---
title: "Training | How Can Brand Personnel Communicate Efficiently with Distributors?"
description: "Most discord between manufacturers and distributors stems from communication, especially at month-end when brand salespeople face performance pressure and distributors face cash flow and inventory pressure, leading to frequent arguments and fallouts. This article explores the underlying logic of efficient manufacturer-distributor communication, including the four factors of fact, viewpoint, stance, and belief, and emphasizes the need for brand personnel to elevate their thinking dimensions from linear to multi-dimensional to better serve distributors of varying scales."
author: "高级研究员 海游"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2022-05-30"
language: "en"
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markdown: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/training-how-can-brand-personnel-communicate-efficiently-with-distributo-15bf0a18.md"
original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/c2bsw_GbL1tS6oxK6LAd2g"
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---

# Training | How Can Brand Personnel Communicate Efficiently with Distributors?

> Most discord between manufacturers and distributors stems from communication, especially at month-end when brand salespeople face performance pressure and distributors face cash flow and inventory pressure, leading to frequent arguments and fallouts. This article explores the underlying logic of efficient manufacturer-distributor communication, including the four factors of fact, viewpoint, stance, and belief, and emphasizes the need for brand personnel to elevate their thinking dimensions from linear to multi-dimensional to better serve distributors of varying scales.

Most discord between manufacturers and distributors stems from communication, especially at month-end when most brand salespeople face performance pressure and distributors face cash flow and inventory pressure, making verbal battles inevitable, and it's common for meetings to end in discord or even a complete split.
There are also many problems in daily communication between manufacturers and distributors. For example, when a brand promotes a new product, communication issues over costs can hinder market advancement and miss opportunities. Today, setting aside marketing strategy, let's further explore communication.
**The Underlying Logic of Efficient Manufacturer-Distributor Communication**
Let's recreate a daily communication case between brand personnel and distributors:
**Brand Manager**
Mr. Zhang, it's almost month-end, and inventory is low. It's time to make payment and ship goods to hit the target.
**Distributor Owner**
Manager Li, you say what's missing in the warehouse? The inventory is already large. Let's wait a few days.
**Brand Manager**
We have to complete the task; otherwise, expenses can't be booked, and you can't participate in promotional activities.
**Distributor Owner**
Forget the expenses. If the goods come back and we have to deal with near-expiry items, the cost is much higher than the expenses. It's a huge loss.
**Brand Manager**
Last month you didn't meet the target, and you promised to meet it this month. You can't make empty promises again.
**Distributor Owner**
It's not that I want to make empty promises... Well, I'll make payment and ship a truck tomorrow afternoon.
**Brand Manager**
Tomorrow morning. If you drink too much at noon, you'll disappear again.
**Distributor Owner**
For so many years, we only receive money in the morning, not pay out, otherwise it affects business fortune. It has to be afternoon.
**Brand Manager**
Don't be so superstitious. The company may not be able to transfer funds in the afternoon. Even if they do, there's little time for order submission. At month-end, everyone is rushing to ship goods to meet targets. You can't let us down.
...
After a heated argument, they part on bad terms, with the manager saying, "Take it or leave it. Tomorrow I'll split your market."
The above case is familiar to most brand managers. Let's think about why this happens and analyze it step by step.
**The Underlying Logic of Efficient Manufacturer-Distributor Communication = Fact × Viewpoint × Stance × Belief**
**1. Manufacturer-Distributor Communication Should Start from the Fact Level**
What is a fact? Is it a fact that the warehouse doesn't have much stock? Of course not. It's just your opinion that it's low. The fact is that the warehouse has 1,520 units, including 500 units of Flavor A, 100 units of Flavor B, 300 units of Flavor C, and 620 units of Flavor D.
