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In the past two years, it is an indisputable fact that many major brands in the food and beverage industry have encountered development bottlenecks. Many distributors feel that "business has been tough lately." Looking beyond the surface, it is not hard to see that behind these phenomena lies a downturn in the food industry's economic situation. So, how should distributors respond to the sluggish market environment? This article will base its discussion on changes in the market landscape, focus on efficient management strategies for distributors, and explore effective countermeasures in the downturn.

Standardized Market Management

It is understood that almost all companies now channel down to the county-level market, so distributors should treat the county market as the basic sales unit. A standard county should have a population of 400,000 to 500,000, with 15 townships. In China, roughly every 400 to 500 people require one outlet. Simple calculation shows that a county market has approximately 1,000 outlets, which is also the actual situation in most counties. This indicates that the county market has vast development space. How to reasonably and efficiently manage these 1,000 outlets is particularly important for the development of distributors.

Clear Objective Management. Objective management means that distributors must learn to effectively break down sales tasks and reasonably allocate the secondary objectives. Wahaha is one of the best companies in China at planning and setting goals. How does it achieve an annual sales growth of 30%? The answer is that Wahaha consistently meets its set targets each year. Similarly, learning effective objective management is crucial for distributor growth.

For example, if a company's sales target this year is an average sales increase of 200,000 yuan per distributor, if you only look at the 200,000 yuan increase, you might think that in the current sluggish market, avoiding negative growth is already good. But that is not the case.

Specifically, based on 1,000 stores in a county, an annual sales increase of 200,000 yuan per distributor means each store sells an additional 17 yuan per month, which should be simple for each distributor. Even according to the Pareto principle, concentrating the 200,000 yuan on 200 stores means each store's monthly sales increase by 83 yuan. At current product prices, that is an extra 2 to 3 boxes per store. After reasonable decomposition of the target, salespeople have clear sales goals and can communicate effectively with outlets, thereby completing the year's sales tasks.

Scientific Route Management. Route management requires distributors to effectively sort out customer visit routes and arrange reasonable visit cycles based on needs.

First, reasonably determine the visit cycle. According to market feedback, in the FMCG industry, especially for beverages, visiting once a week is the optimal frequency. If the interval exceeds one week, many outlets will experience stockouts. For example, most terminal stores in Fujian are reluctant to stock up, so to ensure these stores do not run out of stock, a weekly visit is essential.

Second, reasonably plan visit routes and vehicle arrangements. To ensure maximum vehicle utilization and optimal sales personnel allocation, distributors can plan corresponding route deployments based on the specific conditions of outlets. Arrange one vehicle to visit one route per day, visiting about 30 outlets per day, and visit 6 days a week. Then one vehicle can visit 180 outlets per week, cycling once a week. If the county is divided into four routes for visits, distributors can cover about 80% of the county's outlets. If distributors can achieve scientific route planning and adhere to reasonable visit cycles, they will definitely achieve twice the results with half the effort.

Strategic Market Seizure

Seizing market share is essential for the growth and development of distributors, and effective methods are indispensable.

First, if the product has obvious peak and off-seasons, you must use the off-season to make efforts to seize the market. In a certain industry or category, everyone thinks that the off-season is a time to catch a breath, while in the peak season you need to fight for displays and promotions. However, if you want to distribute faster than others and have higher sales than competitors, you must learn to make efforts in the off-season, to work when others rest. Only then will you fight a beautiful battle in the peak season. The saying "do market in the off-season, do sales in the peak season" is exactly this principle.

Second, use competitors' mistakes to your advantage. In the milk industry, whenever there is a problematic product, new products emerge. In the bottled water industry, Evergrande Spring Water is recognized as the "tycoon" of the water industry. Some brands, when doing mobile marketing or WeChat marketing, mention Evergrande Spring Water to leverage its popularity and increase their own awareness. This is a successful micro-marketing strategy; "hitching a ride on the big guy" is actually a good marketing method.

Third, seize major opportunities. As I mentioned earlier, after major food safety incidents in history, large categories have emerged. At such times, you must seize the opportunity. When a hot topic on the internet has the highest attention, whether you can grasp that hot topic also determines your sales to a certain extent.

