Recently, some articles have been discussing the life-and-death issues facing distributors, with various analyses and studies. Some say there's no problem—everyone is doing fine, still breathing when seen yesterday. Others are alarmists, claiming to see distributors dying off in batches. Of course, there are also those who seize this opportunity to do business, such as various e-commerce platforms and self-proclaimed experts jumping out with analyses, ultimately aiming to intimidate distributors into jumping into their own bowls.
Since everyone is talking about it, I'll add my two cents. First, let's clarify the most fundamental question: what exactly are we after in doing business?
The answer is too simple—everyone will say it without hesitation: to make money, to make big money, and to keep making big money!
Of course, we don't ultimately want to become money-making machines. The Jade Emperor sent us into this world to enjoy life. Making money is a process, ultimately to improve our quality of life and better enjoy it. This quality of life has two aspects: material and spiritual. Material life is simple—food, clothing, transportation, and daily necessities—which bosses have long achieved. But spiritual quality is another matter. Stress, lack of sleep, fatigue, anxiety, irritability, tension, and even mild depression (neurosis) are common among distributor bosses. A pack of cigarettes costing several hundred yuan tastes bland; they drive luxury cars worth millions with worried faces; an unexpected phone call can ruin a day's mood; and they find few things pleasing in their relationships with spouses and relatives. In short, material life has improved, but spiritual life has declined.
Why is this? It's all because of this damn business! By now, the business should be familiar, even semi-automatic, allowing the boss to be a hands-off owner. But truly, not many distributor bosses can gracefully delegate. Most bosses have only stepped away from general trivialities, only to fall into new issues like company development, social relations, manufacturer relations, asset management, personnel management, operational mechanisms, product portfolios, risk incidents, succession, and equity handling.
At the root, it comes down to two sentences:
1. Most distributors who started with operations, even after reaching a certain scale, still remain operation-oriented and haven't shifted to management-oriented.
2. They are overly immersed in past experiences and methods, with insufficient proactive research into current internal and external changes. For instance, their thinking on personnel management, customer management, and product portfolios is outdated. So-called distributor transformations are often reactive.
Of course, the biggest problem bosses face isn't just poor spiritual quality of life; there are many real risks, such as:
1. Tax crisis: A business license that hasn't been updated in over a decade is like a huge tax debt note, always at risk of being forced to pay up, especially with the current trend of tax authorities tracing back from manufacturers to distributors.
2. Family life: Bosses invest insufficiently in marital and parent-child relationships. The probability of both spouses having affairs and divorce is high; children may turn out useless; relatives may become enemies.
3. Personal health issues: Long-term high pressure and anxiety, plus unrestrained socializing, smoking, and drinking, leave many distributor bosses with various ailments. They don't even have time for physical exams or systematic treatment. They'll keep working hard to earn money, but later they'll need it to support their doctors.
4. Employee reports: From industry and commerce, taxation, health, epidemic prevention, to labor bureaus—I estimate that in the next few years, 90% of distributor bosses will face labor arbitration compensation claims from employees.
5. Lack of product portfolio and channel control: If a major upstream manufacturer revokes distribution rights, company performance could be halved overnight.
6. Inadequate safety prevention mechanisms: A delivery truck kills someone, costing hundreds of thousands in compensation, and the deceased's family blocks the company gate for a month or two. There's insufficient prevention and insurance against floods, fires, typhoons, and other disasters; when incidents happen, all they can do is cry. Internal employees commit crimes rampantly; it's not uncommon now for distributor salespeople to make off with over a million.
Against this backdrop, many distributors of a certain scale still maintain some growth, and bosses appear to be singing and dancing as usual. But in essence, it's like driving a broken car on the highway—it looks fast, but the vehicle is severely aged, with structural hazards, and could fall apart at any moment.
Of course, some distributors are stubborn, insisting they can control everything, at least still doing well and making good money each year. But don't forget, cancer is usually painless in its early stages, but that doesn't mean it's nothing. Some people let their guard down, feeling no pain or itch, eating well, and refusing even a physical exam, let alone systematic care. By the time the cancer spreads and pain is truly felt, it may already be too late and irreversible. The current so-called normal situation is actually overdrawing one's future life.
Still not convinced? Then let me suggest three things for distributors to do as a self-check:
Use an external independent inventory company to thoroughly count all goods in the warehouse to see the real difference between actual stock and book records. Of course, internal staff are not allowed to participate, and no advance notice should be given.
Audit all accounts receivable to see if those IOUs are genuine. Check behind each real IOU for alternative conditions, such as salespeople selling their own private goods, settling their own accounts, and leaving company goods on credit.
Verify all downstream customers to see if they actually exist, and for each real customer, identify any historical issues.
[Author bio: Started as a private business owner, managed a family distributor company for many years, and concurrently served as business manager and trainer at several production enterprises. Research focuses on internal management of small and medium-sized private enterprises, with main topics including personnel management, cost control, management backend setup, and transitioning military veterans into private enterprises. Continuously breaks down over 400 topics related to internal management of private enterprises, maintaining material collection and solution updates.]
-END-
China's best learning platform for FMCG distributors Dedicated to providing professional, practical, and applicable tutorials for enterprises 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 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 Eighteen 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]