Distributors are very pragmatic and straightforward. When faced with various experts, they don't like experts who beat around the bush, mystify things, or use a bunch of English words, axes, or calculation formulas. The questions distributors ask are often the most realistic and urgent. At various distributor forums I've attended, the most common question is: "Don't give me a bunch of theories; just tell me, what should I do if the manufacturer doesn't provide support?"
I believe many distributor friends have encountered this problem. Here, I will briefly analyze this issue and propose some countermeasures. First, clarify whether the manufacturer has never provided market support, or whether they initially promised support but later reneged. If it's the latter, then what kind of market is it for the manufacturer? Is it a key development market, a general market, a semi-developed market, or a market where they do a little if possible?
Manufacturers generally don't provide support to distributors, or only provide online advertising without offline expenses, for the following reasons:
The distributor's region has not yet formed consumption habits. For example, a distributor in Northeast China takes on the distribution of a yellow wine product from a Zhejiang winery. Since yellow wine habits haven't formed in the Northeast, if the manufacturer invests market support, it won't quickly cultivate consumer habits in the short term. Considering costs and benefits, the manufacturer naturally won't invest market support.
The distributor approached the manufacturer proactively. Generally, when distributors approach manufacturers on their own, it's mostly because they see value in the manufacturer's products. As a manufacturer, since the distributor came to you, you only provide the product; it's not like the factory begged the distributor, so market support is out of the question.
Some manufacturers, to simplify the accounting of market investment, directly fold the relevant market investment costs into the price, and don't play the high-profile tactics (so-called high-profile tactics mean deliberately raising the product price, then extracting some fees from the inflated price for market investment).
Regardless of what the manufacturer thinks or what reasons they give for not providing market support, it's hard for distributors to accept. As a result, many distributors complain to the manufacturer's boss, or try to drag the manufacturer's middle and lower-level staff into the mud, attempting to bind interests, or they stubbornly hold onto goods and don't move, waiting for the manufacturer to provide market support. In fact, these methods are outdated; manufacturers have seen them all and have many countermeasures, so their actual effect is diminishing.
Market expenses are low, or even non-existent, but the market still needs to be developed. Below are several low-cost product promotion methods for reference when promoting products without expenses:
- Ride the coattails of existing high-end products High-end products have ample market expenses and generally richer software and hardware resources. Some of these resources can be shared with no-expense products, thereby reducing the operating costs of the no-expense products. For example, include the entry fee for the no-expense product in the high-end product's expense budget and report it to the manufacturer; strive to share transportation tools with high-end products (high-end products usually have smaller delivery quantities per order); maximize the use of the customer relationship foundation created by high-end products; and in the early stages of market entry, try to use some of the high-end product's giveaways.
In short, as long as there's an opportunity, the no-expense product should try to utilize all kinds of resources from high-end products. Similarly, the channel resources of existing mature products can also be borrowed. Note that distributors need to communicate in advance with the manufacturer's sales staff for high-end products, stating that the introduced no-expense product is not on the same level as the high-end product, and that sales of the no-expense product won't significantly impact the high-end product. This prevents alerting the high-end product's sales staff, who might then strictly control resource sharing.
- Mobilize the masses Three cobblers with their wits combined equal Zhuge Liang. When encountering new problems, it's necessary to mobilize the masses. The distributor boss can list all potential issues with the no-expense product and launch a reward-based solution solicitation among all sales staff. With dozens of minds thinking together, the effect is naturally better than the boss racking his brains alone.
Additionally, the distributor's sales staff may not be familiar with the operating model for no-expense products. If they habitually follow the model for products with support, many problems may arise: either they're used to being lavish, leading to high operating costs, or they feel constrained and unable to act freely, making it hard to ensure effective operation of the no-expense product or leading to high operating costs.
It's recommended that distributors bring in new people or assign dedicated staff to form a new team, design a new model, and specifically handle the no-expense product. This avoids the cost increase from having staff who are only used to operating products with support handle no-expense products. One team can hardly run two sales models in parallel, making it difficult to guarantee profitability.
