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One Winning Move: Opening the Door to Distribution with a Plan

The "key" to opening the door to distribution is not hype, not low prices, and not a variety of promotional gimmicks, but a market growth plan that enables distributors to succeed, penetrate deeply, and sustain long-term in the regional market. The plan includes:

  1. Consumption characteristics and market segmentation of the regional market;
  2. Product differentiation positioning;
  3. Channel profit analysis and resource allocation;
  4. Advantages and innovations in channel, consumer, and personnel promotion;
  5. SWOT analysis of distributor resources.

With the mindset of opening the door to distribution with a plan, you also need specific methods for developing distributors. Below are 13 effective models for developing distributors.

First Model: Regional Free Competition Development Model

Explanation: This model uses incentive principles to set unified sales policies and incentive measures for a dedicated market development team, then determines regions, quantities, and timeframes to conduct development competitions.

Guidance: For most companies, this is the most common or even the only model. Because incentives are often based on development success, the development cost is relatively low, but it leaves many issues. The development procedure is as follows:

  1. Conduct research on target regional markets and formulate sales policies;
  2. Assemble a market development team and determine development incentive policies;
  3. Divide development regions, and determine responsible persons, timeframes, and sales targets;
  4. Dispersed development, using each person's understanding and application of policies to research, screen, negotiate, and finalize distributors.

Second Model: Market Development Functional Team Model

Explanation: Based on market and product characteristics, form dedicated development teams with different functional modules to professionally address the diverse needs of distributors to promote market development. For example, combine sales personnel, technical experts, legal staff, financial and financing personnel, and logistics support personnel to form a development team.

Guidance: The advantage of the functional team model is that it can leverage the strengths of various functional departments to find a one-stop solution to market problems, avoiding the issue of addressing one thing while neglecting another. The disadvantage is that the center is not prominent and coordination is difficult. This requires establishing an integrated sales solution mindset to avoid multi-center and internal friction.

The functional team model is more suitable for companies or industries with higher requirements in technology, financing, or other aspects.

Third Model: Exhibition Promotion Development Model

Explanation: Use large-scale exhibitions to systematically and comprehensively promote to target regional distributors, thereby achieving large-scale, proactive market development.

Guidance: Using exhibitions can attract distributors and promote efficient, rapid market development. The exhibition development model procedure is as follows:

  1. Ensure the completeness of hardware facilities such as promotional materials, samples, promotional items, and vehicles;
  2. Ensure the completeness of software such as brand promotion, product structure, profit design, promotion models, and investment conditions;
  3. Ensure that each region has corresponding business personnel and negotiation procedures;
  4. Exhibition layout and promotion;
  5. Reception and screening of distributors;
  6. Follow-up visits and finalization of distributors after the exhibition.

Fourth Model: Marketing Plan Targeted Promotion Development Model

Explanation: By distributing and spreading promotional flyers among target distributors, stimulate their curiosity and prompt them to proactively contact the company to "tie the knot."

Guidance: When using this model, only need to select representative markets for in-depth analysis, then create targeted plan flyers for distribution, and use communication skills to investigate and finalize distributors who proactively contact or visit.

The key to using this model is the creation of flyers. The content should be detailed and comprehensive, and also innovative and pioneering based on market characteristics. The format should be unconventional, with the principle of attracting distributors' attention and mobilizing their enthusiasm.

Fifth Model: Government-Business Interaction Model

Explanation: Use officials who have influence over target distributors for public relations, then have officials select and finalize distributors, thereby completing comprehensive market development.

Guidance: The operation procedure for the government-business interaction model is as follows:

  1. Use the channel upstream method to identify officials who have influence over distributors;
  2. Analyze and confirm the core needs of these officials, and establish relationships;
  3. Use these relationships to develop distributors.

This model carries considerable risk and uncertainty. It requires a sound constraint and safeguard mechanism, and there must be contingency plans for the possibility of officials withdrawing midway. During the process, enhance your own competitiveness and attractiveness to distributors.

Case: A business manager for instant noodles, after getting to know the deputy director in charge of logistics at the H Province Prison Administration, used his influence over the unified procurement and sales in logistics to intensively develop distributors within the prison system, quickly establishing a sound distributor network within a relatively closed sales system.

Sixth Model: Investment Recruitment Meeting Centralized Development Model

Explanation: Through meetings, recruit, promote, bid, and motivate all target distributors in a certain region to achieve comprehensive coverage.

Guidance: Investment recruitment meetings can fully utilize the venue to comprehensively and systematically display policies, and can also invite experts to answer questions on the spot, avoiding the time and efficiency issues of door-to-door development. In practice, explaining to 100 distributors once is better than explaining 100 times to one distributor. Additionally, participating distributors are proactive and enthusiastic. If the atmosphere is well mobilized, the success rate is extremely high.

The key to investment recruitment meetings is the research and recruitment of target distributors, the formulation of investment plans, pre-negotiations with key distributors, and the mobilization of the on-site atmosphere. In a word, "the work is outside the poem" – when the meeting is held, it should be time to celebrate.

Seventh Model: Highlight Market Promotion Model

Explanation: Leverage established key sales markets to encourage surrounding distributors to visit and inspect, thereby using influence to promote the brand, products, and policies, achieving penetration development.

