In the previous section, we learned about the common significance of dealers and how to handle cooperation obstacles. The main knowledge points are as follows:

  1. How to achieve cash sales in an industry where credit sales are prevalent?
  2. Using examples like "product too expensive" and "low profit," we discussed how sales personnel should respond to common dealer concerns.
  3. Re-emphasizing the secret to improving negotiation skills: negotiation relies not on eloquence but on preparation! This section will cover how to visit and communicate with existing dealers.

Practical Action Training: How to Visit Existing Dealers (Part 1)

I: Most sales personnel visit dealers in a daze Sales personnel have a lot to say when meeting new dealers (company products, policies, prices, promotions, etc.), but what if you are visiting an existing dealer? They know the company's policies better than you do. What do you say when meeting an existing dealer? Sales personnel travel on business every day to visit dealers. Excluding long-distance travel, effective working time is only 3-4 hours a day. If you ask them: "What specific actions should you take during these three or four hours?" The answer is often incomplete, or they look blank, or they launch into a lengthy speech of "concepts" from training materials! Everyone understands principles, but if concepts cannot be translated into actions, they are useless. The market is built by doing, not by talking. In actual work, the most common scenario is that sales personnel only say the "old three sentences" to dealers: First: "How's business lately?" Second: "When can you pay for the goods?" Third: "This time we have a promotion: buy 100 boxes get 5 free. How many boxes do you want?" After saying these three sentences, sales personnel start chatting with the dealer:

  • "Hey, I heard bird flu is spreading again."
  • "The World Trade Center was bombed."
  • "It seems Bin Laden has been captured..." It's not that our sales personnel are lazy; they just don't know what to do next. Many salespeople visit dealers in a daze day after day. They feel that after saying those three sentences, their work is done, and the rest is just small talk and building rapport. They think good relationships lead to good sales, and heavy drinking leads to big sales. OK, what is the detailed breakdown of actions for visiting existing dealers?

II: Action breakdown for visiting existing dealers Principle: Regular contact, scheduled visits The hardest thing in the world is to get money from someone else's pocket into yours. If you only visit dealers when you haven't met your sales target, and you say the "old three sentences" when you meet, after a while the dealer will be afraid to see you—they know you're coming to make them stock up and pay. Next time, before you even speak, they might say: "Sorry, no money today, no stock!" Plant good seeds, reap good fruits. If you deal with dealers with a trading mentality, you'll get disloyalty and a cat-and-mouse game. The correct approach is to establish a cooperative business relationship with dealers. How? Translate into actions: regular contact, scheduled visits. You need to make the dealer feel that, rain or shine, you visit around the 10th and 25th of each month. You come not to force them to stock up, but for routine visits. Each time you care about:

  • Does the dealer need to replenish inventory? Is there a risk of stockouts or overstock? Do they need help with exchanges?
  • Has the dealer collected payments from downstream customers? Do they need help setting up an accounts receivable management system?
  • Is the market price chaotic? How can you help stabilize prices?
  • What promotions are competitors running locally? How to counter them and help the dealer increase sales?
  • ... Regular contact and scheduled visits—if you make this simple action a habit, your relationship with the dealer will transform from a buying-selling relationship to an alliance, becoming true business partners!

Specific actions for visiting dealers Action 1: Preliminary market understanding, gather "dirt" on the dealer Scenario 1: The salesperson gets off the long-distance bus and immediately goes to the dealer. This time, his manager is with him. Sales Supervisor: "Mr. Zhang, hello, how's business lately? My leader and I came to see you." Dealer: "Oh! The leader is here! Come, sit, sit. I've been waiting for you. I was thinking of going to the factory to find you." Sales Manager: "What's the problem? I'm here today, aren't I?" Dealer: (Immediately launches into a barrage of complaints)

  • "Oh, business is tough! Competitor X is running promotions again, and your factory's support isn't enough..."
  • "Look at competitor B, they invest so much in advertising, and their profits are high..."
  • "How does your factory manage the market? It's so chaotic. Goods from other regions are flooding in. The market price is already 38 yuan per box. I can't even sell at 38.5, breaking even..."
  • "I've been cooperating with your factory for a long time. I have feelings for this brand. I can not make money, but I can't lose money..."
  • ... Sales Supervisor: (Thinking to himself: "This damn old Zhang, saying this in front of the leader!")"Old Zhang, don't worry. The leader is here to solve problems." Sales Manager: (Thinking: "This dealer is tough. This Supervisor Li is stupid. The dealer complains a lot, and he pushes the ball to me, saying I'm here to solve problems. Hmph, he doesn't want to work!")"Mr. Zhang, I've heard your problems. I'll go back and study them immediately. Hmm, hmm, yeah, yeah... Well, I have to go!" Scenario Analysis: When dealers see factory personnel (especially leaders), they often complain a lot. Most of these complaints are not genuine; they are like children crying to get attention and more support. They say to Factory A: "Look at Factory B, they do this and that," and then to Factory B's salesperson: "Look at Factory A." But if the salesperson hasn't checked the market beforehand, they can only listen to the dealer's complaints.

