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Articles by 李锋
Browse 44 New Distribution articles by 李锋.
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County-Level Distributors Transforming to B2B: A Practical Path from Zero to One
Facing extreme pressure from manufacturers and clients, many distributors are struggling to survive. Jia Yongshun, general manager of Xuzhou Jintong Food Trading Co., Ltd., successfully transformed his traditional distribution business into a local B2B supply chain platform, achieving daily sales of over 20,000 yuan and covering more than 1,000 small stores. This article shares his practical experience and strategies for other distributors considering B2B transformation.
李锋The Underlying Logic of Compensation and Performance System Design: Building a Dividend-Based Performance System
As sales decline, payment terms extend, channels fragment, and gross margins shrink, distributors face mounting challenges. If employees are not aligned with the boss, the business may falter. This article explores the root causes of these difficulties and advocates for a dividend-based performance system to activate employees, using a 'reverse calculation' method to tie compensation to gross profit, along with KPI assessments and data-driven management.
李锋How to Design Distributor Compensation and Performance Systems That Fit the Business
The key to ultimately achieving profit growth lies in people; the core action for bosses is to activate personnel, and only by distributing money well can they use people well. Distribution is essentially a selling business, and the most important people in selling are sales representatives. Whether salespeople can create profits for distributors depends on whether the compensation system can motivate them. Traditional assessment methods influenced by conventional thinking not only fail to generate profits but also lead to a rapid decline in distributor profits, making it crucial to pursue new, effective, and efficient compensation systems.
李锋Ten Key Issues FMCG Distributors Need to Diagnose in Annual Planning | Highlights Review
Finding the root cause is the key to the right remedy. As 2022 has passed, distributors have navigated a challenging year amid uncertainty. Some achieved growth against the trend, while others struggled with declining sales and profits, along with rising costs. How can distributors diagnose their own issues and achieve their goals in the new year? In the New Distribution live series, mentor Li Feng analyzed these questions in detail.
李锋As Lockdowns Lift Nationwide, How Should FMCG Distributors Adjust Spring Festival Business and Plan for the Future?
As lockdowns lift, competition remains; distributors should proactively seize market share and plan for the future. This article is from the first session of Li Feng's live series, authorized for publication.
李锋The Overlooked "Visit Rate" by Distributors
An industry expert once said that in the FMCG industry, everyone talks about "distribution rate," but the premise of distribution rate is "visit rate." Visit rate is the cause, and distribution rate is the effect. Discussing distribution rate without considering visit rate is putting the cart before the horse. This key metric is often forgotten, a common mistake in marketing. Many distributors I know overlook this crucial indicator. Today, we discuss how to achieve sales growth through a scientific visit rate.
李锋KPI Assessment for Frontline Sales Staff: Assess What You Want!
Many distributor bosses struggle to retain sales staff despite offering decent pay, often due to mismanagement in performance assessment. This article outlines seven common mistakes in KPI assessment and provides practical advice on designing effective, motivating compensation plans.
李锋Distributor Boss: The Foundation of Intensive Channel Cultivation Must Be Built on the Input-Output Ratio
When it comes to intensive channel cultivation, every distributor knows it runs through their business, whether driven by their own needs or manufacturer requirements. However, few distributors seriously consider how to implement it to maximize sales and profit output. A county-level distributor in a county with a population of 1.3 million used 19 vehicles and 20 salespeople to serve 1,000 traditional small stores and 3 KA supermarkets, achieving annual sales of 50 million yuan, but complained about low profits at year-end, highlighting the need to base channel cultivation on the input-output ratio.
李锋Distributor Ordering Conferences Are Not Dead: It's Not That They're Useless, It's That They're Not Done Right!
As the year-end approaches and the Spring Festival peak season looms, many distributors are considering reviving ordering conferences that were canceled or postponed due to the pandemic, especially given the pressure on sales and cash flow from the first half of the year. Despite the rise of digital channels like community group buying and livestream e-commerce, offline ordering conferences remain essential for boosting sales, leveraging seasonal funds, promoting new products, and strengthening customer relationships.
李锋Distributors: Promotion Is Not Price Reduction, It's Getting Big Results with Small Investments!
In the past, brand owners held the market initiative, deciding what to produce and what distributors bought. Now, the initiative is shifting as distributors gain more product choices. To secure greater market power and influence, distributors must abandon their dependence on manufacturers, shift from passive to active marketing, and implement effective market promotion policies. Many distributors, however, fall into traps when designing these policies.
李锋New Products Aren't Hard to Sell—It's the Selling Approach That's Wrong!
Starting from the demand itself, every demand is backed by spending. In the future, distributor costs will rise: logistics, warehousing, sales staff compensation, and terminal profit requirements. Without high-price positioning, profit margins will be insufficient. Market capacity is limited, and thin-margin, high-volume sales no longer fit this competitive market. Price isn't the decisive factor in product success; consumer psychology now favors higher-priced items, like milk, where 5-6 yuan premium products sell better than 2-3 yuan ones.
李锋How to Handle KA Channels to Avoid the Dilemma of 'Entering Means Death, Not Entering Means Waiting for Death'?
Mr. Wang, a daily chemical distributor, partnered with a local hypermarket two years ago, investing hundreds of thousands in fees, yet profits remain unsatisfactory due to high contract terms that increase annually. He admits, 'After a hard year, I'm still working for the supermarket; KA is like chicken ribs—tasteless to eat, but a pity to discard.' KA hypermarkets, as the ultimate form of retail terminals, represent the largest sales channel for many distributors. As China's economy rapidly develops, major domestic and international chain groups have expanded from first-tier cities to second- and third-tier cities, covering a wide area. Therefore, KA channels are indispensable in a distributor's business system. However, under the current backdrop of 'not doing terminals means waiting for death, doing terminals means seeking death,' how to effectively manage KA channels to achieve sales growth remains a challenge for many distributors.
