---
title: "Sales Are Hard, 90% of the Problem Isn't the Salesperson"
description: "At a distributor's internal review meeting, salespeople were blamed for poor B2b performance, but the real issues lie in organizational structure, management, and product assortment. To succeed, distributors must clarify responsibilities, train thoroughly, and pilot with small teams."
author: "葛畅"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2026-01-17"
categories: "Dealer Operations, Management & Methods"
language: "en"
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markdown: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/sales-are-hard-90-of-the-problem-isn-t-the-salesperson-00231864.md"
original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/6pi7NKAlr8iQaFg9g5mv1w"
translation: "https://xinjignxiao.com/zh/articles/%E9%94%80%E9%87%8F%E9%9A%BE%E5%81%9A-90-%E7%9A%84%E9%97%AE%E9%A2%98%E4%B8%8D%E5%9C%A8%E4%B8%9A%E5%8A%A1-00231864.md"
attribution: "New Distribution — https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/sales-are-hard-90-of-the-problem-isn-t-the-salesperson-00231864/"
citation: "葛畅. “Sales Are Hard, 90% of the Problem Isn't the Salesperson.” New Distribution, 2026-01-17. https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/sales-are-hard-90-of-the-problem-isn-t-the-salesperson-00231864/"
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---

# Sales Are Hard, 90% of the Problem Isn't the Salesperson

> At a distributor's internal review meeting, salespeople were blamed for poor B2b performance, but the real issues lie in organizational structure, management, and product assortment. To succeed, distributors must clarify responsibilities, train thoroughly, and pilot with small teams.

“Now we in sales get scolded from three sides—customers think you're too expensive, the boss thinks you can't sell, and colleagues think you're dragging them down.”

Recently, I attended an internal review meeting at a distributor company. At the start, the distributor showed everyone a set of data: since starting B2b at the end of September, they had registered 1,700 customers, but only 400 stores were actively purchasing monthly, less than a quarter; November sales were around 150,000 yuan, with an average of only 20-30 orders per day, far below expectations.

When asked why, everyone complained and pointed fingers at other departments. The most blamed were the salespeople:

- High stock-out rates: purchasing blamed salespeople for selling too little, so they dared not stock up.
- Low daily platform traffic: operations blamed salespeople for insufficient promotion.

Whenever a traditional trading company transitions to B2b, a batch of “outdated” salespeople gets labeled negatively. Salespeople themselves feel wronged:

“Is it really us who are incompetent, or is the boss's transformation itself flawed?”

**Why do salespeople become the scapegoat during transformation?**

Putting emotions aside and looking at specific actions, many salespeople are still using old thinking and methods to run a platform business. Based on feedback from distributor teams, the problems with salespeople during the transition from traditional trade to B2b are mainly reflected in the following aspects:

**1. Still using old store visit routines, only brand thinking, no platform thinking.**

“Recently I followed salespeople to the market, and after a round, I found many customers don't even know what products we have. Now the platform has 800 new SKUs, but salespeople still talk about the same two or three familiar products.”

The distributor said helplessly that salespeople are used to focusing on one or two main products. They enter the store, check how many boxes are missing, discuss replenishment with the owner, and occasionally mention other categories as an afterthought.

But after doing B2b, the distributor wants salespeople to promote the platform and cultivate the habit of stores placing orders independently. If salespeople only focus on replenishing familiar products, in the eyes of store owners, they are still just “brand salespeople,” not representatives of a full-category supply chain.

**2. Not familiar with the platform and product assortment.**

“What's the regular price of this 750g potato chips? What's the promotional price?” The supervisor asked casually, and the room fell silent.

To boost new products and add-on snacks, the company had conducted several training sessions, with detailed PPTs and lists, and everyone nodded in agreement. But after a month, the backend data showed the best sellers were still the old beverages.

“We've stocked over 8,000 units of add-on snacks, but only 2,000 sold in a month. At this rate, it'll take four months to turn over.” In the purchaser's view, it's not that they didn't provide support, but that salespeople didn't bother to remember. Besides products, many salespeople haven't even browsed the mini-program completely, and can't even say where a certain category entry is.

“They can't sell, so I don't dare to select large quantities. This not only raises procurement costs but also causes stock-outs at peak times during promotions,” the purchaser complained.

**3. Can't articulate the platform's advantages.**

“I've noticed our salespeople have a fixed mindset: if the store owner says the product is expensive, the deal is off. Why not sell something else? Don't we have cheaper items suitable for bundling?”

In the operator's view, many salespeople still understand B2b as just “changing the ordering method.” They don't mention the platform's advantages like one-stop ordering, low capital occupation, and fast turnover. These “selling points” should be instilled through daily visits—reminding store owners of today's flash sales, guiding them to check the mini-program, teaching them how to bundle orders to save money...

