---
title: "How to Be Responsible When You \"Fill Up\" Your Distributors?"
description: "Many brand companies' marketing efforts seem to have hit a dead end, as they only focus on pushing products to distributors, setting sales targets, and collecting payments, leaving the distributors to deal with unsold inventory. This article argues that manufacturers must take responsibility for helping distributors and retail terminals sell products through proper planning, hands-on implementation, and timely review."
author: "梁胜威"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2014-12-03"
language: "en"
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# How to Be Responsible When You "Fill Up" Your Distributors?

> Many brand companies' marketing efforts seem to have hit a dead end, as they only focus on pushing products to distributors, setting sales targets, and collecting payments, leaving the distributors to deal with unsold inventory. This article argues that manufacturers must take responsibility for helping distributors and retail terminals sell products through proper planning, hands-on implementation, and timely review.

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

Nowadays, many brand company executives and salespeople seem to have hit a dead end in marketing, with no way forward. These companies only know how to push inventory onto distributors, assign sales tasks, and then collect payments, and that's it! Even worse, they negotiate with distributors every quarter or month, demanding they meet monthly targets in exchange for rebates. Whether the products sitting in distributors' warehouses can be sold is the distributors' own business.

In reality, when products move from the factory to the distributor's warehouse, sales have just begun. Distributors must then sell to secondary wholesalers or retail terminals, and retail terminals must sell to consumers. Only after consumers use the product and decide to repurchase can sales be truly considered complete from a marketing perspective. As a manufacturer's marketing personnel, especially in FMCG, you must consider how to help distributors and retail terminals sell the products. Otherwise, you won't even know if your products are sleeping in the warehouse. Distributors carry many brands, so where does your product rank in their minds? If you can get your product to the top position, you're halfway to success; if it's lower down, you're at the mercy of fate. To sell your product well, you must be responsible for your distributors, helping and planning the sales strategy for your product in that region: which areas, which channels, who to sell to, and how. Merely "filling up" the distributor's "belly" is irresponsible; you have the obligation and responsibility to ensure your products reach consumers.

So, how can you help distributors turn products into sales? I believe you need to do well in at least the following three areas:

**First, Plan Well**

Start with channel planning for the region. Channel planning means deciding which channels your product will sell through: KA stores? BC stores? Traditional trade? Or certain closed channels? This planning should happen before the product launch; the correct approach is to choose products based on channels. Product-first-then-channel is a selling logic; channel-first-then-product is a marketing logic. When channels determine the product, the product's sell-through will be stronger; otherwise, it becomes hard selling, which is counterproductive.

Next, plan which products will be sold in the selected channels. Many large manufacturers simply push new products onto distributors without consideration. They demand that distributors get the new product into 200 stores within a month, then 300 more in the next two months, regardless of whether it sells. They say, "You just need to get it in; I'll pay the entry fees. The company's goal is to get in stores; distribution is key; display or shelf placement is a hard target. Whether it sells is another matter." Distributors have no say; they must comply because the money isn't theirs. Manufacturers, especially listed companies, have deep pockets.

Third, plan the price margins. Channel partners' gross margins are crucial. As the saying goes, "Rewards attract brave men," "Merchants don't get up early without profit," and "All hustle and bustle is for profit." What incentives do you offer for distributors' sales staff, including promoters?

Finally, and most importantly, how will you differentiate your product in the market? What activities and support will you provide? Will you use in-store promoters or give direct rebates to buyers? Will you do buy-one-get-one or special pricing? Will you run in-store or out-of-store events? These are specific details that, if handled well, will help you sell your product out of the distributor's warehouse.

**Second, Implement Personally**

After making the plan, don't just issue orders for distributors to execute. You must implement the plan yourself to see if it's feasible. Many big company executives only point and draw on paper, unaware of how fast the market changes, the actual level of competition, and consumer psychology and purchasing trends.

In 2007, I helped a company with marketing planning. After we finalized the product and sales plan, salespeople reported that distributors were unwilling to sell. When asked why, the salespeople couldn't explain. The boss and I went to the market ourselves to hear what distributors said. They generally said the new product's price was high. I asked: "Is it higher than first-tier brands?" They said it was lower, about 25% lower. "Higher than whom?" They said it was 10% higher than third-tier brands. Ah, these distributors had been operating in third-tier brand channels, so they immediately saw the new product as more expensive. Seeing this, I suggested the boss hold regional distributor meetings where I would personally educate them, focusing on analyzing channel changes, future distributor prospects, and their current situation, then recommending they start piloting certain channels for first-tier brands. After that, some distributors felt enlightened, as if they saw a new horizon. Once they started, they no longer felt the price was high, and their salespeople went to negotiate with stores with confidence. I selected one distributor who was willing to change, trained and coached his salespeople on-site, went with them to negotiate and enter stores, set up displays, arrange shelves, run promotions, and hold events. After over a year, this distributor not only gradually moved into a different channel but also clarified his future direction and became better at selecting and launching new products.

**Third, Review Timely**

Once products are in the channel, you need to analyze: Is the plan reasonable? Is the product suitable? Do distributors accept it? What's the shelf presence? What's the sell-through rate? What's the popularity rate? Every company needs to analyze and study these promptly.

Starting in February 2013, a tissue paper company adopted a new approach: each month, they created a package promotion plan, requiring distributors to take in many packages, with the packages becoming more aggressive each month. Distributors had no choice but to accept. Initially, they could sell by discounting, but after two months, they had to resort to cross-region dumping. After six months, every distributor was price-cutting and trying to dump goods elsewhere. When dumping became impossible, they rented warehouses to stockpile, causing widespread complaints. I don't know how they planned to sell that inventory in the second half of the year. To this day, the manufacturer hasn't figured out the root cause and continues using this simple scheme that lets salespeople earn bonuses quickly.

It's essential to review the plan's feasibility regularly. Record distributor inventory daily, weekly, and monthly. Help distributors sell their stock. Review why distributors are reluctant to order and why products aren't selling. Reviewing is summarizing, reflecting, and an indispensable step for improvement. It's also a task that salespeople must diligently perform.

So, it's easy to "fill up" a girl's belly, but it's hard to be a responsible man. Similarly, it's easy to "fill up" a distributor's "belly," but it's truly not simple to be a responsible manufacturer and marketer!

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Contact: zhaobo258@gmail.com · +86 158 5481 7671