Good Customer Relationships Can Generate Greater Sales Sales terminals need to be fought for, but customer relationships at terminals need to be strong. In fact, terminal customer relationships are even more important than competing for terminals.

  • First, without good terminal customer relationships, various terminal tasks will be difficult to carry out smoothly;
  • Second, without good terminal customer relationships, some terminal investments may not be able to play their role, while good terminal customer relationships can maximize the benefits of terminal investments;
  • Third, terminal customer relationships themselves have direct terminal promotional power. And good customer relationships make it easier to achieve twice the results with half the effort: For example, in product recommendations, terminals are willing to recommend your products to customers and actively sell new products and new packaging launched by your company; For example, in product display, terminals are willing to let your products maintain good display positions and proactively do shelf management and maintenance; For example, in visual merchandising, terminals are willing to let you post POP advertisements and prevent others from damaging or covering your POP ads; For example, in promotional activities, terminals are willing to cooperate with your in-store promoters and store promotions; For example, in product sell-through, terminals are willing to accept your sales suggestions and are willing to think and find ways to sell your products; For example, in ordering and payment, terminals are willing to settle payments on time and actively replenish stock to prevent stockouts or sellouts; For example, in information gathering, terminals are willing to share market information and dynamics with you, especially about competitors; For example, in customer service, terminals are willing to proactively handle customer complaints about your products; Sometimes, emotional relationships can compensate for insufficient benefits and make it easier to forgive your momentary negligence or mistakes. Therefore, the weaker the market, the more off-season, the more customer relationships become the top priority, even surpassing stocking pressure, because at this time, sales only come with good relationships; sales are fought for, not pressured. 1. Customer Relationships Are Built Through Visits; Diligence Can Compensate for Lack of Skill Terminal customer relationships are built through visits; terminal visits are the basic method for maintaining good customer relationships. Good terminal customer relationships always belong to diligent terminal salespeople. Terminal customers will never decide whether to help you sell based on your position, but rather on how familiar you are and how good the relationship is. When some company leaders go to the market frontline to inspect terminal work, they may personally do displays, but because they are not familiar with the terminal staff, they may be stopped by the store owner or staff, or even scolded. This happens quite often, and these matters are easily resolved by a junior salesperson. Therefore, to maintain good terminal customer relationships, it is essential to do daily terminal visits. While doing terminal visits, terminal salespeople should gather personal information about key personnel at terminal stores, such as family situation, personality, hobbies, and birthdays, and establish detailed customer profiles and files. Send small gifts during festivals or irregularly, give a gift and greetings on birthdays, and help customers solve non-work-related problems as much as possible. Transform business relationships into personal friendships, building feelings of friendship. Terminal customer relationships are built through visits, but it cannot be achieved overnight. The key is to conduct terminal visits unwaveringly and continuously. Terminal visits are a marathon without an end, a long-term, continuous task that can never be relaxed. How can we ensure unwaveringly and continuously cycling terminal visits? Enterprises must establish a "store visit system" to manage through the system and ensure continuous cycling operations. Follow the common steps of the "store visit system":
  1. Establish detailed terminal files, including terminal name, address, business area, staff names, birthdays, etc.;
  2. Divide the market into several districts, and assign corresponding terminal salespeople to each district;
  3. Classify terminals into A, B, and C categories;
  4. Reasonably determine visit cycles based on terminal category and set corresponding visit frequencies;
  5. Draw a terminal distribution map;
  6. Develop a terminal visit route map;
  7. Also develop a "visit process" that specifies what work to do at each terminal, how to do it, and what standards to achieve. Do not underestimate these basic processes and standards. Once you establish a routine and rhythm, you will feel both relaxed and immensely benefited, but these are not suitable for new product launch stages or promotional blitz stages. 2. Activities and Gatherings: Meet Often, Sales and Stocking Pressure Happen Through Play Activities are a good means of building terminal customer relationships. Activities provide a platform for communication and exchange between enterprises and terminals, increasing mutual contact and narrowing the distance between them. Enterprises can adopt flexible and diverse methods, regularly holding various activities such as symposiums, social gatherings, terminal celebration parties, travel activities, brewery visits, tasting sessions, learning lectures, ordering conferences, new product launches, etc. These activities can also include entertainment activities like lucky draws and cash grabs, as well as product or corporate culture elements. Through these activities, you can not only strengthen relationships and deepen understanding but also promote the company and its products. 