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

Exclusive Maintenance Increment Model Keywords: Competitors "out of sight," off-season is the best time to clean house

In the liquor industry, the common practice is to secure exclusive venues, but in reality, these venues are often not truly exclusive—hotel owners openly or covertly stock competing products. During peak season, maintaining exclusivity relies on salesperson visits, execution, and expanding our display space while compressing competitors' displays to make them "out of sight."

Now that the off-season has arrived, it's the perfect time to clean house. During peak season, high sales volumes mean asking hotel owners to stop carrying competitors would cost them significant profits, making it difficult. In the off-season, sales are low, so we can use exclusive agreements and promotional policies to pressure owners into completely removing competitors from our venues. Can cleaning out hundreds of venues in a month boost sales? Also, note that if we push out 400 competitor venues in the off-season, it will be hard for them to win those back next peak season.

Competitor Blockade Increment Model Keywords: What works is what matters

Competitor launched a new beer? Send people overnight to swap our best-selling products for theirs at retail stores, leave them in the sun for three days (ruining the taste), then sell them back in their main market.

Competitor is running heavy promotions in my main market, promising key stores a free small TV for three months of sales. I have my sales reps spread the word to every store, encouraging them all to demand TVs from the competitor, causing chaos.

Bid up the price of display and lightbox fees against competitors. You pay 1000, I'll pay 1500; you pay 2000, I'll pay 2200; what? You're offering 3000? Ha, fool, go burn your money—I'm out.

To counter a competitor's aggressive push, introduce a "cannon fodder product" at the same price and specs as their main seller, promote it fiercely, and drag them off the cliff with us—at least we protect our own main product.

Cultivate "informants" within the competitor's organization to keep tabs on their every move.

Arrange with buyers to delay competitor new products' entry into stores—offer incentives for each week of delay.

Collude with retail buyers to suddenly find excuses to clear competitors out before peak holidays, then restore them after the holiday, letting us have the stage for seven days; we'll cover the store's losses!

Or simply implement a "blockade project," signing agreements with retailers: if they don't stock specified competitors, we give them several cases of product each month.

...

These tactics may seem underhanded, but they're really happening, people are using them, and they work—they raise competitors' market entry costs and correspondingly boost our own sales!

Holiday Sales Surge Model Keywords: While others rest, we work overtime

During May Day, National Day, Spring Festival, and Mid-Autumn Festival, legitimate companies give employees time off. I seize the opportunity, launch surprise attacks, and execute "bright sword" actions—working overtime while others rest to conduct concentrated distribution, stack displays with rewards, and hold ordering meetings. Can we steal competitors' customers, grab display space, and disrupt their merchandising? Will this boost sales?

Summary:

Everyone wants to avoid bloody close combat and find a "blue ocean," but as regional managers, we don't have that luxury; we often have to fight tooth and nail in the "red ocean." Especially in mature markets (with fixed shares, intense competition, and a zero-sum game), many tactics are forced upon us and may seem to bend the rules, but we have no choice. Small enterprises struggle to survive; when paths cross, it's a knife fight—if you don't die, I will. It's called "in the arena, against your will." In this game, some debts must eventually be repaid!

This article is excerpted from "Terminal Sales Bible" by Mr. Wei Qing, published by Peking University Press.

Enjoy this article? Feel free to share it to your Moments by clicking the top-right corner.

About Us: WeChat Name: FMCG Distributor Professional Consulting & Management Account Intro: 20 years of FMCG distributor operations experience, specializing in distributor internal management: We understand distributors better than manufacturers, and we know internal management better than distributors. Senior marketing experts help your business grow.

Learning & Exchange QQ Groups: Group 1: 344257092 (full) | Group 2: 231512457 Click "Read Original" below to enter our micro-community for interactive discussions and questions.