Let's start with an example: when the company issues sales targets, how do distributors break them down? I've found that the vast majority of distributors I've met add 20%-40% to the target, then allocate it to their salespeople's routes, and then set product-specific sales tasks. The better ones will set targets for key products and new products, and at the end of the month, they calculate the salespeople's performance pay based on their sales achievement. But then the questions arise: How were these products sold? Where did they go? Who were they sold to? What is your SKU distribution rate? What causes large-scale returns from terminals? Is the salesperson's failure to meet targets due to inability to distribute or slow sales at the terminal? How many new outlets/special channels did the salesperson develop this month? What is the output of your core T20 stores? ...Can you, as a distributor, answer all these questions? It can be said that more than 80% of distributors in China cannot answer the above questions. Because distributors never care about these things. The result of not managing the process is: ▲ The market is basically in a state of laissez-faire. Salespeople are not managed properly, effective working hours are low, terminal visits are poor, customer relationship maintenance is inadequate, they only visit large and familiar accounts, new market development relies on personal awareness, sales growth depends entirely on promotions, they push inventory to sell bestsellers, new products don't sell, and if they do sell, they end up with a pile of expired goods... I believe the above problems trouble many distributor friends. The reason for these problems is that most are oriented towards sales targets, using simple financial indicators to support the performance evaluation system, not paying attention to other content. At the beginning of the month, they set goals, and at the end of the month, they only look at sales achievement. They overemphasize the importance of promotions. Although they know they need to do market work, their management style is very rough, lacking management tools and means, with no skill, being short-sighted, and lacking market control. Even if some enlightened distributors consciously manage the diligence of their sales team, the process lacks planning, decisions are random, orders are given arbitrarily, or they execute according to company-issued targets, and control changes frequently. There is a lack of authority. To solve these problems, it is necessary to scientifically and completely formulate and implement a performance evaluation system for the entire sales team. The lack of process management mentioned above is because relying on limited financial indicators to support the sales team's sales advancement, lacking an effective performance evaluation system to drive, such distributors cannot grow big. No matter how much you sell, at best you are just a wholesale household. Today, let's briefly discuss the above issues. How to improve employee diligence through sales process management?

  1. In strong markets, focus on results; in weak markets, pay more attention to the diligence of frontline employees. In markets where you are strong, distributors can use their brand and market dominance to conduct result-oriented assessment and incentives. But in weak markets, more emphasis should be placed on the importance of market foundation work. The true source of a good distributor's channel competitiveness is not how many vehicles you have, how many people, or what good products you represent, but the quality of your entire market foundation work. And market foundation work seems simple: all around the consumer's "purchase" to do continuous and regular actions:
  2. Salespeople conduct regular, continuous, and systematic visits to terminals.
  3. Planned development of channels and terminal stores.
  4. Standardized visual merchandising at terminals.
  5. Comprehensive expansion of categories and items. Market foundation work cannot be done overnight; it is a long-term and arduous project. It requires distributors to be planned, use quantifiable, monitorable, and easy-to-execute management tools and means, persist in doing it, constantly correct and adjust, and find a set of effective management systems and tools that fit their team. The core of the quality of the above foundation work is whether your process management of the sales team in market sales is scientific and in place, and whether you can pull the diligence index of the entire sales team to a relatively high value. A market with particularly good foundation work must have a sales team that is capable of fighting, has strong execution, and is very diligent. The management of sales team diligence must be goal-oriented, with a series of operational indicator management actions around the goal. Simply put, it is divided into the following points: 1. Sales process management is to break down goals into multi-dimensional work content, and the content must be closely linked to goal achievement. The way salespeople achieve sales is not only to set monthly sales assessment goals for them, but also to formulate multi-dimensional work indicators around the sales assessment goals: Common basic work content that needs to be focused on to achieve sales indicators: a/ Number of active outlets (outlets with transactions in a single month or week) in the current month; b/ Number of stores distributing new products/key items in the current month; c/ Number of new outlets/special channels developed in the current month; d/ Number of stores with highlights/display shelves developed in the current month; e/ Number of advantageous positions/end caps seized in the current month; f/ Achievement of effective store visit count in the current month; g/ Achievement of comprehensive terminal visual merchandising score in the current month; h/ ... in the current month. If distributors no longer solely use sales as the entire assessment, but start to pay attention to the process of salespeople's market operations, by assessing the above multiple indicators around sales achievement, the market foundation and sales will definitely develop healthily. Of course, distributors don't have to assess all of them; they can assess monthly in stages and with focus based on the product's market progress or weak areas. 