Distributors are the first "ticket" for manufacturers to enter the market. It is no exaggeration to say that the quality of your distributors determines the quality of your market! Since distributors are so important, how can companies retain them in the actual marketing process? This article shares the following ten tips: 1. Make distributors feel that following you is profitable Chasing profits is the nature of businessmen, and distributors are no exception. Whether your product can make money for distributors is the fundamental way to retain them! Telling distributors the "profit story" and prompting them to move from heart to action is always the most important part of distributor management. 2. Provide the "magic bullet" that enables distributors to make money The company's "profit story" has been told vividly enough, and distributors are sufficiently tempted, but they still hesitate to act! Why? Because distributors still have concerns! The biggest concern for distributors is exactly what they need to do to earn the money in the "profit story". Therefore, companies should provide distributors with a complete set of market operation methods, telling them which products to choose as main products, how to distribute products to stores, how to do display and promotion after entering stores, how to manage inventory, how to manage product dates, etc.! Let distributors feel that as long as they follow the company's approach, the "profit story" will become a reality! This is also what scholars often mention: frontline managers should act as "business consultants" for distributors. 3. Let distributors make money "steadily" "Steadily" making money means that the company's market management should be standardized, with the most important aspects being regional market protection and price order management. Regional market protection means that within the distributor's agency area (as stipulated in the contract), the company cannot arbitrarily add new distributors, and severe penalties should be imposed for cross-regional dumping to ensure that each distributor can cultivate their own "one acre of land" with peace of mind. Price order management means that the company should set a price system for all levels of channel members, such as the distributor's selling price, the sub-distributor's (second-tier) selling price, and the terminal retail price. At the same time, close attention should be paid to actual market prices, and effective management measures should be taken to stop any level of channel members from disrupting prices, thereby ensuring the profits of all channel members. 4. Make distributors feel your "devotion" No distributor wants to do a "one-shot deal" with a company, except for those with ulterior motives. The psychological need of distributors is: they want to have the agency rights forever for products that can make money. In actual market management, companies should establish the concept of not easily replacing distributors unless absolutely necessary, and use practical actions to give distributors a strong sense of "security". If distributors fail to meet certain requirements, the company should make every effort to help them meet the standards. For example, if the distributor's network coverage cannot meet the company's requirements, the company can achieve this by developing sub-distributors under the distributor, rather than blindly replacing them with "larger" distributors. 5. Make distributors "admire" your professional level With increasingly fierce market competition, distributors' business is becoming more and more difficult, and their traditional business models are gradually becoming ineffective. The degree to which distributors "depend" on you is determined by whether the company can guide distributors to grow through its professional market operation methods! 6. Make distributors "admire" your refined management level As overall marketing activities become more refined, companies need to keep pace with the times and gradually achieve refined management of distributors. Refined management is reflected in every detail of distributor management. For example, in inventory management, not only should we pay attention to safety stock and first-in-first-out, but also to product stacking requirements (environment, temperature, stacking height, etc.). As the saying goes, details determine success or failure! 7. Make distributors "moved" by your sense of responsibility In actual distributor management, many conflicts between distributors and companies are caused by the irresponsibility of frontline distributor managers. For example, failing to promptly pay attention to and actively solve the problem of products with poor dates in the distributor's warehouse, leading to product expiration, or failing to promptly apply for and verify promotional expenses. A sense of responsibility is the foundation of trust, and only trust can lead to loyalty! 8. Make distributors "respect" your staff's moral integrity The company's image in the minds of distributors is not created by advertising or promotional brochures, but through the words and deeds of employees, especially frontline distributor managers! The professional ethics of employees directly determine the company's image in the minds of distributors. 9. Let your service "warm" distributors This aspect mainly refers to improving the service level of the finance and logistics departments that are in close contact with distributors. In reality, many companies have low service levels in logistics and finance, especially the finance department, which directly affects distributors' overall perception of the company. For example, cumbersome reimbursement procedures, slow reimbursement speed, untimely logistics delivery, and shipping errors! To a large extent, managing distributors is about serving them. High-quality service naturally makes distributors feel the company's sense of responsibility! 10. Let distributors integrate into your culture Different companies form different corporate cultures due to factors such as historical background, product categories, geographical location, and the founder's personality! In actual distributor management, it is necessary to consciously "transmit" the company's culture to distributors and gradually influence them to accept it, for example, through meetings or activities, and regularly mailing internal publications. This platform will soon organize distributor friends who are interested in transforming to B2B platform e-commerce to visit and learn from B2B platforms. The B2B platforms for this visit include: Yantai Yishang Logistics model, which is strong in logistics; Beijing Beiquan model, which is strong in integrating terminal retail; And the Piduoduo model, which is strong in integrating distributors. For specific content, please click the link below to learn more Friends who are willing to learn with the editor can add the editor's WeChat. 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