3. Do a Good Job of Terminal Support to Ensure Customer Relationships Do Not Depreciate Building good terminal customer relationships cannot rely solely on material incentives or small emotional investments. To establish stable and continuous terminal customer relationships, enterprises also need to provide systematic support and good terminal services. Helping terminals is helping the enterprise itself. Providing systematic support and services to terminals can not only enhance terminal customer relationships and improve cooperation but also effectively obtain promotional space and display resources at terminals, thereby promoting product sales and improving sales performance. First, provide sales support to terminals. As an enterprise, actively helping terminals improve sales performance is a duty. Sales support provided to retail terminals mainly includes the following:
  8. Provide advertising support to terminals;
  9. Provide sales aids such as product display, in-store advertising, and point-of-sale promotions;
  10. Personnel support, such as dispatching promoters or in-store promoters (for certain stores);
  11. Provide sales tools and equipment assistance, such as free shelves, freezers, and store signs;
  12. Deliver goods promptly, ensure supply, always know the terminal's reasonable inventory, and replenish in a timely manner;
  13. Assist terminals in putting products on shelves and do a good job of shelf management and maintenance;
  14. Handle returns and exchanges promptly, adjusting slow-moving inventory at terminals;
  15. Provide good after-sales service, handling customer complaints and feedback proactively and promptly;
  16. Communicate frequently with terminals to solve difficulties and problems they encounter in sales. Second, provide business guidance to retail terminals. In addition to providing sales support, enterprises should also, to the best of their ability, provide guidance and coaching related to business operations, offering reasonable suggestions for problems in terminal operations, helping terminals solve operational difficulties, thereby helping terminals enhance sales power and competitiveness, and improve overall business level. For example, provide guidance and coaching in store decoration, product display, reasonable inventory, sales increase, cost saving, profit increase, advertising planning, and promotions. Give a plum and return a peach; when terminals benefit from enterprise guidance, enterprises can gain more from terminals. Enterprises have two different ways of thinking about how to conduct terminal customer relationships, and different ways of thinking produce completely different results. Method 1: How can I solve my enterprise's problems through terminal customer relationships? Most enterprises, when conducting terminal customer relationships, usually think in this way: A. What problems do I need to solve? B. How can I solve my enterprise's problems by doing good terminal customer relationships? This is thinking from the enterprise's perspective. Of course, public relations plans conceived in this way can also achieve good results. However, merely designing customer relationship plans for terminals from the perspective of solving the enterprise's own problems is always passive and is not the highest level of terminal customer relationships. Method 2: How can I solve my enterprise's problems by solving terminal problems? Enterprises have their own problems, and terminals have their own problems. If we can break through conventional thinking and consider whether we can solve our enterprise's problems by solving terminal problems, can we embed solving enterprise problems into solving terminal problems? This is a reverse way of thinking, thinking from the terminal's perspective. This way of thinking is: A. For terminals, what problems and difficulties do they encounter in operations? Or what problems and difficulties have not been well solved? B. If we can use our enterprise's resources and integrate the terminal's own resources, can we solve some of the terminal's problems and difficulties? C. What are my enterprise's problems? Can we solve my enterprise's problems by solving terminal problems? In this way, enterprises and merchants integrate each other's resources for their own use, obtaining resources they lack from each other, thereby solving their respective problems in a more economical way. 4. Profit Guarantee: The Foundation for Evergreen Terminal Customer Relationships Customer relationships can compensate for insufficient benefits, but they cannot replace benefit relationships. Customer relationships without benefit guarantees are not solid and cannot last. To make customer relationships solid and lasting, both benefit guarantees and emotional communication are indispensable, but benefit guarantees are always primary, and emotional communication is secondary. Ultimately, the fit between enterprises and terminals is based on benefits; benefits are the hard truth. Enterprises must meet terminals' requirements for profits, ensure reasonable and continuous profits for terminals. Enterprises should scientifically formulate pricing policies to ensure reasonable unit profits for terminals; promote product sales, increase sales volume, make products sell well, and ensure total profits for terminals; manage the price system well to ensure continuous profits for terminals. In addition, enterprises can also find ways to seek new profit growth points for terminals. Source: Distributor's Home (ID: wwwjxszjcom) -END-