spread, it will affect product sales.

Fourth, even for the same product from the same manufacturer, Chinese consumers have a deep-rooted concept of product grades. For example, large factories and small factories, genuine products and substandard products, goods from other regions and goods sold locally, there will be some differences. These differences are also aspects that can be attacked. For example, spreading methods to distinguish between genuine and substandard products (i.e., the crossed-over products) and so on.

Through the above attacks, it will greatly hinder the normal sale of the crossed-over goods, making it impossible to realize cash, thus the economic significance of cross-regional selling cannot be achieved, and they will lose confidence in doing it again.

There is also a type of cross-regional selling behavior that is for revenge. Many people can hold a grudge over trivial matters and must find an opportunity to vent, even if it costs money or loses interests. If the distributor who was crossed over once offended the cross-regional selling distributor in some occasion and time, due to economic or emotional interests, the other party, in order to vent or recover something, engages in cross-regional selling to gain temporary satisfaction. In this case, hard confrontation is useless; you need to take the initiative to make peace. Give the other party a way out. Chinese people care about face; if they can't swallow this anger, they can't swallow that anger either. They want an explanation for everything, whether they are right or not. However, it should be noted that superficial goodwill is only one aspect; you also need other means. An American president said well, "Speak softly, but carry a big stick." You also need to prove through some examples that you have the ability to counter cross-regional selling, but you just want to handle this matter peacefully and don't want to escalate it.

Of course, the best way to solve the problem is to prevent it, that is, to do your own job well. We can introduce a business-specific A6 management system to analyze market coverage, customer visits, and each customer's sales volume. By improving internal market management, we can prevent external cross-regional selling from entering your market.

Domestic manufacturers actually treat small distributors as their customers, and they cannot protect the distributor's market. This is the reality. Only by doing your customer work well and developing your market to a certain extent will you naturally be protected.

  1. Find out the source and gather evidence;
  2. Report to the manufacturer in time;
  3. Report to first- and second-level distributors to prevent individual behavior of sales staff;
  4. Give threats (first- and second-level distributors are more afraid of cross-regional selling);
  5. Find ways to strengthen yourself.

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