---
title: "It's Not That Distributors Are Uncooperative—It's That Some Manufacturers Have Too Many Problems!"
description: "Manufacturer salespeople often complain that distributors are uncooperative, but they should first analyze why. The reasons can be found in the manufacturer's own shortcomings, such as unpaid fees, poor product quality, and lack of market support, or in the distributor's issues like financial strain and poor management. Effective distributor management focuses on helping distributors make money, which resolves most conflicts."
author: "朱志明"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2019-08-18"
language: "en"
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# It's Not That Distributors Are Uncooperative—It's That Some Manufacturers Have Too Many Problems!

> Manufacturer salespeople often complain that distributors are uncooperative, but they should first analyze why. The reasons can be found in the manufacturer's own shortcomings, such as unpaid fees, poor product quality, and lack of market support, or in the distributor's issues like financial strain and poor management. Effective distributor management focuses on helping distributors make money, which resolves most conflicts.

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Manufacturer salespeople often complain that distributors are uncooperative! Have you ever wondered why distributors are not cooperative? First, analyze the reasons for their lack of cooperation. Every problem and conflict has a cause. Let's try to analyze from the following two aspects:
**First, look for reasons within yourself**
A distributor with little strength would eagerly pursue well-known brands and hot-selling products, so how could they not cooperate? This only indicates that the brand has little influence locally, sales are average, or the manufacturer has many shortcomings in the cooperation process. The fundamental reason is that the distributor cannot make money. At this point, we must put ourselves in their shoes:
1. Delayed payment of distributor fees, improper financial relationships between salespeople and distributors, etc., causing resentment among distributors.
2. Improper handling of product quality issues, untimely delivery, salespeople making empty promises, excessive distributor inventory, and delayed promotional policies from the manufacturer, leading to distributor dissatisfaction.
3. Due to wrong approaches, multiple large-scale market promotions have been ineffective, and the manufacturer lacks market support, causing distributors to lose confidence in the product.
4. Regional managers are too high-profile, put on airs, look down on small distributors, hurt their self-esteem, and make them feel antipathetic.
**Identify the key problems within the distributor**
1. Financial strain, unable to pay for goods.
2. Poor attitude, not valuing our products, representing multiple similar products, or being courted by competitors.
3. Internal management chaos, working sporadically.
4. Limited by business thinking, the market remains difficult to break through, and business is sluggish.
5. Poor service awareness, poor channel network relationships and reputation.
6. Taking chances by violating company regulations, dumping goods to other markets at low prices, intercepting company funds, etc.
7. Weak business team, poor execution, etc.
**Purpose and methods of distributor management**
What is the purpose of manufacturer management of distributors? Is it to make distributors obedient? Wrong! Managing distributors is just a means; sales and market are the goals! **What is the distributor's business purpose?—Profit. **What is the regional manager's work goal?—Performance.**
The art of a regional manager's work lies in unifying the sales market, operational efficiency, and performance goals, unifying them in basic market work, unifying them in consumer awareness and purchase, and mobilizing various resources to conquer the market in competition. So we can also draw this conclusion—**The regional manager's job = helping distributors make money. As long as you can help distributors make money, all management problems will be solved.**
Some may argue: "My distributor makes hundreds of thousands or millions a year from our products, but they are very arrogant and basically don't take me seriously, let alone cooperate!"
Then I have to ask: "What promotion and guidance have you provided for your distributor's operations and market management? Have you grasped the channel in your hands? Regional managers who rely only on smooth talk, relationships, and airs, without real talent, and rely solely on the company's strength as a backing, have no room to survive!" To take, you must first give.
**To make distributors cooperate, first meet their needs—making money.**
The execution level of grassroots sales staff determines the quality of market work. The key to breaking through the market is to build a passionate and combat-effective business team.
1. Team motivation: Gather distributors and salespeople to discuss current market development and internal management issues. Absorb salespeople's suggestions, affirm their achievements; increase salespeople's salaries and commissions, and I also decided to allocate some money from market expenses as rewards for outstanding sales performance.
Finally, I talked about the company's strong strength and the upcoming vigorous development of the local market, striving to become the local market's first brand.
After the meeting, the salespeople's "listless" state and lazy expressions were swept away, and they were eager to try. Enthusiasm without goals is blind, and goals without methods are dangerous.
2. Team training: Provide training on product knowledge, product distribution skills, product display standards, and customer relationship maintenance. Sharpen the spear before the battle!
