Click 'Read the original' for details. Distributors are most concerned with profit in their business. Every distributor is thinking about how to make their business sustainable, growing, and profitable. However, reality is harsh, and most distributors face the challenge of difficult sales growth. Currently, distributors' sales growth faces several hurdles: many distributors struggle their entire lives to break through 100 million. So why is distributor sales growth slow, hard to break through, and never exceeding 100 million? What are the reasons? "Management loopholes, poor team execution, lack of good brands, and bad sales models." Perhaps each distributor's answer is different. When we don't do well, we must reflect: Why am I not doing well? What factors affect my performance? 1 Human Factors: The Ceiling of Bosses and Executives Many distributors fail to grow or strengthen their business. The root cause is not the product, the team, or market expansion, but the boss of the company. The boss determines the company's fate: what kind of boss makes what kind of enterprise, and how much capability determines how much business. The boss is like a ceiling; the height of the ceiling determines the scale of your business and the height of your employees. The speed at which the boss learns and changes determines the scale of enterprise development. If sales don't exceed 100 million, the boss definitely has a problem. Another important reason is the ceiling of the executive team. In China, there are two prominent phenomena in business: First, using "family soldiers" (relatives or trusted insiders). For the boss, family soldiers have three advantages: they are trustworthy, less likely to leave, and cost less. Currently, half of distributors still use family management systems, which is detrimental to future development. Second, old faces. In many distributors' core management teams, there are always old faces, with no new people joining for 3-5 years. Interestingly, when problems arise, these old faces often point out problems, while new people discover innovative and change-oriented solutions. Old faces always find problems in their answers, making you tremble with fear; they transmit too much negative energy. New people, on the other hand, are different: to prove themselves, they constantly seek methods and opportunities to drive sales growth. Therefore, when hiring, bosses should bring in more talent, avoid absolute family management, and let fresh blood become the driving force for the company's sustainable development. 2 Product Factors: How to Find Gold Among Old Products? There is a method called the Distinctive Product Determination Method. We all know that all well-selling products in the market follow two rules: the first is "first," and the second is "unique." "First" refers to the brand: the first brand in each category usually has the largest market sales. Almost all distributors with sales over 100 million own first-line brands. The brand is the distributor's weapon; the weapon determines your future. "Unique" means the product is not a brand but has distinctive features that still attract consumers to buy. Every consumer has consumption beliefs, which stem from "first" and "unique." When selecting products, distributors must ask themselves two questions: First, "Does the product I represent have unique characteristics?" Second, "Can it make consumers remember you among many?" The so-called product characteristics can be summarized into four features: First, uniqueness in raw materials and function; second, uniqueness in core technology; third, distinct packaging standards; fourth, distinct product shape. To make your product stand out and be remembered and recognized by consumers, it must possess at least one of these points. Therefore, most manufacturers should also upgrade and innovate from these aspects. When choosing distinctive products, distributors often fall into several major misconceptions: The first misconception is "fake selling points." A tractor with a BMW logo is still a tractor. There was a "walnut milk" drink on the market that advertised "Smart choice, wise choice," with a retail price of 18 yuan per box, containing 20 cans. But based on the current walnut price of about 30 yuan per jin, this drink contains almost no walnut content. Despite the "smart, wise" slogan, the product itself does not have this selling point, so this beverage brand has never succeeded. The second misconception is "the product selling point does not create an association with the product itself." No matter how well the product is promoted, if the advertising slogan doesn't make consumers think of the product, it is the most failed. In most cases, consumers buy products not for the product itself but for the selling point and feeling. The third misconception is "copying the selling points of first-line brands." In today's market, many companies make old pickle noodle products, all advertising authentic and tangy pickles. But since the "Uni-President" brand is already deeply rooted in consumers' minds, other products find it hard to break through in the market no matter how they imitate. The fourth misconception is "quality does not support the selling point." There is almost no such thing as good and cheap in the market. You want a BMW brand at a QQ price; that's almost impossible. 