2. The process should be broken down and quantified into small goals, and standards should be established. In a marathon, athletes usually have a technique: before the race, each athlete will walk the course and break the entire distance into small segments using buildings as markers. In this way, during the race, athletes will complete the small goals they set one by one, ultimately achieving the goal of running the full distance quickly. This has good implications for our sales management. After the monthly overall goal is set, salespeople may sometimes feel the task is too heavy, or because there is still a long time until the end of the month, they tend to slack off. Distributors also have this problem. But if you break down the various classified assessment indicators for the month into weekly and daily goals, and at the morning meeting every day, you continuously track the salesperson's daily goals, make standardized requirements for the goals, and effectively reward and correct the achievement of yesterday's goals, this can ensure that salespeople know what their daily task goals are, how much they have achieved, and how much is left. They will know what encouragement and punishment they will get the next day for achieving or not achieving. This will make salespeople nervous every day, and there will no longer be the problem of being loose at the beginning of the month and tight at the end. 3. Sales goals should be differentiated by person, but work standards should be unified, content should be executable and easy to track. When setting sales goals, they must be based on the salesperson's area and market development situation. Absolutely do not use a one-size-fits-all approach. Reference dimensions can include the employee's length of service, the quantity and quality of outlets in the area, the salesperson's personal skills, last month's sales, sales in the same period last year, product items, and other comprehensive factors. It is necessary to require salespeople to work hard, but also to make the goals achievable through effort. The standards for work execution must not be inconsistent. Regardless of the market and sales volume, work standards are one of the most basic tasks for every salesperson. Once inconsistency or discounting occurs, it not only makes data tracking difficult but also challenges execution. When it comes to tracking, two aspects should be mentioned: First, the tracked goals must be quantifiable into specific data, avoiding vague evaluation words like good, medium, poor, or almost. Second, it must be trackable. Currently, sales management tools are very rich. The salesperson's daily itinerary, terminal performance, working hours, operation time, number of transactions, number of product items sold, etc., can all be tracked through some sales management software. This makes it convenient for distributor friends to track quantified indicators during management. Here, I recommend trying the Field 365 software. This software is quite good for managing the diligence of market personnel. More importantly, the basic functions of quantitative assessment are free! 4. Timely rewards and punishments. Previously, I told everyone the sunflower seed theory in the group. Do you know why you can't stop once you start eating sunflower seeds? Because: eating sunflower seeds is a task, a very simple task. Through your actions, you quickly get a "reward" - the seed kernel. When you get the kernel, the pituitary gland in your cerebellum secretes a small amount of dopamine to encourage you to do it. Once your behavior is encouraged, you immediately crack another one, then get encouraged again, crack another, and so on. Through this sunflower seed theory, I want to tell distributor friends: set up the salesperson's work in stages, easy to complete, monitorable, and with timely rewards. Through timely rewards and punishments, tell salespeople what to do and what not to do. Encourage what should be done to increase their motivation, and punish what should not be done or not achieved in time to avoid it next time. Only in this way will the goals you set earlier be executed more efficiently and effectively. 5. Precautions: Goals and standards should be communicated clearly, avoiding vague words and content, and reducing ambiguity. Evaluation content should try to avoid human factors, especially goals and standards, to avoid non-quantifiable content. For example: at the morning meeting, require employees to post 10 posters that day, with a reward of 5 yuan for achievement and a fine of 10 yuan for failure. This can easily lead to ambiguity: although there is a goal for poster posting, there is a lack of standards for posting. Specifically, it should be: at least 10 posters posted that day, no less than 2 per store, with the requirement: must be posted at the store entrance, at least 1.5 meters above the ground, horizontally, not vertically, and in a place where rain cannot reach. Any non-compliance is considered not up to standard. In addition, photos of the posters must not be close-ups; they must be taken from at least 3 meters away or show the full store. Employee achievements must be rewarded in a timely manner: the best way is to reward on the same day. Currently, the red envelope function in WeChat groups is so powerful. Once a salesperson has an excellent performance, as a manager, you must promptly reward them with a red envelope. Of course, you can also reward them at the next morning meeting in front of all members. Avoid delaying to the next day or the end of the month, as the effect will be greatly reduced. The above has discussed the 4 key points of process management. To do market foundation work well, you cannot do without the diligence management of frontline employees. And to do diligence management well, you must do assessments every day, track every day, and persist. Simple things repeated, repeated things done seriously. Only in this way can the distributor's market foundation be consolidated. -END- The best FMCG distributor learning platform in China Focusing on providing professional, practical, and useful tutorials for companies 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 the corresponding content Reply with number 1 to view the complete knowledge base | 001 Excellent article selection | 002 Distributor market operation | 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]