Introduction Zhang is a food distributor in the Nanjing market, mainly representing Mengniu milk and some local leisure snacks, with annual sales of about 30 million yuan, of which Mengniu milk accounts for 70%. Due to the relatively short shelf life of milk, inventory pressure is high, the risk of products nearing expiration increases, and profit levels decline. Out of consideration for profit margins, Zhang chose a sauce-flavored liquor brand X from Maotai Town, Guizhou. Through effective implementation of market promotion plans and strong cooperation and support from the manufacturer, Zhang achieved sales of 3.68 million yuan in the first year, a successful market entry! How did a liquor novice achieve over 3 million in the first year? 1 Understand Industry Trends Choose the Right Product Before formally deciding to represent a liquor brand, Zhang gathered information about the development trends of the liquor industry. Through judgment of mainstream liquor trends nationwide and analysis of changes in the catering industry, Zhang concluded that with the deepening of restrictions on official consumption and the cooling of high-end catering, the growth of high-end liquor will be affected. Meanwhile, as the living standards and quality of low-end consumers improve, retail prices between 50-100 yuan for mass-market liquor will see rapid sales growth. Later market realities confirmed Zhang's judgment on overall industry trends. It can be said that from the product selection, Zhang had already determined the genes of success. 2 Analyze Main Competitors' Strengths and Weaknesses Know Yourself and Know Your Enemy After determining the mainstream product direction, Zhang systematically analyzed the main competing products in the city, from multiple angles including competitor backgrounds, market support, distributor profiles, channel profits, terminal prices, and promotional activities, and formed written analysis materials on competing brands, carefully identifying their strengths and weaknesses, truly knowing both himself and his enemies. 3 Build a Professional Marketing Team Solve Who Sells After determining the product direction and category, Zhang's first thought was not how to sell, but who would sell? The concept that people are the primary factor for success has always been Zhang's core management philosophy. To this end, Zhang spared no expense, offering double the salary to poach Manager Wang, the business manager of competitor distributor Li, and handpicked 5 people from his own business team to establish a liquor marketing department, appointing Wang as the marketing director. Wang conducted centralized pre-job training for the 5 sales staff, systematically explaining the basic operating procedures and skills for liquor. 4 Clarify Marketing Action Requirements Improve Incentive and Assessment How to make this newly formed team effective in actual combat? Wang deployed: first, clear division of labor among the 5 sales staff, with 3 responsible for terminal (hotel) development, 1 for wholesale market startup, and 1 assisting Zhang in focusing on group purchase business. Each salesperson set clear market operation goals, including product distribution and display targets, sales targets, and promotional material distribution targets. For example, sales staff responsible for hotel development had to visit at least 15 target hotels daily, close at least 5 deals, and for each of the 5 closed stores, hang 5-10 lanterns, post no fewer than 2 POPs in each private room, etc., with specific assessment measures. As long as they met the assessment targets, the sales staff's income naturally increased significantly compared to before. 5 Focus on Local Markets Form Advantages As the capital of Jiangsu Province, the Nanjing market is extremely competitive and fierce! If the market were fully developed and launched, it would require substantial human and financial resources. After research, Zhang and Wang decided to implement a focus strategy, initially selecting only Jiangning District as the main attack market, concentrating all human and material resources there. The reasons for choosing Jiangning District were: First, Zhang's company and warehouse are located in Jiangning District, ensuring timely delivery and maximum service levels; Second, compared to Nanjing's main urban area, competition in Jiangning District is relatively moderate, facilitating rapid market entry for new products; Third, Zhang and some sales staff are from Jiangning District, with certain interpersonal networks, which is beneficial for early terminal consumption drive and later group purchase business. 6 Launch Terminals Three Steps The market launch of new liquor products primarily relies on terminal hotels. Only through distribution, display, and promotion in hotels can consumers consume the product in the fastest time, form word-of-mouth effects, and thus create terminal sell-through momentum. Once terminals form sell-through momentum, it can effectively drive rapid sales in wholesale and circulation channels. To this end, Zhang and Wang first formulated a three-step terminal launch plan around hotels in Jiangning District: Step 1: Classify hotels, prioritizing clearly. Zhang divided all hotels in Jiangning District into A, B, and C categories: A-class hotels are high-end hotels with 50 tables and more than 15 private rooms; B-class hotels are mid-range hotels with 20 tables and more than 5 private rooms; C-class hotels are small restaurants and food stalls with more than 5 tables and 1-5 private rooms. Based on X brand's price positioning, B-class hotels were the main attack direction, 5 A-class hotels were selected as image display windows, and the top 10 C-class hotels with good business were chosen as key cooperation partners. Step 2: Chain policies, rapid distribution. After determining the main hotel attack direction, Wang first drew a detailed "battle" map based on the actual geographic locations of target hotels, divided the routes for the 3 hotel sales staff, specified daily visit routes and numbers, and formulated chain distribution policies. Wang persuaded Zhang to focus on opening the market early, tilting profit space toward terminal hotels. In the price system, he ensured that hotels' actual profit per bottle of X brand liquor was at least 5 percentage points higher than competing brands of the same grade; for the first order of X brand liquor, one bottle of this product or a box of Mengniu milk was given as a gift (leveraging the influence of mature brands). That month, based on actual hotel sales, an additional 2% rebate was given (using channel promotion techniques at the terminal), and it was redeemed every 10 days (to increase terminal owners' trust). For hotels selling more than 20 boxes that month, a 3% rebate was given (effectively stimulating key customers' sales). Step 3: Win over hotel waitstaff, making them the most suitable promoters. In addition to normal bottle-opening fee redemption, for the 10 selected key hotels, excellent promotional staff were sent to conduct on-site promotions to achieve sell-through. At the same time, based on his years of experience in beverage operations, Wang required hotel sales staff to build good relationships with hotel service staff, especially identifying those who are outgoing and good at communication, befriending them. Besides giving small gifts irregularly, they also invited them out for meals and karaoke monthly (these people who usually serve others particularly need genuine respect), developing them into almost full-time promotional teams. Moreover, those with strong recommendation abilities received special rebates, stimulating them to drive other waitstaff to actively recommend the new product. 