--- title: "Optimize Visit Routes, Accelerate Terminal Stocking: 10 Tips to Reduce Inventory!" description: "Many companies blindly imitate the terminal visit route model of well-known enterprises, but fail to get orders or sell products. Here are 10 tips to accelerate terminal distribution, including finding opportunity stores, concentrated visits, and route optimization." author: "魏庆" publisher: "New Distribution" email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com" telephone: "+8615854817671" published: "2017-10-05" language: "en" canonical: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/optimize-visit-routes-accelerate-terminal-stocking-10-tips-to-reduce-inv-5fd3bea5/" markdown: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/optimize-visit-routes-accelerate-terminal-stocking-10-tips-to-reduce-inv-5fd3bea5.md" original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/HkgtcWgidi_DeBnwAt54ew" translation: "https://xinjignxiao.com/zh/articles/%E4%BC%98%E5%8C%96%E6%8B%9C%E8%AE%BF%E7%BA%BF%E8%B7%AF-%E5%8A%A0%E9%80%9F%E7%BB%88%E7%AB%AF%E8%BF%9B%E8%B4%A7-10%E4%B8%AA%E7%AA%8D%E9%97%A8%E8%AE%A9%E5%BA%93%E5%AD%98%E9%99%8D%E4%B8%8B%E6%9D%A5-5fd3bea5.md" attribution: "New Distribution — https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/optimize-visit-routes-accelerate-terminal-stocking-10-tips-to-reduce-inv-5fd3bea5/" usage_policy: "https://xinjignxiao.com/ai-policy.txt" --- # Optimize Visit Routes, Accelerate Terminal Stocking: 10 Tips to Reduce Inventory! > Many companies blindly imitate the terminal visit route model of well-known enterprises, but fail to get orders or sell products. Here are 10 tips to accelerate terminal distribution, including finding opportunity stores, concentrated visits, and route optimization. We often see this scenario: many companies mechanically imitate the terminal route visit model of well-known enterprises, compile terminal outlet customer data, establish route manuals, and have salespeople visit 30-40 terminal stores daily on fixed routes, repeating weekly. But after blindly copying, companies find this visit model yields few orders, sells little, wastes manpower and resources, and ultimately fails. So how can you quickly cycle distribution? Here are 10 tips to accelerate terminal distribution! 1. Find Opportunity Stores When launching new products, it's always the case that out of 100 stores, only a few sell well. Sales supervisors should target these high-performing outlets during the new product distribution phase. Walk through these stores, chat with owners, observe what makes them special, and examine their product display, promotions, pricing, and methods... If you observe, ask, and reflect, you'll find patterns. Then you'll have an epiphany: "Ah, I see! The stores that don't sell are too low-end; we need to focus on A and B class stores." "Ha, I found the trick! I'll have salespeople walk through terminals, build customer profiles, and identify stores with unresolved issues, complaints, or grievances about competitors—these are easier to break into." "Ha, I understand! My first step is to target surrounding township markets. Competitors are strong in urban areas, but their distributors in these areas have poor delivery and service." 2. Concentrated Visits to Opportunity Stores In regions where brand appeal is weak, don't follow the traditional weekly route visits, as weak brands rarely get orders from broad visits. First, screen your opportunity stores, arrange concentrated visits by salespeople, design promotional policies for these stores, secure them, and establish a "revolutionary base" for the new product. After the product is stocked, moving, and "established" in these outlets, expand the visit scope. 3. Free Tiered Visit Model This is the most extensive model: assign salespeople a visit area, establish basic customer profiles, set order targets, and let them decide daily which customers to visit. Salespeople know best which stores need more or fewer visits. However, set a minimum visit frequency for all terminals: let salespeople decide which key accounts need more visits and which smaller ones fewer, but all terminal customers must be visited at least once a month; otherwise, it's considered missed visits or absenteeism, subject to penalties. This suits small and medium liquor companies and distributors with loose management. Note that this model gives employees high daily autonomy, leading to variability. High variability may tempt employees to slack off or skip work. Therefore, require a fixed number of daily visits (e.g., 30 chosen by themselves) and record details. Supervisors should spot-check workloads to see if they're skipping visits or falsifying reports. 4. 5+1 Tiered Visit Model Six days of visits per week: 5 days for normal visits, e.g., 30 customers per day in route order. On Saturday, conduct a second visit to opportunity outlets, large stores, or key stores. For example: - Stores with new product distribution where competitors enter need high-frequency visits to squeeze out their displays and increase our terminal relationships and sales opportunities. - Our new product distribution stores need high-frequency visits to increase displays, execute promotions, and boost sales opportunities. - Stores with display agreements, exclusive agreements, or promotion agreements need high-frequency visits to maintain compliance. 5. 20+10 Tiered Visit Model Classify terminals into A, B, C grades based on area, sales volume, etc. A-grade stores are large; ideally, separate them and create a dedicated route manual with visits every two days by dedicated personnel. The quality requirements for salespeople covering KA supermarkets and large restaurants differ from those covering small stores; it's best to separate them. For B and C stores, create a tiered terminal visit route manual. For example, if a salesperson visits 30 stores daily, 20 C-class stores are visited once a week, and 10 B-class stores twice a week, meaning B-class store names may appear twice in the same manual. This method is similar to the 5+1 model, but 5+1 concentrates repeat visits on one day, while 20+10 first separates A stores for dedicated visits, then B stores get a normal visit plus a repeat visit on another day, and C stores are visited weekly per route. 