李锋Distributors: Still Selling Products from Ten Years Ago? Aren't You Tired?
Due to consumption upgrades and business needs, manufacturers launch new products every year to cater to the market and gain new profit increments. In this context, if distributors fail to cooperate with manufacturers, it will significantly impact their own business. Not promoting new products fails to meet the manufacturer's task requirements, the need to adjust product structure, and the distributor's goals of increasing volume and profit. In the era of stock, it's very difficult for distributors to rely on old products for growth. New products are developed by upstream brands with time, effort, manpower, and material resources, and they represent future trends, offering sufficient profit margins and market potential, as well as opportunities for distributors to expand their business.
李锋The Siege of Distributors: Is the Modern Channel a "Chicken Rib" or a "Treasure Bowl"?
Every time distributors sign contracts with modern channels like hypermarkets and supermarkets, some are happy and some are worried. For many distributors, cooperating with hypermarkets has become a chicken rib—discarding it is a pity, but eating it is tasteless. In recent years, many distributors have accelerated their exodus from hypermarkets. However, some distributors treat the modern channel as a treasure, achieving high profits with high-margin products and new items, where 10% of sales volume contributes 20% or more of profits.
李锋How Long Has It Been Since You, a Battle-Scarred Veteran, Walked the Market?
Distributors have mostly built their businesses step by step, having experienced the days of walking the market. Now that many have achieved sales in the tens of millions, the author asks: how long has it been since you last walked the market? Market inspection is crucial; without it, all efforts are in vain. This article outlines key inspection dimensions and standards, emphasizing that inspection is not about distrust but about ensuring execution and improving results.
李锋“Do Market Work in the Off-Season, Achieve Sales in the Peak Season” Is Not Just Empty Talk!
With the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day approaching, many FMCG products will enter the off-season afterward, such as grain and oil, and snacks. What should distributors do when the market enters the off-season? The best way to deal with the off-season is to keep moving. I have always believed that there is only an off-season mindset, not an off-season market. In an industry, all distributors face the same situation: if it's off-season for you, it's off-season for others, so the key is the mindset. Distributors need to come up with ideas and plans to get their sales staff moving; only when people move can the market move! -01- Seize demand...
李锋More Than Half of Distributors Don't Realize Its Importance: The Right Way to Hold Employee Meetings
Distributors often hold regular meetings, but many lack a clear logic or approach for using them to drive marketing execution. Some owners feel meetings are ineffective, don't know what to discuss, or even consider them a waste of time. Whether meetings are a waste depends on how well you utilize them to achieve your goals. First, understand the main functions of meetings: 1) Communication; 2) Problem-solving; 3) Unifying thinking. The most important is unifying thinking and aligning goals. This article provides guidance on daily, weekly, monthly, and annual meetings.
李锋The Gap Between a Distributor with 30 Million in Annual Sales and One with 300 Million May Just Be Channel Downward Extension: Down to Towns and Villages!
Recently, terms like 'channel digitalization,' 'channel diversification,' and 'business online' have become hot topics in the distribution industry. This article shares personal insights on channel diversification, emphasizing that distributors must adapt to changing consumer behaviors and expand from single to multi-channel operations. It highlights the importance of penetrating traditional channels down to village levels and leveraging fresh food supermarkets as key growth opportunities.
李锋Data is the Best Helper for Distributors Facing Complex Business Decisions!
Many distributors have made wrong decisions in their business, especially during the pandemic. In the digital age, data is the key to finding direction and making correct decisions. This article explains how to use data analysis for product and personnel decisions, such as improving distribution rate, product distribution, profit analysis, and team management.
李锋How Should Distributors Design KPI Assessments for Salespeople?
Digitalization has become a top priority for FMCG distributors in 2020, especially after the pandemic. This article explains how to design scientific compensation and KPI assessment systems for salespeople, covering nine key elements to ensure effective implementation and motivation.
李锋Dealers Who Can't Analyze Data Are Running Their Business Blind!
Jack Ma says we're in the digital age, but for dealers, it's more accurately the era of data-driven marketing. Without data, there's no decision-making; with data, decisions are easier. Many dealers still run family-style businesses without clear insight into their metrics. This article explains how to use data in two key areas: understanding customers and implementing KPI-based incentive policies.
李锋How Should Distributors, Who Rely on Downstream Business, Develop New Outlets?
The article emphasizes that a distributor's core asset is its network of outlets, and developing new customers is essential for growth. It provides strategies for identifying blank spots and developing new customers across different channels, including traditional, catering, and special channels.
李锋How to Achieve Growth in Regions with Lagging Sales? 90% of the Problems Lie with the People!
When a distributor's sales are stagnant, the root cause often lies with the salespeople. This article analyzes the problems of underperforming salespeople from four aspects: work attitude, comprehensive quality, business skills, and diligence, and proposes long-term team-based support strategies to help them improve sales.
李锋The "Visit Rate" That Distributors Have Long Overlooked
An industry expert once said that in the FMCG industry, everyone talks about "distribution rate," but the premise of distribution rate is "visit rate." Visit rate is the cause, distribution rate is the effect. Discussing distribution rate without visit rate is putting the cart before the horse. This key metric has been forgotten, a common mistake in marketing. In fact, many distributors I know overlook this critical indicator. Today, we discuss how to achieve sales growth through a scientific visit rate.
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