The fact is that Flavor C sells an average of 50 units per day, and it's only enough for 2 days. **So brand personnel who communicate with distributors about market operations, payments, shipments, and resource allocation without verifying facts are essentially being unreasonable.**
**The foundation of efficient manufacturer-distributor communication is: clarify the facts, and debate the facts, not your opinions.**
**2. Manufacturer-Distributor Communication Should Respect Each Other's Viewpoints**
Viewpoints are meant to be respected, not argued over. This is especially important for frontline personnel of leading brands. Don't use brand power or product strength to coerce distributors; that's not what the company wants to see.
In the above case, the brand manager thinks stock is low, while the distributor owner thinks it's high. These are each other's viewpoints and should be respected. Why do I think it's high? Why do you think it's low?
**If you only argue over viewpoints, it's neither valuable nor productive.** It becomes a contest of who is more aggressive and louder, which is a bully's approach. As a joke goes: "If shouting could solve problems, donkeys would rule the world." **Control your emotions and speak gently.**
**Viewpoints are triggered by facts. Everyone has the right to express their viewpoint. Respect each other's viewpoints and seek the essence of facts.**
**3. Manufacturer-Distributor Communication Should Practice Empathy and Understand Stances**
What is empathy? Empathy is understanding each other's stances and uncovering what lies behind viewpoints.
In the above case, when the distributor owner says stock is high, his stance might be insufficient funds, fear of losses, or lack of confidence. When the brand manager says stock is low, his stance might be that unmet targets affect income, potential factory stockouts, or pandemic impacts.
Different stances lead to different viewpoints. **The essence of business is value exchange among stakeholders. Only by fully understanding each other's stances, finding commonalities and differences, and seeking common ground while reserving differences can goals be achieved.**
**Stance determines viewpoint. Empathy is the ultimate skill for efficient communication.**
**4. Manufacturer-Distributor Communication Should Not Violate Each Other's Beliefs**
**Never judge the right or wrong of others' beliefs.** Some are theists, some atheists, some believe in Jesus, some in Buddha. There's no right or wrong. Don't argue. In the face of beliefs, there's no reasoning. This is also the biggest killer of efficient communication.
In the above case, it's clear that in the distributor's belief, making payments in the morning is like leaking wealth. Some may consider themselves superstitious, but it's impossible to argue right or wrong, otherwise it will explode. The best approach is to agree on a specific time after 12 o'clock for payment.
Summary: After sorting out the four factors of the underlying logic of efficient communication—fact, viewpoint, stance, and belief—we can think about a question: In manufacturer-distributor communication, which habitual dialogues have essentially violated the underlying logic of efficient communication? Long-winded discussions for hours end without results.
**Brand Personnel Should Elevate Their Thinking Dimensions**
I recall a time when I was discussing the upgrade of channel coverage in a weak market with a senior executive of a brand company. He suddenly threw out a question: "Teacher Zhang, based on your research, for us at this stage, is it better to have more outlets or higher-quality outlets?" I was momentarily speechless.
This is typical linear thinking. In his concept, one end of the line is more outlets, the other end is higher-quality outlets, compressing two-dimensional thinking space into one dimension. If I were the owner of a large trading company at that moment, I would find the communication process extremely painful.
My view is that brand management personnel should at least master four dimensions of thinking—point, line, plane, and volume—to meet the communication needs of distributors of various sizes.
**1. Point Thinking Mode**
What is point thinking? Since it's a point, it must be stationary (if it moves, it becomes a line). You see what you see; one is one, two is two, without arbitrary expansion.
Many skilled and practical talents often belong to this type. They focus their energy on a specific field and excel at making it refined and thorough.
People at the execution level especially need this thinking. They execute orders without asking why, just complete the instructions. In an organization or company, a large number of such people are needed as a foundation.
Distributors with this thinking mode are mostly start-up clients with annual business scale of around several million. Efficient communication is directive: issue orders, achieve goals, and ensure benefits.
