Long ago, I categorized grassroots salespeople's skills into three types: First, attitude skills—whether a salesperson's attitude is negative or positive is the premise for closing a deal; seasoned salespeople adjust their attitude and are not influenced by the objective environment. Second, customer relationship skills—customer relationships are the accumulation of personal connections; some people are good at expressing themselves and are naturally sociable, accumulating customer relationships quickly, while others are slower. Third, business skills—business skills include communication with keen observation, description of product value, profit analysis, and so on. Grassroots salespeople continuously hone these three skills in their daily work and can quickly become business backbone and core strength. But among these three, I believe customer relationship skills are the most important, accounting for 80% of the factors in closing a deal. Common examples: when a regional veteran salesperson leaves and a new salesperson takes over, sales generally decline, and terminal store owners no longer stock up; salespeople with good customer relationships can get payment before delivery, have their products placed in the best display positions, competitors' salespeople dare not touch them, and even if the price is slightly higher, store owners can accept it. Today, we delve into a most fundamental issue: How to increase regional sales through stable customer relationships? A while ago, I visited the instant noodle market in a prefecture-level city in Henan and called on Mr. Wang, the distributor of J instant noodles in the area. Previously, in his region, the instant noodle market pattern was K accounting for about 40%, T barely visible, and he and B were in a stalemate, each accounting for about 20%. At the end of last year, B adjusted its distributor. Mr. Wang seized this opportunity, and after a series of actions, the market pattern has now become: K accounts for about 40%, J accounts for about 30%, and B accounts for less than 10%. I asked him, what is behind this achievement? Mr. Wang replied: just two words, customer relationships. Next, let's break down Mr. Wang's specific actions in maintaining customer relationships. -01- Customer Relationship Maintenance 1: Act According to Circumstances, Win Over Terminals Mr. Wang is very dedicated. No matter how busy he is, he requires himself to visit the market at least 2 days a week, coordinating with salespeople to communicate face-to-face and point-to-point with terminal store owners. During a visit at the end of last year, he found that over a period, terminal stores reported that B's service had significantly declined, display rewards were not as timely as before, and salesperson visits were irregular. After investigation, it turned out that B was adjusting its distributor. This was a golden opportunity. Mr. Wang took the following actions. 1. Recruit excellent sales representatives from B's distributor Mr. Wang knows the market very well, knowing exactly which areas are B's high-quality regions and where B's salespeople are excellent. Now that B's distributor is changing careers, Mr. Wang personally visited B's salespeople and recruited them at high cost. In his words: besides their business skills, excellent sales representatives bring more importantly customer relationship resources. What comes is not just an excellent sales representative, but 150-200 high-quality terminal stores. 2. Small favors to win over terminals When B's distributor loses interest in operating, service quality inevitably declines, and market legacy issues become prominent, such as the digestion of near-expiry products and slow-moving products. At this time, Mr. Wang introduced a policy: a. Appropriately give more gifts to terminal stores to help digest their near-expiry products. b. During visits, salespeople can assist store owners in dealing with dust on B's products, first-in-first-out issues, etc. c. For some high-quality terminal stores, especially those that do not sell his products, B's near-expiry products (within 5 pieces) can be exchanged 1:1 for his own products. In his words: People's hearts are made of flesh. Most terminal store owners are grateful for what I do. Although I lose a bit, I've won back two to three hundred outlets. Customer relationships built through timely help are stronger than those built through adding flowers to brocade. Summary: Distributors should always pay attention to the market status of competitors. Once competitors make mistakes, adjust immediately, seize the opportunity, and launch an attack. -02- Customer Relationship Maintenance 2: Strike While the Iron Is Hot, Improve Service Market competition does not allow you to sit back and enjoy the fruits just because one company has problems. When one company has problems, market share is coveted by several brand distributors. At this time, you must follow up promptly and divide the spoils as soon as possible. Mr. Wang first combined team research to list B's high-quality terminal stores as targets for attack and took the following actions: 1. Target terminal stores must increase in-store time; reward for winning them over Require salespeople to spend no less than 15 minutes per visit at target terminal stores, have more patient and sincere conversations with store owners, understand their needs and preferences, and make store owners have a deeper impression of themselves. The check method is: in-store time on the terminal phone + field visits to understand mutual familiarity. 