In the TV drama "Brothers," there is an honest character named Yu Dahai, who often says, "Eat according to your capacity." This saying is simple and almost passive, but it truly reflects the relationship between earning ability and personal strength. The honest eldest brother does odd jobs like cleaning range hoods, which his three brothers look down on. However, when he goes to work as a supervisor at his second brother's construction team, he causes chaos. Similarly, when the gradually capable fourth brother is seen scavenging at a garbage dump, we notice he has a lot of energy and ability idle. As expected, it doesn't take long before the fourth brother leaves the dump and starts his own company. This story tells us that personal strength needs to match the difficulty of the work. If your ability is lower than the task demands, you'll be overwhelmed; if your ability exceeds the task, you won't grow. This brings us to today's topic: when distributors take on agency roles, should they choose multiple agencies or exclusive agency? Ultimately, the key isn't which model is more profitable, but which model matches the distributor's strength. In other words, it's about how much you can eat from a table full of dishes. Multiple Agencies: Competition Energizes the Market Multiple agency is a common form adopted by modern food companies. Its characteristic is intensive channel cultivation, striving for comprehensive product coverage. Since the goal is to refine channels, manufacturers have specific requirements for distributors: not necessarily large but specialized; not necessarily powerful but professional. Looking at the current state of China's food industry, no sales team has yet achieved regional channel monopoly to meet manufacturers' coverage requirements. "That's why we need to find agents by channel: those for KA stores, those for circulation, those for special channels, with minimal conflict between them. This ensures product coverage and allows for deep channel cultivation," said Guo Zhijie, Marketing Director of Anyang Jianfeng Co., Ltd. If a manufacturer's product line is rich enough and the categories are clearly stratified, then channel-specific agency becomes particularly important. Taking Jianfeng's biscuit series as an example: Jinjianfeng products mainly target supermarket channels, Xiongzai biscuits go through circulation, and Hongmao Lantu mainly targets school stores. The channel division is very clear, and the requirements for distributors vary greatly. A single distributor can no longer meet the manufacturer's demands for deep channel cultivation. Many food companies, including well-known brands like Haitian, have shifted from exclusive agency to multiple agencies in their operations, based on considerations of channel deepening, and have achieved good results. Of course, it has also hurt the interests of some distributors. "But in the long run, multiple agencies have won distributors a larger market space, which is far more significant than the profit of a single distributor," said Guo Zhijie of Jianfeng. This reveals the second reason for manufacturers: choosing multiple agencies is to promote competition, letting competition win a larger market for the product. Lei Junjie, General Manager of Baoding Xinjiechu Trading Co., Ltd., believes that competition brings progress. If a brand has only one agent in a regional market, there is no benchmark for performance, and it's hard to judge the market's potential. Therefore, to activate the market, there must be a catfish, and that catfish is the competitor. Without a catfish, the market remains lifeless, which is not conducive to deep development by manufacturers or the progress of distributors. For manufacturers, they prefer flat management in their cooperation with distributors. In other words, to refine the market, they must adopt multiple agency forms. This model can open the market more comprehensively and deeply, while also bringing competition and vitality. Many companies with insufficient flat management may allow cross-region sales, or even encourage it in some areas, to better stir up the market and stimulate distributors. Exclusive Agency: A Big Bite? The current state of China's food industry tells us that multiple agency, as an effective channel deepening method, will survive for a long time. However, the development trend of distributors also tells us that with scale and specialization, the distributor group will eventually form several monopolistic distributors who have both comprehensive and monopolistic networks and professionalism in single channels. These distributors can make product promotion extremely simple for manufacturers. Therefore, from this perspective, exclusive agency is likely to become the ultimate trend in agency models. International brands like Danone and Wahaha have implemented exclusive agency in the domestic market, providing a reference for the domestic food industry. For distributors, exclusive agency is certainly good: the market can be developed orderly according to their own ideas and steps, without market disorder or inadequate development due to competition from other distributors. In other words, having market control is equivalent to having profit control, which distributors are happy to see. But ambition is common; whether it can be realized depends on individual quality. For a distributor to qualify for exclusive agency, they must have sufficient strength, including a comprehensive consideration of network, distribution capability, personnel, and capital. Li Yong, General Manager of Shenzhen Yataixuan Industrial