Throughout the FMCG supply chain, direct sales and distribution models often coexist. As shown in the figure, raw material suppliers to brand owners typically use direct sales, brand owners to distributors use distribution, distributors to terminals use distribution, and terminals to consumers use direct sales. The essential difference between these two sales models lies in whether the target customer is the ultimate value recipient of the product. Direct sales: This refers to the act of delivering product value to target customers, satisfying their specific needs through that value. Generally, the target customer is the end consumer. Examples in daily life include promotional sales in supermarkets or restaurants, and telephone sales of insurance or financial products. Distribution: This refers to the process of establishing a channel for products to move from producers to consumers. Target customers profit from value differences based on information, logistics, capital, etc., and are mostly not the final sellers. Typical distribution behaviors include those of distributors, agents, and secondary wholesalers in FMCG, apparel, footwear, and software. In my interviews, I was surprised to find that distributors generally position their salespeople's sales model as direct sales, rarely as distribution. This unclear positioning directly manifests in management behaviors: managers feel they cannot exert force, and their actions seem to hit cotton. The root cause is a mismatch between management methods and business behavior characteristics, namely: using direct sales management methods to manage a distribution sales team. In 2022, when I provided diagnostic consulting services to over a dozen distributors (average annual sales above 70 million yuan), I found this phenomenon. They placed 90% of their management actions on results like sales collections and receivables, while paying salespeople commissions based on monthly collections—a very typical direct sales management approach. When questioned, distributors argued they also manage terminal returns, which is a form of distribution management. This claim is weak. From a management perspective, business behavior and imminent returns often occur asynchronously; for long-shelf-life products, the time gap can even be measured in years. Moreover, distributors' penalties for returns are mostly symbolic, and salespeople's income primarily comes from monthly collection commissions, so such management actions have minimal effect on enhancing the distribution attributes of salespeople's behavior. From a behavioral goal perspective, the core of distribution behavior lies in focusing on the customer's ability to reacquire value. Managing returns is actually a seller's mindset, mainly to avoid greater losses, not to focus on the customer's (buyer's) secondary sales. Therefore, managing returns cannot be considered distribution management. From a behavioral outcome perspective, the essential difference between direct sales and distribution lies in the closure of the sales loop. For direct sales, the loop can be directly positioned on signing, collection, and delivery of products or services. So the focus of direct sales team management is on collection results and associated customer numbers and visit diligence. For distribution, since the final value realization is delayed, the sales loop cannot be fully positioned on the salesperson's behavior; it is more reflected in reorders and terminal returns of near-expiry or expired products. Thus, for distribution team management, one cannot overemphasize results like in direct sales; management actions should focus on the intersection of business behavior and customer secondary sales. Overemphasizing results can lead to disastrous consequences. In a state of supply shortage, business teams do not require high efficiency and precision in management; even mismatched management methods do not bring significant negative results, at most causing slow development. When supply exceeds demand and competition intensifies, management requirements for efficiency and precision become extremely stringent. The tighter the supply-demand relationship, the higher the demands on business team management, and the more severe the problems caused by mismatched management. For distributors, mismatched management methods generally lead to two problems: First, overemphasis on collection results weakens after-sales management, leading to gradually uncontrolled terminal near-expiry returns. In the distribution field, there is an unwritten rule: products can be exchanged as long as they are not expired. This rule is a product of distorted supply-demand relationships. Under such distortion, if business behavior cannot be managed more precisely and efficiently, a large number of near-expiry returns will inevitably occur. The tighter the supply-demand relationship, the more troublesome near-expiry losses become. If not handled well, they can erode most of a distributor's profits or even cause huge losses. Most experienced distributors recognize this problem, and a common solution is adding return penalty clauses to salesperson assessments. This results-oriented management method appears weak against long-cycle issues like product nearing expiry. Second, terminal customer relationships deteriorate, and channel distribution efficiency declines. The core purpose of distribution behavior is to create sell-through in the channel, realize product value, and achieve a sales loop. In my research, I found that focusing