Guidance: The operation procedure for the highlight market promotion model is as follows:

  1. For regions with poor market infrastructure and unsuitable for large-scale development, select markets with high potential and high distributor cooperation for cultivation;
  2. Concentrate human, material, and financial resources to thoroughly penetrate that market, cultivating a regional single or comprehensive No.1;
  3. Select and organize target customers from other markets to visit and learn, giving them an intuitive understanding of the company's market operation model and results, then have them discuss the feasibility and specific operation methods of this model in their own markets, thereby developing customers;
  4. Establish new model markets for penetration development.

Eighth Model: Viral Intermediary Recommendation Model

Explanation: Utilize the social and economic relationships of existing distributors to continuously extend, using recommendation methods to find qualified distributors, reducing blind visits, shortening transaction time, lowering trust and understanding difficulty, and achieving batch development of distributors.

Guidance: The greatest reproductive characteristic of a virus is one becomes two, two becomes four, growing geometrically. This model uses the fact that people have their own social circles, and through chain recommendations, achieves continuous expansion development. The operation methods are as follows:

  1. Determine the nature of potential customers that distributors need to recommend to prevent indiscriminate recommendations;
  2. Focus on developing strategic markets within the region, selecting distributors with high visibility, good reputation, and good social relationships for support, and establishing customer relationships;
  3. Use distributors' social networks for recommendation development, reducing the difficulty of entering the market, and then use new customer relationships for extended recommendations, gradually establishing a market development relationship network.

Ninth Model: Professional Training Promotion Model

Explanation: By organizing professional training meetings on technology, operations, or management for distributors, enable them to understand the company, establish customer relationships, and ultimately fully accept the company's business philosophy and become customers.

Guidance: "Moistening things silently" professional training can make distributors accept the company's philosophy, methods, and even products without any resistance. When operating, pay attention to the planning of training content. It should focus on hot topics and difficulties that distributors love to hear, and also be related to the company's business philosophy. Development content should run through the entire process.

Case: Sweden's Perten Instruments (a flour instrument company) holds baking training classes multiple times a year in conjunction with grain colleges for students majoring in grain processing and flour mill laboratory personnel. The training content is always the most cutting-edge technical knowledge, and both company personnel and students flock to it. Perten's instruments and equipment are unique, and after learning, students develop the habit of exclusively using Perten instruments, making the sales of Perten flour instruments extremely smooth.

Tenth Model: Reverse Development Model (Riding the Donkey Backwards)

Explanation: When it is difficult to select a distributor, do the market yourself, starting from the next-level distributors to develop, support, and cultivate the market, and then select or transfer qualified distributors after the market is stable.

Guidance: Many markets either cannot find suitable distributors, or target distributors are unwilling to distribute. This requires reverse thinking and reverse development, choosing next-level distributors for market operations, and after sales stabilize, select a distributor to enjoy the benefits. Development points:

  1. Reverse development of distributors should not be a "big pot" or one-size-fits-all, but rather select key demonstrative distributors for focused development;
  2. Sales policies for distributors must leave sufficient profit space for future distributors;
  3. After successful market operations by distributors, promptly select a distributor to take over, and quickly transfer the next steps of market cultivation and management.

Eleventh Model: Club Development Model

Explanation: Utilize the common pursuits of members of existing clubs and associations that align with the company's values, continuously promote and reinforce, thereby making members accept the company's products and become distributors.

Guidance: The operation procedure is as follows:

  1. Analyze and summarize target consumer groups and distributors to determine target clubs;
  2. Use the company's funds, technology, and other resources to establish cooperation or alliance relationships with club groups;
  3. Organize collective activities to promote and develop members or related members.

Case: A flour machinery equipment company cooperated sincerely with the A Province Flour Association, holding multiple milling technology seminars, establishing good member relationships. Even technical experts used the company as a blueprint when designing new processes for flour mills, so equipment sales naturally were not a problem.

Twelfth Model: Advertising Recruitment Model

Explanation: Use the short-term concentrated promotion advantages of advertising to bombard target distributors with recruitment information, thereby enabling distributors to proactively contact and visit, achieving short-term concentrated development.

Guidance: Use the promotional advantages of TV, radio, and print media for concentrated dissemination, easily arousing the attention and interest of target distributors. Key points for using the fast and widespread advantages of advertising for rapid recruitment:

  1. Research and analyze the media that target distributors follow;
  2. Concentrate advertising in a short period to achieve a bombardment effect;
  3. Do a good job in logistics support. Advertising is only surface work. Comprehensive and detailed policy promotion during in-depth communication with distributors is the guarantee of development success.

Thirteenth Model: Special Planning Activity Promotion Model

Explanation: Use special public relations, promotional, and public welfare planning activities to mobilize target distributors to participate, and during the activities, conduct penetration promotion of product quality, brand influence, and sales policies, thereby inducing distributors to proactively distribute.

Guidance: To conduct special activity planning, the company must possess: considerable planning ability to do hot topic selection and specific implementation plans; experience and ability to control the situation.

Case: A premix feed company in Liaoning, based on the fact that many users of premix feed are relatively large-scale farms, cooperated with provincial media to hold the "Top Ten Breeding Champions of Liaoning Province" selection activity. During the activity, the company continuously promoted and publicized its feed brand. After the activity, the feed and technology used by the "Top Ten Breeding Champions" were deeply rooted in people's minds, and market development achieved remarkable results.

Note: Each model has its applicable conditions, advantages and disadvantages, and plan focus. For companies, what matters more is to be不拘形式 (not constrained by form) and learn from each other's strengths.

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