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Topic 1: The Significance of Terminal Sales
I. Is Terminal Sales Worth the Significant Investment of Manpower and Resources?
The terminal market is the very end of the sales channel, the main battlefield where consumers and products meet directly, the connection point of goods, customers, and money, the final destination of manufacturer sales, and the place where "the sale is completed." The terminal market plays a connecting role. "Connecting upward" means linking manufacturers and wholesalers; "connecting downward" means linking consumers. A basic rule of modern enterprise sales is: whoever controls the sales terminal is the market winner.
For manufacturers and distributors, skipping intermediate links and directly facing the places where consumer purchases occur—such as retail stores, supermarkets, and restaurants—is the main mode of terminal sales.
Manufacturers, facing the national market, seem more justified in implementing regional agency systems, but they are increasingly investing in intensive distribution and building direct sales teams for terminals.
Distributors are no longer sitting in their stores waiting for business; they are going out door-to-door to deliver goods and make retail store visits. They may not be able to articulate the theory of terminal marketing, but they are already doing it.
There are thousands of terminal sales points, scattered and with small unit purchases, requiring large investment, manpower, time, and effort. Why is everyone flocking to this?
—Terminal is where actual sales happen.
Where do sales come from? Selling whole trucks to large wholesalers is low-cost and high-volume, but that's not sales; it's just inventory transfer because the products haven't reached consumers. For wholesalers, their customers are retail stores, and in the sales process, they are just "middlemen."
Actual sales come from consumers purchasing at terminal sales points.
A distributor has regional market and exclusive distribution rights, differing from general wholesalers in that they are not just a middleman but also a market developer and manager. Like manufacturers, distributors want to increase the actual sales of the product in their market.
How to increase actual sales?
Consider a question: How to move 1,000 boxes of goods from point A to point B, 50 meters away, as quickly as possible? The answer:
· Increase manpower: find 1,000 people, each carrying one box, is fastest; · Increase carrying capacity: each person carries more boxes (without affecting speed); · Increase frequency: more round trips per unit time.
Market operations work the same way.
Increase the number of sales points and improve distribution rate (equivalent to increasing manpower).
Strengthen product visibility so that each sales point has faster product flow and greater throughput (equivalent to increasing each person's carrying capacity).
Good customer management increases the frequency of each customer's orders (equivalent to increasing each person's carrying frequency). This is how actual sales growth is generated.
In the past, manufacturers floated at the top of the channel, shouting to consumers through distributors and first-, second-, and third-level wholesalers. Distributors mostly sat in their stores relying on a few large downstream wholesalers for volume. Business was easy then, and competition was not fierce. However, too many intermediate links caused rising distribution costs, price chaos, market control falling into others' hands, slow information, and passive operations.
As the market matured, especially with foreign companies entering China and introducing high-level competition, merely controlling the upstream channel was clearly insufficient to meet competitive demands. The market forced manufacturers and distributors to focus on terminal sales points—the place where actual sales occur!
Only by mastering the terminal sales network can you truly control the market and remain invincible in future fierce competition.
There's no question of worth. It's a trend; survival of the fittest. If you don't do it, others will, and you'll be eliminated.
II. The Significance of Terminal Sales
What is the significance of terminal sales? To achieve sales? Absolutely not. The monthly sales of ten retail store sales reps cannot match a single order from a large wholesaler. China's market characteristics (wide area, scattered sales points) determine that no one can completely bypass intermediate links and rely solely on terminal direct sales for volume.
—Terminal sales are an effective promotional tool.
The era of product scarcity is history, and products without competitors no longer exist. Consumers no longer run around searching for a specific product; if they can't buy A, they buy B. Supermarket shelves are full of choices—convenience of purchase has become a major factor influencing buying behavior.
Only by occupying the terminal market and meeting customers at sales points can products be conveniently purchased. Consumers buy products in retail stores, not in manufacturers' or distributors' warehouses. Therefore, companies must place products on retail shelves so consumers can see and buy them. Procter & Gamble's sales representative training manual says: "The best product in the world, even with the best advertising support, will simply not sell unless consumers can buy it at the point of sale."
Additionally, most purchases are unplanned (especially consumer goods). For example, few people plan at home to buy a drink when they go out. Most people see the product display and are stimulated to buy on the spot.
Consumers' purchase actions are influenced by the sales environment.
The store's appeal, atmosphere, display effects, and point-of-purchase materials can influence consumers' buying consciousness—a consumer who is quite rational before entering a store may engage in some degree of impulse buying after entering.