Finally, directly cut into competitors' channels. Competitors' channels are relatively mature. If you can cut into their channels through effort, it will have a multiplier effect on seizing market share.

Mechanized Personnel Management

Personnel management includes mindset management, performance management, and strategic skills management. Effective personnel management is also related to the long-term development of the company. The most important is mindset management. Employee mindset not only determines sales performance but also their stability. Salespeople often change jobs when their sales performance is good, which is a common problem for many distributors. In this regard, distributors must not only manage the mindset of salespeople well but also adjust their own mindset.

Facing employee turnover, distributors should abandon the conservative idea of "I am the only boss," transform their business model, and achieve management upgrades. Distributors can adopt a partnership system, taking out some shares as rewards for salespeople, or converting year-end bonuses into shares. Under the partnership system, everyone is their own boss, so they will not only work harder on their own responsibilities but also actively contribute ideas for the company's development. After implementing the partnership system, share distribution should be adjusted regularly based on specific sales performance.

In addition, distributors must change their traditional thinking about wages. In fact, the higher the wages of salespeople, the greater the benefits they bring to the company. When wages are too low, some salespeople will choose to change jobs. The direct consequence of employee turnover is that they may take away certain terminal customers, which could be the distributor's biggest loss. Conversely, if wages are higher, excellent salespeople will be attracted, and sales efficiency will greatly improve, thereby cultivating a lean sales team. The benefits brought by increased efficiency will be many times the wages of salespeople.

Rationalized Promotion Methods

Every distributor should organize 3 to 4 "campaigns" within a year to seize the market and control the sales rhythm. In my sales experience, breaking sales into campaigns gives salespeople clear goals and accurate direction, leading to good sales performance. This can balance the peak and off-seasons relatively well. In the promotion process, distributors should avoid doing channel bundle promotions at the terminal, because bundling at the terminal is relatively troublesome and prices can be chaotic. Instead, use seasonal materials to seize the sales rhythm.

If the product has obvious peak and off-seasons, the campaign method is very important. For example, before the Spring Festival, to seize the market, distributors usually conduct a lot of promotions. If sales are large, capital storage and flow are relatively high. When in the off-season, to attract capital, you can increase sales and attract funds by holding ordering meetings. If the campaign is well executed, distributors can finance through second-tier distributors and terminals and achieve good sales results. Conversely, they may be financed by terminal credit sales. Therefore, distributors must learn how to effectively play games with terminals and second-tier distributors, and learn to finance through channels.

Additionally, points management can be implemented. Points management means managing customers in a membership style, where customers earn points based on sales volume. Customers can use these points to obtain corresponding benefits, such as overseas travel. The setting of benefits can be widely based on customer opinions to mobilize their participation enthusiasm. For customers with poor sales, a cumulative points system can be implemented to motivate them in the long term. Points management is a link that not only mobilizes customers' sales enthusiasm but also effectively increases the number of distributors and cooperative terminals.

Imposing Terminal Management

There is a saying: "If you want to sell products well, you need to have good momentum!" This momentum should be reflected in terminal sales. When distributing new products, if you don't distribute, don't; if you do, distribute with momentum. For stores you want to cover, distribute 30 to 50 boxes. Through observation, you will find that during the sales process of new products, the stores with poor sales are mainly those that stock a small amount. Because the quantity is small, the store will not make an effort to promote. But when the store has 30 to 50 boxes, the owner will work hard to sell. On the other hand, the product's momentum will infect consumers, and the sell-through effect will be good.

Conversely, if a store only has one or two boxes, the sell-through effect will be poor because consumers simply cannot see the product. Consumers entering a store will not specifically look for a certain product, so new product distribution must emphasize momentum. I believe that a county-level distributor doing 100 stores is enough. First, build momentum in these 100 stores. When the product's momentum is established, other terminal stores will take the initiative to stock. We should manage through momentum.

In the future, successful distributors will definitely win with products and succeed with efficient management. Facing the sluggish market environment, as long as you carefully select products and manage with heart, I believe you will be the successful ones in the future.

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