2. Strengthen product knowledge and establish a professional image Customer relationships must be built on a professional foundation. Be familiar with your own and competitors' products, such as weight, flavor, policies, profit comparison, market support comparison, etc. Send a good signal to terminals: I have all the advantages others have, and I also have advantages others don't. When conveying, describe product features in colloquial, concise, short, and memorable language. 3. Use tools well, be hands-on, and ask for instructions a. Wear work clothes, clean and tidy, pay attention to image. b. Bring all visual merchandising materials, and when posting, always ask store owners for permission, being polite. c. Prepare rags, tape, knives, etc., and work efficiently. d. Help store owners move goods, sweep floors, organize warehouses, and other力所能及 tasks. These matters are not only an important part of daily work, but more importantly, they make it easier for terminal store owners to get to know company personnel directly and increase trust. 4. Regular visits and in-depth communication Whether or not a cooperative relationship is established, target outlets must adhere to regular visits and in-depth communication. Regularity leaves a deep impression and is a sign of good credibility. In the FMCG industry, it generally takes 4-11 visits to go from stranger to cooperation. Sincerity can move mountains. Store owners who don't trust you will eventually be moved by such perseverance. Summary: Through regular visits, in-depth communication, meeting needs, and other means, improve the quality of terminal services to achieve the goal of rapid accumulation of customer relationships. -03- Customer Relationship Maintenance 3: Brand Promotion, Expand Brand Influence There is no love without reason, and no hate without reason. The customer relationship between salespeople and terminal stores must be built on the basis of the cooperative brand. Therefore, salespeople should combine online advertising and offline vigorous promotion of the brand image. The stronger the brand power, the stronger the customer relationship. -04- Customer Relationship Maintenance 4: Empathy, Retain Key Staff If customer relationships are the carrier of sales, then salespeople are the carrier of customer relationships. Retaining key sales representatives means retaining customer relationships. We will find that many veteran distributors have several key sales representatives who have worked for more than 5 years, and their business is thriving. Conversely, some distributors whose business is declining frequently change personnel, falling into a vicious cycle of personnel loss, customer relationship loss, sales loss, market shrinkage, personnel loss again, and customer relationship loss again. Mr. Wang has done well in this regard:

  1. Hold quarterly meetings (all-staff meetings) every quarter, commend outstanding employees, award honorary trophies and bonuses, with special rewards for outstanding contributions to quarterly sales and special rewards for outstanding contributions to quarterly growth.
  2. Establish an excellent employee travel mechanism: one year of work rewards a domestic solo three-day trip; two years rewards a domestic double (with family) four-day trip; three years rewards a domestic triple (with family) five-day trip; five years rewards a domestic family one-week trip.
  3. Establish an excellent employee home visit mechanism: during Mid-Autumn Festival and Spring Festival, organize company management to visit salespeople's homes and deliver benefits. Summary: Retaining talent means retaining customer relationships and retaining terminal stores. You must invest thought and empathize with employees' material and spiritual needs. As Mr. Wang said: For distributors to make money, they must let salespeople make more money, so as to retain good salespeople. Frequent changes of salespeople will inevitably affect customer relationships and profits. Final Thoughts: Mr. Wang's success is inevitable. Salespeople and customer relationships are inseparable, and customer relationships and outlets are inseparable. In China's cultural and market environment, customer relationships can be said to be the primary productive force of sales. If good customer relationships are to last, it depends on the persistence of high-quality daily service. Stable and long-term customer relationships are the guarantee and foundation of company profits. The customer relationship of terminal store owners and the loyalty of sales personnel both depend on the most basic integrity and sincerity between people. Once a tip is adopted, a payment of 400-2000 yuan will be made.