Scenario 2: The salesperson has done market research before visiting the dealer and knows the dealer's shortcomings. Dealer: (A barrage of complaints) Sales Supervisor: "Mr. Zhang, you're right. I admit the market competition is fierce, and our factory's support for dealers may not be perfect. Everything you said is correct, but I want to tell you that we must work together to build the market. Before coming here, I walked the market. Several retail stores on East First Road said they called you multiple times to order goods, but you refused because the quantities were small. Whose responsibility is that? We agreed to ensure retail delivery. The buyer at Hongcheng Supermarket said that last week you didn't deliver on time, causing a stockout of apple juice. They reduced our shelf space by three facings. How do you explain that? Also, at Trust-Mart, we paid for an end cap, and you are responsible for delivery and maintenance. But when I went today, the end cap was half occupied by competitors. How do you explain that? You complain about goods flooding in from other regions. It's my duty to help you fight that, but shouldn't you also think about your own responsibilities? Half of the customers in the North Suburb Food Wholesale Market are out of stock. With such a market gap, it's no wonder goods flood in. As the local dealer, can you first fill your own market gaps? Can you be more alert and gather evidence of who is flooding goods? Can you proactively find out which wholesalers are leading price cuts, and then we'll deal with them together? 'Those who flood goods are shameful; those who are flooded are incompetent.' Does that make sense? ... Dealer: (Sweating profusely: "Oh! How does this guy know everything? Impressive!") "Yes, yes, you're right. I'll change. Don't mind me; I'm a northerner, I'm blunt." Scenario Analysis: After arriving in the dealer's city, spend a few dozen minutes walking the market. Talk to a few wholesalers and retailers you have good relationships with. See what promotions competitors are running, what's happening in the market, and if anyone is cutting prices. Most importantly, find the dealer's mistakes—"gather dirt" (such as late deliveries, allowing wholesalers to cut prices, withholding promotional items, etc.). Remember your relationship with the dealer: you're not visiting a brother, but a business partner. Every visit is a business transaction, a negotiation. Negotiation is not about eloquence but preparation! The result: when the dealer complains, the salesperson can respond with facts and evidence. After a few rounds, the dealer won't dare to complain idly or be too "reckless" in market service. Maybe they'll "hate" you a bit, but they'll definitely admire your professionalism and won't underestimate you!

Action 2: Communicate up and down, fulfill your supplier duties! After the initial market walk, the salesperson should visit the dealer. Upon meeting, exchange pleasantries and small talk. Then, do the following: communicate up and down, and solve problems within your authority! "Up" means conveying the company's latest policies. "Down" means asking the dealer for recent opinions and suggestions. "Solving problems within your authority" means fulfilling your role as a product supplier representative and providing after-sales service. Standard after-sales service duties: handle customer complaints promptly, reconcile accounts, settle rebates and rewards per agreement, and exchange expired or damaged goods. When solving these problems, salespeople should note two points:

