--- title: "Distributors: Only Those Who Eliminate Can Make Money!" description: "A recent survey of FMCG distributors in Guizhou and Chongqing revealed that successful distributors grow by eliminating outdated products, personnel, and channels. This article discusses the directions, methods, and strategies for elimination at the upstream, midstream, and downstream levels, emphasizing that elimination is essential for healthy development and profitability." author: "New Distribution" publisher: "New Distribution" email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com" telephone: "+8615854817671" published: "2018-01-18" language: "en" canonical: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/distributors-only-those-who-eliminate-can-make-money-26211960/" markdown: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/distributors-only-those-who-eliminate-can-make-money-26211960.md" original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/zt_4mszk51bT_EBX6VoldA" translation: "https://xinjignxiao.com/zh/articles/%E7%BB%8F%E9%94%80%E5%95%86-%E4%BC%9A%E6%B7%98%E6%B1%B0%E6%89%8D%E4%BC%9A%E8%B5%9A%E9%92%B1-26211960.md" attribution: "New Distribution — https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/distributors-only-those-who-eliminate-can-make-money-26211960/" usage_policy: "https://xinjignxiao.com/ai-policy.txt" --- # Distributors: Only Those Who Eliminate Can Make Money! > A recent survey of FMCG distributors in Guizhou and Chongqing revealed that successful distributors grow by eliminating outdated products, personnel, and channels. This article discusses the directions, methods, and strategies for elimination at the upstream, midstream, and downstream levels, emphasizing that elimination is essential for healthy development and profitability. Recently, I visited markets in Guizhou and Chongqing, and had discussions with multiple FMCG distributors to research the food and beverage market. I found that some clients, through several years of development, have upgraded their vehicles, teams, and overall hardware facilities, achieving excellent annual profits of over 1 million yuan. However, others are still stuck in the same place, working from dawn to dusk, personally handling purchasing, selling, and channel service. Through field research, I have formed a personal view: successful distributors develop through elimination and pursue profit through optimization. Why is it said that successful people develop through elimination? It's simple: only by eliminating outdated products, vehicles, and personnel can new products, vehicles, and personnel be introduced. Renewal through elimination is a law of survival. The directions of elimination for distributors can be broadly divided into "upper, middle, and lower" levels. Today, I will focus on the directions, methods, and plans for elimination, hoping to help more distributors gain insights and grow quickly. 01 **Master the pace of elimination for upstream partners.** As the name implies, this refers to **the phased elimination of manufacturers of the products you represent.** As we know, every company has its growth period, maturity period, and then decline period, and so does every product category. As often said, the mobile phone eliminated the common camera. A dozen years ago, people bought film, took photos with cameras, and sent them to photo studios for development. Now, a mobile phone perfectly solves this, allowing photos to be taken anywhere and shared with friends anytime. Therefore, for the products you represent, **you need to conduct an in-depth analysis** of whether the **development of this category** is on an upward or downward trend; whether **consumers** are increasing or decreasing; whether the **channel profit margin** is at a warning level; and **whether substitute products have emerged.** Based on this analysis, decide whether to retain or eliminate. If profit margins are not met, you must be brave and quickly eliminate them. Only then can you have the funds and energy to introduce more suitable products to make a profit. 02 **Elimination in the midstream should be done decisively.** For FMCG distributors, the midstream typically involves the management of personnel, vehicles, warehouses, etc. First, the primary target for elimination is: people. You might think that recruiting is already difficult, turnover is high, and retaining people is hard, so why eliminate people? **Let me tell you a short story:** A boss entrusted a courtyard to a steward for management. **The boss asked the steward:** If the dog in the yard feels it doesn't have enough food, the cat thinks its sleeping place is noisy, and the ox says its working hours are too long, what would you do? **The steward said:** Give the dog better food, create a quiet sleeping environment for the cat, and reduce the ox's working hours. The boss exclaimed: My courtyard is doomed! The steward asked in surprise: What should I do? The boss told him: You need to introduce a wolf to solve the root of the problem. This story conveys a viewpoint: **When individuals in your team are fickle, complain excessively, make excuses, and don't actively seek solutions, you should consider eliminating them, because the difficulty and time/economic cost of changing a person exceed finding a suitable person for the job. A message to employees: The hell you see may be someone else's paradise.** Moreover, at each stage, the abilities of personnel to drive business development may change, leading to different results. Sometimes, company development may eliminate personnel, while if employees' abilities surpass the company's development, excellent people may also leave, meaning the company is eliminated by employees. Looking at major enterprises or distributors who have grown their business, they continuously optimize and eliminate personnel. Only then can the team have vitality, vigor, and passion. Moreover, you should not place the business on a particularly clever or shrewd employee, but rather on team building and system improvement. Secondly, regarding the elimination of hardware facilities: aging vehicles should be replaced, and warehouses that no longer suit your business development should be changed. Eliminating these is being responsible to yourself and to others. If the business fails, will these things that you consider important still exist? Can you still pay excellent employees on time? Can the team still exist? 03 **Eliminate downstream channels in a timely manner.** I have always held a viewpoint: Do not do ineffective points in downstream channels; only do effective outlets. In conventional sales areas, there are generally six major sales channels: 1. KA (Key Accounts); 2. Circulation; 3. Special channels; 4. Group buying; 5. OTC (Over-the-Counter); 6. Online. Different channels first face different consumer groups, and secondly, different business operators. These two differences indicate that channels have different needs for products. Manufacturers also have precision when researching products. For example, many dry noodle products were initially introduced to special channels like schools and internet cafes. For instance, "Kang Wang" anti-dandruff shampoo mainly targets the OTC channel, with the advertising slogan: Go to the pharmacy, buy Kang Wang! Clear and concise. In 2017, my company launched Yushu Hey Xiaomian and Fire Chicken Noodles, with main channels being KA and special channels, and we developed bath centers, chess and card rooms, as well as schools and internet cafes. Sales were smooth and sell-through was obvious. This shows: Channel selection is important, but channel elimination and optimization are even more important. Here is an indicator for reference: 1. Channels with profit, volume, and display should be highly valued. That is, if all three indicators—profit, sales volume, and shelf space—are present, the boss should focus on these channels and provide personal service. 2. If a channel has two of the three indicators (profit, volume, display), it can be maintained as an effective outlet, with regular service. 3. If a channel has only one or none of the three indicators, consider eliminating it. **In terms of channels, business people have different abilities, so you need to find matching channels and cooperate with excellent people. For channel points that are inefficient and unprofitable, with frequent arrears and returns, you must be brave to eliminate them. For those with poor integrity, dumping goods, and serious price system chaos, you must dare to eliminate them. Eliminating them is a way to travel light and make your business healthier and more stable.** Elimination is for better development. Only by eliminating outdated and out-of-season products can you introduce better and more profitable products. Only by eliminating unsuitable personnel can you make room for more suitable people. Only by eliminating mismatched outlets can you serve excellent outlets well. Elimination is a necessary path for development. Distributors who can do things, dare to do things, and are capable are those who self-renew, self-optimize, and self-eliminate. If you do not eliminate and do not develop yourself, you may be eliminated by manufacturers, employees, or channels. -END- --- ## Copyright and AI use This article is sourced from New Distribution. Search, quotation, summarization, and model training are permitted, but every use must credit New Distribution and retain the canonical source URL. Contact: zhaobo258@gmail.com · +86 158 5481 7671