Ultimately, for distributors, it's naturally best to get expense support from the manufacturer. No one likes to meticulously calculate every penny for no-expense product promotion. The best solution is still to find a way to get money out of the manufacturer; that's the fundamental cure. So, how to ask?
Market support must be actively requested, and it must be requested with skill. Let's think: who holds the manufacturer's support investment? Of course, it's the manufacturer's boss. Winning over the manufacturer's boss is the key to gaining support. The distributor's boss is a boss, and the manufacturer's boss is also a boss. Boss-to-boss, you need more sophisticated tactics. So, how can you move the manufacturer's boss?
Any boss is moved by two things: first, direct, greater benefits; second, solving the problems the boss currently faces. In reality, the benefits a distributor brings to a manufacturer are limited, and the distributor's benefits often materialize after a sales season. Before the sales season, even if the distributor guarantees selling a certain amount this year, the manufacturer's boss may smile brightly but know in his heart that these are just birds in the sky.
At the same time, we see more depressed bosses than happy ones, indicating that most bosses are dealing with various problems. Helping the manufacturer's boss solve problems to gain special support is something many distributors haven't thought of.
The manufacturer's boss has many problems. The most common is that distributors who don't get market support always fail to do sales well and always ask for support. If a distributor helps the manufacturer's boss solve this problem, at least that distributor's own market support will be specially allocated.
For the distributor community, it's inappropriate for manufacturers not to provide market support. How to solve the support issue? If among the existing distributor group, some distributor, without manufacturer support, achieves good returns solely through the product itself and certain market operations, then other distributors insisting that they can't do it without support won't be convincing. Instead, they should learn from that distributor. At the same time, this will greatly alleviate the pressure on manufacturers for support, an effect the manufacturer's boss very much wants to achieve. Of course, there's a prerequisite: a smart distributor must step forward and cooperate in many aspects.
As a distributor, have you considered cooperating with the manufacturer from this angle to help the manufacturer's boss solve problems?
Actually, it's not complicated to operate. First, do a basic survey and analysis: Among the manufacturer's distributor group, how many distributors are given only products without market support? What proportion do they represent? Do these distributors without support keep asking the manufacturer's boss for support? In what ways do they ask? How does the manufacturer's boss respond? Does the manufacturer's boss want to cooperate with these distributors while also not providing support? After understanding and summarizing the problems, the distributor can cooperate with the manufacturer's boss to put on a big show. That is, shape yourself as a distributor who, without the manufacturer's market support, achieves good sales performance and returns solely through the product itself and your own efforts, and show this to the manufacturer's grassroots sales staff and other distributors.
After conducting a certain status survey and clarifying goals and direction, you can directly communicate with the manufacturer's boss, present this cooperation plan, focusing on helping the manufacturer solve the problem of distributors asking for support. At the same time, after achieving initial results, hope to obtain special resources allocated by the manufacturer's boss. Based on my experience, when distributors communicate with the manufacturer's boss about this, the boss often doesn't easily express a stance, let alone immediately give substantial support. After all, it's just an idea, and it might be a trap set by the distributor to extract market support and then forget about it. That's the habit of most bosses.
Of course, providing some technical support is fine, and they can arrange senior market operation personnel to guide. After confirming the manufacturer's senior management's basic attitude, the distributor can proceed to the next step. In the early stage, you can allocate your own resources to this product, especially focusing on surface work, to create a model—that is, relying on the product itself without relying on the manufacturer's market support, you can still do the market best. At least, ensure that when the manufacturer arranges other distributors to visit, the surface work is done well. At this point, the distributor's special support won't be a worry.
From a business perspective, when complaints arise, opportunities often come. Manufacturer-distributor relationships are not built on eating and drinking, nor necessarily entirely on sales volume. True close relationships are built by helping each other solve problems. Once a close relationship is established, issues like market support become minor.
Source: Internet
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