Distributors are a crucial link in the circulation of goods. In recent years, despite being affected by diversified consumer demands, multi-channel distribution, and especially the rise of e-commerce, their important role as a connection to consumers remains.

Compared with manufacturers, distributors' operations management is relatively simple because they lack R&D and manufacturing. However, the entry barrier is low, and competition is fierce. A slight misstep can lead to a business crisis, but with a bit of planning, risks can be avoided, ensuring healthy operations and steady growth.

In January of this year, I was commissioned by my company to upgrade the operations management of a trading company in Huizhou. This trading company, established less than two years ago, is a distributor primarily representing alcoholic beverages. Due to its short history, its management foundation is weak. They sought our help to establish a systematic operational framework. Now the project has entered the later coaching phase. Below, I will discuss how distributors can plan their operations management from six aspects, based on this project.

Part 1: Company Vision A company must first establish its business direction before dealing with daily operational details. The business direction is where the company is going and what kind of company it will become by a certain time. This direction includes the management philosophy and strategic planning, which, once established, serves as a compass guiding all employees' daily work. This is also the core spiritual aspect of the company's corporate culture.

The main content of the management philosophy is to establish the company's vision, mission, and values, and to accurately position the company.

Only by establishing the company's vision and mission can employees know what kind of company they are working to build and what mission and responsibilities they carry. The same matter can lead to different behaviors due to differing values. The establishment of values unifies the team's ideological and behavioral standards.

For this distributor, I set the following:

  • Corporate Vision: To become the most valuable trading company in Huizhou.
  • Corporate Mission: To provide customers with the highest quality products.
  • Corporate Values: Teamwork, dedication, integrity, and win-win.

This establishes that in future operations, the company will not seek to be big or comprehensive, nor pursue scale, but will use "value" as the standard, including internal management, team building, corporate efficiency, comprehensive strength, brand building, and customer service. It also requires the company to only handle high-quality products, only represent famous brands, and only serve high-end consumers.

Part 2: Company Positioning A company has limited resources; you cannot serve everyone. Therefore, precise positioning is necessary so that the company can make decisions on what to do and what not to do, avoiding losing its way in work.

For this distributor, the main positioning is as follows:

  • Corporate Positioning: The preferred partner for well-known FMCG brands in Huizhou.
  • Market Positioning: Targeting middle to high-end consumer groups.

Because this distributor primarily represents Anheuser-Busch InBev's series of products, the dealers, customers, and consumers it faces are middle to high-end groups. This determines that the brands we take on in the future must match the current resources.

Part 3: Strategic Planning Strategic planning involves making short to medium-term plans for the next 3-5 years and forming an annual business plan to guide current work.

For small companies, I do not recommend long-term strategic planning because it is unreliable to conceive future matters without doing current and near-term work well.

At various stages, we should set several key indicators and plan in phases to have a clear picture. Examples include turnover, profit, team size, number of represented brands, number of vehicles, warehouse area, and expansion of operational regions and channels.

This company previously lacked overall planning. In May this year, they temporarily took over Anheuser-Busch InBev's large-bottle beer, leading to a surge in sales. Resources were insufficient, so they had to hastily set up temporary warehouses, purchase forklifts, recruit staff, and select vehicles, making work passive. The biggest loss was missing out on the agency rights for several major brands.

Based on the company's development plan and current human resources, we sorted out and formulated a new organizational structure, clarifying the responsibilities of each department and position.

In this company, through daily observation and research, I found that the office staff in the warehouse department and the office director had insufficient workload. So I adjusted the organizational structure, having the office director also manage the logistics department, and transferred one person from the warehouse department to the marketing center as a sales assistant to assist the sales manager and supervisors with data analysis, statistics, and managing salespeople. This changed the meeting habit from just bringing mouths and ears to using data analysis.

Strategic planning, though not a daily routine, should be reviewed regularly because the internal and external environment is constantly changing. Only with the right direction and accurate tone can daily work avoid major deviations. This is top-down planning; for tactics, we need to plan from the inside out, mainly reflected in internal and external process management.

Part 4: Marketing Management Marketing management is the top priority in a distributor's daily management. Whether the company achieves its predetermined goals mainly depends on whether daily management is done well. It mainly includes sales team management, customer management, and compensation system design.

1. Sales Team Management Sales team management is the focus of internal management.

We must first set the work content and business processes for salespeople. Each company can refer to the popular "Eight Steps of Customer Visits" and customize its own version based on its customer base.

Then, use tools to achieve management.

  • Daily Report is essential. We can set report formats based on the work focus of different departments, combined with KPI assessments, to guide daily work.
  • Mobile Terminal System Management Application can better grasp the work dynamics of team members, promptly identify and eliminate salespeople who are just going through the motions or have a slacker mentality, and incorporate this into performance appraisal. Here, we introduced China Telecom's field assistant, and the sales assistant regularly produces reports.
  • Performance Challenge Board: The performance board clearly reflects the progress of each team and individual on key KPIs.
  • Morning Meeting: Besides summarizing and checking yesterday's work completion, collecting information, and conveying company policies, it also helps salespeople set reasonable customer visit routes and discuss various problems encountered at work. Combining the performance challenge board with daily morning meetings yields better results.
  • The company should also require sales supervisors to conduct joint visits with each team member regularly, providing on-site guidance and supervision.

