Thoughts:

  1. Channel intensive cultivation, meticulous work, deep distribution... these have become synonymous with many companies' marketing systems. But does 'intensive cultivation' guarantee 'meticulous work'?
  2. Is intensive cultivation forever? Should channels continue to be weakened? Must all orders be taken by the company?
  3. Execution is the basic guarantee system of enterprise management, but what is true execution?
  4. Customer relationship is a form of interpersonal relationship, and for enterprise management, it is a soft indicator. In the assessment of enterprise marketing systems, sales volume, expenses, distribution rate, and vivid display can all be quantitatively assessed. However, for 'soft' indicators like customer relationship, companies often feel at a loss. How to systematically solve 'customer relationship management'?

Currently, more and more FMCG companies are introducing deep distribution. In FMCG companies implementing channel intensive cultivation, facing tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of terminals and hundreds or thousands of sales reps, companies bear high 'intensive cultivation' costs. Route visits are the foundation of channel intensive cultivation, but the phenomenon of 'cultivating but not refining' often occurs during route visits. Many people think it's a problem with the company's assessment system, meaning there are execution issues. Although strengthening execution is a good choice to solve 'cultivating but not refining' in route visits, execution must be based on a clear 'march route'. Execution without a clear route can lead to the tragedy of 'one general's incompetence exhausts the entire army'. The premise of building execution is 'knowing how to execute'. Moreover, simply strengthening assessment and overemphasizing execution, like the execution under the landlord's 'whip', can result in passive resistance, or even 'armed uprising' or 'overthrowing the landlord and dividing the land'.

This article systematically describes how to solve the problem of 'cultivating but not refining':

In actual market operations, taking market development as an example, companies typically adopt the following approaches when entering a market:

  1. Strong brands generally use the company's air support (advertising) and leverage channel power to concentrate distribution. After rapidly increasing distribution rate, they deploy route personnel for consolidation visits.
  2. Weak brands, without advertising support, generally deploy route personnel to do penetration visits relying on channel support.

Thus, terminal visits become a daily routine for sales reps. However, in actual terminal visits, despite management tools like morning meetings, form work, indicator checks, and performance assessments, some sales reps face dozens of stores on their daily route handbook and are often at a loss before departure. They don't know the theme and purpose of the day's visit. Many sales reps, to complete the day's visits, perform routine visits, even coping, faking, like a drive shaft without power transmission, running idle without any function—'cultivating but not refining'!

Especially in 'penetration markets', when facing a newly developed market, the phenomenon of 'cultivating but not refining' is more likely to occur, mainly manifested in:

  1. Low efficiency. With hundreds of blank terminals in a region, sales reps are constantly hit by 'closed doors', hitting walls everywhere, almost at a loss. Although sales reps know their assessment pressure is increasing, they are often at a loss when facing the market in their area.
  2. Boredom. Since visits are usually on a weekly cycle, sales reps have to repeatedly face fixed terminal customers for a long time, performing repetitive and boring actions like stocking, displaying, posting, negotiating... day after day, year after year. Many sales reps cope with work without passion, performing routine tasks. Over time, not only can their performance not improve quickly, but their visit enthusiasm and confidence are also hit.
  3. Cat and mouse. In daily work, to cope with inspections and complete work, sales reps generally have certain 'hide-and-seek' and 'counter-detective' skills against supervisor inspections, even faking forms, fake orders, and inflating numbers.
  4. False prosperity. In some branches, morning meetings are strict, slogans are loud, forms are neat, data is beautiful... On the surface, it seems management is strict and execution is in place. Supervisors are confident in front of superiors and prepared for headquarters audits. But when going deep into the front line, you find competitors rampant, faking prevalent, and even distribution rates are fake. The tendency for 'political achievement projects' is obvious.
  5. Cost out of control. Companies implementing channel intensive cultivation generally adopt the 'promotion separation' method, with terminal promotions generally executed by the company. In some branches, costs are invested year after year, but the market shows no benefits year after year, and they cannot occupy the leading brand position in the area, being constrained by competitors.
  6. Isolated advance. Branches and distributors cooperate poorly, and when executing promotional activities, they don't get full support from distributors. After promotions, customer complaints pile up, either promotions are not redeemed in time or distribution is not in place. The company and distributor blame each other, contradictions escalate, and over time, the company has to face a new opponent—the distributor!
  7. Master works, servant rests. During the process of channel intensive cultivation, the company gradually weakens the distributor's functions, and the distributor gradually becomes a 'delivery provider', overly dependent on orders. The company begins to sink into the 'order' quagmire and cannot extricate itself.

