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It is said that this was created by Kangshifu during its channel refinement, known as the "Eight Steps of Terminal Visits," but now it has become a basic skill in the FMCG industry.
Today, we will break it down into ten steps for a more detailed explanation.
1. Is the terminal visit step a profound skill? Some might think of the escape technique given by the fairy sister to Master Duan. If you don't get it, recall the military's attention stance. The visit steps teach a sales rep, like a new recruit, how to stand at attention, at ease, and in a military stance. Someone might ask: "I can defeat the enemy without knowing how to stand at attention or at ease." Imagine a movie scene: a regular army is marching, suddenly there is an enemy, the officer shouts "Hit the deck!", and the troops drop flat in unison. If it were a bandit gang, the leader shouts "Hit the deck!" and many would stand there, either because they don't understand or they'd yell: "The ground is full of dog poop, how can I kiss it?"
Marketing professionals in the regular army often break down a visit into multiple steps, like Cola's eight steps.
Marketing guerrillas might simplify multiple steps into one action, like shouting at the customer's door: "Ergouzi, I'm here!"
Guerrillas believe: "A cat that catches mice is a good cat, regardless of color."
The regular army believes: "A cat that performs the mouse-catching action correctly and can replicate it is a good cat."
Guerrillas salute by kowtowing.
The regular army's first movement in salute is attention: heels together, toes apart at about 60 degrees; legs straight; stomach slightly in, chest out; body upright, leaning slightly forward; shoulders level, slightly back; arms hanging naturally, fingers together and slightly bent, thumbs touching the second joint of the index finger, middle finger along the trouser seam; head straight, neck straight, mouth closed, chin slightly tucked, eyes looking straight ahead. Think about it: isn't this the difference between the regular army and guerrillas?
2. Before breaking down the steps, clarify a few things: 1: Is the terminal your lifeline? 2: Is the terminal your main battlefield for sales and performance? 3: What percentage of your sales is achieved through terminals? 4: Can you do without terminals? 5: Who controls the terminals? 6: Why can customers demand high prices, hold terminals to make manufacturers suffer, and turn the tables?
Where are the terminals? Some answer: Terminals are in the market.
Question: In a certain market, take Shijiazhuang as an example: How many terminals are there? What are their locations, owners, phone numbers, and product categories?
Note: Different categories and brands have different definitions of terminals.
Keywords: Suitable + Match; Sweep the streets OR Visit key points.
Use a standard template, follow the no-omission principle, inventory all terminals in your market, record them, classify and mark them on a map, and create terminal customer profiles—if this foundation is not solid, the subsequent work will be a mess.
Question: Are salespeople frequently changed? Do they often change areas? Do they sweep the streets each time? If the basic work of sweeping, mapping, and tabulating is solid, changing personnel is fine.
But some might ask: My salespeople only visit customers, not terminals, or only a few terminals, and even then, they just go through the motions. Why? Because their salaries are not tied to terminals or only loosely, with the main part coming from sales volume. So, pay attention to the division of roles: distribution reps and terminal reps are different, like engineers and artillery.
Distribution (customer, channel) management is handled by the area supervisor or distribution rep, while terminal work is handled by terminal reps. If these are mixed, terminal visits are doomed!
Should we define how many terminals to visit per day and which ones? Typically, 45 per day, once a week, totaling about 240 terminals.
But a key question: How to solve: 1. Did we visit the terminals? 2. What did we do during the visit?
First: No-omission principle. Second: Territory brand principle.
The no-omission principle: Every store must be visited; if not, like closed stores, must be approved by the supervisor!
The territory brand principle: Only with territory is there brand! Territory = control rate = number of distribution points / target number.
So, should terminals be visited randomly, selectively, or repeatedly? They must be visited! What is the purpose of visiting terminals? To increase sales? I think the purpose is to grab territory!
- Grab territory; 2. Build relationships; 3. Merchandising; 4. Attack and block competitors.
3. After understanding the above, enter the ten steps of visits:
Step 1: Outside the store! Some might say, prepare before the visit, groom, show eight teeth, etc. I think the keywords for outside the store are: name, needs, and shortages. What is the boss's name? How to know? What does the store need? How to know? What is missing in the store? How to know?
Note: Check the visit manual! It records the boss's name, last visit's product display and competitor situation, orders, customer complaints, etc.
Key actions: Check the manual (electronic or paper), think about scripts, handle competitor posters, merchandising—tear them down!
Step 2: Greeting Find the right person: Identify key people, scripts, titles, ice-breaking techniques.
Note: Newbies often feel dizzy and incoherent when entering a store.
Key actions: Greet everyone in the store. Introduce yourself (scripts, techniques). Handling complaints is the first step to closing a sale during service; service is the foundation for building relationships. Three stages of relationship: Initial: The customer knows you and can call your name; Intermediate: The customer trusts you, can place orders after checking inventory, and signs off; Advanced: The customer depends on you, you can give management advice and help them make money.
Step 3: In-store operations Keywords: Professional, dedicated! What is professional? What is dedicated? Professionalism is sometimes visible at a glance! For example, professionally trained soldiers. Whether a salesperson is professional can be seen in a single poster action: some smoothly and comfortably remove the competitor's poster and put up their own, including restocking and display maintenance. Merchandising standards, restocking standards, display maintenance standards are all omitted here.
Note: Professionalism is trained and managed, starting with each action.
Step 4: Product display Principles: 1: Make our product visible, and competitors' invisible. 2: Display is fought for. 3: Display is a habit. Note: Spending money is instinct, everyone can do it; doing market work is a skill, not everyone can.
Step 5: Inventory management Keywords for FMCG inventory management: First in, first out, near-expiry products. Expired products, near-expiry products = half of shelf life. If near-expiry products are managed well, there will be no expired products, or fewer. Near-expiry management is standard in beverages, food, especially milk. Key actions: Check barcodes, dates, observe flow rate, restock, record near-expiry items, notify customers to handle, warn the store to prevent expiration; monitor the inventory ratio of our products vs. competitors.
Step 6: Suggested orders 1.5 times safety stock principle: (Previous stock - Previous order + Current stock) * 1.5 = Safety stock. Previous stock and previous order are from visit records (electronic systems, mobile systems make this hard), current stock is actual inventory. Key actions: Suggest orders to customers, scripts, safety stock and flow rate judgment, control the scale, scripts, don't push too hard in one order, new product timing, scripts, techniques, continuous closing. New product points: Positioning and gap. Positioning: Position against competitors, price band; Gap: Recommend price bands missing in the store.
Step 7: Policy communication Policy scripts, calculate thoroughly, store-specific policies, communicate content, sign agreements, etc.
Step 8: Understand market dynamics Keywords: Write it down (professional behavior) Key actions: Gather competitor information, listen to customer complaints and opinions, listen to terminal suggestions.
Step 9: Form work Keywords: Accurate, truthful Key actions: Complete forms (electronic, paper), market information feedback forms, undelivered order records, etc.
Step 10: Reconfirm appointment, thank and leave Keywords: Name, visit cycle, order content Key actions: Avoid a strong start and weak finish, don't be forgetful.
Note: In the FMCG industry, brands with strong terminal management skills are powerful.
Source: Sugar Tobacco Weekly Food Edition.
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