---
title: "The 8 Big Mistakes in Selling Goods"
description: "With over 30 industry experts, 100+ B2B platform founders, and 800+ manufacturer and distributor friends gathering in Fuzhou, the article discusses the common pitfalls in the operations of small and medium-sized baijiu trading companies during the industry's deep adjustment period, offering insights from a frontline marketing perspective."
author: "孙中学"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2016-10-01"
categories: "Brand Marketing, Dealer Operations"
language: "en"
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markdown: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/the-8-big-mistakes-in-selling-goods-19b02f8b.md"
original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/uho6NIw3gOtG-AvORtT1VQ"
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attribution: "New Distribution — https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/the-8-big-mistakes-in-selling-goods-19b02f8b/"
citation: "孙中学. “The 8 Big Mistakes in Selling Goods.” New Distribution, 2016-10-01. https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/the-8-big-mistakes-in-selling-goods-19b02f8b/"
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---

# The 8 Big Mistakes in Selling Goods

> With over 30 industry experts, 100+ B2B platform founders, and 800+ manufacturer and distributor friends gathering in Fuzhou, the article discusses the common pitfalls in the operations of small and medium-sized baijiu trading companies during the industry's deep adjustment period, offering insights from a frontline marketing perspective.

30+ industry experts, 100+ B2B platform founders, and 800+ manufacturer and distributor friends gathered in Fuzhou to jointly explore the path of Internet transformation for the FMCG industry.

The baijiu industry has entered a deep adjustment period. For many small and medium-sized baijiu trading companies in the mid-to-lower reaches of the supply chain, survival is tough, almost like living day by day. As a frontline baijiu marketing professional, I want to discuss some common misunderstandings in the operations of many baijiu trading companies (hereinafter referred to as "companies") based on my actual work experience.

1
******Selling on Credit and Owing******
****▼****
Except for a few well-known brands, it seems that baijiu cannot be sold without credit and debt. Credit and debt accompany many companies throughout their operations, leading to a series of problems. It can be said that large-scale credit and debt is the root of all evil in the marketing and management of trading companies. Credit and debt cause at least four major difficulties for companies:

**1. Huge financial pressure.** No company is not under financial strain. Every payment to the manufacturer is a massive fundraising (or worrying) project, and its difficulty is imaginable. Unless the company one day closes down, the financial pressure will not be relieved.

**2. Poor market control capability.** The goods that the company has struggled to raise funds for are sold on credit to channel partners with IOUs. Channel partners will not sell goods they haven't paid for with full effort; they will first liquidate the goods they bought with their own money. If they encounter difficult channel partners, even if they make sales, they won't return the payment promptly, as they want to use the company's funds for other business operations! Many companies are led by the nose by such channel partners, suffering immensely.

**3. Reduced ability to manage employees.** Because of the habit of credit and debt, internal employees also use credit for personal external sales. Over time, employee debts increase massively. Once an employee's personal debt becomes large, the company loses effective control over them. It is common for employees with debts to leave without notice. Subsequent debt collection is very troublesome.

**4. Increasing bad debts.** Every trading company has some bad debts or dead accounts, but the more credit they extend, the more orders are lost and the more bad debts accumulate.

2
******Promoting in Off-Season, Naturally Selling in Peak Season******
****▼****
Due to the obvious seasonality of baijiu consumption, promotions are generally large in the off-season, while in the peak season, companies sleep and let sales happen naturally.

William Burgers, in his book "Marketing Details," advocates that promotions should be even more aggressive during the peak season. Specifically, when sales are good in the peak season, the main work should be to elevate the marketing level of products, guide and attract high-end consumer clients. As a result, when the off-season arrives, the high-end consumers cultivated during the peak season, even with smaller sales volumes, can compensate for the revenue decline caused by reduced sales. At the same time, promotions during the peak season are more effective and easier.

Unfortunately, in reality, few companies do as Burgers suggests. Most struggle with promotions in the off-season, persisting even without results, essentially just keeping employees busy and wasting time.

3
******Inflated Price Orientation******
****▼****
To outsiders, the profit from baijiu sales seems very high. Indeed, it is normal for many baijiu products to be marked up four to five times from factory price to consumer price. Especially when sales volume is small, high profits are needed to support the company's survival.

Now, in the mobile Internet era, product transparency has further increased. The Internet will make the era of exorbitant profits a thing of the past. Therefore, baijiu trading companies should emancipate their minds and operate the market with more scientific and reasonable prices. Consumers should enjoy true value for money.

4
******Prioritizing Channel Partners Over Consumers******
****▼****
Channel partners and consumers are the two main targets in the baijiu marketing chain. Channel partners are relatively fixed and easier to work with, while consumers are more dispersed, requiring longer time, more manpower, and higher costs for guidance and cultivation. Therefore, companies prefer to work with channel partners, and the rule of "channel is king" further fuels their enthusiasm.

The ultimate goal of alcohol marketing is to get into consumers' stomachs, not just to transfer goods to channel partners' warehouses and be done. Consumers are the true "king" in the marketing chain, and cultivating and serving such a "king" naturally requires time and effort.

If consumers recognize the product, customers will follow the company, and the entire marketing game will be activated, and the root of all evil—credit and debt—will be completely eliminated. Companies should learn to mobilize consumers to demand products from channel partners. Rather than being constrained by channel partners, it is better to invest more effort in consumer relations.