3 Market Capacity and Competitive Landscape: Category Space Determines Development Scale What is market capacity? I once met a distributor from Henan who started business in 2006, representing only two small brands, and saw no improvement. This year, he represented a well-known brand of vermicelli. In the first month, he shipped a truckload and quickly exceeded 100,000 yuan. Due to brand influence, the product was quickly accepted by the market. He confidently said, "At this rate, I will break 1 million in a year." But in the following months, his product turnover slowed, and sales became difficult. As we all know, the category space for vermicelli is very small. When choosing products, distributors must consider whether to choose a large or small category. In recent years, you'll notice that many distributors of functional drinks, water, and milk have sales reaching tens of millions. So category space determines your market scale. The second point is the competitive landscape. As mentioned earlier, if market capacity is small, sales cannot increase. But it's not true that large market capacity guarantees sales growth. Take plant protein drinks as an example: this category has been very popular in recent years, but competition is also fierce. Fewer and fewer companies can survive and sustain development; most face severe growth bottlenecks due to following trends and imitation. Additionally, you must consider whether the category you represent aligns with current trends. For example, carbonated drinks: Coca-Cola and Pepsi are large categories, but carbonated drink growth has been slowing. Taking on carbonated drink products still faces difficult sales growth. 4 Mechanism Factors: The More Employees Believe in You, the More Successful You Are A distributor once told me, "In my company, there are 8 employees, but the 8 of them together are not as good as me working alone." The reason for this result is actually a problem with the company's mechanism. Many distributors complain daily that business is stagnant, employees lack motivation, and labor costs are rising while output is decreasing. Here, I'll share an interesting example. We've all watched "Journey to the West." In it, Sun Wukong wreaks havoc in heaven and defeats all the heavenly soldiers and generals. But during his journey to the West, he faces the greatest difficulty: he can't defeat many demons and often asks heaven for support. The most incredible thing is that these demons are the pets of the heavenly soldiers and generals, and the gods eventually come down to subdue them. Think about it: it's contradictory. Sun Wukong can defeat the gods but not the demons, and the gods eventually subdue the demons. Why? These heavenly soldiers and generals are like employees working for the Jade Emperor, while the demons below are like entrepreneurs who are their own bosses. Of course, they are different from employees. Generally, in distributors that don't grow, employees think they are working for the boss. They have struggled with the company for ten years, started the business with the boss, and now the boss drives a BMW and lives in a villa, while the employees still earn a base salary of 2,000 yuan, wondering if it's worth it. On the contrary, some distributors make employees feel they are starting their own business and working for themselves. For example, in Xinxiang, Henan, there is a distributor who represents first-line brands like Yili and JDB. Last year, his sales reached 120 million. As his business grew, he made significant changes: he made his accounts public every month, including purchase prices, single-product gross margins, and profits, and divided the business into departments with contracting. He adopted an employee shareholding system, rewarding employees with a proportion of profits. Now his company is no longer his sole concern; every employee treats it as their own company, and sales growth has become faster. So good mechanisms create good employees and ultimately achieve good enterprises. From August 22 to 24, the "2018 China Digital Innovation Conference (2018FDIC)" with the theme "Finding New Growth Engines" will be held in Shanghai, hosted by the China FMCG Industry Association and organized by New Distribution. The conference will last 3 days, focusing on two main themes: marketing and supply chain, with six parallel forums on brand, channel, communication, B2B, same-city logistics, and innovative retail. We will invite industry leaders, CEOs, and brand executives to deeply interpret the trends and drivers of digital transformation in the FMCG industry. We will invite over 500 FMCG enterprise executives, 200+ B2B industry CEOs, and 1000+ major FMCG distributors to gather and discuss how the FMCG industry can use digital tools to achieve rapid growth again in the digital era. This conference will build a bridge for brand owners, distributors, retail enterprises, and marketing agencies, helping FMCG manufacturers obtain the latest information, understand best practices, and master more practical transformation skills. Proposed Invited Companies Conference Time August 22-24, 2018 Conference Venue Shanghai Baohua Marriott Hotel Conference Content August 22: Full-day check-in Afternoon 14:00-17:30: Distributor Same-City Logistics Parallel Forum Evening 18:30-21:00: New Distribution Night Gala Dinner August 23: Theme: Marketing Digital Innovation Morning 9:00-12:00: Marketing Digital Innovation Main Forum Afternoon 14:00-17:30: Brand, Channel, Communication Parallel Forums August 24: Theme: FMCG Supply Chain Digital Upgrade Full day: FMCG Supply Chain Conference Registration Method Registration is now open. Long-press the QR code below or click "Read the original" to register. Early bird tickets are limited to 50, with a 50% discount, available while supplies last! Registration Consultation Ticket Inquiries: Media Cooperation Inquiries: New Distribution Previous Conference Highlights Click the links below to review the highlights of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th FMCG + Internet Conferences: -END-