If 'cultivating but not refining' continues for a long time, as performance declines, not only do sales reps become bored with visits and gradually leave, but the company may also 'blame' the sales reps' own quality. Thus, grassroots staff start 'revolving doors', and the company can only 'tear down the east wall to repair the west wall', troubled endlessly!

Recently, I encountered a case in practice: a liquor company that had introduced a deep distribution system for nearly two years encountered the above 'troubles' in local market growth:

  1. In penetration visits, there were problems of 'cultivating but not refining, only blooming but not bearing fruit' (as the company president put it) in some growth markets.
  2. The company made great efforts in strengthening checks and improving execution, increasing rewards and penalties, but the overall effect was not obvious.
  3. There was a large turnover of personnel, including some key business backbones that the company had focused on training.
  4. In some regions, distributors began to reduce their own sales staff, retaining only delivery personnel, almost completely relying on company orders.

Although in daily management, the company's local offices made detailed breakdowns and assessments of data like distribution rates, many were just rewards and penalties on data, with little business guidance or terminal policy follow-up. 'Intensive cultivation' but not 'meticulous work'. Many sales reps, after multiple visit cycles, developed problems of 'customer relationship misalignment or deficiency', mainly manifested in:

  1. When accompanying sales reps on visits, I found that sales reps had good relationships with staff in some blank stores, joking with each other, even greeting by 'nicknames'.
  2. Through checks, I found that in some terminals, although bar staff knew the route sales rep, the hotel owner couldn't name the sales rep, couldn't even describe their features, and many blank store owners didn't know the product's price, promotions, or ordering channels.
  3. When visiting blank stores, sales reps didn't know the purpose of the visit before entering, mostly visiting just to complete the visit. There were even 'one-minute visits' where they stopped at the door or walked around and left.
  4. Sales reps were unfamiliar with terminal complaint procedures and distributor delivery standards, and didn't know how to handle situations when 'complaints' or 'delivery' were not in place.
  5. The route form did not clearly specify the key visit targets for each store.

At the same time, several problems appeared in the daily market management of branches:

  1. There was no basic channel planning concept, only emphasizing 'number of stores opened' or 'distribution rate', causing new product launches to be concentrated in small and medium restaurants or micro-supermarkets, with distribution target achievement relying entirely on the individual ability and quality of sales reps.
  2. Promotions were pushed in parallel across all channels, with basically the same policies for restaurants and circulation.

In these sales reps' routes, distribution rates sometimes couldn't be effectively improved for a long time. Some 'fortress' stores had been visited dozens of times but still couldn't be conquered. Some route data was clearly better than other regions. Overall performance was uneven, and the 'capable person' phenomenon was obvious.

Through joint visits on multiple market routes, repeated communication with frontline staff, and detailed review of route visit handbooks, I pointed out the following problems:

  1. Terminal management was not detailed; distribution rate is an important assessment tool for developing markets, but not the only one.
  2. Terminal customer relationship was not included in assessment, leaving sales rep visits in a 'capable person' state (those with good basic quality perform well, otherwise weak). Mainly manifested in:
  3. Terminal customer relationship formation was left to free play, without accurate management standards.
  4. After customer relationship was formed, there were no detailed promotion standards, causing that after distribution rate was achieved, single-store maximum output couldn't be formed. Although some basic vivid displays were followed up, some terminal stores had distribution but no sales.
  5. Although the company's route management module had customer relationship descriptions, they were basically part of skill training, not included in basic assessment.

Route visits are the basic module of deep distribution. Route personnel carry basic functions like customer management, order (lead) transmission, stocking, display, POP, inventory management, and promotion execution. They are the closest link between the company and the market, dealing with terminals every day. Without 'customer relationship' as a guarantee, the effectiveness of route visits will gradually diminish.

