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Managing an FMCG sales team is a very complex matter because employees come from diverse backgrounds, with different education levels and life pursuits. Most employees are far from headquarters for long periods, even fighting alone in their assigned areas, and they often bear the burden of various quantitative indicators. An unavoidable reality is that the sales department has the highest turnover rate in any company.
1) Prioritize tasks over people, clarify responsibilities, and ensure every task has an owner. Managing people is the hardest part, especially for sales personnel with certain experience. The purpose of sales team management is to accomplish tasks and achieve company goals. That is, by managing tasks well and enabling sales personnel to meet company expectations, the goal of sales team management is achieved. Therefore, all goals, including sales targets, must be broken down to responsible individuals, with each person accountable for their own goals. Achieve people management through task-oriented sales team management.
2) Be result-oriented and quantify sales team management. Sales targets are broken down monthly to the store level as the basic unit, and sales personnel at all levels are responsible for their own targets. The promoter is responsible for the stores they promote; the sales representative is responsible for their managed area; the city manager is responsible for the entire city; the provincial manager for the whole province; the regional manager for the entire region's sales volume; and the sales director for the whole country. The premise is that the formulation and breakdown of sales targets are scientific and executable. You can set higher targets to fully tap the potential of the sales force, conduct ranking assessments based on target completion rates, punish the bottom, encourage the middle, and reward the top. Just like student exams, if the test is difficult, it is the same for every student, and rankings can still be determined by scores. Another approach is to set lower targets, where most people exceed them, boosting morale, and still rank by completion rate. In short, regardless of the difficulty of the exam, the winners are those ranked at the top. You must have exams; otherwise, you won't know who is good or bad. All sales personnel participate in digital target assessments. Sales team management is result-oriented, with each person responsible for their own sales targets.
3) Year-on-year sales growth rate ranking is a fair and simple reflection of sales team performance. The biggest taboo in personnel sales team management is unfairness. If sales targets are set unfairly, it inherently causes instability in the sales team. For example, if two promoters have different store bases but the same target tasks, it can lead to the resignation of the promoter at the weaker store. Year-on-year sales growth rate means everyone compares with their own past, comparing the speed of progress; if you fall behind, you get beaten. If the overall average growth is 300%, why is your region only 30%? For such markets, you need to analyze the reasons and prescribe the right remedy.
4) For markets that need special rectification, separate target assessments can be established. Markets that often require major adjustments, when participating in a one-size-fits-all assessment, face additional difficulties, which is not conducive to market cultivation and adjustment, and can only lead to further deterioration and frequent turnover of the sales team. Such markets can be separately reported to the company for approval and independent assessment.
5) Based on store-level sales team management, all sales team management assessments should be anchored at the terminal stores. Once terminal store issues are resolved, sales form a virtuous cycle. The breakdown points for increasing terminal store sales include: single-product distribution barcode execution, retail price sales team management, display execution, promoter sales team management, out-of-stock situations, gift sales team management, special displays, and promotional activity execution. Each sales team management item should be detailed, with "mystery shopper" checks, feedback to headquarters, then distribution to local areas for rectification, then re-check, re-feedback, and re-rectification, in a continuous loop. The company's audit department can set up a terminal store audit team. "Mystery shoppers" can be local college students, with a cost of about 10 yuan per store, checking as customers, and they can check all items. This mystery shopper setup can effectively prevent local managers from falsifying information, strengthen control over terminal stores, and also supervise distributors.
6) For promoter management, a cost-to-sales ratio can be set to assess local sales personnel at all levels. In the FMCG industry, the number of promoters is large, wage costs are high, and monthly promoter management fees are substantial. If sales team management is out of control, the company suffers significant losses. For example, we set an 8% cost ratio, with promoter wages within 8% of sales, as a hard indicator to assess local managers. This effectively prevents the indiscriminate hiring of promoters and false reporting. Additionally, using "mystery shoppers" to check whether stores have false promoter reports is very effective; a few spot checks can have a strong deterrent effect.
7) Establish a promoter training and certification system to build a professional, efficient, and stable terminal force. Focus on improving promoters' sales skills. Headquarters should strengthen the development of sales scripts and efficiently transmit them to frontline promoters, striving for point-specific, colloquial, foolproof, and practical content. Arrange "mystery shoppers" to check the execution of sales scripts as customers. Implement a three-level certification system (junior, intermediate, senior) for promoters, giving them room for advancement and providing both material and spiritual rewards.
8) Arrange national thematic terminal marketing activities every month. The benefit of thematic marketing activities is that the whole country acts as one, creating mutual momentum and enhancing terminal energy. It also allows comparison of execution effects across regions for national benchmarking. Thematic marketing activities can maintain consumer attention to the brand and avoid fatigue from long-term special pricing and stacking. Implement a minimum price system for special offers, diversify activity formats, and strictly prohibit continuous special offers on the same single product. Through the execution and management of thematic activities, especially effect evaluation, the sales team can be effectively managed.
9) The enthusiasm and morale of the sales force are basic conditions for an efficient team. Building a high-morale team is a systematic project. First, recruit employees with optimism, a spirit of challenge, and a proactive attitude. Second, set up models and examples to stimulate the potential of the sales team; if others can do it, you can too. Third, choose good team leaders; if leaders are listless, don't expect subordinates to be energetic. Fourth, provide training and cultivate a winning culture. Fifth, implement incentives and penalties, praising the advanced and urging the backward, to improve overall performance. Team management and cost control are the main contents of project sales team management; only by strengthening management can the purpose of project operation be achieved.