---
title: "Practical Guide | How Frontline Sales Reps Can Resume Work Amid the Epidemic"
description: "Amid the current epidemic, many manufacturers and distributors have delayed the resumption of work for their stationed sales teams, or some frontline staff have started working from home. However, sales work involves constant market engagement, and working from home is not a long-term solution. Therefore, while taking protective measures and fighting the epidemic together, a key topic remains: how can our frontline employees prepare to resume work? To address this, New Distribution invited FMCG practitioner Xing Renbao to share specific advice on how frontline sales reps can resume work during this critical period."
author: "邢仁宝"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2020-02-06"
categories: "Dealer Operations, Distribution & Channels, Management & Methods"
language: "en"
canonical: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/practical-guide-how-frontline-sales-reps-can-resume-work-amid-the-epidem-1a7ec31b/"
markdown: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/practical-guide-how-frontline-sales-reps-can-resume-work-amid-the-epidem-1a7ec31b.md"
original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/S2ekA0L4_WxiYLxsi6aDZA"
translation: "https://xinjignxiao.com/zh/articles/%E5%AE%9E%E6%93%8D-%E7%96%AB%E6%83%85%E4%B8%8B-%E5%8E%82%E5%95%86%E4%B8%80%E7%BA%BF%E4%B8%9A%E4%BB%A3-%E5%A4%8D%E5%B7%A5-%E6%93%8D%E4%BD%9C%E6%8C%87%E5%8D%97-1a7ec31b.md"
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citation: "邢仁宝. “Practical Guide | How Frontline Sales Reps Can Resume Work Amid the Epidemic.” New Distribution, 2020-02-06. https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/practical-guide-how-frontline-sales-reps-can-resume-work-amid-the-epidem-1a7ec31b/"
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---

# Practical Guide | How Frontline Sales Reps Can Resume Work Amid the Epidemic

> Amid the current epidemic, many manufacturers and distributors have delayed the resumption of work for their stationed sales teams, or some frontline staff have started working from home. However, sales work involves constant market engagement, and working from home is not a long-term solution. Therefore, while taking protective measures and fighting the epidemic together, a key topic remains: how can our frontline employees prepare to resume work? To address this, New Distribution invited FMCG practitioner Xing Renbao to share specific advice on how frontline sales reps can resume work during this critical period.

Amid the current epidemic, many manufacturers and distributors have delayed the resumption of work for their stationed sales teams, or some frontline staff have started working from home. Sales work involves constant market engagement, and working from home is not a long-term solution. Therefore, while taking protective measures and fighting the epidemic together, a key topic remains: **how can our frontline employees prepare to resume work?** To address this, New Distribution invited FMCG practitioner Xing Renbao to share specific advice on how frontline sales reps can resume work during this critical period.

**-01- Warm Up Customer Relationships, Share Pressure**
**Health and life always come first. We cannot always focus on customers' wallets, nor let them feel that we only care about collecting payments and pushing orders.**
Even without the epidemic, we should send New Year greetings via WeChat to our customers, let alone during this special time. Our communication should reflect empathy, positivity, and an image of actively facing difficulties together with customers.

**1. Take out your visit list and call each customer one by one**
Remember that phone calls are far more effective than a WeChat greeting. For key accounts, spend a bit more time and engage in deeper conversation.

**2. Pay attention to your script**
Ask where the boss is, whether they have returned, how the epidemic is there, whether family and friends are healthy, and whether the store still has large pre-holiday inventory.
If your company has made donations reflecting social responsibility, mention it with enthusiasm and pride, conveying your company's sense of social responsibility. Finally, remind them to take care of their health and that you will visit as soon as the epidemic is over.

**3. Listen more**
Especially for extroverted customers, do not interrupt casually. Patiently listen to their complaints and demands. Never let them feel like it's an insurance telemarketing call—direct and lacking sincerity. Remember, although a phone call only transmits voice, your facial expressions and tone can be clearly felt by the other party.

**4. Take notes and record customers' opening times and core demands**
For example, if you promised to bring masks when you visit, help apply for promotion policies, or apply for a refrigerator to boost summer sales, compile these notes and report them to your supervisor promptly after resuming work.