Only through this combination of process and results, remote and on-site assessment, can problems be discovered and corrected in time, achieving better management of the sales team.

2. Customer Management Customer management is the focus of external management.

The core of customer management is accounts receivable management. The quality of accounts receivable management is crucial to the company's survival and development. To prevent and reduce bad debts and ensure good cash flow, a series of tasks must be done. This includes setting customer selection criteria, customer review, account opening applications, establishing basic customer information, setting customer credit limits, determining settlement methods, analyzing overdue receivables, customer churn, abnormal purchase cycle analysis, etc. All must be systematically managed, with action plans assigned to specific people and deadlines, to minimize bad debt losses.

The biggest problem for this company was the high bad debt rate in the nightlife channel, almost equal to the company's profit margin, eating up a large amount of profit.

To change this, besides formulating the "Customer Management Regulations" as mentioned above, I added two documents: one is the "Incentive Measures for Various Settlement Methods" to help salespeople guide customers to use cash or short-cycle settlement methods to reduce risk; the other is the "Regulations on Accounts Receivable Management," which sets the sharing ratio of overdue time and bad debt amounts for different settlement methods among the company, managers, supervisors, and salespeople. Fines are not the purpose but to draw attention to receivables and enhance responsibility. With punishment comes reward; we also set a benchmark for bad debts, and half of the difference below the benchmark is used for team rewards at different ratios. For customers with long settlement cycles, large outstanding amounts, or complex shareholders, we also require them to sign a "Property Guarantee Contract." Through these measures, we effectively reduced bad debts.

3. Compensation and Performance Management Reasonable design of compensation and performance is also an important task for distributors. If designed well, it can not only motivate employees and provide guidance and direction but also reduce unnecessary expenses, creating a win-win situation.

The key points of performance design are to extract 3-5 key KPI indicators based on the company's development stage and the characteristics of each position. Besides setting conventional indicators such as sales task completion rate, daily work assessment, new product promotion completion rate, and key customer churn rate, we should also design personalized indicators based on actual conditions. For example, in this company, I added indicators for the nightlife channel such as payment collection rate and monthly customer visit count; for the circulation channel, I added total customer visit time; for the sales manager, I added key customer visits and joint visits with salespeople. The biggest adjustment was for the logistics and delivery team, changing from fixed salary to piece-rate wages, greatly increasing their motivation and income, while also improving company efficiency, truly achieving fairness and equity, reflecting the principle of more work, more pay, and stabilizing the team.

In addition, we should set corresponding incentive measures, such as commissions for new product promotions and various awards for different periods. Finally, based on the company's set goals, we sign "Economic Responsibility Agreements" with relevant team members to further clarify their goals and responsibilities.

Part 5: Company Brand Building Distributors also need to build their brand, though it is less complex than for manufacturers.

With a brand, distributors can not only develop new markets and promote new products but also attract manufacturers and excellent talent.

  1. First, we should diagnose the company's existing trademark; if there is none or it is poorly designed, we need to design a new one.
  2. The brand name for a distributor is generally the company name; if they have their own products, they need to consider designing product brands.
  3. Crafting a slogan is also essential. A good slogan not only expresses the company's value proposition and management philosophy but is also easy to spread, helping to build the brand.
  4. Depending on the company's development stage, we also need to design VI. Small companies can start with simple business cards, vehicle advertisements, bulletin boards, and culture walls. Once the company reaches a certain scale, they can design a series of VI logos, establish a company website, and design corporate brochures and uniforms.
  5. After these basics are done, we should use channels such as WeChat, industry media, and exhibitions for promotion. WeChat official accounts are a good channel for brand promotion and can also serve training, learning, and communication functions. This is also an important aspect of the material layer of corporate culture.

Part 6: Daily Rules and Regulations As a company, establishing relevant rules and regulations is essential.

Company rules and regulations are equivalent to national laws.

In small and medium-sized enterprises, bosses often have relatives and friends, making management difficult due to personal connections. With comprehensive rules and regulations, functional managers can manage people according to rules and handle matters according to procedures.

The main process systems for distributors include:

  1. "Dormitory Management Regulations"
  2. "Vehicle Management Regulations"
  3. "Hygiene Management Regulations"
  4. "Attendance and Leave System"
  5. "Reward and Punishment System"
  6. "Meeting Management Regulations"
  7. "Code of Conduct Management Regulations"
  8. "Personnel Recruitment, Training, and Departure Management Regulations"
  9. "Meeting Management Regulations" (duplicate)
  10. "Document Management Regulations"
  11. "5S Management Regulations" and others.

When formulating these rules, we must tailor them to the actual situation of the enterprise, keeping them simple, concise, and easy to understand, not as cumbersome and complex as large companies. They should be trial-run for different periods. This is also part of the institutional layer of corporate culture.

Through the above aspects, we have basically established the prototype of a distributor's operations management system. We should compile it into a manual for easy training, learning, and reference for new and old employees. The next step is to continuously improve and supplement it in actual work to achieve better results.

