For manufacturer sales personnel, the success or failure of a market largely depends on the success of customer development. However, when developing new markets and new distributors, we often lack a clear and accurate judgment of the distributor's strength and professionalism in market operations. If a distributor intends to represent our products, they will often boast about their strength and social connections, and even guarantee how easily they will complete tasks. But ideals are丰满, reality is骨感; the actual operating conditions of distributors are often not as good as they claim. This requires our business personnel to conduct a comprehensive inspection and evaluation of distributors. Below, the author shares some methods for developing new market distributors based on personal experience:

I. Seize the 2 Key Time Points:

1. 7:00-8:00 AM: This is when distributors hold morning meetings to arrange the day's sales work, and it is the time when sales personnel and vehicles are most concentrated. Visiting the distributor during this time can provide an initial judgment of the distributor's management and sales team organization: (1) Represented products: What products do they represent? Which products sell fastest? Are there products that conflict with ours or competitors? Can their product portfolio form a positive interaction with our products? (2) Number of vehicles: How many delivery vehicles does the distributor have? What types? Based on the local population and vehicles, you can roughly assess their coverage. (3) Number of personnel: How many sales personnel? Age range, male-to-female ratio, and quality level. (4) Management level: Organization of morning meetings, cleanliness of warehouse and office, communication skills of supervisors and managers.

2. 5:00-7:00 PM: This is when delivery workers return to the warehouse to hand in payments and load goods. Visit the distributor again during this time, focusing on two points:

  1. Financial collection: The amount of money handed in by sales personnel can basically indicate the actual daily sales of the distributor's sales team, and the monthly sales can be roughly estimated.
  2. Warehouse loading: The quantity of goods loaded by sales personnel in the evening indirectly confirms the day's sales and the current state of warehouse inventory management.

II. Examine the "5" Key Elements of Distributors:

1. Network and Reputation: (1) Network determines the distributor's control over the market: Key inspection targets: secondary wholesalers in local wholesale markets; closed channels (such as schools, large factory mines, detention centers, etc.); terminals (restaurants, bars, internet cafes, etc.). Observe two points: First, whether the target distributor's products are present in the above channels, their display position, level of activation, shelf age, and shelf share. (2) Reputation: From store owners, secondary wholesalers, and competitors, you can learn about the distributor's local connections and influence, whether it is as extensive as claimed, and whether they can drive group purchase demand.

2. Financial Strength. Entering a blank market requires high capital, often the first batch of goods is not fully sold before the second batch payment is due, and some channels may require credit. This requires the distributor to have sufficient liquid funds. Key inspection points: inventory of best-selling products, monthly sales, and the amount of the first payment.

3. Personnel and Vehicles Available for Our Products. After our products arrive, new product distribution often requires dedicated personnel and vehicles for terminal distribution and development. On one hand, we need to negotiate for corresponding resources; on the other hand, we need to assess whether their actual distribution capacity is saturated and whether it can meet our distribution needs. Key inspection points: (1) Personnel: Number, age, tenure, number of outlets covered per person, and personnel quality. (2) Vehicles: Whether the vehicle types match our needs, whether they are willing to provide dedicated vehicles for us, and whether they can meet diversified distribution requirements across different channels.

4. Warehouse. Check whether the warehouse is managed by category, clean, convenient, and orderly. (1) Category management: Check whether existing inventory is stored by category and brand, whether the first-in-first-out principle is followed, whether near-expiry products are separated from normal inventory, and whether there is a dedicated warehouse manager. (2) Hygiene: Whether the warehouse is tidy and clean, whether goods are placed off the ground and away from walls, and whether there are issues like moisture or pests. (3) Convenience: The convenience of loading: whether there are professional pallets, pallet jacks, and other efficiency tools.

5. Distributor's Recognition of Our Products. Today's distributors, except for those representing first-tier brands like Yili, Mengniu, Wahaha, and Liuhe, mostly operate multiple brands, each with a significant number of SKUs. Distributors of different sizes and with different numbers of represented brands attach different levels of importance to new products. Most manufacturer sales personnel think that having a first-tier brand in the client's portfolio can "borrow the east wind," but they fail to realize that the channels of first-tier brands may not match your product channels. Instead of looking at brand size, it is better to look at the distributor's recognition of the product, because recognition determines the client's investment in the product. Investment is not just in funds, vehicles, and personnel, but more importantly, in energy and attention. For the distributor's recognition of the product, first consider whether your own resources can make the distributor invest more energy: (1) Does our product have a profit advantage among the products they represent? Under the same resource investment, does our product yield higher profit returns? (2) Can our product effectively complement and combine with existing products? (3) Does the product's seasonal sales conflict with the distributor's main push products? Can the channels complement each other positively?

III. 3+3 Thorough Research:

1. Choose at least three different townships for market research. (1) Investigate the local actual economic conditions, consumption levels, and consumption habits. (2) Investigate the distribution rate, terminal display, and prices of local competitors. (3) Investigate the target distributor's local reputation, service, and terminal display of their products.

2. Choose three different types of channels for terminal visits. (1) Visit the terminal distribution of the product's main sales channels, competitor prices, and promotions. (2) Visit the business characteristics of general channels to find breakthroughs. (3) Visit potential channels to discover market opportunities.

After the above research and analysis, you can basically judge the actual situation of the client and market, as well as their operating strength. If all aspects meet the manufacturer's requirements, then in the future sales process, unnecessary communication friction and judgment errors will be reduced. Of course, choosing a distributor is only the first step for our product to sell in the local market. There is still much work to be done to do well in the future market; a good distributor is just a good start. And believe that a good start is half the battle.

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