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When discussing how to establish a dealer management system, we must first understand that among our dealer ranks, wholesalers—especially terminal wholesalers—occupy a large proportion. They generally have low education levels, poor marketing awareness, and loose management, which is particularly prominent in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector. Over 90% are individually operated, and truly having a sound management system and professional marketing team is rare. "Mom-and-pop shops" are everywhere, and management levels vary greatly. In operations, most dealers find it hard to achieve efficiency through management. Typically, few have internal business statistics and financial analysis reports; most use random management with unclear responsibilities and rights. Workers sometimes listen to the boss, sometimes to the boss's wife—pure family workshop-style management. So, in today's increasingly fierce market competition and growing terminal channel power, from which aspects should our dealers establish a management system to adapt to competitive development? Here are some brief thoughts.
1. Establish a "merit-based" human resources management system: Many dealers currently favor relatives over merit. Due to small scale and low requirements for employee quality, relatives and friends become core backbone. Over time, due to personal connections, they cannot effectively manage employees. This nepotism seriously hinders the dealer's own development. Today, to grow bigger and stronger, dealers must introduce talent and abandon the short-sighted idea that "family and relatives are most reliable." Compared to upstream agents and manufacturers, dealers lack not capital but talent! In human resource management, dealers should establish a scientific talent management system, including talent reserves, pre-job training, performance assessment, and position promotion, all with clear rules.
2. Establish a "clear accounts" financial management system: Currently, many dealers' financial management only stays at simple daily records of income and expenses. Operating expenses are spent arbitrarily, procedures are incomplete, and cannot be reflected through sound financial books. In most dealers' minds, they can use their own money as they wish; the only approver might be their "wife," who often acts as the "financial director." There are no clear standards for wages, reimbursements, shopping, or entertainment, and no sound procedures or systems to regulate them. Thus, many dealers often wonder: "I earn quite a lot, but why is there so little left at year-end?" Therefore, dealers must establish a sound financial management system, detailing monthly sales, profit/loss, assets/liabilities, etc., so we can know how much we earned, how much we lost, and where to reduce costs and turn losses into profits.
3. Establish a "clear responsibilities and rights" marketing management system: In dealer management models, it's common to see one person with multiple roles, which is unavoidable for small dealers, but due to unclear responsibilities, it leads to poor performance and mutual blame. In today's intense competition, we must first build a strong marketing team, clearly defining each person's "responsibilities, rights, and benefits," assigning sales and delivery tasks to specific individuals. For those with cross-functional or multiple roles, assessment methods must be fully institutionalized. In marketing management, cooperation with upstream agents or manufacturers should also be carefully considered. To effectively motivate employees, market policies can be delegated, giving employees flexible market operation space, linking regional market responsibilities and rights, helping them shed the mentality of hired workers and operate markets from an operator's perspective, thereby increasing team ownership and enhancing cohesion and combat effectiveness.
Additionally, business personnel should be managed through pre-job training, competitive hiring, performance assessment, and survival of the fittest. Dealers should require business personnel to report work regularly at each level, feed back timely market information, provide product information feedback forms, downstream dealer inventory details, market dynamics tables, and terminal distribution details, so the company can respond quickly, flexibly, and effectively to market changes and monitor market dynamics in time.
4. Establish a "scientific and standardized" product management system: Currently, many dealers manage products in an extensive manner, letting products sell naturally. Today, refined product management is more conducive to accelerating product circulation and connecting with upstream channels. First, dealers should focus on on-site management of "storefront" and "warehouse," implementing basic principles of "first in, first out" and "safety and hygiene." Classify "brand products," "new products," and "old products" for management. For diversified dealers, manage daily registration and storage of different product categories, such as beverages, snacks, liquor, and candies, each with corresponding "in-out" flow monitoring systems. Also, monitor daily product flow and after-sales, actively cooperate with upstream agents or manufacturers to strengthen sales. If product quality issues are found, dealers should actively report to the manufacturer and assist in dispatching personnel to investigate and handle promptly. Therefore, dealers must continuously improve in areas like "daily store sales," "warehouse management," "delivery service," "loss service," and "rights protection service."
Moreover, in product management, establish a strict market research and product monitoring system. Only by continuously analyzing market consumption and product movement can we maintain reasonable market throughput. This is important to avoid investment risks from inventory buildup and prevent customer loss due to stockouts.
5. Establish a "complementary advantages" manufacturer cooperation system: Today, "manufacturer-dealer cooperation" is essentially "resource integration." Manufacturers value dealers' distribution networks and local relationships, while dealers value the "marketability" of manufacturers' products. But smart dealers often don't want to "hang from one tree" and prefer to represent multiple products to earn more. Of course, manufacturers are also trying to prevent dealers from "changing affections." From a certain perspective, manufacturers find it hard to control dealers' multi-branding, but without a complementary cooperation system, dealers can hardly achieve sustainable healthy development! Here, dealers should not favor old brands or strong enterprise products; instead, establish a product representation system that combines "large and small," "strong and weak."
Many dealers believe that old brands, especially those with certain awareness and reputation, have mature consumer groups and sound distribution networks, making new products easier to promote. In contrast, they disdain unknown or new brands, thinking they are risky. But upon reflection, products with higher risk also have greater market opportunities. Old brands rarely have truly new products; most are improvements based on original processes or repackaged versions. New brands, though initially weak in market foundation, are worth trying if the product positioning is accurate, pricing reasonable, and manufacturer credibility good.
Additionally, when establishing distribution cooperation with upstream agents or manufacturers, dealers should have their own business rules and bottom lines. They should first have a basic system reflecting what they need, what they can do, and basic rights. With such a basic cooperation framework beneficial to company development, it becomes easier to negotiate with any manufacturer.
6. Establish a "continuous recharging" training and learning system: Currently, many dealers lack professional marketing knowledge, cannot accurately grasp manufacturers' market strategies, and are vague about product features, brand culture, business philosophy, and marketing models. They find it hard to guide customers effectively through precise explanations. Some customers buy A and they say A is good; buy B and they say B is good, leading to slow product movement. Therefore, modern dealers must establish a scientific and effective employee training and learning system. New marketing personnel should undergo pre-job training, learning company marketing philosophy, corporate culture, product knowledge, etc., and only after passing assessments should they be hired. Regularly organize employees to participate in various marketing-related training activities to continuously "recharge" and improve the team's overall combat effectiveness.
Of course, in management mechanisms, the most important thing for dealers is to establish effective incentive and competition mechanisms. These mechanisms vary by enterprise, so I won't elaborate here.
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