---
title: "It's Not That Distributors Won't Cooperate—Here's the Real Truth!"
description: "Manufacturer sales staff often complain that distributors won't cooperate, but they should first analyze why. The key is to help distributors make money—this resolves most management issues and fosters cooperation."
author: "New Distribution"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2016-09-27"
categories: "Dealer Operations"
language: "en"
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markdown: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/it-s-not-that-distributors-won-t-cooperatehere-s-the-real-truth-279704ac.md"
original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/2DgO1_VJo_zCckSaQ4jlhg"
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attribution: "New Distribution — https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/it-s-not-that-distributors-won-t-cooperatehere-s-the-real-truth-279704ac/"
citation: "New Distribution. “It's Not That Distributors Won't Cooperate—Here's the Real Truth!.” New Distribution, 2016-09-27. https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/it-s-not-that-distributors-won-t-cooperatehere-s-the-real-truth-279704ac/"
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---

# It's Not That Distributors Won't Cooperate—Here's the Real Truth!

> Manufacturer sales staff often complain that distributors won't cooperate, but they should first analyze why. The key is to help distributors make money—this resolves most management issues and fosters cooperation.

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> Manufacturer sales staff often complain that distributors won't cooperate! Have you ever thought about why distributors don't cooperate? First, analyze the reasons for non-cooperation! Every problem and conflict has a cause. Let's try to analyze from the following two aspects:
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> **First, Look for Reasons Within Yourself**
A distributor with little strength would be eager to chase well-known brands and hot products, so how could they not cooperate? This only indicates that the brand has little influence locally, sales are average, or the manufacturer has shortcomings in cooperation. The root cause is that the distributor can't make money. At this point, we must put ourselves in their shoes:
> > 1. Delaying distributor fees, improper financial relationships between salespeople and distributors, etc., causing resentment.
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>> 2. Improper handling of product quality issues, delayed shipments, salespeople making empty promises, excessive distributor inventory, and slow promotional policies from the manufacturer, leading to dissatisfaction.
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>> 3. Due to wrong approaches, multiple large-scale market promotions have no effect, the manufacturer lacks market support, and distributors lose confidence in the product.
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>> 4. Regional managers act too arrogantly, put on airs, look down on weak distributors, hurt their self-esteem, and cause aversion.
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> **Identify Key Problems Within the Distributor**
> > 1. Tight cash flow, unable to make payments.
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>> 2. Poor attitude, not valuing our products, representing multiple similar products, or being courted by competitors.
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>> 3. Poor internal management, working sporadically.
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>> 4. Limited by business thinking, market breakthroughs are difficult, and business is sluggish.
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>> 5. Poor service awareness, poor channel network relationships and reputation.
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>> 6. Taking chances to violate company rules, dumping goods to other markets at low prices, intercepting company funds, etc.
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>> 7. Weak sales team, poor execution, etc.
> **◆ ◆ ◆**
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> **Purpose and Methods of Distributor Management**
What is the purpose of manufacturer managing distributors? 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, aligning them with basic market work and consumer awareness and purchasing, mobilizing various resources to conquer the market in competition. So we can conclude: The regional manager's job = help distributors make money. As long as you help distributors make money, all management problems will be solved.
Someone might argue: "My distributor makes hundreds of thousands or millions a year from our products, but they are very arrogant and basically don't respect me, let alone cooperate!" Then I would ask: "What promotion and guidance have you provided for your distributor's operations and market management? Have you grasped the channel? A regional manager who relies only on smooth talk, relationships, and a leader's airs, without real skills, and relies solely on the company's strength, has no room to survive!" To take, you must first give. To make distributors cooperate, first meet their needs—making money.
> **I. The execution level of grassroots sales staff determines the quality of market work. The key to market breakthroughs is building a passionate and combat-ready sales team.**
1. Team motivation: Gather distributors and salespeople to discuss current market development and internal management issues. Absorb suggestions from salespeople, affirm their achievements; increase salaries and commissions, and decide to allocate part of the market budget as rewards for outstanding sales performance. Then talk about the company's strong strength and the upcoming vigorous development of the local market, striving to become the number one brand. After the meeting, the salespeople's "listless" state and lazy expressions vanished, 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, display standards, and customer relationship maintenance. Sharpen the "gun" before the battle!