Terminal sales cater to consumer psychology, directly face first-line sales points, improve product distribution rates and visual merchandising, thereby increasing consumer convenience and providing deeper "visual stimulation" in daily life, which creates more sales opportunities.
—Terminal sales are a powerful competitive tool.
Facing more and more homogeneous products, consumers feel overwhelmed, and brand loyalty is declining. Investing more effort in terminal operations makes your products stand out in stores. Through displays, arrangements, and POP, your products can "jump out" from the shelves, attracting attention and stimulating demand with novel, unique images.
The terminal market is the outlet of the entire sales channel. If the outlet is blocked, the channel suffers "intestinal obstruction"—products stagnate and cannot sell smoothly. Doing terminal promotions well allows products to sell quickly, ensuring smooth flow.
Suppose you have a strong direct sales team.
For new product launches, you can quickly increase distribution, create market prices, and set trends.
Any slight change in competitors' flow, price, or promotions will be promptly reported by your direct sales staff.
Strengthen terminal control, expand your shelf space as much as possible, and you increase sales opportunities while competitors are squeezed off the shelves and thus out of the market.
Through retail store purchase incentives, you can occupy the funds of the terminal channel and block competitors from retail stores...
For distributors, the significance of terminal sales is not to create sales volume but to increase your operational initiative, competitive strength, and bargaining chips:
· Improved distribution and visibility can guide consumption, enhance brand image, and increase product flow, so wholesalers' goods move faster.
· More sensitive market information and occupying more shelf space and funds at terminal points allow you to effectively curb competition.
· More bargaining chips with manufacturers, enabling you to strive for better survival space (exclusive distribution rights).
· Increase competitive advantage to dominate among wholesalers.
Topic 2: Business Operation Modes for Terminal Control
I. Vehicle Sales:
Form: Vehicle sales is essentially delivering goods. Sales personnel carry goods in vehicles to visit customers, sell and collect payment on the spot, and complete tasks such as posting promotional materials, product display, and handling customer complaints.
Advantages of vehicle sales:
· High closing rate: Retail store owners see the product, can unload immediately, pay, and complete the transaction, so they are often more willing to order.
· Easy management: Ordering, delivery, establishing sales records, merchandising, display, and complaint handling are all done by the designated sales rep accompanying the vehicle (often the driver himself). Responsibilities are clear, customers know exactly who they deal with, and problems can often be solved on the spot (e.g., returns), greatly reducing the possibility of employee disputes and buck-passing.
Disadvantages of vehicle sales:
· Inaccurate load prediction: Sales are affected by weather, salesperson skills, product, price, number of customers, customer size, and other factors, making it hard to predict daily sales. Loading too little (requiring mid-route returns) or too much (more returns to warehouse) wastes manpower, materials, and time.
· Low vehicle utilization and slow progress: Delivering with vehicles, especially on streets with dense sales points, can be slowed by vehicle starts, breakdowns, traffic rules, and other factors. Sometimes "running empty" for long periods without transactions wastes transport capacity.
Applicability: Considering the above, vehicle sales is more suitable for surprise distribution campaigns with high investment but rapid distribution rate improvement. For daily visits, long-term use of this mode requires considering whether costs are too high.
II. Telephone Visits
Form: Establish customer records in advance, and dedicated personnel use telephone calls to "visit" customers, take orders, and hand them to drivers for delivery.
Advantages of telephone visits:
· Low cost, fast progress, and more customers can be visited per day.
· High truck utilization; loading based on orders avoids over- or under-loading.
Disadvantages of telephone visits:
· Not conducive to communication.
· Inconvenient market information collection.
· Inconvenient complaint handling.
· Orders may be canceled (address not found or "boss not present" at delivery).
· Not intuitive selling (owner doesn't see the product), lower closing rate.
Applicability: This method can be used for larger sales points on remote routes.
III. Pre-sales
Form:
· Fixed personnel: One sales rep is responsible for a fixed area.
· Fixed routes: Divide the area into 6 routes.
· Fixed time: The sales rep visits fixed routes every day of the week, takes orders, and repeats the cycle weekly.
· Fixed method: Uniform clothing and standardized customer visit procedures.
· After completing the route, the sales rep organizes orders, draws a delivery route map, and hands it to the driver for delivery.
Advantages of pre-sales:
· High truck utilization; loading based on orders avoids over- or under-loading.
· Faster than vehicle sales.