5
******Failing to Cultivate a Single Key Product for Breakthrough******
****▼****
Dacheng Company, which has been the distributor for A-brand baijiu in a county for six years, has almost operated all varieties of A-brand products. The mid-to-high-end varieties have never gained influence. One mid-range variety was carefully operated for four years, just stabilizing a group of consumers, but now the manufacturer has replaced it with another variety as the key promotion. Worse, Dacheng's low-end products change every year, and with each change of manufacturer's sales representative, the product also changes or increases. Over six years, Dacheng has distributed more than 20 varieties of A-brand baijiu, but none has achieved notable sales.

Many companies are like Dacheng. Additionally, trading companies share a common trait: they want their product price range to cover all segments. When facing new products, they love each one they see, and ask for each one they love, while manufacturer's sales reps, to pursue immediate payments, also try their best to satisfy them. In the end, the trading company takes on too much and cannot digest it, failing to make any one variety a key product. This involves both the company's own operational misunderstandings and the manufacturer's personnel failing to provide firm guidance.

6
******Failing to Build a Reliable Sales Team******
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Many trading company bosses complain that their salespeople are incompetent and just collect salaries. I believe the main reason for this phenomenon is that "minimum wage" treatment leads to low-capability personnel.

On January 5, 1914, Ford Motor Company suddenly set the minimum daily income for employees at $5. What did "$5 a day" mean? It was almost double the average income of American auto workers at the time, and far higher than salaries in almost all other industries. This "$5" immediately attracted the best auto workers in the United States. Ford's management problems of high turnover and high absenteeism were solved overnight.

At that time, those who already had a Ford job wanted to keep it, and more people wanted to get in. Within days of the new policy being announced, tens of thousands of people braved the cold to apply from all over. Ford's salary adjustment move was later hailed as the most amazing "masterstroke" in business history.

Companies only demand execution from employees, rarely discussing treatment; they only ask for work, rarely mentioning income. If doing this could motivate employees, then only cult organizations could do it. After Ford's "$5 a day," a Hungarian worker quickly doubled his personal output.

When the supervisor asked him how he achieved such progress, he replied: "Mr. Ford gave me $2.50, and he got 250 parts. Now he gives me $5, and he gets 500 parts. I repay him." Even while answering the supervisor's question, his eyes never left his work—he was continuously producing parts.

So "minimum wage" treatment can only cultivate mediocre, lazy, or arrogant people. If management is loose, employees won't work; if strict, they work against it; if even stricter, they quit. Shi Yuzhu once said that companies with low wages have the highest management costs. Some say money is the smartest thing in the world, so "$5 a day" screened out the best and most hardworking workers for Ford.

7
******Lacking a Correct View of Profit******
****▼****
Baijiu manufacturers usually reserve promotional expenses in advance. Then they allocate these expenses to companies item by item, with the rationale being market investment. However, many companies are reluctant to fully invest the received expenses into the market, and some even directly sell the tasting products. Trading companies easily gain short-term benefits, thus becoming even less willing to work on the market, instead focusing their energy on bargaining with manufacturers.

When expenses come, they are reluctant to invest—insufficient investment leads to weak market performance—no sales, poor company performance, poor employee income—employees without income are even less willing to work... Thus, the company's operations fall into a vicious cycle, and in the end, they only blame fate and others, never looking at their own problems.

8
******Arbitrary Marketing Operations******
****▼****
Many small and medium-sized trading companies are run by the boss personally, and work follows intuition. Therefore, subjective factors are inevitably prominent in marketing operations. Many specific marketing practices lack a global view and long-term decision-making. Specific manifestations include chaotic pricing, no market area division, no channel division, and unclear job responsibilities. Although this approach is flexible and has some short-term effects, it brings significant hidden dangers and harm to the company's long-term development.

**Text by Sun Zhongxue, reposted from Micro Wine**

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08:00-09:00 Registration
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09:05-09:35 2016 China FMCG Industry Trend Analysis Report——Zhao Bo
09:35-10:05 FMCG Enterprise Transformation Strategy and Path——Liu Chunxiong
10:05-10:35 Opportunities and Challenges Brought by FMCG Channel Transformation——Liu Zhao, CEO of Waiqin365
10:35-11:05 Reconstructing Distribution Channel System, Promoting Urban Retail Upgrade——Tian Yuan, General Manager of Alibaba Retail Link's Backend
11:05-11:25 Channel Efficiency in the Internet Era——Fu Xiaoyun, Vice President of Benlai Holding
11:25-12:00 Roundtable Forum——Brand Transformation: Improvement vs. Reconstruction?
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12:00-13:30 Lunch
13:30-13:50 Distributor Transformation: City Distribution Trend Development——Wang Qi, CEO of Weijie City Distribution
13:50-14:20 Roundtable Forum——Why Distributors Should Do Logistics in Transformation
Guests: Zhao Bo, Wang Qi, Liu Zhongmin, Tang Guangliang, Wang Cheng, Sheng Yan
14:20-14:40 How FMCG Enterprises Leverage the Internet to Take Off——Wang Hui, E-commerce Operations Director of Xijiu
14:40-15:00 Detailed Explanation of Zhongshang Huimin's "One Machine, Two Wings" Strategy——Su Xiaoxin, Vice President of Zhongshang Huimin
15:00-15:20 Category Value and B2B E-commerce Development Strategy——Wang Chaocheng, CEO of Yijiu Pi
15:20-15:40 Supply Chain Finance as a Lubricant for B2B to Drive Traditional Business——Chen Xian, CEO of 51 Order
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## Citation metadata

- Publisher: New Distribution
- Author: 孙中学
- Published: 2016-10-01
- Canonical: https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/the-8-big-mistakes-in-selling-goods-19b02f8b/
- Original source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/uho6NIw3gOtG-AvORtT1VQ

## Copyright and AI use

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