**Two points to note: First, do not make uncertain promises.** Customers with high inventory pressure will certainly hope for your support, but if you are not sure how much policy support you can secure, do not casually agree; leave room for yourself.
**Second, after the epidemic ends and work resumes, proactively communicate with customers about all promises—do not wait for them to ask.**

**-02- Understand Turnover, Assess Inventory**
Under the epidemic, the biggest problem for terminal stores is high inventory and slow turnover, potentially failing to cover monthly rent. So we must address their urgent needs and show a responsible attitude through actions.

**1. Make data as accurate as possible**
Given this year's special circumstances, terminal store owners will resume work at different times. For those that open earlier, while taking personal protection, it's best to conduct on-site visits to gather data. The first sales rep to visit and assess sales during this period will surely earn a different attitude from the boss.
For stores not yet open or with undetermined opening times, use phone calls to gather information, but mark them clearly; the accurate count should still be based on your own physical inventory checks.

**2. Compare historical data to estimate days to clear inventory**
Terminal sales staff should have data on monthly sales under normal conditions, or at least a rough range in mind.
Combine this with current inventory from the survey, and use the formula: Estimated months to sell through = Inventory / (Monthly sales * Correction factor). The correction factor ranges from 0.1 to 1, adjusted based on the epidemic situation. Once determined, apply this factor consistently across all outlets. This allows a preliminary judgment of how long it will take to sell through current inventory at each outlet.

**3. Summarize, categorize, and mark**
After calculating the sell-through time for each outlet, categorize them to prepare for differentiated promotion strategies.
Most manufacturers and distributors classify terminal outlets into at least three levels (A, B, C) based on sales volume. Our classification should build on this, e.g., within each type (A, B, C), further divide by sell-through time: within 1.5 months (green zone), 1.5-3 months (yellow zone), and over 3 months (red zone). Tag each outlet accordingly. (The classification levels depend on product shelf life; this is just an example.)

**-03- Reasonable Budget, Full Promotion**
After obtaining inventory turnover data for different outlet levels, the next step is to integrate the data for analysis and evaluation: assess the overall market situation, decide whether to apply for special promotion funds, and determine what types of promotional activities to run.

**1. Focus on the proportion of red-zone outlets among A and B outlets**
These outlets contribute the largest sales volume. If the proportion of red-zone outlets exceeds 40%, it may affect sales performance for over two months, requiring urgent attention. In such cases, the promotion coverage should be broad, ideally covering the entire region.
If the proportion is between 20% and 40%, recommend regional promotional pull activities.
If the proportion is below 20%, store-level promotions suffice. Applying for resources based on actual market analysis significantly increases the likelihood of approval for frontline sales staff.

**2. Which promotion format is more suitable?**
This tests the practical skills and flexibility of sales staff. Here are some common examples:
1) Buy-and-gift (with your product or other brands distributed by the dealer, for easy settlement); 2) Additional purchase with payment; 3) Joint price promotion with fast-moving brands in the region (e.g., 1 box of Telunsu milk + 1 box of XX, save 20 yuan); 4) Scratch-card lottery; gift bundling, etc.
Some of these require systematic and precise tracking of inventory turnover; otherwise, costs are hard to calculate accurately.
Of course, the most direct way to handle inventory is to transfer goods within or outside the region to relatively fast-selling channel outlets. But if the quantity is large or the fast-selling channels also have high inventory, other methods are needed.

**-04- Seize Display Space, Welcome the Sales Peak**
Once the epidemic is largely controlled, most terminal stores will gradually resume operations.
It is believed that the public, having been cooped up at home during the Spring Festival, will gather together with great fanfare. A consumption boom is likely to arrive soon, and manufacturers and distributors will do their utmost to seize this opportunity to make up for lost sales, leading to fierce competition.

**1. Core terminals: checkout counters, display cabinets, end caps, etc.**
For important positions, appropriately increase display investment compared to usual times. This maximizes the visibility of invisible inventory, accelerates shelf turnover and digestion, and creates opportunities for restocking, giving you a head start over competitors in category stocking.