Attached: "Employee Handbook" Table of Contents. If you need this "Employee Handbook," click Read Original to purchase.

Table of Contents Chapter 1: Company Overview 1.1 Company Profile 1.2 Company Management Philosophy 1.3 Company's Five-Year Strategic Plan 1.4 Company Strengths and Weaknesses Analysis 1.5 Company Organizational Structure 1.6 Responsibilities of Each Position

Chapter 2: Market Analysis 2.1 Introduction to Beer 2.2 Introduction to the Global Beer Market 2.3 Introduction to the Chinese Beer Market 2.4 Current Situation of China's Beer Industry 2.5 Imported Beer in China 2.6 Beer Market Trends 2.7 Analysis of Huizhou Beer Market 2.8 Analysis of Competitors in Huizhou

Chapter 3: Human Resources System 3.1 Employee Recruitment Management Regulations 3.1.1 Recruitment Process 3.1.2 Talent Demand Application Form 3.1.3 Interview Evaluation Form 3.1.4 Onboarding Personnel Information Form 3.1.5 Employee Confirmation Summary Form 3.1.6 Employee Probation Confirmation Assessment Form 3.2 Employee Training Management Regulations 3.2.1 Training Needs Application Form 3.2.2 Employee Training Project Approval Form 3.2.3 Training Cost Budget Detail Form 3.2.4 Annual Training Plan Form 3.2.5 Employee Learning Plan Form 3.2.6 Training Attendance Sheet 3.2.7 Training Assessment Registration Form 3.2.8 Training Summary Form 3.2.9 Training Effectiveness Survey Form 3.3 Departure Management Regulations 3.3.1 Departure Application Form 3.3.2 Work Handover Form

Chapter 4: Marketing Management 4.1 Eight Steps of Customer Visits 4.2 Brand Management Regulations 4.3 WeChat Management Regulations 4.4 Customer Management Regulations 4.4.1 Incentive Measures for Different Settlement Methods 4.4.2 Customer Evaluation Form 4.4.3 Customer File Information Form 4.4.4 Customer Information Detail Card 4.4.5 Customer Credit Overview Table 4.4.6 Customer Credit Anomaly Analysis Table 4.4.7 Customer Credit Limit Change Application Form 4.4.8 Customer Purchase Cycle Anomaly Analysis Table 4.4.9 Lost Customer Countermeasure Suggestion Form 4.4.10 Management Regulations for Bad Receivables 4.4.11 Property Mortgage Contract 4.4.12 Real Estate Mortgage Contract 4.5 Nightlife Business Daily Report 4.6 Circulation Business Daily Report 4.7 Visit and Coaching Form 4.8 Company Compensation and Performance System 4.8.1 Employee Comprehensive Evaluation Form 4.8.2 Business Goal Responsibility Agreement 4.8.2.1 Marketing Director's Business Goal Responsibility Agreement 4.8.2.2 Circulation Supervisor's Business Goal Responsibility Agreement 4.8.2.3 Nightlife Supervisor's Business Goal Responsibility Agreement 4.8.2.4 Circulation Market Specialist's Business Goal Responsibility Agreement 4.8.2.5 Nightlife Market Specialist's Business Goal Responsibility Agreement 4.8.3 Part-time Employee Management Regulations

Chapter 5: Personnel, Administration, and Logistics 5.1 Vehicle Management 5.1.1 Vehicle Use Application Form 5.2 Dormitory Management Regulations 5.3 Meeting Management Regulations 5.3.1 Meeting Attendance Sheet 5.3.2 Meeting Minutes Form 5.4 Attendance Management Regulations 5.4.1 Employee Overtime Application Form 5.5 Leave Management Regulations 5.5.1 Employee Leave Request Form 5.6 Document Management Regulations 5.6.1 Document Receipt Form 5.6.2 Document Announcement Template 5.7 Hygiene Management Regulations 5.7.1 Hygiene Evaluation Form 5.8 Employee Code of Conduct Management Regulations 5.9 Reward and Punishment Management System

About the Author: Senior Marketing Consultant at Dongguan Dabiao Enterprise Management Consulting Co., Ltd.; Senior Marketing Management Practical Expert; Held middle and senior marketing management positions in companies such as Dongguan Dongtang Group and France Lesaffre, serving as Provincial Manager, Regional Manager, Marketing Director, etc. Has rich practical experience and systematic theoretical knowledge; During tenure as a full-time marketing consultant at a consulting firm, served as project leader, completing marketing consulting projects for Quanzhou Haokang Electronics (watch industry), Guangzhou Feida Audio (electronics industry), Jiangmen Jindeli Electric (LED industry), Dongguan Zhongli Food Factory (short-shelf-life FMCG), etc. Has successful experience in marketing and brand upgrades for multiple enterprises, well received by clients. Authored "Marketing Gold Mine" and "Marketing Management Consulting Tutorial" books; Specializes in systematic marketing diagnosis, marketing system construction, marketing strategy formulation, marketing performance breakthroughs, brand upgrades, and full-process implementation coaching.

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