Co., Ltd., believes that exclusive agency is the ultimate trend in agency model development and is also the preferred method for manufacturers. For manufacturers, if there is a distributor with strong strength and matching capabilities to exclusively represent their products, they can save a lot of energy. On the other hand, some food companies with weak brand power also tend to choose extensive exclusive agency because they know that even second- or third-tier brands can become famous through a first-class sales team. This is why many people say "a first-class team plus a second- or third-tier brand is the best combination." In the survey, although many distributors admit that exclusive agency can let them "eat a big bite," they also frankly say that exclusive agency has high requirements for distributors, and a slight mistake can lead to overexpansion. Manager Liu from Zhumadian, Henan, told reporters that he previously took on exclusive agency for a biscuit brand from Shandong. At first, it was stable, but after half a year, sales suddenly surged, far exceeding his expectations. With the increase in volume, there were contradictions in personnel allocation, and the distribution capacity couldn't keep up with the network expansion, leading to sudden difficulties and even cash flow problems. Eventually, the biscuit company had to find another agency, leaving Manager Liu aside. Multiple Agencies: An Opportunity for Small and Medium Distributors "Exclusive agency is not necessarily entirely beneficial to distributors because it slows competition, making distributors less motivated and the market aging; multiple agency is not necessarily entirely beneficial to manufacturers because it requires more effort and resources from them to participate in market development," said Lei Junjie of Baoding Xinjiechu. If exclusive agency is possible, manufacturers would not prefer multiple agencies. For distributors, this is actually a process of mutual selection. If you have the ability to handle regional market sales, the manufacturer will give you exclusive agency rights. Conversely, if you only have advantages in a certain channel, don't be overambitious; channel-specific agency might be more suitable for you. Therefore, regardless of the agency form, distributors must first assess their own strength before choosing and negotiating. Some manufacturers have numerous products, making exclusive agency even more difficult. Distributors must have a comprehensive network to distribute these products, professional personnel to manage and maintain them, and different distribution teams to serve customers. These hardware and software configurations are not something ordinary distributors can possess. Guo Zhijie of Jianfeng Foods joked, "We have dozens of products. If you want to do them all, you basically have no space for other products; you'd have to specialize in biscuits." In the end, multiple agencies present an opportunity for small and medium distributors. The food industry has not yet been monopolized by exclusive agency forms, meaning many distributors have not yet achieved scale or monopoly strength. Therefore, this period is precisely an important stage for small and medium distributors to leverage their advantages to seize resources and develop professionally and on a larger scale. In this round of channel deepening, manufacturers are, on one hand, meticulously exploring market potential and expanding market capacity; on the other hand, they are also looking for capable and promising distributors. Guo Zhijie told reporters that when Henan Jianfeng selects channel-specific agents, it mainly considers two aspects: first, basic configuration, including basic logistics and distribution capabilities and basic market operation capabilities; second, the "suitability issue," which includes whether the distributor's channels match the products, the distributor's willingness to cooperate, and the importance they place on the product. The above points tell us that compared to the scale of distributors, manufacturers place more emphasis on channel matching and the importance distributors attach to the product. These requirements may be difficult for large distributors because they cannot be single-minded in their attention, but for small and medium distributors, this requirement is basically not a problem. Professionalism and single-mindedness are the biggest advantages of small and medium distributors. In the era of channel deepening, manufacturers are no longer willing to take a broad approach but rely on more specialized distributors in more segmented channels to operate the market. It can be foreseen that any distributor with a mature network will have opportunities. Manufacturers have a great demand for professional channel distributors. At the same time, for small and medium distributors with channel advantages, this is an opportunity for rapid development. Only by being specialized can you become big; only by measuring your own strength can you find the right entry point, even the takeoff point. So distributors need to regularly check their stomachs, after all, appetite is built up gradually. Editor's PS: From nearly 1,900 articles published on this official account, we have selected 1,067 quality articles and divided them into 14 categories and 57 knowledge points, systematically compiling frontline marketing management content into a library for your learning. From market to customers, covering practical combat and management, all are pure干货. Follow the official account and reply with the number "1" to browse and view related content.