Click to read the original article for details**************** Repeated pandemic outbreaks, economic downturn, weak markets, consumption downgrading, rising raw material costs—these words are believed to hover over distributors almost daily. In 2019, some said it was the worst year in recent times, while others said it would be the best year of the next decade. In hindsight, both seem to have been right. But business must go on; it is the lifeline for countless FMCG professionals. What should we do? When we cannot see the future clearly, what do we do? Look at our feet, look at what we have in hand, and look at those things that cannot be changed, taken away, or lost. These are the fundamentals, and they are what distributors should think about most. So, what is in a distributor's fundamentals? Today, I will explore this one by one. 1 Fundamentals: Sales Basics Without sales, there is no profit. Sales capability is the foundation of a distributor's survival. No matter how the market changes, this must always be the top priority. I once proposed two formulas:

A: Execution = Knowledge × Attitude × Skills × Tracking and Inspection B: Performance = Coverage × Familiarity × Customer Relations × Activity These are the prerequisites for sales capability. Only when the grassroots sales team has sufficient product knowledge, etiquette and social knowledge, a proper work attitude, honed skills, and is backed by management's tracking and inspection can sales capability be effectively improved, thereby boosting distributor performance. What are the sales basics for distributors? Let me briefly list a few points:

  1. Total number of terminal customers in circulation business? (households/persons), special channels and KA not less than ? (households/persons), remove duplicate customers, increase horizontal growth space; this is also an important indicator for staffing.
  2. Sales reps must visit no fewer than ? households per day, and special channels no fewer than ? households.
  3. What is the minimum daily sales volume in cases? Has it been achieved?
  4. Number of orders (number of transactions)? What is the visit-to-sale success rate?
  5. Number of SKUs per order (how many items does a store order)?
  6. Eliminate the phenomenon of a terminal store having only 1 SKU, increase vertical growth space.
  7. What is the monthly sales target? How much has been cumulatively achieved? How will you rectify going forward?
  8. How many exclusive stores have been created? How many key accounts does the sales rep have?
  9. What are the key work priorities for the month? Which have been completed?
  10. Without tracking the process, there will be no results. Do daily tasks daily, and improve daily! Some may think these are outdated and that everyone knows them. But what I want to say is: how many distributors can implement these simple tasks day after day, year after year? On the wall charts of excellent distributors I have visited, these items are still present, still treated seriously at morning meetings, and still important indicators for the boss to evaluate outstanding employees. In the era of internet impact and information explosion, new things are increasingly pursued by FMCG professionals, dreaming of overnight wealth or soaring with new technologies, ideas, and models. Mentioning the old ways gets labeled as "behind the times," "eliminated," or "outdated." In essence, the simpler and more effective something is, the more attention it deserves; it is a key part of the fundamentals. 2 Fundamentals: Market Basics Without market basics, products will not sell. When it comes to product sell-through, many distributors immediately think of highly active terms like product power, brand power, sales and consumption scenarios, communication channels, consumer awareness and experience, needs and pain points—anyone can talk about these. But the question is: do distributors know how to implement them? Do they know how to turn these terms into routine indicators for sales reps? Some things cannot be achieved with a few surprise campaigns or concentrated activities. The focus of market basics is vivid display or competitive display, but it is also the hardest area for distributors to control. Let me list a few points to see if they resonate:
  11. For 80% of small terminal store owners, display fees are almost the same whether they sell more or less, wasting resources.
  12. Once display standards are met, they don't strive for more; they don't push for additional display space.
  13. Display fees are the same for important traffic locations and remote locations, lacking flexibility.
  14. Display fees are the same next to the cash register and in obscure corners, lacking responsibility.
  15. Display maintenance is the sales rep's job; when other manufacturers move displays, store owners ignore it.
  16. Display is not consistently maintained; there is no effective combination between peak and off-peak seasons.
  17. Sales reps focus on quantity over quality, even signing displays just for the sake of signing.
  18. Terminal store owners focus on form over sales volume.
  19. Team collaboration is weak, and execution is uneven. Doesn't this give you a headache? Distributors don't earn money easily, and if market spending has no effect, it's even harder to move forward. What are the market basics for distributors? For beverages, I have summarized seven market visit actions:
  20. Press the storefront: Check inventory, apply the 1.5x inventory rule, with different inventory standards for different periods.