“But now, the platform's daily visits are lower than the number of visits salespeople make in a day, which shows that the platform's value isn't being communicated during store visits.”

**If B2b isn't working, it's often because the underlying structure wasn't thought through.**

In the past two months, I visited markets in Hebei, Henan, Chongqing, etc. Most distributors I met are doing B2b, but after talking, I found that no one had figured out how to run this business.

In fact, salespeople are just the ones at the front line, directly linked to results. The real problems lie with the distributors themselves.

**Problem 1: Organizationally, the structure is unclear, and many employees are fighting on two fronts.**

Some distributors transition by simply overlaying B2b on the existing trade business, rather than carving out a separate line. For the team, one set of people doing two jobs seems to save manpower, but it actually disperses everyone's energy.

Coupled with unclear job responsibilities, in some companies, operators do some purchasing, purchasers do some sales, finance helps pack in the warehouse, and even the boss doubles as customer service and emergency replenishment.

Ask everyone what they're busy with daily, and each can list a long string, but when asked, “What specific results am I responsible for in B2b?” the answers become vague.

**Problem 2: In management, goals are too vague and not broken down into specific actions for each department.**

Many companies like to set big goals: next month's sales target, how many active stores to add... It sounds exciting, but they don't break down the small goals into positions.

- Purchasing knows “we need to add 200 SKUs,” but hasn't thought clearly: What are the criteria for introducing products? Is it a good price advantage? Or filling a category gap? How much sales can each category contribute?
- Operations knows “we need more activities and exposure,” but hasn't calculated: How much daily volume is needed to meet the monthly sales target? How much volume can one campaign bring? Have they planned ahead and coordinated with other departments through task breakdown?
- Sales knows “we need overall growth,” but hasn't been explicitly required: How many new registered stores per person per month? How much to increase the proportion of online orders?

**Problem 3: In products and operations, the assortment is incomplete and activities lag, so even if salespeople want to promote the platform, they can't compete.**

Take this company as an example: last month's data showed that beverages and milk accounted for nearly 80% of total sales, but after the peak season, products that could raise gross margin and average order value either didn't take off or had weak sales. For example, in the alcohol category, there are no beers suitable for small stores or high-traffic local products.

What does the assortment gap mean for salespeople? When more and more peers are entering stores with their own mini-programs, you don't have a complete, competitive assortment.

On the operations side, the mall's page presentation is also rough: the homepage carousel isn't eye-catching, the activity atmosphere is weak, and some out-of-season products occupy prime positions; activity scheduling is mostly last-minute, prepared hastily when an idea comes up; in the group, only links and order screenshots with red packets are shared, lacking continuous touchpoints and guidance.

With such backend configuration, the gaps in all links eventually pile up on sales. So instead of just blaming salespeople, it's better to reflect: In the transformation, what battlefield and weapons has the company given them?

**Set clear responsibilities, tactics, and rhythm, then talk about growth.**

During my visits, I also talked with some distributors who do B2b well. In summary, to do B2b well, you need to start from these three aspects:

1. **Clarify who is responsible for B2b.**

First, make a list at the organizational level: What belongs to B2b? Who decides, who coordinates, who executes? How are morning meetings and weekly meetings run? How is performance tracked? How are issues handled? Once responsibilities and rhythms are fixed, the team won't keep working in silos.

2. **Train thoroughly on products and sales scripts.**

Many traditional salespeople don't want to sell; they just don't know how. So the most basic step is to use simple reward and punishment mechanisms to motivate the sales team to memorize the prices, gross margins, and activity mechanisms of a batch of SKUs regularly. In addition, summarize a set of B2b-specific scripts, such as: the platform allows small-batch ordering, occupies less store capital, has fast turnover, and fresh shelf life. Use advantageous products to counter price comparisons, plus flash sales at fixed times in the morning, noon, and evening, to guide owners to learn to check the platform themselves.

3. **Let a small team run a pilot first.**

Instead of trying to do everything at once, first pull out a small team from the original team, form combat effectiveness and methodology, then gradually expand. This reduces management difficulty and lets salespeople see that this business has a development path and room for growth.

Looking back at the phenomenon of “salespeople in B2b transformation being caught in the middle,” it's both a real frontline situation and a question to management: How far do you want to take this business? If you pave the way and set standards, this business has a chance to move forward from blame and internal friction.

Don't let the frontline fight alone.

True transformation shifts from “blaming people” to “building systems”: clarifying rights and responsibilities, practicing basic skills, and letting small units develop methodology.

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## Citation metadata

- Publisher: New Distribution
- Author: 葛畅
- Published: 2026-01-17
- Canonical: https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/sales-are-hard-90-of-the-problem-isn-t-the-salesperson-00231864/
- Original source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/6pi7NKAlr8iQaFg9g5mv1w

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