· Detailed work: Sales reps work alone, focusing on taking orders, merchandising, and complaint handling, making work more meticulous.
· Provides high-credibility, professional service: fixed personnel, time, route, and method.
Disadvantages of pre-sales:
· Owner doesn't see the product (but can communicate face-to-face with the sales rep), lower closing rate (higher than telephone visits).
· High manpower investment: both drivers and sales reps.
· Difficult management: Orders are taken by sales reps, but transactions are executed by drivers, creating opportunities for false orders and buck-passing between sales reps and drivers.
Applicability:
· Pre-sales can provide high-credibility, professional service and is relatively fast.
· High vehicle utilization (one truck can serve multiple routes), so it is suitable for daily sales point visits and maintenance, but attention must be paid to personnel management.
Topic 3: Establishing a Pre-sales System—Employee Training and Individual Quality Improvement
When establishing any system, the first issue to address is improving the quality of individuals within the system. Pre-sales sales reps face the most sales points and the most trivial work. Establishing unified work standards can greatly improve their efficiency and professionalism and reduce error rates.
I. Correct Mindset
- Work objectives of pre-sales sales reps.
Educate pre-sales sales reps that their work objectives are not only sales volume but, more importantly, improving distribution rates, merchandising effects, timely information feedback, and occupying as many terminal sales point shelf spaces and funds as possible to curb competition.
- Responsibilities of pre-sales sales reps:
· Sales & profit
· Distribution rate: The distribution rate is not the higher the better, but the more appropriate the better. Different products suit different channels. The pre-sales rep's job is to push products into appropriate channel sales points.
· Merchandising: Making products more vividly displayed in front of consumers is merchandising.
Merchandising can stimulate impulse purchases, increase "extra" sales opportunities, build brand image, and drive overall market product flow.
· Inventory management at terminal sales points:
The pre-sales rep's responsibility is not to push as much inventory as possible to terminal points to boost sales, but to scientifically manage terminal inventory, suggest reasonable order quantities to store owners, and achieve both increasing sales and avoiding expired products.
· Information feedback: Customer records (including basic info like address, phone, and sales records), market information on our products and competitors (promotions, prices, usage, etc.)
· Professional customer relations: Increase influence over customers through professional service.
- Good psychological quality:
Breaking the ice: Pre-sales reps handle many customers. Overcoming the psychological barrier of "fear of dealing with strangers" is the first step to psychological maturity.
The basketball law: Selling is achieved through probability. The best way to help salespeople grow quickly is to contact as many new customers as possible. Mature salespeople don't get discouraged by rejection—after being rejected 99 times, they can still smile confidently and enter the 100th customer's door. Like a basketball, the harder you bounce it, the higher it jumps.
Only you: In each customer's sales process, do your best to follow the company's prescribed procedures. Don't get discouraged by coldness or rejection, thinking "if this one doesn't want it, there's always the next."
Integrity and cooperation: Products are truly sold when consumers use them. Selling to terminal points means they will sell, not store in the warehouse. Care about customer interests, recommend appropriate items (suitable for their store), suggest reasonable order quantities (no stockouts or overstock), and increase customer profits to build long-term cooperation.
- Skills pre-sales sales reps should master:
· Familiarity with company product attributes and features.
Pre-sales reps sell directly to terminal points, so they must be thoroughly familiar with product quality, processing technology, packaging materials, brand characteristics, and use value to answer customer questions promptly.
· Familiarity with target distribution channels for different products.
Different products have different benefits: some emphasize high quality and grade, some economy, some portability. Different benefits attract different consumer groups, so they suit different channels. Knowing your product benefits and target channels helps recommend suitable products, reduce expiration and waste, and promote sales.
· Familiarity with prices of our products and competitors: including single-pack, case, and promotional net prices. Be able to quote them immediately when asked!
· Merchandising skills (detailed in Topic 4): How to display products according to company standards, arrange promotional materials, "make products more vividly displayed in front of consumers," and occupy as much shelf space as possible.
· Customer inventory management skills (detailed in Topic 5): How to scientifically manage customer inventory, avoid expired products, ensure consumers get the freshest products, and occupy terminal inventory and funds as much as possible.
· Handling customer objections (detailed in Topic 6): Customers often have questions, and sales reps need to instill business concepts (like full-item sales, good merchandising). Prepare answers for key issues in advance.
· Standardized customer visits (detailed in Topic 7): Visiting dozens of sales points daily and hundreds weekly. Following a unified workflow at each store improves efficiency, builds a professional image, and reduces errors.