  21. Stock the shelves: Check the shelf facing, stimulate sales reps' competitive awareness, strive for shelf space equal to or greater than competitors, main SKUs only for category display, vivid display should focus on the last meter, have a strong heart, and fight close to competitors.
  22. Fill the cooler: Check the number of bottles, guide sales reps to put in as many as possible; one more bottle is like selling one more bottle.
  23. Do more points: Check whether products are taken to the door, sold by the case, and displayed in special prominent positions.
  24. Vivid display: Set up POP, KT boards, bottle hangers, price tags, etc., highlight product advantages and disadvantages, do in-store brand communication, and build sales and consumption scenarios.
  25. Maintain cleanliness: Product cleanliness. FMCG products are increasingly homogeneous; competition is about service, product and brand image. Carrying a rag is an important indicator of a qualified sales rep.
  26. Do experiences: The purpose of experience is to make consumers like the product; it should be done anytime, anywhere. For example, when stocking shelves, if a consumer is choosing a product, proactively recommend it. Experiences are not necessarily free samples. Important reminder: If products are not selling, the most important thing is to integrate the sell-through logic into the daily work and actions of sales reps. This must be emphasized; it is also the core of a distributor's fundamentals. 3 Fundamentals: Team Leadership Capability Teams help enterprises overcome various difficulties during crises and achieve leaps. For distributors, a team that can follow them to conquer and defend territory is the most valuable asset. In the Chinese market, where FMCG is laid out offline, the importance of customer relationships is self-evident. What does effective team leadership include? Let me list a few points:
  27. The team's distribution mechanism should be reasonable, achieving more pay for more work.
  28. Team cohesion should be strengthened, striving for one group, one heart, one thing.
  29. Team organizational performance should be rigorous, achieving goal orientation.
  30. Team leadership, management, and training capabilities. The success of any enterprise is inseparable from the leader's leadership capability. In today's "people-oriented" era, talent is the greatest wealth, and team organization is the way to maximize talent effectiveness. With an excellent team, you have the most powerful engine. Teams need to be led; only by improving leadership capability can we achieve the goals we initially envisioned. For distributor development, only by leading the team well can we better win the future. Therefore, team leadership capability holds crucial weight in a distributor's fundamentals. 4 Fundamentals: The Distributor Boss's Learning Ability Why include the distributor boss's learning ability in the fundamentals? My answer is: after visiting many excellent distributors, it is not hard to find their common trait—they are good at learning. The boss's personal cognition determines the company's ceiling. You cannot avoid going to the front line to see the market, nor can you stay in the front line every day. Distributors should also become social activists. Here, social activist does not mean eating and drinking with manufacturers every day or building customer relationships with downstream clients, but rather going to other places to learn from the excellent experiences of peer distributors, and having tea with business owners from other industries. Attend more industry-related conferences and more downstream retail conferences. For example, the retail format changes very quickly. Chat with local retail chain owners, exchange ideas with executives in e-commerce live streaming. I believe that in this process, you will not only broaden your personal horizons but also possibly discover business opportunities. To change the current predicament, distributors must first be good at learning. Let me list a few points:
  31. Change your current mindset and awareness: Learning makes me progress; action makes me successful! Learn knowledge related to yourself, first build the foundation, then delve deeper. Persist, and you will become an expert!
  32. Make a learning plan for yourself: What do I want to learn, how will I learn, to what level, etc. Persist consistently and do not be disturbed by external factors.
  33. Learn with questions. Learning costs money and time. There are numerous training classes now; if you learn without selection, you cannot afford it in terms of money or time. Analyze your current weaknesses and shortcomings, identify the top one, two, or three urgent areas to improve, and then find training institutions that can solve your problems.
  34. Learning should involve summarizing and thinking, not rote memorization or formalism. Learn, record, and apply while learning; adjust and improve while using. Only when it is transformed into your own can you use it with ease. Special emphasis: For FMCG distributors, learning ability is vitality, competitiveness, and the ability to make money. From July 20 to July 22, the 2022 (7th) China FMCG Channel Innovation Conference will officially kick off in Chengdu , with the theme "Seize the Opportunity, Stabilize the Fundamentals," inviting the most influential frontline entrepreneurs and executives in China's FMCG industry to discuss new ideas, models, tactics, and opportunities under industry challenges. For distributors, this is an excellent opportunity for learning and exchange—don't miss it!