7 Creative Promotions Form Word-of-Mouth Effects In addition to the above conventional terminal promotions, Zhang and Wang also persuaded relevant manufacturers to implement creative promotional plans, forming good word-of-mouth effects. Specific approach: Select 10 hotels (4 A-class and 6 B-class). For guests celebrating weddings or birthdays, each table can receive one free bottle of X liquor and one box of Mengniu milk (given in the hotel's name, which is crucial). The hotel posts banners in prominent positions at the entrance. Recipients must provide real names, units, and contact information (to accumulate connections for future group purchase marketing). The activity lasts for one month. This not only formed good word-of-mouth publicity but also deepened relationships with core hotels and incidentally solved Zhang's milk inventory problem, killing multiple birds with one stone. 8 Capture the Leader First Successfully Win Over Wholesale Market Customers Key point: Capture the leader first, seize Boss Xie, and drive a large group. The biggest characteristic of wholesale market customers is being "realistic." The so-called "realistic" means they won't do it if the product doesn't make money, and they won't do it if the product sells slowly. For new products, although there is higher profit space, the product's market prospects are still unknown, so starting the wholesale market for new products is relatively difficult. But if the wholesale market doesn't start, the product can only be sold at terminals, always doing points, at most forming lines, never forming surfaces. Without surfaces, the product cannot truly sell well. To start the wholesale market, Zhang and Wang racked their brains, and finally Zhang came up with a good method. As the saying goes, "Capture the leader first." Targeting Boss Xie, the largest liquor wholesale customer in Nanjing Zhongcai Wholesale Market (Nanjing's largest non-staple food wholesale market), Zhang reluctantly gave up his 5 best-selling hotels for Xie to supply, but required Xie to do certain X brand liquor image promotion in his store and prominently stack and display X brand liquor at the store entrance. Due to stable supply sources, Xie's store delivered X brand liquor almost every few days, showing good sell-through momentum, which invisibly sent a positive signal to surrounding wholesale stores—X brand liquor sells well. On this basis, the wholesale market salesperson Xiao Li regularly visited other wholesale stores, actively promoting the product and hanging banners and posting POPs in the wholesale market to build brand image, ultimately achieving successful wholesale market startup. 9 Focus on Core Hypermarkets Form Strong Presence Key point: Concentrate resources, first do well in Suguo Supermarket, enhance brand influence. With changes in channels and the evolution of retail patterns, various types of hypermarkets occupy the main channel sales share, especially in first-tier cities. Not doing hypermarkets means not opening up the situation; doing hypermarkets, the high fees and harsh contract terms deter many manufacturers and distributors. What to do? After careful analysis, Zhang and Wang finally decided to only do the local Nanjing Suguo system, abandoning all other systems, focusing all resources on the Suguo system, forming strong display and promotional momentum, creating advantages locally, thereby enhancing brand influence. 10 High Salary Incentives Launch Group Purchases Key point: Pass on saved profits to group purchase personnel. For the liquor market, the group purchase channel is an important sales channel, and Zhang knows this well. Because group purchases do not require many channel links, Zhang and Wang passed on most of the saved channel profits to group purchase personnel as commissions and "under-the-table rebates" for relevant buyers, formulated favorable group purchase policies, and Zhang personally took the lead, using various relationships to develop group purchase business. This point must be combined with the specific resources of distributor friends in various places, formulate attractive policies, grasp key people, and start team sales. 11 Double Festival Promotions Boost Sales Key point: Capture the top five customers in each channel. For liquor sales, the two most important festivals are the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Spring Festival. If sales during these two festivals are not captured, sales volume and brand image cannot rise. Facing the same competition from competing brands, Zhang and Wang still used the focus method, only concentrating promotional pull in the Suguo system and the top 5 customers in the wholesale market. Through focused use of resources, they formed a stronger promotional momentum than competitors. As the saying goes, with the same method, X brand stood out among similar brands by greater intensity. 12 Drip by Drip Image Gather into a Sea Key point: New products must have focus when developing markets, and pay attention to details in publicity. The success of new products cannot be separated from brand image publicity. Besides the manufacturer's macro publicity, Zhang and Wang also used various promotional props provided by the manufacturer, paying attention to every detail of brand publicity, such as the use of banners in the wholesale market, concentrated hanging of lanterns at hotel entrances, concentrated posting of POPs in hotel private rooms, image menu inserts on hotel tables, image toothpick boxes, etc. These seemingly insignificant promotional items, through systematic, organized, and planned use, ultimately formed a combined force for brand publicity. After more than a year of effort, with Wang's assistance, Zhang harvested satisfactory market results. The product not only gained a firm foothold in the fiercely competitive Nanjing market but also showed a trend of rapid development. Through the effective implementation of such a complete set of market promotion plans, Zhang and his team gained confidence and courage, found methods for market operation, and these are the foundation for continuing to grow stronger and bigger in the future. Source: Jiushi Distributor Home -END-