3. Lead by example: After a day of training, the salespeople seemed half-understanding. I knew 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, tidy shelves, adjust displays, do terminal visualization, and negotiate with buyers. I told them that success cannot be copied, but successful experiences and methods need to be referenced. Everyone should develop their own sales skills based on the characteristics of the target, combined with product selling points and their own strengths.
4. Follow-up guidance: For newly trained salespeople, it's hard to digest training content immediately, so follow-up guidance after training is crucial—correct mistakes and reinforce standards.
5. Practical exercise: You can't grow a towering tree in a greenhouse, nor can you cultivate excellent salespeople in three days. Sales is a highly practical job, and sales skills can only be improved through actual combat.
> **II. Successful regional market development requires not only an excellent sales team but also scientific market strategy guidance and feasible promotion plans.**
1. Segment sales channels: KA supermarkets, B-type chains, CD-type convenience stores, restaurants, hotels and guesthouses, nightclubs, internet cafes, stations, newsstands, cold drinks, campus stores, wholesale markets, township secondary wholesalers, township direct-supply supermarkets, rural small shops, etc.
2. Collect and organize terminal information: including customer data, consumer feedback, competitor information and promotions, current product status, consumption environment and trends, and analyze the competitive environment and landscape.
3. Through market surveys and competitive analysis, Mr. L and I determined the following market breakthrough strategies:
A. Target township supermarkets with lower competitive pressure, invest heavily to create model stores, and attract strong township secondary wholesalers.
B. Quickly enter township markets, establish sound township secondary wholesale channels, and use the advantage of higher product profits and the low loyalty of secondary wholesalers to poach competitors' customers and achieve deep distribution.
C. Establish incentive-based sales systems to encourage secondary wholesalers to quickly enter rural markets, forming a sales pattern of rural areas surrounding cities.
D. In urban markets, fight hard 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-type 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 rate and survival rate of small stores. Ensure cash on delivery, displays superior to competitors, and terminal promotional tools like POP; visit on 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 budget support and a stronger sales team, then compete with KA and competitors.
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> **Reflections on Distributor Management**
1. Reviewing my distributor management experience, good distributor management boils down to 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 clarifying work approaches, help them improve management, train their sales teams, use sales profits and policies to motivate them to actively do market work, supervise their implementation of company market policies and promotion plans, and use company market management regulations to manage and constrain them. For distributors, an excellent regional manager is both a strategist and a teacher!
2. To do well in distributor management, don't constantly talk about "management." Often, distributors have more social experience, age, and personal achievements than us, and they care about face. In such cases, we can use different words: "communication," "cooperation," and "win-win."
3. Remind all regional managers: Don't just measure distributors by payments; first reflect on whether your work is done well. If market work is done well, payments will come to you; if not, you have to chase payments!
4. Don't always stare at the "little money" in distributors' pockets; look further—distributors, secondary wholesalers, terminal customers. Only when consumers are willing to pay at the terminal can your payments be guaranteed!
5. Do a good job of "Three Represents" and "One Unification": Represent the company's interests by completing sales tasks and market targets; represent distributors' interests by helping them make money; represent your own and salespeople's interests by exceeding sales targets and letting salespeople earn money. Unify the interests and resources of all three parties into specific market work.
6. The company is the "Party," the regional manager is the "Party representative," distributors are 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!
> The method to do market work and complete sales tasks—help distributors make money!
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> The method to make distributors cooperate—help distributors make money!
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> The purpose of managing distributors—help distributors make money!
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09:05-09:35 2016 China FMCG Industry Trend Analysis Report—Zhao Bo
09:35-10:05 FMCG Enterprise Transformation Strategy and Path—Liu Chunxiong
10:05-10:35 Opportunities and Challenges of FMCG Channel Transformation—Liu Zhao, CEO of Waiqin365
10:35-11:05 Alibaba Retail Link All-Round Empowerment—Guo Kunkun, Alibaba Retail Link
11:05-11:25 Channel Efficiency in the Internet Era—Fu Xiaoyun, Vice President of Benlai Holding
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13:30-13:50 Distributor Transformation: City Distribution Trends—Wang Qi, CEO of Weijie City Distribution
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## Citation metadata

- Publisher: New Distribution
- Author: New Distribution
- Published: 2016-09-27
- Canonical: https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/it-s-not-that-distributors-won-t-cooperatehere-s-the-real-truth-279704ac/
- Original source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/2DgO1_VJo_zCckSaQ4jlhg

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