Tip: Click the blue text above to follow "FMCG Distributor Professional Consulting" for more insights on marketing and distributor internal management.

I have always held the view that bosses who enjoy walking the market are more likely to succeed. When a company is small, many bosses like to go to the market, visit the front lines to understand the situation, identify problems, and tap into market potential. However, as the company grows and develops, bosses tend to become aloof, claiming they have no time to walk the market and no longer hear the voices from below.

Many distributor friends have also reflected on this issue: bosses of companies with over 500 million in sales are rarely seen walking the market anymore! In the past, when the company was still small, they would go with distributors to inspect the market, study it, and solve market problems. Now, even meeting them is extremely difficult.

Recently, I attended a new product ordering conference for a listed company. I asked a provincial manager why their marketing president wasn't attending. He told me that even he only gets to see senior leaders once or twice a year, and they basically don't work in the office. Of course, the leaders are busy, as they are occupied with major business like financing, investment, and capital operations. How could they have time to attend a new product launch and ordering conference? But I believe that a new product launch and ordering conference is also part of the company's business, and new product promotion is part of the company's profit source. As the marketing president, not attending such a meeting is, in my opinion, not justifiable. The presence of the marketing president signifies the importance attached to the new product, giving distributors a sense of the company's emphasis and confidence in the new product, and also inspiring the grassroots sales staff. For the president themselves, it would also provide direct insight into obstacles in new product promotion and allow them to listen to the most grassroots voices.

Not walking the market makes it difficult to grasp market trends, understand market changes, or know competitors' strategies and tactics. However, in the process of walking the market, many bosses fall into common pitfalls.

1. Walking the Market Only for Relationship Building

The most common type of boss I see is one who visits a market, goes to the distributor's place, sits for a while, chats, listens to the distributor's complaints about market difficulties, asks about local market differences and competitor performance, then offers some promotional policies or approves some expenses, has a meal, and heads back. As for which channels our products are in, which stores they enter, how many SKUs, what prices, how the merchandising looks, and how the market staff perform—these are basically not asked, and they don't know how to ask or observe. This is the most typical way bosses observe the market. This kind of market visit can hardly identify any problems; at best, it improves distributor relationships, gives distributors some extra benefits, and makes them feel the boss is decent, generous, and a good person.

2. Walking the Market Only Looking at Supermarkets

The second type of boss also visits the distributor's place, but the difference is they proactively go to supermarkets to check displays, product performance, and understand some real market conditions. They conduct on-site work, requiring local sales staff to immediately solve market issues such as product pricing, display placement, and product freshness, and propose strategic responses to competitor activities. However, there is no standard for which types of stores to visit, which places to go, who to talk to, what process to follow, or whether to follow a standard for market visits. It's still a superficial way of observing the market, aimlessly led by distributors and sales staff, making it difficult to understand deeper market content. Because the markets bosses see are the excellent supermarkets and stores arranged by sales staff and distributors, no problems can be seen there.

3. Walking the Market Like a Leadership Inspection

The biggest characteristic of this type of boss is that, like government officials, they pre-arrange for their secretary to notify subordinates, decide when and where to visit, ask subordinates to prepare thoroughly, then bring a group of subordinate leaders and a photographer along. I once saw a leader from a tissue paper company inspecting the market in Fujian. The scene was like this: dozens of sales staff followed behind in uniform, looking triumphant and spirited. The supermarket staff thought some provincial or municipal leaders were inspecting, and it was almost like an imperial procession, just missing a ceremonial guard.

So, how should bosses walk and observe the market?

First, Prepare for the Market Visit

Many bosses walk the market with little preparation and unclear objectives. Perhaps after a long time away, they feel it's necessary to see the market, visit distributors to give them confidence, and boost the sales team's morale. Such bosses are likely problem-solving types. Others go to the market only when sales problems arise and they can't find the cause in the office, so they reluctantly go to see if the product isn't selling and why.

In fact, market visits require preparation. What should bosses prepare for?

First, plan the time and route. For example, one boss always visits sample markets a month after a new product launch to check distribution rate, display, shelf presence, and pricing. Another boss visits key accounts and observes the market from mid-year to year-end to prepare for next year's new product launches.

Second, try not to let sales staff prepare for the visit. If they know the boss is coming, they will use all resources for temporary checks and superficial work, which is not beneficial for long-term market development and may even backfire. For instance, deliberately lowering prices to create a false impression of strong sales is a bad practice.

Third, have clear objectives for each visit. It could be to check distribution in large stores or small stores, market share, execution, or to research market demand. In short, each market visit should have clear goals and a detailed plan.

Additionally, list the purpose, content, time, personnel, locations, stores, and issues to be addressed in a table and record them in writing.

Second, Focus on Discovering Market Innovation

Besides the above preparations, I believe that because bosses have limited time, they shouldn't just spend it solving market problems. Instead, they should use market visits to uncover innovations from front-line staff. Many innovations happen on the front lines, but sales staff may not recognize them as innovations, and monthly summaries rarely get recognition from top management because they focus on performance. They review reasons for missing targets but rarely pay attention to successes brought by innovation. However, all innovative achievements need bosses to summarize and promote; otherwise, they won't receive due attention. Yet these innovations are the greatest driving force for the company's progress and sometimes the most effective way to transform the company.

The company's goal is to create customer value, and through that, generate profit and other objectives. The front line of customer value is in field sales, and innovations there are often intentionally or unintentionally overlooked. But if bosses consciously value them, it could open a new path and be a key advantage for the company to overtake competitors. For example, a senior executive at Liby told me a great example. Liby's Caiqi laundry detergent is another brand under Liby, and nationwide, Liby detergent sells better than Caiqi. However, in Chaoyang County, Shantou, Guangdong, despite having fewer resources than the Liby brand, Caiqi achieved higher sales than Liby detergent. This result was discovered by Liby's top management during a market visit. The executives immediately summarized the experience, promoted it nationwide, and required all distributors and sales staff to attend an on-site meeting in Chaoyang County to learn this "refined distribution model." Another boss from a tissue paper company told me his secret to success: he relies entirely on product innovation, and their packaging style always stays ahead of competitors. His source of innovation comes from his front-line sales staff and distributors, and even in-store promoters.

Whether it's market promotion models, product innovation, or management models, I think bosses absolutely cannot come up with them out of thin air while sitting in the office. Inspiration mostly comes from the market front lines, because front-line sales staff and promoters best understand consumer needs.

Daonong recently launched a public account specifically about how traditional enterprises can do WeChat marketing. If you're interested, you can follow it. Search for the WeChat ID above or scan the QR code below to follow.

--------------------------------------------