  1. Don't make promises beyond your authority; respond to every issue. Salespeople sometimes make wild promises to get dealers to stock up (e.g., "I'll exchange expired goods," "I'll return damaged goods," "I'll bring you more promotional items next time"). If promises aren't kept, the dealer becomes a "jilted lover," and the salesperson a "heartbreaker"—the dealer waits and waits, then feels deceived and never trusts you again. What if it's beyond your authority? Tell the dealer directly and report to the company for approval. What if the company doesn't approve? Many salespeople feel stuck and keep putting it off. This behavior is most resented by dealers. The correct approach is to give the dealer a clear answer as soon as possible, even if the company doesn't approve, explain it as clearly as possible. Playing deaf and dumb or making excuses, hoping the dealer will "back off," makes the dealer feel you don't care about their requests. (If the dealer's request is clearly malicious and they owe the company money, that's a different story.)
  2. Value the dealer's short-term interests. Salespeople help dealers with distribution, put up posters in the scorching sun... but dealers often don't appreciate these efforts—they think you're working for the factory, not helping them. But if you quickly exchange a box of damaged goods, they might be very grateful because it's their immediate interest. This phenomenon is unreasonable, but because it exists, it's reasonable. Given dealers' short-sightedness, salespeople should be diligent in handling issues like damaged goods exchange, expired goods processing, and rebate settlement—matters of immediate interest. Maybe just one small thing like this will make the dealer grateful. Most salespeople can do the above two actions, but that's not all. So far, the work is only service; the real sales work hasn't started. What should be done next? Let's review the highest standard and ultimate goal of factory sales representatives managing dealers: Through professional skills, coordinate the interests of the two fundamentally different entities (factory and dealer), guiding the dealer's people, vehicles, goods, and money to invest more in the factory's market work... The question is: the salesperson is neither the dealer's wife nor the dealer's manager. How can you "guide the dealer's people, vehicles, goods, and money to invest more in the factory's market work"? By profit temptation? No, a salesperson has little say in product profit. By management? No, you have no authority to manage the dealer. By what? By rapport? Many salespeople confuse personal friendship with professional rapport. They have a one-sided understanding of the "fish-water" relationship between factory and dealer, plus leaders' teachings like "do sales, first build rapport" and "be a good person before doing things." This makes salespeople afraid to stand tall in front of dealers. So they are overly attentive—helping the dealer move goods, drive, light cigarettes, pour water, run errands, and even turning a blind eye to the dealer's flooding goods or withholding promotional items. The salesperson's attentiveness may make the dealer like them, but it won't earn respect. Overdoing it might even make the dealer think you're cheap! If the salesperson "sells out" the company's interests for a "win-win" with the dealer (dealer gets benefits, salesperson gets performance), the dealer might have a good relationship with you, treat you to meals, call you brother, but deep down they won't respect you. They might help you push stock, but only if you give them more promotions to profit from. On small issues, they might accommodate you because you helped before, but once it comes to their vested interests and you can't deliver benefits, your friendship will vanish. Then it's "times have changed." Friendship helps business, but its effect is limited. What truly matters is professional rapport! Professional rapport is built on respect. How to make customers respect you? The dealer's eternal topic is profit. You need to make the dealer feel that you are serious, responsible, and dedicated. You are better at business than him, more professional. You can teach him many business methods, help him manage the market, create sales and profits. Only then do you truly have rapport, have "face" in front of the dealer, and can use your influence to guide him. Specifically how?

Action 3: Inventory management After communicating up and down, dive into the warehouse to count inventory and make a purchase-sales-inventory report. Inventory management is the basic action in dealer management. Without counting the dealer's warehouse, the salesperson has no right to ask for orders. Basic inventory management actions include:

  1. Inventory count, warn about stockouts and expired items, do FIFO (first-in, first-out: put older products in front to sell first, avoid expiration).
  2. 1.5x safety stock management Explanation: Last visit's inventory + last time's dealer purchase - this visit's dealer inventory = what? It equals the dealer's actual sales during this period. To ensure the dealer doesn't run out of stock in the next period (since salespeople visit periodically), the dealer's minimum inventory should be no less than the previous period's sales. For safety, multiply this sales figure by 1.5, i.e., period sales * 1.5. That's a safe inventory level. Subtract current inventory from safety stock to get how much the dealer needs to order this time. Example: A dealer had 100 boxes in stock at last visit, purchased 50 boxes last week, and has 120 boxes in stock this week. The salesperson visits weekly. Then: Period sales = (last stock + last purchase - current stock) = 30 boxes. Safety stock = period sales * 1.5 = 30 * 1.5 = 45 boxes. This order quantity = safety stock - current stock = -75 boxes. So the dealer doesn't need to order this time. Note: The so-called period sales = last stock + last purchase - current stock is not absolute. Exclude factors like last week's promotions, weather changes, and seasonal fluctuations. Period sales is "the possible sales in a normal period," or an "empirical value." The 1.5x safety stock coefficient is also not absolute. The longer the shelf life, the larger the coefficient; the longer the factory's delivery cycle, the larger the coefficient. Good salespeople calculate orders, not beg for them. Using inventory management allows you to know the dealer's actual sales/expired/stockout situations, help reduce stockout/expiration risks, and make your suggested orders well-founded. This also demonstrates your professionalism. The problem is that dealers often don't believe this. When you talk about last stock, last purchase, current stock, etc., they don't accept it. What do you do then? Details in the next issue.

Next issue preview: The remaining 5 steps for visiting existing dealers.

Editor's Note: The editor has selected 1,067 articles from nearly 1,900 published on this official account, categorized into 14 major categories and 57 knowledge points, systematically compiling frontline marketing management content into a library for easy learning. From market to customers, practical and management-focused, all valuable. Follow the official account and reply with the number "1" to browse related content.