However, customer relationship, as an interpersonal relationship, is a 'soft indicator' that cannot be normally measured and assessed. The company raised 'doubts' about this.

In response to this doubt, starting from the angle of 'customer relationship promotion' in the company's route visit management module, relying on the original route visit management foundation, I made the following module improvements:

  1. Terminal Classification Management: Although the company has its own classification standards, it doesn't truly understand the purpose of classification. Execution follows the company's unified standards, just marking on the route handbook, and that's all.
  2. Terminal Classification. Taking hotels as an example, generally based on A, B, C classification standards, terminals are divided by grade. In county-level markets, A stores are terminals with major influence in the region. Excluding A stores, terminals with five or more private rooms are B stores, and the rest are C stores. Overall, AB stores account for more than 40% of all terminals in the region. Only after accurate classification management of terminals can appropriate promotional methods be adopted based on terminal category, tailoring to the situation, designing a reasonable terminal 'promotion menu'. The promotion menu includes: A. Small threshold order guidance and distribution policy B. Secondary order guidance and distribution policy C. Mixed venue agreement sales promotion policy D. Exclusive venue promotion policy E. Model store promotion policy

At the same time, to prevent uncontrolled investment in promotions, combined with terminal classification, the 'promotion menu' is proportionally subdivided to each store in stages. For example, in a certain period, the target proportion of 'exclusive venue' for B stores in a local market is 20%. If the proportion is not reached, penalties are imposed; if exceeded, application to the regional manager is required. By detailing the promotion menu, local supervisors are forced to make detailed plans for their market areas. This solves the problem of year-after-year promotion investment that only blooms but doesn't bear fruit.

In response to the drawbacks of 'water flooding the entire channel' and 'battle line too long' in promotion design, based on reasonable market planning, the following improvements are made: A. Single-store breakthrough, personalized promotion, abandoning parallel promotion, focusing market resources. B. Concentrated promotion, focusing on breaking through market high ground, formulating key terminal basic data and development plans, specifying completion times, including in assessment, urging completion, striving to form a top-down suppression trend in local markets.

  1. Terminal Grading. Divide terminals into 5 levels for management. Target stores: blank stores planned for development. Distribution stores: terminal stores that have made initial purchases. Active stores: mixed venue terminal stores with normal product flow. Agreement stores: quantitative mixed venue or exclusive venue stores signed according to the 'promotion menu'. Model stores: exclusive venue stores within a certain proportion in the region that have local driving influence.

According to the above standards, make detailed classification marks on the route handbook, and conduct staged target promotion assessment management. Clarify promotion targets and times, so that sales reps, under assessment, consciously conduct 'channel planning' for their areas.

  1. Key Person Identification and Customer Relationship Promotion: Key personnel: In C stores, mostly husband-and-wife stores, it's customary for the boss to be in charge of the kitchen and the boss's wife to be in charge of the bar. In AB stores, division of labor is more detailed, especially in A stores. It may be detailed to bar, warehouse, purchasing, finance, etc.

Some of these personnel have the right to choose and decide on product entry, while others have the right to decide and influence the flow speed after product entry.

According to terminal classification management standards, corresponding to the route handbook, formulate sales rep terminal customer relationship promotion standards, and make single-store grading marks and morning meeting standard customer relationship promotion descriptions, while following up with guidance and assessment. According to the staged role of 'key personnel' in different terminal categories and 'five-level management', formulate corresponding assessment standards. For example, in 'distribution' C stores, not only assess whether the boss (or boss's wife) knows the sales rep's name, distributor's distribution rights, visit cycle, etc., but also their understanding of product promotion notifications, guiding sales reps' customer relationship communication with terminals. Let sales reps understand how to form 'standard' customer relationships with terminals in stages during single-store development management.

