Marketing has three transformations: Terminal mediaization, sales communication, and PR implementation. These are the three basic principles for FMCG marketing personnel to operate terminal retail stores and build vivid point-of-sale displays. In increasingly fierce market competition, achieving these requires good customer relations and sufficient market expenses, but almost all sales personnel feel funds are insufficient, no matter how they save. Fan Xianguo, chairman of Jinmailang, once joked: "If I give 2 jin of beef with every pack of braised beef noodles, what do we need marketing personnel for?" Indeed, the value of a marketing person is to maximize sales with the least market resources, which is the mission and meaning of a marketer. Generally, manufacturers and distributors share commonalities in the use of market expenses:

  1. Those with spending authority do not directly spend money. Market expenses are controlled by senior management (marketing department). They allocate funds based on historical data analysis and the company's marketing strategy, dividing by product structure, market regions, key projects, etc., and then design a series of detailed rules and regulations. Subordinates then apply, use, and verify expenses step by step, with the process being top-down.
  2. Those who supervise spending are inflexible. After market expenses are used, leaders at all levels check compliance, and headquarters deploys market audit departments to verify according to regulations (more like inspection formulas), ensuring proper use of funds.
  3. Those who actually need to spend have no authority and are exhausted by applications. Under this mechanism, frontline sales staff become execution tools with no flexibility, losing a sense of ownership, leading to serious waste (key terminals lack sufficient display funds and give up; non-key terminals overspend, with input-output not proportional). Summary: In a war: the commander (resource holder) thinks about establishing a base, the colonel (strategy executor) thinks about capturing cities step by step to achieve the commander's goal, and the soldier (ultimate resource user) thinks about eliminating enemy effective strength to achieve the colonel's goal. In business warfare, market expenses are like bullets. Imagine a soldier needing to use bullets to shoot enemies—does he need to ask the commander? The reason to use bullets is not regulations but whether there are enemies ahead. So the problem arises: in market operations, the commander thinks about the colonel's job, the colonel thinks about the soldier's job, leaving the soldier with nothing to think about. Most market expenses are spent on vivid displays in terminal stores. This article focuses on how to use display expenses to build vivid point-of-sale displays. Most companies follow the "market formula" set by the marketing department for terminal display stores, but common problems during execution include: 1. For small store owners, display fees are the same regardless of sales volume. 2. As long as display standards are met, the amount of display doesn't matter. 3. Display fees are the same for important traffic locations and remote locations. 4. Display fees are the same next to the cash register and in obscure corners. 5. Display maintenance is the salesperson's job; if competitors move displays, they ignore it. 6. Monthly display fees are fixed, lacking motivation. 7. Inability to develop fortress customers and obtain competitor display information. 8. Salespeople emphasize quantity over quality. 9. Terminal stores emphasize form over sales. How to effectively solve the above problems? The core is only 3 points: 1. Fully empower frontline salespeople. 2. Stimulate small store owners' enthusiasm—more work, more reward; more display, more gain. 3. Third-party verification—verification over trust. The ultimate purpose of our displays is to make them serve multiple missions: media, communication, and sales. Below is a display method used by a leading brand to communicate with terminal store owners (Heaven-sent Wealth), for reference: Specific display steps: 1. Selection of target stores for display: fully empower sales representatives.
  4. Authorize sales reps to execute, giving them a budget or reward amount; 2. Based on the 80/20 principle, select the top 20% of stores with the best sales from last year or historical data as candidates; 3. Alternatively, choose stores where competitors are strong and our products have been at a disadvantage but sales are high, to completely defeat competitors. 2. Inform terminal store owners: turn passivity into initiative, more work, more reward. Before the activity, proactively inform selected store owners. The script can be: The company has a display activity: stack X boxes and win one box; for X boxes or more, win X bottles per box; redeem monthly. The more you stack, the more rewards. Participation is voluntary; we only select the best stores, no forced participation. 3. Calculate the details: visible benefits. Sales reps calculate visible positions in the store, especially at the entrance, cash register, high-traffic areas, and stackable heights, and tell the owner. Script: You can stack about 20 boxes here. According to company policy, you can win X boxes in X month, totaling over X boxes a month. Very cost-effective and generous! 4. Display and stock: combine display with sales, ensure sufficient stock at the store. 1. Encourage the owner to sign and order immediately. 2. Clear space for stacking, leaving it empty for the display. 5. Immediate delivery: seize prime positions. Require the distributor to deliver immediately, within 24 hours, and place the products in the cleared space. Do not deliver to the warehouse; leave no space for competitors. 6. Immediate inspection and reward: demonstrate company integrity. 1. The supervisor counts in-store inventory; warehouse stock doesn't count. If less than a full box, count as a full box for the reward. If the supervisor arrives in the afternoon, add the bottles sold in the morning to the count. Remind the owner to replenish promptly to avoid insufficient stacking. This makes the owner grateful to the company and sales rep, deepening the relationship! 2. Issue a reward redemption form to the owner. The supervisor must inspect on time and issue the reward receipt. 7. Timely redemption: say what you do, do what you say.
  5. The sooner the supervisor inspects and rewards, the better. Owners are happy to receive rewards, and immediate redemption makes them even happier. 2. Also suggest ordering some of the company's best-selling beverages. No quantity requirement; as long as they sell, don't force stock. Owners will surely accept. Notes:
  6. Design activity plans based on prefecture-level city market competition. Such plans are not one-size-fits-all because each city has different conditions and competitors. In principle, one city uses the same reward intensity.
  7. Plan long-term, considering input-output efficiency.
  8. Keep the activity confidential before launch; surprise attack. Announce activities one phase at a time, absolutely confidential before start. Don't let competitors prepare.
  9. The activity plan should be fixed, not changeable. Design precisely before start, e.g., activity cycle, reward intensity, inspection cycle, redemption process. Once set and started, don't change easily to ensure policy continuity. Establish company credibility—keep promises and honor commitments. During design, survey sample stores first.
  10. Expand activity scale gradually; don't rush. Start with a small scope, increasing the number of stores gradually.
  11. Redemption must be timely and proactive. During proactive redemption, there's an opportunity to encourage owners to try new SKUs that sell well. Expand results to other products, increasing the company's product presence in stores and strengthening company strength.
  12. Allocate activity expenses to sales reps for management. Trust sales reps fully. Allocate planned expenses per rep, with supervisors checking and redeeming.
  13. Sales unit heads should control input-output ratio. Control expense rate: Expense rate = Reward amount ÷ Total sales amount.

In summary: Market expenses have always been a challenge for all marketers. Under the dual demands of profit and sales, using resources reasonably is a test of a market worker's basic skills. Any method that stimulates terminal store owners' display desire and increases sales reps' sense of ownership will make terminal displays at least 80% successful. Finally, pay attention to process management and details, and you will gather strength at the terminal, strengthen brand visibility, improve resource efficiency, and achieve sales targets.