---
title: "What Should We Do About Expired Products Left by Old Customers?"
description: "Recently, during a training session, the author received a letter seeking help: \"I am a marketing representative for a daily chemical company, responsible for operations in three county-level markets. In 2010, I took over a new market, which was not entirely new but rather a 'half-baked' market where the previous distributor had terminated cooperation with the company for various reasons. After taking over, I opened a new distributor. Just as I was ambitious and confident to make a big push, while distributing goods with the new distributor, I found that the products previously distributed to wholesale and retail stores by the old customer had not been sold out, and to my surprise, these products, ranging from three to five boxes or bottles, had already expired. Every time we go to distribute, these wholesale or retail stores demand that if we want them to continue selling, we must exchange the expired products; otherwise, they won't sell. I am in a dilemma: if we exchange, who bears the loss? If we don't, the market cannot continue, and it may dampen the new distributor's confidence. What should I do?\""
author: "崔自三"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2015-12-04"
language: "en"
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# What Should We Do About Expired Products Left by Old Customers?

> Recently, during a training session, the author received a letter seeking help: "I am a marketing representative for a daily chemical company, responsible for operations in three county-level markets. In 2010, I took over a new market, which was not entirely new but rather a 'half-baked' market where the previous distributor had terminated cooperation with the company for various reasons. After taking over, I opened a new distributor. Just as I was ambitious and confident to make a big push, while distributing goods with the new distributor, I found that the products previously distributed to wholesale and retail stores by the old customer had not been sold out, and to my surprise, these products, ranging from three to five boxes or bottles, had already expired. Every time we go to distribute, these wholesale or retail stores demand that if we want them to continue selling, we must exchange the expired products; otherwise, they won't sell. I am in a dilemma: if we exchange, who bears the loss? If we don't, the market cannot continue, and it may dampen the new distributor's confidence. What should I do?"

Recently, during a training session, the author received a letter seeking help:
"I am a marketing representative for a daily chemical company, responsible for operations in three county-level markets. In 2010, I took over a new market, which was not entirely new but rather a 'half-baked' market where the previous distributor had terminated cooperation with the company for various reasons. After taking over, I opened a new distributor. Just as I was ambitious and confident to make a big push, while distributing goods with the new distributor, I found that the products previously distributed to wholesale and retail stores by the old customer had not been sold out, and to my surprise, these products, ranging from three to five boxes or bottles, had already expired. Every time we go to distribute, these wholesale or retail stores demand that if we want them to continue selling, we must exchange the expired products; otherwise, they won't sell. I am in a dilemma: if we exchange, who bears the loss? If we don't, the market cannot continue, and it may dampen the new distributor's confidence. What should I do?

This case mentioned in the letter is a common problem encountered by salespeople in many companies, especially small and medium-sized daily chemical companies. This problem is often tricky, and if not handled carefully, it can become the 'graveyard' for new and old salespeople. Some salespeople, when encountering such problems, either shrink back and eventually retreat in defeat, or become the 'sandwich' between the company and the new distributor, having to work on both sides, leading to exhaustion and often ending up with no appreciation, making the market restart even more difficult.

So, as an excellent marketing professional, how should one flexibly respond to such 'difficult and complicated cases' to carve a path through the thorns?

**The following methods can be tried for reference:**
**Trade-in for new.** This method is easy to operate, but the premise is that the distributor or manufacturer must be prepared for short-term losses. As a marketing professional, you can fully persuade the distributor or manufacturer to temporarily bear part of the cost to exchange the expired products, thereby winning the trust of distribution or terminal channels, allowing the new business to continue smoothly. This is actually a strategic loss; today's loss is for a better win tomorrow. For example, a marketing person from a daily chemical company, starting from the Chinese culture of 'giving up to gain', suggested that the manufacturer and distributor, as a future strategic key market or base market, must first give up to gain, to win the market and the future. Finally, they persuaded both parties to share the cost half and half to exchange the expired products, laying a good foundation for the introduction of new products later. The salesperson also gained more trust from the company and customers through this proper resolution.

**Use policies as subsidies.** When starting a 'half-baked' market, there is often policy support. If expired products left by the old customer are scattered in the market, at this time, the responsible salesperson should use the funds originally intended for promotional items, store entry fees, rewards, rebates, etc., either entirely or partially, as subsidies to handle the expired products. For example, a salesperson from a cosmetics factory, upon learning that there were expired products in township markets affecting new product distribution and that the company's major promotion was about to start, suggested the distributor first do the rural market, and gave up the promotional items originally provided by the company. After applying, they changed it to financial support, perfectly solving the leftover problems in the market, paving the way for the full market launch. At the same time, the distributor was moved, thinking the company regarded their market as a key market, thus strengthening confidence and courage to cooperate better with the company in channel expansion.

**Purchase and exchange:** Another way is conditional exchange. For example, if you purchase a certain quantity of products this time, I will recycle a certain quantity of expired products. However, this method is suitable for situations where there are not many expired products. Additionally, the products purchased by the customer should be high-profit products as much as possible, to compensate for the loss from recycling through high profits. For example, Manager Wang from a cosmetics company, after discovering that there were more than thirty boxes of expired products scattered in terminals left by the old distributor, promoted a new product with high profit and multiple selling points, giving the distributor a high profit per box. Therefore, he persuaded the customer that as long as these retail stores purchased a certain quantity of the high-profit products, they would recycle a small portion of expired products for free until all were exchanged. He also promised that in the future, any products that were not easy to sell would be fully responsible, ensuring zero-risk operation for downstream channels. This not only maintained these channels' continued sales, established a good reputation for the manufacturer and distributor, but also ensured that the distributor would not lose money, and might even make a slight profit after the exchange.

However, when operating in this mode, some precautions should be noted. For example, if the quantity of expired products is large, they should not be solved all at once. Since the products have already expired, they can be solved in batches or stages, keeping these wholesale and retail channels selling. Because often, after solving the leftover problems, these channels may stop selling and completely die out. Therefore, it is necessary to solve them strategically and step by step, not too hastily.

In summary, when facing expired products in the market, marketing personnel should not be afraid. We can solve them properly through methods such as trade-in for new, converting policy application methods, purchase and exchange, etc., to achieve a win-win situation and a satisfactory resolution, rather than shrinking back and letting the market's future be ruined. This is not only a matter of courage and boldness, but also wisdom and strategy.

**-END-**

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