  1. Formulate Effective Visit Standards. While detailing terminal classification management and customer relationship promotion management, add effective visit standards and staged target assessment, emphasizing the 'effectiveness' of visits. Implement daily (weekly) visit plan management, with daily morning meetings stating the day's effective visit plan and the implementation of yesterday's effective visits. Weekly effective visit plans are formulated, and summaries are made on weekends. Effectively eliminate the 'idle running' phenomenon in visits, and try to maximize the 'effective' component of route visits. Specify that the minimum number of 'effective visits' per day is not less than 20 stores (can be appropriately adjusted for specific markets).

In response to the excessive visit volume of nearly 60 stores per day for sales reps, try the 'skip store declaration' system, i.e., no longer implement the every-store-must-visit system. Stage-by-stage effective visit achievement targets are formulated. When sales reps complete targets, they can skip stores in a planned proportion, but they need to submit a written report in advance at the morning meeting.

  1. To achieve the stability of sales rep terminal customer relationships, from the two angles of 'customer complaints' and 'distribution', solve the worries behind sales rep route visits. Detail the 'customer complaint' handling procedures, and use 'rebates' to assess distributor delivery service standards. Formulate distributor delivery service standards, and determine distribution areas and terminal quantities based on the distributor's vehicles and personnel, doing things according to the situation. Avoid terminal 'contradictions' caused by untimely handling of 'customer complaints' and untimely distributor delivery.

  2. Change distributors' long-term 'dependence' on orders, and clarify the concept of 'order guidance'. The liquor industry is different from the beverage industry; not all sales volume comes from orders. In mature markets, the main functions of route visits are: A. Promote new products to target channels. B. Terminal stocking, display, vividness, promotion execution. C. Block competitors, market price, promotion management, data monitoring, etc.

In growth markets, the main functions of route visits, while undertaking the above functions, focus on: A. Order guidance: use channel power to guide distributors in product coverage. B. 80/20 layout: not all terminals need to be visited, otherwise the company's labor costs cannot be shared. C. Know when to stop: the purpose of route visits is to seize market high ground and 'rule-making power', with the goal of becoming the leading brand in the area. The risk of visiting the entire region or all channels is high! D. Companies should prevent 'master works, servant rests'. If the company overemphasizes orders and overly weakens channels, the company's 'burden' will become heavier and heavier.

Through a series of module modifications and fine-tuning, with customer relationship management as the entry point, the goal is to build 'clear' execution.

Terminal customer relationship, as the foundation of sales rep route visits, from the surface, 'customer relationship' management is 'doable' but not 'sayable', and even less 'assessable'. However, visits without 'customer relationship' are ineffective visits. In market intensive cultivation, companies invest heavily in labor costs. If sales reps cannot quickly form 'effective customer relationships' with terminals, the company's investment in this area will be greatly discounted, and reflected in the market, competitiveness cannot be strengthened. Centering on the main line of 'customer relationship management', through a series of module improvements, the 'soft indicator' has a concrete manifestation and forms a specific assessment system. For example, in target stores, if after more than 3 visit cycles, the 'key personnel' still don't know the product's entry price, promotion policies, etc., it is included in the corresponding deduction items.

Thus, a clear market 'sand table' is placed in front, with the main purpose of using 'customer relationship management' as a breakthrough, so that sales rep visits are not just based on skill improvement, but clearly delineate a 'march route' for them, letting them understand whether to 'turn left or right' during visits. At the same time, it clarifies that the purpose of visits is to 'guide' distributors to participate more finely in the market, rather than the company taking over distributor functions excessively. The problem of 'cultivating but not refining' is easily solved!

Route visits in a company's marketing system are like an assembly line. Individual 'gold medal' sales reps or 'capable' sales reps, or even individual powerful distributors, cannot solve the efficiency of the entire assembly line. To leverage the efficiency of this 'assembly line', companies should start from the whole, ensure system optimization, and try to clarify the synchronized development of each link in the system. For sales rep management, don't rely on 'single soldier combat'. Let sales reps understand their work direction while following up with training and assessment, using training as the banner of action and assessment as the yardstick of action. At the same time, this assembly line needs continuous maintenance and improvement, and timely upgrades. Only then can route visits maximize their benefits.

In market management, only by going deep into the front line and starting from the most peripheral part of the market can you get effective things. Macro management, micro start, bit by bit, down-to-earth market work, can form the company's true execution and competitiveness!

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