· Filling forms (detailed in Chapter 6, Topic 3): Timely reporting of work performance, customer basic records, sales information, competitor information, etc.
Topic 4: Professional Sales Skills—Merchandising
What is merchandising?
Making products more vividly displayed in front of consumers.
Why do merchandising?
Consumer purchases are mostly unplanned—seeing product displays triggers decisions. Merchandising enhances display effects and stimulates purchase intent.
Why establish merchandising standards?
With standards, consumers see the same order and style of display across thousands of sales points, creating stronger visual stimulation and easier memory formation.
Merchandising standards can be developed based on manufacturer experience. Leading international companies use advanced research and testing methods to summarize display and point-of-purchase methods that better attract consumer attention.
I. Significance of Merchandising
· Visual stimulation largely determines purchase behavior. If consumers don't see your product, they won't choose it. Products not on shelves are hard to sell.
· Lost sales opportunities never return. Once you miss a consumer's purchase, that sale is lost forever—they won't buy double next time to make up for it.
· Both the company and the terminal point lose sales and profits.
· Merchandising makes product displays more attractive, communicating with consumers at the closest distance, building brand image, and letting consumers "feel" the quality and grade.
· The salesperson's duty is to push products onto every sales point's shelves and do good merchandising. If you've done these two things well, low sales are not your fault. Conversely, even with high sales, if you haven't done these, you haven't fully tapped sales potential!
II. Six Key Points for Product Display:
Fully utilize existing display space to maximize its effectiveness and appeal. Avoid empty spaces or insufficient stock, lest competitors take advantage. Today, shelf space competition is fierce; every inch counts. If you don't carefully maintain your position, competitors will squeeze in.
Display all product specifications so consumers can choose according to their needs. Otherwise, they may buy competitors' products if they can't find the right size. If shelf space is limited, display fast-moving items.
Concentrate displays of series products to increase their display effect, making them visible at a glance, showing all company products, attracting attention, and stimulating impulse purchases. Strong products in the series can also drive weaker ones, nurturing future stars. Concentrated displays create momentum and help overall sales.
Strive for high-traffic display positions. In stores, salespeople must understand customer movement routes and place products where consumers frequently pass, such as end caps, near entrances, and corners. Generally, the more people see the product, the higher the purchase probability. In remote corners, products are less visible and sales suffer. Always fight for the best display space.
Place products at arm's reach. To attract purchases, place products at eye level and within easy reach according to consumer height. Too high or too low creates purchase barriers.
Maintain product value. During display, keep products clean and promptly replace damaged, defective, or expired items. Handle slow-moving items to avoid dust and brand damage. Facing products forward, arranging neatly, avoiding stockouts, and keeping shelves clean are basic methods to maintain product value. In short, present products in their best appearance (neat, clean, fresh) to maintain value.
III. Merchandising Rules
- Strive for the best display positions
Supermarkets/discount stores:
· Facing the door, visible upon entry.
· On shelves at eye level.
· On the busiest aisles, preferably before the flow direction (e.g., if flow is left to right, take the left side).
· Must-pass areas like exits, entrances, and checkout counters.
· Both ends of shelves (end caps).
Retail stores, restaurants:
· Behind counters or bars at eye level (retail).
· Display racks in front of counters (retail).
· Beverage display racks/windows in restaurants.
· Nearest to staff/bartenders (restaurants/retail).
· Visible from outside windows (retail).
- Avoid poor positions:
· Warehouse entrances, restroom entrances.
· Next to strong-smelling products.
· Dark corners.
· Too high or too low (hard to see and reach).
· Dead corners on both sides of store entrances.
- Improve product display effectiveness
Shelf display:
· Concentrate same products; more facings attract more attention and increase sales opportunities—sales are almost proportional to facings.
· Prioritize displaying products being promoted and best-sellers.
· Display same packaging specifications horizontally on the same shelf level.
· Display same brand products vertically by different specifications.
· Consumers can be shy; clear price tags are the best advertisement, but ensure prices are correct and consistent for the same product in the same store.
· All Chinese trademarks face outward.
· Place next to best-selling similar products to "borrow light."
· Put earlier production dates in front for quick sale.
· Avoid prolonged sun exposure (fading, quality damage).
· When using refrigerators/freezers, note: the golden display point is the two shelves near the handle; place already-frozen products in front.
Floor display:
· Mostly used in supermarkets.
· Unless there are promotional designated items or space constraints, one product per floor display is best.
