---
title: "Sales Representatives: Are They Really Crushing Distributors?"
description: "This article discusses whether sales representatives should push inventory onto distributors, arguing that excessive pressure can crush distributors and damage the entire channel. It emphasizes the importance of sell-out over sell-in and shares a Coca-Cola example where the company avoided overloading distributors by renting a warehouse to meet sales targets."
author: "谭长春"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2019-09-09"
categories: "Dealer Operations"
language: "en"
canonical: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/sales-representatives-are-they-really-crushing-distributors-3f3c0d3b/"
markdown: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/sales-representatives-are-they-really-crushing-distributors-3f3c0d3b.md"
original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/swgo2pSkppIFg7HgA9ImdQ"
translation: "https://xinjignxiao.com/zh/articles/%E4%B8%9A%E5%8A%A1%E5%91%98-%E7%9C%9F%E7%9A%84%E6%98%AF%E8%A6%81%E5%8E%8B%E6%AD%BB%E7%BB%8F%E9%94%80%E5%95%86-3f3c0d3b.md"
attribution: "New Distribution — https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/sales-representatives-are-they-really-crushing-distributors-3f3c0d3b/"
citation: "谭长春. “Sales Representatives: Are They Really Crushing Distributors?.” New Distribution, 2019-09-09. https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/sales-representatives-are-they-really-crushing-distributors-3f3c0d3b/"
usage_policy: "https://xinjignxiao.com/ai-policy.txt"
---

# Sales Representatives: Are They Really Crushing Distributors?

> This article discusses whether sales representatives should push inventory onto distributors, arguing that excessive pressure can crush distributors and damage the entire channel. It emphasizes the importance of sell-out over sell-in and shares a Coca-Cola example where the company avoided overloading distributors by renting a warehouse to meet sales targets.

**Follow and star ↑↑「New Distribution」**
**See how many friends are with you, following industry trends**
**Introduction: Should sales representatives push inventory? What if they crush distributors?**
**Pushing inventory exploits the distributor's reservoir function**
Recently, an article wrote: A distributor gave up a brand that had been a main product for six years and had always been profitable. The reason was that the manufacturer's sales representative didn't care about the distributor's survival and just pushed inventory.
Admittedly, this is a common situation.
But should reality be like this?
This is a fact.
But the fact should not be entirely so.
Based on the enterprise as the product owner, finding distributors to cooperate is to let distributors distribute the products. Distribution should have only one main function: **the sewer function**, which channels products to various places. But because the end of the sewer is the consumer, the flow (i.e., purchase) may not be smooth and might even be a bit clogged, so another popular intermediary function emerged: **the reservoir function.**
This sewer function, as enterprises use it more and more "smoothly," and some enterprises that do not treat distributors as partners but only use their value, often, vulgarly, endlessly, and regardless of the distributor's survival, push inventory, eventually crushing the distributor.
**Why 1.5 times inventory?**
Coca-Cola has a 1.5 times inventory channel stocking principle. I believe colleagues in the FMCG industry are familiar with it, but at Coca-Cola, I never heard a precise explanation of why the inventory value is 1.5 times; it might just be an optimal value obtained from global Coca-Cola operations. But 1.5 times inventory should basically reflect the distributor's acceptance, a reasonable market inventory level, and the enterprise's ability to alleviate some inventory pressure.
Indeed, at Coca-Cola, although this basic standard exists, in practice it was not strictly followed. It was a natural result after both parties negotiated the purchase.
Of course, as some large brand enterprises, even if there is inventory pressure, they will provide the maximum possible supporting measures from the factory to promote and relieve the distributor's inventory.
**It's not SELL IN but SELL OUT**
Why can't enterprises push too much inventory on distributors? Because the real sale of goods and collection of payment ultimately depend on **selling out (sell out), not the distributor buying in (sell in), as the sign of sales success**. This is also a basic sales common sense.
And because many enterprises, regardless of whether the distributor sells, just in a "trade" form, push goods to the distributor and then ignore them, this kind of cooperation will eventually mostly break down. I remember the first lesson upon entering Coca-Cola was to instill this concept: cooperation with distributors should not be trade, not just a trade partnership, but a true partnership, jointly achieving sales performance and work through consumer purchases.
In reality, many enterprises are actually doing trade relations under the guise of distribution cooperation. As long as the distributor pays and goods are shipped, the enterprise basically stops caring, and the sales representative disappears. They consider it all done.
**Since it's trade, not asking about sell out, then at least they should give the trader more market operation fees or support.**
**Once upon a time, Coca-Cola would rather die than push inventory on distributors**
This is a true story.
Back then, Coca-Cola in China already had high market share and sales, and carbonated drinks were always questioned and sales were stagnant, so the sales system brothers still had quite a lot of sales pressure. The leadership always required monthly sales targets to be met; you couldn't say that if this month's sales weren't completed, next month you'd make up for it. This strategy used by many other enterprises was impossible here. This put even more pressure on frontline salespeople.
Around the 20th of a certain month, the leader held a meeting with the sales brothers, counted the possible sales for the month, and after summing up, found that no matter how hard they tried, there might still be a gap in sales, and the target wouldn't be met! (Of course, in Coca-Cola's sales process, there were supporting market and promotion measures; sometimes a salesperson even held five or six activity policies at once!) There was no way out; Coca-Cola basically had to complete tasks every month, and we never saw a month where the monthly task wasn't completed. What to do?!
**In the end, the general manager, in order not to push unlimited inventory on distributors, rented a separate warehouse outside and issued sales orders, thereby achieving the task!** (That is, in the closed loop of sales orders and delivery, they achieved the sell out of goods)
Although extreme and even a bit unreasonable, costing the company money and effort, it was done to avoid damaging the friendly partnership with distributors, to avoid bursting the distributor's already fragile "reservoir" function, and to avoid destroying the truly capable channel.
Afterwards, when some distributors learned of this, the regional Coca-Cola bottling plant's management and business teams earned unanimous respect from the distributors, and it also strengthened the distributors' confidence in cooperating with such a company.
**Pushing inventory on distributors without limits is like killing the goose that lays the golden eggs; it will definitely end in multiple losses!** Even to the point of terminating the distribution cooperation as mentioned in the article, and the entire market collapsing. Although some frontline personnel took preventive measures in advance and had other distributors ready to take over, such practices, once spread, will also harm the entire distribution channel. Imagine if this article is a true situation, and if the distributor knows it's the brand they cooperate with, won't they be more cautious in future cooperation?
**In short, manufacturers should indeed not crush the entire channel for a little sales volume!**
Once the tip is adopted, a payment of 400-2000 yuan will be made.


---

## Citation metadata

- Publisher: New Distribution
- Author: 谭长春
- Published: 2019-09-09
- Canonical: https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/sales-representatives-are-they-really-crushing-distributors-3f3c0d3b/
- Original source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/swgo2pSkppIFg7HgA9ImdQ

## Copyright and AI use

This article is sourced from New Distribution. Search, quotation, summarization, and model training are permitted, but every use must credit New Distribution and retain the canonical source URL.

Contact: zhaobo258@gmail.com · +86 158 5481 7671