**2. Linear Thinking Mode**
The famous philosopher and thinker Russell told a story about a turkey: In a turkey farm, a turkey noticed that the owner fed them at 9 a.m. every day. After observing for a while, it concluded, "The owner always feeds us at 9 a.m." and excitedly told other turkeys. Until the day before Thanksgiving at 9 a.m., it didn't get food but a knife to slaughter it.
Relying on past experience to simply infer the future is typical linear thinking. Observing and thinking in this straight, one-way, one-dimensional way leads to superficial, one-sided, and simplistic understanding of things. If decisions are made based on this, it's likely to go in the wrong direction.
Like my example above, one-dimensional thinking is linear thinking. At this level, distributors often think and act straightforwardly, going to extremes. They either do this or that. Without a global view, they may be very strong in certain channels or outlets and completely abandon others.
At this point, the core of efficient communication is: first take the distributor to excellent markets to see and feel that in this chaotic and complex market environment, linear relationships are exceptions, and nonlinear relationships are the norm. Feel the reasons, the essence of problems, and the key to solutions from different angles and dimensions. Look at both the present and the long term; both static and dynamic; both partial and global.
Distributors with this thinking mode are mostly those who have been in business for three to five years, with annual business scale of ten to twenty million. If this step of broadening horizons is not taken first, later cooperation communication will be full of endless pain.
**3. Plane Thinking Mode**
Back to the above case, the number of outlets and the quality of outlets are clearly not on the same dimension, so it derives into two dimensions and four quadrants:
**a. High quality, high quantity**
**b. High quality, low quantity**
**c. Low quality, low quantity**
**d. Low quality, high quantity**
This is typical plane thinking: dividing the market into several major segments and formulating solutions based on the specific situation of each segment.
"Plane thinking" is more rational and objective than emotional "linear thinking." "Linear thinking" is like fishing with a single line sinking into the imaginary water, making articles in a narrow range. "Plane thinking" is like casting a net, spreading the surface widely, expanding the space for imagination and thinking energy.
**The characteristic of plane thinking is having a global view in mind, not only thinking forward and backward but also looking at problems left and right. The essence of a business model is the transaction structure of stakeholders.** This type of distributor basically has their own business model, has been in business for many years, with business scale of tens of millions. Efficient communication is resource guidance, brand strategy guidance, clear direction, and knowing when to advance or retreat.
**4. Three-Dimensional Thinking Mode**
Three-dimensional thinking adds one more dimension to plane thinking. This dimension is often a comprehensive ability, requiring a systematic capability to grasp a thing in all directions and dimensions, analyzing its structure from every angle.
In mathematics, we use the x-axis, y-axis, and z-axis to represent space. Looking at the above case again, the x-axis represents the number of outlets, the y-axis represents the quality of outlets, and adding a z-axis to represent outlet coverage rate, we derive three dimensions and eight quadrants:
**a. High coverage & high quality, high quantity**
**b. High coverage & high quality, low quantity**
**c. High coverage & low quality, low quantity**
**d. High coverage & low quality, high quantity**
**e. Low coverage & high quality, high quantity**
**f. Low coverage & high quality, low quantity**
**g. Low coverage & low quality, low quantity**
**h. Low coverage & low quality, high quantity**
Then think about how much more precise market segmentation becomes. Each segment's market strategy is more like "private customization," and operational efficiency and competitiveness will inevitably be greatly enhanced.
**Distributors with three-dimensional thinking are more likely to have innovation capabilities. Their way of thinking includes not only front, back, left, and right, but also up and down. They can view problems from a higher dimension. They play an increasingly important role in future business development.** Such distributors are generally large trading companies with business scale exceeding 100 million. At this point, efficient manufacturer-distributor communication is more about resource alignment and strategic matching.
Summary: Why should brand personnel improve their thinking dimensions? The reason is simple: brand and distributors have a one-to-many relationship. The distributors that brand personnel deal with are diverse, with varying levels of thinking. If they don't elevate their own thinking modes, communication will become increasingly difficult. Serving clients with higher thinking levels will be impossible, leading to increased conflicts and even broken cooperation.


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