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- First, clarify a few basic concepts:
What exactly is a regional manager?
Different companies define their sales organizations differently, so first clarify the basic definition of a regional manager.
Some regional managers report to the sales director and supervise office directors, managing business in one province or several provinces.
Others report to a provincial general manager and supervise office directors, managing a prefecture-level city.
In practice, regardless of how each company defines the role, we hope to use the regional manager position to examine how middle and senior sales management views the market.
What does a regional manager do every day? Depart, attend meetings, visit markets, meet clients... Many regional managers are like fire chiefs, rushing to wherever there is a problem. They are also like community aunties, handling all sorts of trivial matters. When clients are difficult, markets have issues, or functional departments cause trouble, regional managers are always running around. In a 31-day month, a regional manager may travel on business for more than 26 days. Check yourself: Is this the case?
What does a regional manager rely on to earn a living? A mouth, a stomach, and two legs. What indicators does the company use to pay the regional manager's salary? The simplest indicators: 1. Sales volume (sales amount, tonnage, pieces). 2. Profit. Measurement units: yuan, tons (pieces). For many companies, performance is a "life-saving card." Whether your performance is stolen or snatched, it doesn't matter.
Who does a regional manager lead? Office managers (directors), sales representatives (business managers), dealers, distributors, etc. Many companies station teams in base markets, with office directors leading a group of sales reps (often middle-aged women) to visit clients and retail outlets. Some office managers are lone commanders. In reality, they are just big sales reps carrying a bag and circling around clients every day. Does the above description of a regional manager match your current situation? "Alcohol capacity equals sales volume, courage equals output." This type of regional manager may be tough, but not necessarily professional. As the middle layer of the company's marketing system, the regional manager is the waist of the management chain. If the waist cannot exert force, the whole body may struggle or even become paralyzed. To prevent regional managers from being inefficient firefighters, avoiding superficial visits and "water-skiing" habits, and instead forming a tightly interlocking management cycle, requires effort.
Now, let's get to the point: How should a regional manager in the FMCG industry view the market?
- Preparation before going to the market. 1: Check the charts. Look at sales data reports to identify which region, client, or business has abnormal performance this month. Identify which product has anomalies in which region. Check the office manager's recent work logs, analyze their work focus and trajectory, and see if their attendance and positioning patterns are abnormal. List a travel plan. Which markets to visit, how long to spend, and what main problems to solve?
Travel. Keyword: "The enemy is in the village." If subordinates know your whereabouts, they may arrange a carefully prepared "encirclement," and the information and data may be distorted. Arrive at the office door 5 minutes before the morning meeting. Check office management: whether there are lateness issues, whether the office is managed according to standards, including meeting procedures and content, and office housekeeping. Check whether there are empty positions, whether rules are posted on the wall, and whether sales rep management is effective. Check sales rep assessment indicators, policy familiarity, scripts, and spot-check skills. After the sales reps leave, communicate with the office director. Communication points: sales data, management reminders, etc.
Field visits. Determine the visit area, route, number of stores, time, and the forms for recording visit data. Decide whether sales reps should accompany you, who will accompany, and prepare the forms. Eight things to check during terminal visits:
Check distribution rate. Record the single-store product mix and inventory of both our products and competitors. Record the price bands of both.
Check merchandising. Record merchandising elements and use a merchandising scoring form.
Check product age. Check the production dates of our products and competitors, whether first-in-first-out is followed, and whether there are expired or near-expiry defective products. Check whether inventory is reasonable, and whether there are stockouts or overstocking.
Check abnormal dynamics. Check for counterfeit products and cross-regional selling. Check for price anomalies and whether promotional policies are implemented properly. Check for competitor movements.
Check visit quality: whether stores are missed, skipped, false orders, missed orders, and whether there are customer complaints (record them). Whether terminal owners (or service staff) know our policies (e.g., cap-opening fees).
Check customer relationships. Whether terminals know the sales rep's visit cycle and name, and whether there are complaints or reports about the sales rep.
Check service quality. Whether terminals know the delivery phone number, delivery time after calling, and order thresholds. Whether it is van selling or pre-selling. Whether promotional items are withheld, whether prices are correct, and whether it is net pricing.
Check terminal influence: Whether terminals know the client's name or company name.
Summary keyword: Record. Question: What to do after the visits? Hold a dealer meeting, use Excel, PPT, photos, and other tools to objectively analyze sales data, trends, and visit materials.
Hold a dealer meeting. Through sales reports and market visits, the regional manager will clearly know which client and which product's sales trend is, and be well-prepared. Suppose at the dealer meeting, a dealer raises a question: A certain product is not selling. How do you answer? At this point, you can open the sales report on the spot: This client has not shipped this product for three months. Ask the office manager: Why no shipments for three months? (Actually, this is a rebuke to the client.) The office manager replies: It's not selling! Immediately open the visit records for this client's area: The distribution rate for this product is less than 10%, 5 stores are out of stock, 6 stores have near-expiry products, and 3 stores have been waiting for delivery for a week without receiving goods... Ask the office manager on the spot: What was the distribution target for this product last month? The office manager replies: ...50%. Follow up: What if the target is not met? The office manager: ... At this moment, what color will the client's face be? Special note: When disciplining a client, you must be well-prepared, use data, and be reasonable. Clients are not afraid of toughness, but they fear professionalism, and even more so, they fear a professional and dedicated person. Disciplining clients is not done at the dinner table, the card table, or by pounding the table!
Develop an improvement schedule. Based on visit information and sales data, formulate an improvement plan, communicate it on the spot, and confirm it. Set rewards and penalties, and have the client and office director sign on the spot. Forward the improvement plan to the assessment and inspection department and the regional internal affairs staff, with dedicated personnel tracking and assessing.
Resource follow-up and continuous follow-up. According to the schedule, provide relevant resource support, such as promotional support. Require the office manager to reflect the achievement of key indicators in daily reports.
Is the market viewing complete now? That's all for how a regional manager views the market. However, it seems we forgot something very important. If the regional manager completes all these tasks, it will probably be around 10 p.m. Don't forget to have a meal with the client and the office staff. At this time, the meal will be enjoyable.
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