Year-end is a critical period for distributors to carry forward the past and open up the future. They must not only follow the pace of manufacturers in ordering and stocking products and arranging Spring Festival promotion schedules, but also summarize and review their own business performance over the past year, and look ahead to new plans and goals for the coming year. So what should distributors be busy with?

Review Goal Achievement The achievement of sales targets is the most basic requirement for distributors to survive and develop. At the very least, we need to check the actual completion of the following goals:

1. Sales targets. Whether the annual sales targets set at the beginning of the year have been achieved, whether the sales targets assigned by each manufacturer that the distributor represents or distributes have been achieved, what the completion rate is, and specifically, whether the annual sales volume and sales revenue for each manufacturer have increased or decreased compared to the previous year. Of course, we can also further analyze the proportion of each manufacturer in the distributor's overall sales revenue, and also check whether the new product promotion targets for the past year have been achieved.

2. Profit targets. Some distributors often have a concept of sales volume; when sales volume is high, they are very happy, as if they have earned a lot of money. Sales volume and profit are indeed related, but as a distributor boss, you must understand the gross profit margin that each manufacturer's products bring to you, and what the annual gross profit amount is. Do not be vague, because if a distributor boss cannot have a clear profit target of how much money was earned in a year, they will not know how to build a team, expand the market, and how much to invest in the market for the coming year. Therefore, checking whether the annual profit target has been achieved and by how much is crucial for the second year's market operations. Do not have a muddled account.

Analyze Reasons for Goal Achievement Many distributors repeatedly repeat "past stories" on some business issues, ultimately because they have not identified the key reasons or core problems affecting performance, leading to repeated mistakes. Analyzing goal achievement can be done from the following aspects:

1. Macro and micro economic and market environment. These are external factors, but they affect goal achievement. For example, the introduction of new national laws and regulations, food safety incidents, and increasingly fierce market competition all have an impact on the entire industry, region, and market. Have you avoided or found breakthrough ideas and methods to better cater to the general trend, especially market demand?

2. Analyze from the 4P perspective. Whether the products distributed are suitable for the market, whether categories and specifications are complete, whether product updates are timely, and whether market performance is competitive. From the price level, whether you have the authority to add a second markup or operate, the manufacturer's control over price order, and the effectiveness of your own price policy formulation and execution. In terms of channels, whether you have adopted flat, diversified, and composite channel models, the contribution of each channel to sales and profit, which channels have seen sluggish growth, and which channels need to be redeveloped. In terms of promotion, whether you adhere to differentiation, whether the promotion forms attract downstream channels and customers, and whether the timing of promotions is appropriate.

3. Market support and investment status. To do a market well, it must be the result of joint efforts by manufacturers and distributors. In addition to checking the manufacturer's investment and support in the market and its effectiveness, you should also review from your own perspective whether you have proactively invested in the year's market operations based on market research and understanding, from which aspects you have invested, the impact on market pull and sales growth, the form of investment, and the degree of cooperation from manufacturers.

4. Team performance. The composition of team members, including source, education, job experience, skills and techniques, affects sales. The team's combat effectiveness, execution, and collaboration are important. Also, focus on checking the individual productivity of sales personnel and the productivity of the markets they manage. Only by improving individual productivity and market productivity can a distributor team enter a virtuous cycle and create greater benefits.

Make Next Year's Marketing Plan Summarizing and reviewing is to review past mistakes and promote excellent experience, while next year's marketing plan is to implement the summary and review in a timely manner and continuously improve, ultimately better achieving next year's marketing goals. The annual marketing plan should cover the following content:

1. Formulation and decomposition of marketing goals. Based on the sales targets assigned by each manufacturer and your own new year's development plan, formulate the company's sales targets, including sales revenue, profit targets, product structure targets, new product promotion targets, etc. This target can be 20-30% higher than the manufacturer's assigned target, which will help the company better complete the sales tasks of each manufacturer, especially key cooperative manufacturers. The target must be formulated scientifically and reasonably with reference to the market, past years, product performance, market investment, etc. The "shoot from the hip" and "fake, big, empty" targets based on feelings are not advisable. After setting the target, it must be quantified and decomposed into each month, each salesperson, each distributor and their personnel, and each market. The finer the decomposition, the more conducive to achieving the target.

2. Marketing 4P strategy. For example, in terms of product, what new products to represent, which manufacturers' new categories to introduce, and which unprofitable manufacturers or products to compress or eliminate. In terms of price, combined with the manufacturer's product positioning, what price levels to set or execute. Products should have their own price bands or levels to avoid self-competition. In terms of channel strategy, which new channels to develop, which model customers or markets to establish, how to implement standardized and refined operations, and to which level to sink down. For example, some distributors clearly sink channels to rural areas when formulating new year marketing plans, and redesign and optimize the channel system accordingly. In terms of promotion, arrange different content and forms of promotional activities based on holidays throughout the year, including promotion budgets and execution times. Some distributors also separate advertising from promotion, adding applicable products, time, location, advertising forms, and budgets for advertising. Others focus on after-sales service, adding service strategies, clarifying service processes, standards, implementation, and assessment.

3. Team building. This is also very important content. Around the new year's marketing goals, set up or optimize the organizational structure and personnel allocation, and personnel recruitment and training plans: recruitment time, onboarding time, responsible department, assisting department. For training plans, it should also include: training schedule, content, instructor selection, training format, and budgets for the above.

4. System construction. According to the new year's marketing plan and market needs, revise or formulate rules and regulations in a timely manner. For example, some distributors are troubled by the difficulty of collecting debts from downstream channels, affecting capital turnover, and have formulated "Distributor Credit Evaluation and Credit Standards." Some distributors have also formulated "Management Regulations on Strict Market Order" based on market cross-selling and price chaos. In addition to these behavioral systems, it also includes compensation and assessment systems. Based on your own development stage, flexibly adopt a suitable compensation system, whether it is a commission system or a performance assessment system, all determined according to actual conditions.

Finally, while distributors participate in corporate recruitment meetings and training sessions, they should not forget to actively develop key accounts, actively distribute goods, and design promotions well, looking forward to sufficient supply in the coming spring and a "good start" in sales.

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