This year we became the national general agent for several Unilever products. As our distribution network expands into various retail outlets, the biggest challenge is improving promoter efficiency. After consulting with distributors of milk, daily chemicals, and ham, I've gained insights and learned a lot.

Many companies position retail stores as the main battlefield for sales. Take mushroom sauce, for example: the well-known brand ZJ generates over 50% of its total sales in stores, and in some regions even higher.

In terms of staffing, many distributors have promoter teams that are several times or even a dozen times larger than their marketing teams. The saying "iron camps, flowing soldiers" applies, but promoter turnover is even more extreme.

I've seen a promoter work for Mengniu on Sunday and then switch to Yili in the same store the following Monday. Such defections are common. How can we manage these promoters to maximize their value? Can we adopt a store franchise model to stimulate their initiative? Let's explore this model today.

-01- Current State and Drawbacks of Promoter Teams

1. Types of Promoters:

From a communication perspective, there are three types:

a. Hospitable guides: For example, ham and milk promoters invite consumers to taste and chat casually to sell.

b. Knowledgeable guides: For example, health product promoters act like lecturers, guiding consumer needs.

c. Skillful guides: For example, cosmetics promoters recommend different products based on consumer characteristics.

From a functional perspective, there are five types:

a. Standing guards b. Consumer experience promoters c. Sales-driving promoters d. Real-time display organizers e. Door-to-door promoters

2. Mindset Issues:

a. Promoters have a weak sense of belonging to the company; most are paid by distributors and are essentially temporary workers.

b. Income disparities are large, and there is almost no social insurance, leading to instability due to psychological imbalance.

c. Companies provide few training and learning opportunities, severely limiting personal development.

3. Compensation:

Base salary + commission + performance bonus (rarely given, often none). Base salary has basic performance requirements and constitutes a high proportion of income. Commission is often not emphasized enough. Performance bonuses are typically small amounts for meeting certain targets, not very attractive.

Overall income is low, and many people see this as a temporary stopgap, leaving when better opportunities arise. Some promoters jump between companies.

4. Common Drawbacks:

a. They don't care about the store's stocking situation, don't advise sales reps, leading to unreasonable SKU stocking and poor FIFO, resulting in large amounts of old-date products.

b. Lack of work enthusiasm; they just pass the time.

c. No interaction with the store, missing many opportunities.

d. They may damage the company's image when dealing with consumers.

To solve these problems, we need to increase their willingness to work actively and guide them to increase sales and income. Combining these can enhance their sense of team integration. Can franchising solve these issues? Let's compare.

-02- Core Content of Sales Territory Franchising

The core of sales team territory franchising is the delegation of distribution rights, using effective incentives to stimulate employee initiative. Take Jinmailang's "Four-in-One" as an example:

By franchising regional markets, workers have their own fields; vehicles enable efficient service; outlets provide higher output; and terminal systems regulate, incentivize, and guide daily operations.

The core logic is to improve personnel efficiency to solve outlet service issues.

Two mindsets hinder efficiency:

First, the distributor mindset: "I'm not the brand owner; the product isn't mine; there's no guarantee of long-term cooperation; I might lose the agency. My goal is to make money from the product and my team as quickly as possible." This mindset prevents distributors from improving their own efficiency.

Second, the distributor's worker mindset: "The market isn't mine; the product isn't mine; only my salary is mine. If today's pay is good, I work for this distributor; if another pays better tomorrow, I'll switch." This is the main reason for low worker efficiency. It's human nature to seek benefit and avoid harm, but Jinmailang's Four-in-One leverages this by returning the market to the workers, the product to the distributor, and basing the agency on the joint efforts of both.

Sweat for yourself, eat your own food, do your own work—this fundamentally aligns with human nature and improves efficiency.

By improving efficiency, we unleash the power of initiative, leading to greater focus on outlets and service, gaining competitiveness, increasing sales, and boosting output and income.

-03- How to Franchise Promoters?

To implement franchising, first, promoters must have their own fields (what is their franchise area?).

Second, how to attract more consumers to buy our products? Where is the guidance (consumers are like outlets)?

Third, how to get consumers to buy more? What support is needed (like vehicles for outlets)?

Finally, how to connect everything and incentivize? Terminal system support is also needed. After mapping these, I propose the first promoter franchise model.

1. Promoter Franchising Their Own Store: 3 Key Points

a. Link promoter performance with return rate.

Actual sales to consumers are the foundation of profit. Commission should first consider month-over-month and year-over-year sales comparisons. Also, compare return rates. Selling more but returning more is worthless.

So store franchising must focus on return rate. Performance and return rate are complementary: high performance gets positive incentives, high return rate gets negative incentives. If return rate is low, the savings from reduced returns should be calculated and rewarded to the franchise promoter.

b. Trust promoters and provide resources.

With responsibility comes resources. The right to use these resources belongs to the promoter, fostering a sense of ownership.

Provide display cost support tailored to local conditions. Promoters are in the store daily; with resources, they can efficiently and cost-effectively secure prime display positions.

For example, during hot pot season, a mushroom sauce promoter can negotiate with the store manager to place the sauce near hot pot ingredients, boosting sales. Regional sales staff can verify and reward this.

c. Provide guidance and establish a system.

Many promoters lack ideas. For regional franchising to succeed, you need both the "field" and the "know-how to farm." So proper guidance and a cultivation model are essential.

First, provide skills training on key points like customer acquisition and increasing average order value. Then, use incentives to cultivate good habits.

For example, after a day's promotion, tidy your display, maximize it after competitors' promoters leave, so that at least until they return, consumers see a strong presence. Take a photo and upload it to the system, and we can give a reward.

Finally, combine all skills and habits to form your own "farming" model.

2. Sales Rep Franchise Model.

Currently, sales reps handle multiple stores but only manage stocking, while promoters handle selling. There's little connection or mutual concern. This is wrong—without selling, how can there be stocking?

So franchising stores to sales reps can stimulate their initiative and improve performance. This way, reps will care more about promoter output and guide them. Promoter management becomes the responsibility of the rep, who has a vested interest, leading to more detailed oversight.

Three key points:

a. Territory franchising should be based on proximity.

Within the territory, store sales vary; mix high, medium, and low performers. Proximity improves service efficiency and promoter management density.

b. Territory and performance should align; display, performance, and return rate should be managed together.

The goal is to use outcome metrics to motivate reps, increasing output; encourage reps to focus on process metrics of their promoters; and encourage reps to pay attention to display and product age.

c. The rep franchise model is not a "small boss" model but a "big boss" model.

It's not just about doing well yourself, but leading the promoter team to prosperity. Incentives are based on the results of process goals, not just the process itself.

Final Thoughts:

The promoter franchise system is implementable. Its logic is the same as territory franchising for sales reps in distribution: the store is their responsibility field, consumers are their outlets, support is their vehicle, and the system remains the system.

If we call it Four-in-One, it would be: Store, Consumer, Support, System. But this requires building a complete franchise mechanism with matching methods, which every company with a large promoter team needs to explore and implement.