This article is based on Mr. Pan Wenfu's sharing in the "365 Business School" WeChat group. If you are interested in learning and interacting with industry experts and teachers, please long-press the 365 Business School QR code at the bottom of the article.

I. Misconceptions in Terminal Cognition

Misconception 1: Emphasizing Sales, Neglecting Market Most distributors focus solely on business tasks like delivery and payment collection, making product sales their only goal. They forget about market development, maintenance, system and network building, and helping clients grow and prosper together.

Misconception 2: Emphasizing Major Clients, Neglecting Small Ones Most distributors fail to flexibly apply the principle of "grasping the big and letting go of the small," leading to a bias toward large clients only. In reality, terminal clients can be categorized into: high sales/high profit, high sales/low profit, low sales/high profit, and low sales/low profit.

Misconception 3: Emphasizing Major Products, Neglecting Small Ones Most distributors always cling to best-selling products, squeezing every drop of profit from them. They should analyze profits based on their product mix, considering factors like sales volume, profit margins, and brand strength. They need to identify which products are "high volume, low profit" for building sales networks and maintaining clients, which are "low volume, high profit" as future growth products, and which are "high volume, high profit" as golden products.

Misconception 4: Emphasizing Incentives, Neglecting Management Most distributors treat every client as a god, blindly complying with their demands such as price haggling and gift distribution.

Misconception 5: Emphasizing the Middle, Neglecting the Two Ends Terminal work has three links:

  1. Products supplied by distributors to terminals; 2. Terminals that directly buy from distributors; 3. Consumers who buy from terminals. Most distributors only focus on the middle (terminals) and neglect the two ends (products supplied to terminals and consumers buying from terminals). This leads to an inability to fully understand products, systematically recommend them to clients, or establish consumer profiles for after-sales service, thus failing to win consumer loyalty and repeat purchases.

II. Five Major Misconceptions in Terminal Operations

Misconception 1: Confusing Channel Terminals with Marketing Terminals Counter displays are channel terminals and must be occupied, and terminal recommendations should be implemented. However, never manipulate consumers for the sake of channel building. The true marketing terminal is consumer psychological acceptance. Occupying counters and strengthening terminal promotions are only marketing processes; the ultimate goal is to make consumers purchase. Therefore, after occupying counters, you also need consumer acceptance of the brand and product. Most companies only occupy counters without securing consumer brand acceptance.

Misconception 2: "Distribute but Not Manage" in Terminal Distribution After distribution, terminal management is equally important and requires regular management and service. Distributing without managing is worse than not distributing at all. In practice, the phenomenon of distributing without managing is widespread. For example, products are placed, but POP displays are overshadowed by competitors' products, and the first visual position is empty. Or products are stocked in the retailer's warehouse but not on shelves or storefronts, which is meaningless.

Misconception 3: Solely Pursuing Distribution Rate Solely pursuing distribution rate often leads to poor selection of target terminals. Overemphasizing distribution rate can cause a mismatch between the target consumer group and the purchase location. Even worse, if mid-to-high-end products are placed in convenience stores, it can lead to stagnant sales and a decline in product and brand image.

Misconception 4: Low Quality of Sales Personnel Most companies spare no expense on promotional budgets but rarely provide regular training for sales personnel. As a result, they cannot fully grasp product knowledge or consumer psychology, and thus cannot effectively communicate the product's unique selling points and personality. This inevitably leads to frequent "push but not sell" situations in terminal recommendations.

Misconception 5: Cost Calculation Ignores Consumer Interests Most companies only calculate distribution costs, not consumption costs; they only calculate their own price structure, not consumer value perception. This leads to self-centered promotions that ignore marketing based on consumer benefits. So, no matter how detailed terminal work is or how frequent promotions are, they cannot persuade consumers to buy.

All great wars in the world ultimately end in street battles. Human factors are paramount. The quality and capability of sales personnel determine company performance.

Case Study: 1 bottle of beverage sold at terminal for 10 yuan/bottle, purchase cost 8 yuan/bottle, sales cost 1 yuan/bottle. Selling 10 bottles yields 100 yuan. First time: Sales = Price × Quantity = 100 yuan; Profit = Sales - Cost = 10 yuan. When cost decreases by 1% and sales volume increases by 1%, how much does profit increase? Second time: Sales = Price × Quantity = 10 × 10.1 = 101 yuan; Profit = Sales - Cost = 101 - 89.1 (90 × 0.99) = 11.9 yuan. Profit increased by 19% the second time.

A 1% cost reduction and 1% sales increase lead to a 19% profit increase.

Shi Shunkuan, practical marketing expert, has served as sales supervisor, sales manager, marketing manager, and marketing director, then entered the consulting industry, with 18 years of practical marketing and consulting experience.

-END-

Content Selection Reply with the following keywords to search and read related articles: Sales Supervisor, Second-Tier Management, Regional Manager, Distributor Management, New Channels, City Manager, Competition, 2015, Manufacturer-Dealer Game, Product Stagnation, Terminal Visit Management, Route Management, Deep Distribution, Internal Management, Sales Skills, Profit Improvement, Recruitment, Distribution, Daily Management, Team Motivation, Trade Promotion, Sales Misconceptions, New Product Launch, Township Market, New Product Pricing, Sales Target Achievement, Closing Deals, Market Visit Inspection, Baijiu, Beer, Sales Increase, Agency Products, Cross-Region Sales, KA, Terminal Merchandising, New Market, Market Operation, Learning, Book Recommendations, Inventory Management, New Salespeople, Consumer Promotion, Execution, Old Products, Expired Product Handling, Model Market, Franchise Recruitment, New Media, Distributor Development, Performance Appraisal, Assessment, Annual Planning, Shopping Guide, Morning Meeting, Display, Transformation, Stock Pressure, Festivals, Distributor Cost Control, Channel Operation, Marketing Theory and Laws, Brand Truth, Order Meeting, Team Management, Training, Debriefing, Debriefing Report.