---
title: "Practical: Distribution Selling: Half Distribution, Half Winning Hearts"
description: "Distribution has always been valued by companies and merchants. Through effective and appropriately scoped terminal displays, making products visible to consumers is the prerequisite for sales. Merchants often spare no expense to buy out terminal supply and display rights, highlighting the importance of distribution. If sales were compared to flying, the period before the plane enters the runway would be the 'preparation phase' of product development, while the plane's takeoff run would be the distribution selling stage. At this stage, some sales have already occurred, naturally due to products being placed on shelves, but whether large-scale sales will form remains unknown."
author: "宁利新"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2015-08-11"
language: "en"
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original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/ax2GlbBE2b-N62zp2IpKWQ"
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attribution: "New Distribution — https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/practical-distribution-selling-half-distribution-half-winning-hearts-d15426c0/"
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---

# Practical: Distribution Selling: Half Distribution, Half Winning Hearts

> Distribution has always been valued by companies and merchants. Through effective and appropriately scoped terminal displays, making products visible to consumers is the prerequisite for sales. Merchants often spare no expense to buy out terminal supply and display rights, highlighting the importance of distribution. If sales were compared to flying, the period before the plane enters the runway would be the 'preparation phase' of product development, while the plane's takeoff run would be the distribution selling stage. At this stage, some sales have already occurred, naturally due to products being placed on shelves, but whether large-scale sales will form remains unknown.

Distribution has always been valued by companies and merchants. Through effective and appropriately scoped terminal displays, making products visible to consumers is the prerequisite for sales. Merchants often spare no expense to buy out terminal supply and display rights, highlighting the importance of distribution. If sales were compared to flying, the period before the plane enters the runway would be the 'preparation phase' of product development, while the plane's takeoff run would be the distribution selling stage. At this stage, some sales have already occurred, naturally due to products being placed on shelves, but whether large-scale sales will form remains unknown. Therefore, this stage is merely a bridge between preparation and sales.

Distribution is only half of distribution selling.

As we know, the general process of traditional or tangible distribution is: products start from the manufacturer, go to distributors, then through various sub-distributors, reach terminal retail stores, and finally reach consumers' eyes. There may be various changes in the intermediate links of this process, such as direct distribution, flattened distribution, membership distribution, specialty store distribution, online marketing distribution, mail-order marketing distribution, conference marketing distribution, roadshow marketing distribution, etc., with different distribution processes.

Many people think that distribution is distribution selling, but this understanding is incomplete. In the six-link sales chain law summarized by the author, distribution selling can be divided into two aspects: distribution and winning hearts.

In traditional or tangible distribution, we also need to do another job: to place the product into the hearts of distributors, terminals, consumers, and even business (or service) stakeholders, solving the communication problem with relevant stakeholders, especially consumers. This is 'winning hearts.' The so-called 'winning hearts' means using the product or service as a carrier to convey the humanization of the distribution process, thereby achieving the market effect of selling the product or building brand image through three driving means: emotion, norms, and interests.

Some people think, isn't winning hearts just communicating with consumers? That should be a matter for the activation stage. In fact, whether it is distribution or winning hearts, overall it is still a static sales job. Static sales refers to the process where, when the product is placed on the shelf, consumers are attracted by your product's image at a glance among many products, leading to a sale. This includes target terminal distribution rate, product packaging image power, product static appeal, channel and terminal enthusiasm, etc.

Examples of excellent static sales through product packaging include: Shuijingfang, whose packaging combines history and culture with the distillery craft seamlessly, and has been modernized and internationalized; Jiugui Liquor's pioneering hemp bag ceramic bottle, which perfectly interprets the realm of a peerless fine liquor; Shede Liquor's packaging reflects the doctrine of the mean in traditional Chinese culture, with the philosophy of giving and gaining expressed throughout the product's interior and exterior, and the contrasting yin-yang color blocks precisely align the brand positioning with the wisdom of giving and gaining. These representative high-end baijiu products stand out in static shelf competition.

How to achieve winning hearts

Regarding distribution, many materials have detailed descriptions from concepts, plans, processes, to supervision, so the author will not repeat them here.

Step 1: Insight and analysis of the needs of each link in the distribution channel (this work often unfolds simultaneously with distribution). Different sales channel links have different needs. For example, distributors are closest to the manufacturer, and their needs are more about keeping pace with the times and achieving faster improvement and development; sub-distributors, as the 'middle' merchants connecting the upper and lower levels, pay more attention to their own actual interests and immediate profits; terminal merchants, as the end of the channel, are more concerned about whether selling the product has risks and whether making money is guaranteed; consumers require products that are good and cheap, focusing on cost-effectiveness and actual value.

Step 2: According to the needs of each link in the sales channel, adopt different methods to satisfy them.

For distributors, clarify the significance of distribution: A. Through active distribution, the product's distribution rate can be increased, sales volume increased, and gross profit expanded. B. Through active distribution, various market supports from the manufacturer can be obtained, such as training support, operational skills support, policy support, etc., allowing them to 'follow' the manufacturer's business thinking and develop synchronously. C. Through active distribution, on the basis of enhancing the product and brand, the distributor's visibility and reputation can be effectively improved, and their influence and status in the industry can be elevated.

For sub-distributors, explain the various 'benefits' and advantages of actively promoting the product, such as various forms of promotions and rebates from the manufacturer, allowing them to obtain higher profits, and strict regional protection policies enabling them to sell with confidence.

For terminal merchants, in addition to conventional promotional means, more efforts should be made to remove their psychological barriers to sales, such as product return and exchange guarantees, risk-free operation promotion, profit guarantees, etc.

Step 3: Focus on customer relationship marketing and pay attention to distribution details. That is, distribution should satisfy and explore the potential needs of each link in the sales channel, and also pay attention to the process, implementing emotional marketing and relationship marketing.

1. Establish and improve archives for distributors at all levels, and regularly visit distribution customers. Through opinion solicitation, solve existing customer problems, and at key moments such as weddings, childbirth, etc., 'act when it's time to act,' to narrow the distance with channel members and achieve the ultimate goal of 'doing business without talking business.'

2. Shift from transactional marketing to relationship marketing. Transform 'naked' monetary transactions into 'manufacturer and merchant as one family' relationship marketing. For example, implement strategic joint sales bodies or partnerships, not only guiding distributors on how to distribute better and more effectively to further divert products, but also assisting terminal merchants in realizing product value through buy-one-get-one promotions, free tastings, and other activities.

3. Standardize distribution management and strengthen service functions. In this era of speed and efficiency, effective distribution must pay attention to the standardization and order of daily details. This has been described earlier, so no more repetition.

4. Standard displays should be done well. Select some terminals with good benefits and larger scale to adopt standard display methods, creating a strong visual impact on terminal consumers.

5. Storefront signs and light boxes are also important. Install unified-style terminal storefronts (signs) and light boxes with obvious corporate and product characteristics, creating a high 'consumer exposure rate' visually.

If a high 'consumer exposure rate' is successfully created, the terminal's static sales power will significantly increase, and terminal owners' enthusiasm will rise, laying a good foundation for later activation.

From distribution to winning hearts is a shift in marketing philosophy, a new consumer-oriented marketing concept. Through from distribution to winning hearts, we can better pay attention to the details of distribution, analyze and explore the needs of all aspects, thereby completing the static sales power of distribution from external form to internal 'drive,' achieving a qualitative leap in distribution and reaching the staged goal from distribution to sales realization for manufacturers and merchants.

(The author is the chief marketing consultant of Feirengu Brand Planning Agency)

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