3. Lead by example: After a day of training, the salespeople seemed to understand but not fully. I know there is a gap between "theory" and "practice," and "standards" and "examples" are the best ways to achieve "unity of knowledge and action."
So I personally took several salespeople to distribute products, organize shelves, adjust displays, and do terminal visualization, and negotiate with buyers. I also told them that success cannot be copied, but successful experiences and methods need to be borrowed. Everyone should summarize their own sales skills based on the characteristics of the sales target, product selling points, and their own advantages.
4. Follow-up guidance: For newly trained salespeople, it is difficult to immediately digest and absorb the training content, so follow-up guidance after training is very important—correct mistakes and strengthen standards.
5. Practical exercise: You can't grow towering trees in a greenhouse, and you can't cultivate excellent salespeople in three days. Sales is a highly practical job, and sales skills can only be improved through actual combat.
Successful regional market development requires not only an excellent business team but also scientific market strategy guidance and feasible promotion plans.
1. Segment sales channels: KA supermarkets, B-class chains, CD-class convenience stores, restaurants, hotels and guesthouses, nightclubs, internet cafes, stations, newsstands, cold drinks, campus stores, wholesale markets, township second-tier distributors, township direct-supply supermarkets, rural small shops, and other channels.
2. Collect and organize terminal information: including customer data, consumer feedback, competitor information and promotional activities, current product status, consumption environment and trends, analyze the competitive environment and landscape, etc.
3. Through market research and competitive analysis, Mr. L and I determined the following market breakthrough strategies:
A. Targeted development of key supermarkets in township markets with lower competitive pressure, focusing investment, creating model stores, and attracting strong township second-tier distributors.
B. Quickly seize township markets, establish and improve township second-tier channels, and in some townships, use the advantage of higher product profits than competitors and the low loyalty of second-tier distributors to poach competitors' customers and achieve deep distribution.
C. Establish incentive sales systems to encourage second-tier distributors to quickly enter the rural market, forming a sales pattern of rural areas surrounding cities.
D. In urban markets, fight hard battles with competitors in channels with low entry barriers, low investment, and high returns, such as stations, campuses, internet cafes, beverages, breakfast, and fast food.
E. Select some CD-class retail stores with good business and high sales to purchase special displays, make light boxes, store signs, etc., focus on building community model stores, and gradually increase the distribution rate and survival rate of small stores. Achieve cash-on-delivery, ensure that distribution outlets' displays are better than competitors, must post POP and other terminal promotional tools; must visit according to routes and cycles, provide good service, and maintain customer relationships.
F. Temporarily postpone investment in KA and hotel channels, put all eggs in one basket, and after achieving staged victories in other channels, with expense support and a stronger business team, then compete with competitors in KA.
**Reflections on distributor management**
1. Reviewing my distributor management experience, doing well in distributor management is actually just one sentence—attitude determines everything, thinking determines the way out, and details determine success or failure.
That is, use corporate culture to arm distributors' thinking, correct their attitudes, assist them in market planning and straighten out work ideas, help them improve management, train their business teams, use sales profits and sales policies to motivate distributors to actively do the market, supervise distributors to implement the company's market policies and promotional plans, and use the company's market management regulations to manage and constrain distributors.
For distributors, an excellent regional manager is both a strategist and a teacher!
2. To do well in distributor management, don't hang the word "management" on your lips every day! Many times, distributors' social experience, age, personal achievements, etc., far exceed ours, and they care a lot about face! At this time, we can change the wording: "communication," "cooperation," "win-win."
3. Remind all regional managers: Don't just measure distributors by payment collection; first reflect on whether your work is done well. If market work is done well, payment will come to you; if not, you have to chase payment!
4. Don't always stare at the "little money" in distributors' pockets; look further—distributors, second-tier distributors, terminal customers. Only when consumers are willing to pay at the terminal can your payment be guaranteed!
5. Do a good job of "Three Represents" and "One Unity": Represent the company's interests, complete the sales tasks and market indicators assigned by the company; represent the interests of distributors, help them make money; represent the interests of yourself and salespeople, exceed sales performance, and let salespeople make money. Unify the interests and resources of the three parties into specific market work.
6. The company is the "Party," the regional manager is the "Party representative," the distributor is the "masses," and market competition is the "revolutionary struggle." To win the "revolutionary struggle" and achieve "communism," we must "come from the masses, go to the masses," "represent the fundamental interests of the broadest masses," and let the "masses" live a good life!
Source: Sales and Market (ID: cnmarket)


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