快销品经销商专业咨询管理:kxpjxszyzxgl ------------------------ During consulting projects, I've found that many distributors often complain that their salespeople's daily sales volume is just a few thousand yuan—not much, not little, not good, not bad. They chase performance every day, yet see little growth in salespeople's results, while salespeople complain about low wages. In fact, distributors can identify the source of the problem by focusing on the "three rates" in management: vehicle dispatch rate, visit rate, and closing rate.

Vehicle Dispatch Rate: The vehicle dispatch rate is the most critical indicator for revenue. The fixed cost of vehicles exists regardless; if one vehicle is not dispatched for a day, you lose that vehicle's revenue for that day. So, salespeople may not come in, but vehicles cannot stop—because once a vehicle stops for the day, sales are lost, terminal service lags, and vehicle insurance and depreciation costs still apply. Therefore, ensuring the dispatch rate is the fundamental prerequisite for revenue.

The question is: how can you ensure the dispatch rate? You can't just deny them leave or rest, right? Of course, that would be inhumane. This issue must be addressed through management measures:

  1. Set up a full attendance bonus.
  2. Increase deduction penalties for leave exceeding a specified number of days in a month.
  3. Adjust the personnel structure: group 2-3 vehicles into a small team, with each salesperson having their own vehicle. Additionally, set up a team leader responsible for the team's regional revenue targets, product expansion, outlet development, and backup for attendance.

Through these assessment indicators, you can basically ensure a good attendance and dispatch rate.

Visit Rate: Wei Qing once gave a classic explanation of the visit rate: "The mother of the closing rate is the visit rate." If you only ensure the dispatch rate but not the visit rate, salespeople will only visit old stores, not develop new ones; only sell easy-to-sell products, not high-margin new items; visit one or two big accounts a day, feeling they've sold enough for the day, afraid that selling more today means less tomorrow. Then, nothing more happens. I believe many distributors encounter this situation often.

The root cause of this problem is not the salespeople but the boss himself—failing to track the sales process and lacking proper assessment indicators. Salespeople go out in the morning, and no one knows what they do all day. In the evening, they settle accounts with the "boss lady," and the boss only knows how much was sold, not how it was sold.

This issue troubles many distributors, and they've tried various methods to monitor salespeople's whereabouts: GPS tracking, mobile photos, XX platform POS software, WeChat group supervision, electronic activators... These methods may have some effect on tracking, but they still don't fundamentally solve the problem of proactive visits. To fundamentally solve visit rates, there are several approaches in the industry worth borrowing:

  1. Route management: Assign salespeople to fixed people, fixed posts, and fixed routes, requiring them to strictly follow the route visit cycle and order from Monday to Sunday. There are many methods for route management; distributors can refer to online articles or seek advice from experienced factory managers.
  2. Incentive and assessment: While setting routes, require salespeople to strictly follow the route and order, and establish reward and penalty indicators. The day's route must be strictly visited; meeting the target earns rewards, failing incurs penalties.
  3. Inspection: There should be dedicated market audit personnel to check the routes visited by salespeople. As the "boss," you should also personally go to the market to inspect and follow up when you have time. Many bosses think their business is big, social engagements are many, and they're too embarrassed or lack time and energy to go to the market, trusting their employees, so they sit in the boss's chair and command remotely. But they don't realize that power without supervision is the breeding ground for corruption and under-the-table deals. If distributors go to the market regularly for a few days a month, I believe the results will be better than not going.

Closing Rate: Closing is like a player's final shot at the goal. Without closing, all previous efforts equal zero. So closing is a key indicator of whether a salesperson is qualified. The closing rate has two meanings:

  1. The closing between the salesperson and the customer.
  2. The closing between the product and the consumer in the store. These two points are the focus of the entire sales process. From a professional perspective, the core of sales is not "selling out" but "buying away," but these two points are sequential. First, let's talk about the closing between the salesperson and the customer: To improve the closing rate, first manage the visit rate. Once the visit rate is managed, also check whether the salesperson is "well-fed and watered" before "attacking the hill":
  • Understanding of promotional policies for the current campaign;
  • Proficiency in negotiation scripts and techniques;
  • Understanding of terminal customers on the route;
  • Understanding of the day's closing assessment targets;
  • Understanding of commission and penalty policies for key items and high-margin products. After the salesperson successfully gets the product into the store, the sale is only half done. To make consumers choose our product, we need to consider whether the salesperson has achieved the six elements of product movement:
  • SKU: The more complete the product range, the greater the sales opportunity.
  • Position: Location determines sales. When brand value and influence are similar, the first position in FMCG products sells three times more than the second position!
  • Shelf space: If you can squeeze competitors off the shelf, you can squeeze them out of the market! In self-service shopping venues, sales are almost proportional to shelf space.
  • Price: Without a price tag, sales drop by half.
  • Inventory: Small inventory means low sales.
  • Promotion: Promotion, promotion—without promotion, no sales. If salespeople achieve all three rates, it's hard for your revenue not to increase.

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