**2. Launch the summer campaign early**
Frozen display activities usually start in May-June; it is recommended to begin right after the epidemic ends.
First, ensure your own freezers are fully stocked and displayed, while also penetrating non-owned frozen displays. Secure the best resources firmly in hand before June. It is recommended to front-load about 10% of the annual channel display budget relative to sales progress, establishing a solid competitive advantage in the first half of the year.

**3. "Beachhead Landing" plan**
From a team perspective, not everyone has the discipline to fully engage in work while working from home during the epidemic. People are prone to laziness, and such a prolonged state of relaxation needs to be adjusted quickly.
In the face of competition, whoever enters the battle mode first will have the upper hand. So besides adjusting expenses, we need to launch the **"Beachhead Landing" plan** immediately after the epidemic ends. Sales reps compete against each other, and sales supervisors compete against each other. What do they compete on?
They compete on who can secure larger display space and more display positions than competitors; who builds more impressive stack displays; who creates a hotter sales atmosphere in the store, etc.
Through competition, the team gradually gets into shape, frontline sales staff develop assertiveness, and the sales rhythm is adjusted to match the upcoming sales peak.

**-05- Spread Health, Show Responsibility**
This epidemic will make everyone more health-conscious, and consumers will prefer products beneficial to their health.

**1. In-store display reminders to highlight product ingredient selling points**
Frontline sales staff should take out their product manuals and thoroughly understand the ingredients and health benefits of their products. For example, an energy vitamin beverage rich in multiple vitamins, D-ribose, niacinamide, and taurine can replenish energy and boost immunity.
Clearly communicate these ingredient benefits to terminal store owners and display them to consumers. At this stage, these resonate deeply with consumers' inner needs, and our products can meet those needs.

**2. Fulfill social responsibility**
Think of JDB's prominent role in earthquake relief. Has our company also demonstrated social responsibility during this epidemic? We should convey this responsibility in interactions with terminals and consumers, but be careful with the tone—do not overemphasize. Let consumers choose us because we proactively shoulder greater social responsibility, and when they pick up our product, they feel a sense of purpose.
For example, poster backgrounds could feature vehicles departing for donations, and in-store promotional posters could read:
"Fighting the epidemic is our social responsibility; providing you with quality health products is our unshirkable duty." Signed: XX Company.
This is just a starting point—leverage the company's external image to strengthen communication with consumers' minds.

**-06- Tap Community Potential**
During this epidemic, when everyone is confined at home, traditional channel terminal stores built around communities face relatively less pressure.
Closed areas, stable customer bases, and products that are mostly daily necessities for residents—they can offer home delivery services and have stronger service stickiness with residents.
Therefore, among all traditional channels, community-based supermarkets and convenience stores require more effort from frontline sales staff, as their consumption potential is enormous.
**Build deeper customer relationships as soon as possible, allocate more resources, ensure our products are at the checkout counter stack displays, have at least one shelf layer in display cabinets, and visit at least once a week.**
In this channel, product presence must outshine competitors, allowing products to enter consumers' homes more frequently. Use community store platforms to get more consumers to follow the company's official account and establish deeper interactive communication with consumers.

I strongly agree with what New Distribution's General Manager Zhao said in a recent livestream: "**The epidemic is both a bad and a good thing for a company. Bad because it is a huge test for every company; good because it improves our operational capabilities and awareness of risk prevention.**"
The same applies to every frontline salesperson: experiencing change allows us to seriously and comprehensively examine ourselves, identify shortcomings, find gaps, view market changes dynamically, and uncover the intrinsic connections among the complex factors behind the market.
In the future, the rapid development of digital tools will greatly free up our frontline sales staff's hands, saving more time. More value will be reflected in scientific macro-control of the frontline market, refined detail management, information analysis and judgment, and marketing innovation and transformation.


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## Citation metadata

- Publisher: New Distribution
- Author: 邢仁宝
- Published: 2020-02-06
- Canonical: https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/practical-guide-how-frontline-sales-reps-can-resume-work-amid-the-epidem-1a7ec31b/
- Original source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/S2ekA0L4_WxiYLxsi6aDZA

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Contact: zhaobo258@gmail.com · +86 158 5481 7671