Every December, city managers are busy making next year's city plans, inevitably leading to another round of late nights before the deadline. In the end, apart from a different PPT format, the final strategy plan is just last year's document with some additions and deletions, with little real change. In fact, based on years of frontline observation, the author has found that city managers who truly manage their business with ease, smoothness, and sustained growth every year share a common trait: besides being proficient in the manufacturer's own policies, they truly understand the front, middle, and back offices of their distributors' businesses.
Front Office mainly involves the management of downstream channels, customers, and terminals for distributors. Most manufacturer sales teams are deeply involved here, spending most of their daily time and energy on front-end customer communication, visits, services, and reports.
Middle Office mainly involves two things: one is the promotion middle office, also known as the product middle office, and the other is the inventory data middle office. The distributor's product middle office is responsible for the design, communication, deployment, tracking, and verification of daily channel and terminal promotions. The inventory data middle office is mainly responsible for order intake and processing across all channels. Manufacturers usually have little contact with this part, which can lead to management gaps.
Back Office mainly involves supply chain warehousing, picking, packing, delivery, financial support, and logistics operations. Most frontline manufacturer staff have less involvement here, but the back office is an indispensable support.
For business to develop, it's not just about improving front-end terminal management; it requires efficient linkage and full-chain coordination of the front, middle, and back offices as a 'trinity.' It's not hard to see that most frontline salespeople fail to do well in business because they are not familiar with distributor operations, and they don't understand the overall value chain, or only have a superficial understanding. In the new year, if you want to make a big breakthrough in business, the key is to deeply understand the ins and outs of these three aspects!
1. Front Office Management: Improve Efficiency Front-end management should prioritize efficiency! Terminals form customers, customers form channels, and channels form the business. Don't start by burying yourself in customer and terminal plans. Prioritizing channels is the prerequisite for doing business with half the effort. Which channels are the most efficient for achieving business growth? You need to review and think carefully at the end of the year. Only after channels are determined can you proceed with customer selection and terminal screening.
2. Middle Office Management: Strengthen Involvement As a manufacturer's salesperson, we often focus too much on our own products and promotions, ignoring the distributor's overall logic for integrating brands and allocating resources, and even more so, neglecting to pay attention to and get involved in the inventory system. In fact, whether the distributor's business can grow next year largely depends on the infrastructure level of the customer's middle office. The product middle office involves the design and planning of product portfolios, which is the core driving force for improving efficiency. You must manage your product's role in the customer's system—is it margin-driven or volume-driven? Is it a traffic-driving role or a distribution role? Is it high commission incentives or equalized assessment? ...... At the same time, being familiar with and proficient in using the customer's inventory system is an important indicator of whether a manufacturer's salesperson is practical and down-to-earth. Don't take it for granted; there are really few manufacturer salespeople who can skillfully use GuanJiaPo (a popular inventory management software)!
3. Back Office Management: Clear Accounting You've managed distributors for so many years, but have you ever been to their warehouses to pick goods or move carts? Most answers are definitely no. In fact, only when you truly delve into the daily details and processes of the distributor's supply chain can you truly understand the entire flow of goods from inbound to outbound, from warehouse to terminal, and from terminal to shelf. Only by truly mastering this detailed process can you truly create a supply chain optimization plan for the distributor next year. It's easy to write KPIs in a PPT, but actually optimizing delivery time from 48 hours to 24 hours is definitely a technical task.
Of course, back office management is not just about the supply chain; the customer's financial accounts are equally important. At every time period, the distributor's ROI and profitability need to be calculated by our frontline city managers. You must understand the ins and outs of each financial indicator and compare trends clearly. Only then will distributors trust and rely on you more.
In the new year, your annual plan doesn't need to be flashy, but it should be practical, starting with a deep understanding of the customer's front, middle, and back offices!