only on "sales" results while ignoring the stability and health of terminal cooperation is extremely common. This is also caused by unclear business positioning. This behavior is very harmful, separating distributors from terminals, gradually destroying the cooperative relationship, and even forming adversarial relationships. Salespeople only push inventory and blindly promote new products they themselves do not understand. Few salespeople think about how terminal customers can better profit. Over time, channel health declines, and channel distribution capability weakens inevitably. This unhealthy channel cooperation seriously affects subsequent distribution. Considering the distorted supply relationships among suppliers, distributors, and terminals in first-tier brand supply chains, it is extremely difficult to completely solve the problems distributors currently face. Based on my operational and consulting experience, if distributors can clearly position and optimize management methods, they can alleviate these problems to some extent. Based on this, I offer the following four suggestions. First, clarify behavioral characteristics and determine value creation. Under the social value of "no pain, no gain," most people are willing to earn wealth through the value they create. Therefore, it is essential to clarify salespeople's behavioral characteristics and the value creation process. Distributor bosses might daily remind salespeople: "Your behavior is only distribution. If there is no terminal sell-through, all your actions only increase sales and logistics costs, creating no value. If this continues, the company cannot survive." Salespeople must first understand the process of value creation to comprehend the meaning of management actions, truly comply with management, rather than pay lip service, and ultimately align with the company's long-term goals. Second, strengthen sell-through thinking and improve terminal relationships. Treat distribution as the behavioral process and sell-through as the behavioral goal. Salespeople should think not about how to push more inventory to terminals, but about what products can sell at terminals, how to display to induce impulse purchases, and how to provide better consumer experiences—that is, empathize and think from the customer's perspective. If salespeople consistently think this way and act accordingly, distributors can easily stand with terminals. Distributors are no longer just suppliers but upgrade to business partners. Third, optimize distribution behavior. Most salespeople only sell the dozen or so products they are familiar with; for other products, where and how much to sell is a mess. Currently, most distributors' terminals sell less than 10% of total products on average, indirectly illustrating this issue. The core reason is that salespeople's capabilities cannot match business complexity. If you cannot turn salespeople into the smartest brains, the best approach is to use external brains. By enhancing the digitalization of business behavior and terminal labeling, analyzing salesperson behavior data, precisely matching labels, and sorting out terminal distribution suggestions, you can effectively provide "data brain" support for salespeople, thereby improving their distribution efficiency and behavioral accuracy. Fourth, aim management methods toward distribution. Considering brand owners' performance pressure and survival pressure, although most distributors cannot completely shift assessments to distribution, they can move closer. 1. Emphasize terminal service and improve customer service satisfaction. The distorted supply-demand relationship makes terminals a scarce resource. Improving terminal customer satisfaction will play a crucial role in enhancing the flow efficiency of products in the channel. Although distributors often emphasize this, it is rare to see behaviors in salespeople's actual work that improve customer satisfaction and build customer relationships. Many salespeople still do not know customers' names after 1-2 years of cooperation. The reason is that distributor assessments rarely guide salespeople to focus on customer service satisfaction. Therefore, it is necessary to bind service satisfaction-related behaviors to salespeople's direct interests, guiding and constraining their customer service behaviors. 2. Develop new distribution channels and create new channel value. For products already selling, salespeople's actions at terminals are transactional: just do shelf management and order as needed, without complex selling. This is like defending a city—defend the products you sell and your market share. But in such a competitive market, new competitors will always seize market share. Defending alone is not enough; eventually, you will be eroded. Therefore, for distributors, developing new channel opportunities is essential. Development is not limited to new terminals; for regionally closed markets, selling "new" products to existing customers is more important and realistic. 3. Weaken result assessment and strengthen process assessment. You reap what you sow. If assessments all point to results, salespeople will inevitably value results and neglect processes, and behaviors beneficial to channel health cannot be guaranteed. Thus, overemphasizing result-based assessments is short-sighted. Moderately weaken result assessment and strengthen process assessment by focusing on terminal visit cycles, average time in store, and display quality, to build a healthy distribution channel.