6. Terminal Visit Route Optimization Establishing basic terminal visit data aims to standardize salesperson visits, converting blank stores into stocked, single-product, multi-product, or model stores. Supervisors can analyze blank stores, single-product stores, and other terminal structure metrics from basic data to assess market space and set sales and distribution targets, thereby locking down target outlet lists. However, improper use of terminal route data can hinder distribution performance, so continuous optimization is needed. Route Manual Updates Each year, 20%-30% of restaurants and small tobacco/alcohol stores close or open. Failing to update terminal customer data wastes terminal resources, leads to incomplete visits, and causes employee downtime. For example, a route might have 30 stores, but due to demolition, 9 have closed. Therefore, salespeople must note new openings and deletions in their areas. Supervisors should reward reporting of new stores and penalize omissions. Temporarily Stop Normal Routes for Focused Visits Weekly route visits are routine. But what about exceptional situations, like aggressive competitor distribution attacks or pre-Spring Festival stock pressure? Then temporarily stop routes and concentrate on visiting competitor-distributed outlets to counterattack, or focus on truck-loading pressure. 7. Exploit Visit Time Gaps Even tigers nap; that's when you can snatch food from their mouths. During Chinese New Year, most companies give 7 days off. What do they do on the 8th? Many hold annual meetings, team-building, training, or assign annual targets, still immersed in holiday cheer, not leaving until after Lantern Festival. Then they drink with distributors, and before you know it, it's the 20th of the first month. Think about it: in the north, there's a tradition of "opening on the fifth day of the New Year." Many terminals open with firecrackers on the fifth, and they have cash from selling New Year goods. Their warehouses are empty after the holiday rush. They have money but no stock, and competitors are still off work. This is the hunger period for terminal stocking—a paradise for salespeople! One company had employees return on the fourth day (and required distributor staff to open on the fifth). On the fifth, company leaders personally led teams to distribute. It was fantastic! It wasn't selling; it was unloading! Customers who usually took one or two boxes now dared to take ten. The first year, they felt a bit cruel to employees. But that month's sales nearly doubled year-on-year without spending extra on promotions. At month-end, they held a celebration, gave bonuses, paid triple overtime, awarded sales champions, and arranged compensatory time off. Morale soared. 8. Improve Truck Distribution and Loading Efficiency This method suits truck distribution, enhancing efficiency in delivery and loading. Save Empty Runs Before departure, call key accounts, big bosses, or customers often away, informing them of your distribution policy and approximate arrival time, asking them to wait and prepare payment to avoid wasted trips. Save On-Site Picking Time At the distribution site, arrange goods in the truck by category neatly to save time searching for items. Save Return Loading Time For long-distance truck sales, like township distribution, if a certain item runs short, it affects results, and returning to load wastes time. Use several small box trucks for front-line distribution, with a large truck following as a mobile warehouse to save return loading time. 9. Team Distribution A single salesperson may be refused. For key routes and stores, switch to team distribution: 3-5 people per vehicle. Upon arrival, one person shows samples, sells, delivers, collects payment, and records; one helps arrange shelves and displays; one puts up posters and does visual merchandising; one outside calls out to deliver to other stores; one guards the vehicle and goods... With strength in numbers, results often surpass solo efforts. 10. Improve Order Delivery Rate Standardize Orders Especially at the start of route visits, when the distributor's order delivery process isn't smooth, first clarify effective order standards, e.g., whether orders must exceed one case, or if the distributor agrees to split-case delivery. Clear Addresses On the first day, salespeople must write customer addresses clearly, even with sketches, and submit to supervisors for approval before forwarding to the distributor for delivery. Feedback on Abnormal Deliveries When distributor drivers encounter undeliverable addresses or refused orders, they should report to supervisors, who then decide whether to cancel or redeliver. Salesperson Tracking of Delivery Rate During new product distribution, require salespeople to call on the third day after taking an order to confirm delivery. If not, immediately report to supervisors to trace why the driver didn't deliver. Weekly Review Meeting Supervisors meet weekly with distributors and their drivers to review late deliveries, confront both sides, explain reasons, decide whether to cancel or redeliver, and assign responsibility. Penalize distributors per agreement, deducting delivery subsidies or rebates. The 3rd (CFIC) China FMCG + Internet Conference will be held in Chongqing in November 2017, focusing on "New Forces, New Ecology," inviting 1000+ distributors, 500+ brand owners, 200+ B2B platform founders, and 100+ investment institutions to explore cross-industry integration. Core Topics: - How can the FMCG industry leverage B2B for new growth opportunities? - How should the new supply chain behind new retail be built? - How can intra-city logistics help B2B achieve leapfrog development? Highlights: - The industry's first "2017 China FMCG B2B Industry Competitiveness White Paper" - Case sharing of excellent transforming distributors - Upgraded conference + exhibition, with Hall 6 Internet Technology Expo strengthening connections - Leaders from Alibaba Retail Link, ProLogis Finance, Eternity Supply Chain, Best Store Plus, Yijiu Batch, Haiding, and other well-known companies will give speeches. Dates: November 8-9, 2017 Venue: Xinyue Hall, Chongqing Yuelai International Conference Center Registration is now open. Long-press the QR code below or click "Read Original" to register. Add friend with note "Conference Registration". Click the links below to review the first and second FMCG + Internet conferences: [2016 "FMCG + Internet" Summit Forum]() -END- --- ## Copyright and AI use This article is sourced from New Distribution. Search, quotation, summarization, and model training are permitted, but every use must credit New Distribution and retain the canonical source URL. Contact: zhaobo258@gmail.com · +86 158 5481 7671