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First Fish: Profiting from Withholding Promotional Funds Phenomenon: When manufacturers formulate market promotion strategies and provide expense support, distributors may not use all the funds for the market. For example, a biscuit company launched a new "individual pack" product and offered a 20% sample pack (marked "Not for Sale") distribution plan in a certain market. The distributor, however, arbitrarily split half of the sample packs into "loose biscuits" for sale, and only distributed the rest to terminals. Consequence: The manufacturer's promotion plan and expense support are designed to quickly open the market and attack competitors. If the distributor withholds the support funds, the strategy will be greatly weakened in execution, lacking market impact. Ultimately, the manufacturer spends money without seeing market results, and the distributor also fails to earn more profit.
Second Fish: Profiting from Falsifying Expenses Phenomenon: Distributors falsify various expenses to profit, such as supermarket entry fees, display fees, shelf fees, anniversary fees, activity fees, and salesperson fees. They claim expenses that were not incurred, or inflate small expenses, using various pretexts to request money from manufacturers. Consequence: After repeated investments, manufacturers find that the input-output ratio is not proportional. While questioning the capability of their sales staff, they will also doubt the distributor's strength and network control, thus shifting expense support to markets with higher returns.
Third Fish: Profiting from Fake Special Offers Phenomenon: When a manufacturer offers a special price for a product in a supermarket, if the "special price" is lower than the distributor's "purchase price," the distributor sends people to buy back the special-priced products. While earning expense support, they also create a false impression of "fast-moving" products, then request further expense support from the manufacturer. In the distribution channel, when manufacturers try to clear slow-moving products, distributors may apply for funds, claim to have distributed the goods, but actually do not. After a while, they say the slow-moving products were returned, and continue to ask for more money. Consequence: The "special offer" does not clear the products or genuinely stimulate market consumption or attack competitors. While profiting from short-term gains, the distributor is actually deceiving themselves and others. When the manufacturer cancels continued support, those products will still rot in the warehouse.
Fourth Fish: Profiting from Bribes for Expenses Phenomenon: Distributors actively or passively bribe manufacturer sales personnel, or even management. Bribery can be overt or covert. Overt methods often involve direct "exchange": the distributor gives the manufacturer's marketing personnel a kickback, and the marketing personnel applies for various expenses for the distributor. Covert methods include playing cards together and deliberately losing money. Consequence: Once manufacturer sales personnel get benefits, they will keep demanding more, leading to a portion of the manufacturer's investment falling into their hands. The distributor also pockets some of the funds, greatly reducing actual market investment, which cannot meet needs. Moreover, if discovered, while the salesperson is fired, the distributor may also lose the manufacturer's trust.
Fifth Fish: Profiting from Forced Stocking Phenomenon: Since manufacturers assess sales staff based on shipment volume, at the end of each month, sales staff have to force distributors to stock up. To do so, they must apply for specific "stocking fees" or promise greater support next month. Advertisement Consequence: Forced stocking causes distributors to have a "big belly" at month-end. Before they can digest it, they are forced to stock again, stretching their "stomach." Over time, distributors inevitably suffer from "gastrointestinal problems." Sales staff, accustomed to shifting their own pressure onto distributors, may become arrogant. If you refuse to stock, they will find another "empty stomach" (new distributor) to push stock onto.
Sixth Fish: Profiting from Delaying Purchases Phenomenon: While forced stocking is passive profit, delaying purchases is an active way for distributors to profit by manipulating purchase timing. For example, a distributor who should purchase at normal sales speed deliberately delays, then complains to the manufacturer about market difficulties and strong competitor promotions, requesting greater promotional expense support. Once the salesperson is eager for the distributor to purchase, they will offer more expense support. Consequence: Manufacturer sales staff are not fools. The time wasted in disputes over "should buy" and "cannot buy" loses market opportunities. Moreover, it prevents both parties from focusing on effective work that drives sustained sales growth, and may even lead to a breakdown in relations.
Seventh Fish: Profiting from Cross-Region Selling Phenomenon: Many distributors, when failing to meet sales targets, sell goods at low prices to markets where others are performing well, to earn basic profits and rebates for completing tasks. Consequence: Cross-region selling inevitably leads to channel conflicts and price transparency. When channel members have no profit guarantee, the distributor can no longer operate the market. Furthermore, manufacturers often strictly penalize cross-region selling, and the distributor may face severe consequences. Even if the manufacturer ignores it, a distributor engaging in malicious cross-region selling will inevitably be "attacked" by surrounding distributors.
Eighth Fish: Profiting from Intimidation Phenomenon: "If you don't give more promotions, I'll stop doing business," or "If you don't lower prices, the market will die." The author once helped a new distributor (previously selling Fujian sanitary napkins) in Jiangsu achieve 800,000 yuan in sales within half a year. The distributor then used this performance to "intimidate" the Fujian company, demanding expense support for two people, a terminal promotion of "5 empty bags for 1 pack of sanitary napkins," and trade promotions. Then, the distributor turned to the author and "intimidated" for similar policy support, threatening that otherwise "your product won't succeed." Consequence: The author first "cold-shouldered" the distributor, ignoring them, and focused on visiting other excellent tissue paper distributors. Then, the author "counter-intimidated": "If you keep doing the Fujian product, I plan to switch distributors. I helped you reach 800,000 in half a year, and I can help another distributor reach 1 million in the same time." Excellent manufacturers and sales staff cannot be intimidated; instead, the distributor will "lift a rock only to drop it on their own feet."
Ninth Fish: Profiting from Adulteration Phenomenon: This mainly occurs in bulk products. For example, in the frozen food industry, bulk sales of tangyuan, dumplings, and zongzi are large. Some legitimate manufacturers also outsource part of their production. Distributors find that selling genuine products is fast but less profitable, so they buy products from small factories and mix them into the cold storage, passing them off as genuine products. They sell at the same price, quickly increasing profits. Consequence: The quality of adulterated products varies, seriously affecting consumer brand loyalty. Once exposed by the media, it can destroy the brand that the distributor and the company have worked hard to build.
Tenth Fish: Profiting from Fraudulent Goods Phenomenon: Distributors exploit loopholes in the manufacturer's payment settlement methods, such as unloading goods without paying, underpaying, or deliberately making small errors in drafts, to defraud payment for goods. Consequence: Strictly speaking, such distributors are on the edge of breaking the law. They may only earn a truckload of goods, but they will not win the market and will inevitably be eliminated by the market.
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