· Island display: Located on main traffic aisles, accessible from four directions. Cut open all but the bottom layer to show trademarks.
· Pyramid display: Step-like stacking (against a wall), accessible from three sides. Cut open all but the bottom layer, stepping inward.
· All floor displays must have clear price indicators and advertising stickers.
· Clean the display area at each visit; remove any non-company products.
· Each product's Chinese trademark faces consumers; replenish from back to front, top to bottom.
· After completing the display, deliberately remove a few cans to leave gaps for customers and show good sales.
· Other notes:
· Check manufacturing and expiry dates regularly.
· Place products where target consumers can easily reach.
· Children's products/foods on lower shelves at 50-100 cm height.
· Adult products/foods on shelves at 170-70 cm height.
· When displaying in freezers (supermarkets), post "Please take one" signs.
· Keep as many products on shelves as possible for convenient self-service.
· Displays should be visually effective but also safe and stable.
· Consider the stability of remaining products when one is removed, not leaving it to consumers.
Advertising material usage tips:
· Do not post ads at warehouse entrances, restroom entrances, or dark corners.
· Ads should match the products sold at the point.
· Ads should be neatly posted and regularly updated.
· Ad quality should match the store's overall style.
· Ads should also have position priority (refer to product display rules).
Having covered much merchandising knowledge, different industries and channels have specific techniques. Merchandising is an operational skill honed through practice. For beginners, too many rules can be confusing, but teach them to remember:
—Display is important; if consumers don't see it, they won't buy.
—Place products where consumers can see and reach them most easily.
—The more and neater the display, the better.
Topic 5: Professional Sales Skills—Customer Inventory Management
What is customer inventory management?
Simply put, when pre-sales reps visit customers, they pay attention to customer inventory, help maintain reasonable stock levels, reduce expired or soon-to-expire products, and suggest appropriate order quantities based on product flow and inventory. That's inventory management.
Main contents of inventory management:
First-in, first-out: Encourage customers to place earlier production dates in front with each order to reduce old products being buried and expiring.
Warn about soon-to-expire products: Promptly remind customers of the category, quantity, and production dates of soon-to-expire items. This creates value for customers and enhances your professional image, reducing complaints.
Maintain front-line sufficiency and promote back-line empty space: Observing small shop owners' ordering behavior reveals an interesting phenomenon: small shops usually have no fixed warehouse; case products are stacked behind the door or where the owner sits (back line), while only open boxes are on shelves (front line). When you pitch, the owner checks the back line—how many cases remain—and decides whether to order, not counting packages on shelves.
Moving as many back-line products to shelves as possible not only improves display but also gives the owner the impression "stock is low," prompting purchase intent.
- The 1.5x safety stock rule
Suppose a store had 10 cases at your last visit, then ordered 5 more. A week later, you find 12 cases. How much should they order now?
The answer is no order—
Because their actual sales this week are 10+5-12=3 cases, and the inventory of 12 far exceeds weekly sales, so they won't run out before your next visit.
Note:
1. Actual sales in the previous period equal previous inventory plus previous orders minus current inventory.
2. Customer safety stock should be ≥ actual sales in the previous visit cycle. (To ensure no stockouts or overstock, generally set safety stock at 1.5 times actual sales per visit cycle.)
3. Customer order quantity equals safety stock minus current inventory.
That is: Reasonable order quantity = [(previous inventory + previous orders) - current inventory] × 1.5 - current inventory.
Using the 1.5x safety stock rule to secure orders is persuasive, prevents stockouts, squeezes customer funds, and avoids overstock.
Excellent pre-sales reps make orders with data, telling customers, "You should order this," not "Sorry, boss, I haven't met my monthly sales target; please help me with an order!"
Inventory management notes:
· While helping customers count and organize inventory, continuously instill concepts like first-in, first-out, the 1.5x safety stock rule, caution about soon-to-expire items, and product classification. Make customers understand your work saves them effort and creates value, so they cooperate better, enhancing your professional image and authority.
· Tell customers you're in for long-term cooperation and mutual development, not single transactions, so you use the 1.5x rule to help them order. Explain the principle and benefits so they see your advice is well-founded and trustworthy.
· Your suggested order quantity should not be too large—1.5 times cycle sales won't cause overstock; nor too small—if stockouts occur and your visit cycle hasn't arrived, temporary delivery delays lose sales, and lost opportunities never return.
This article is excerpted from Mr. Wei Qing's book: "Distributor Complete Manual"
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