Fmcg sales managers guide,how to find success in distribution

February 26, 2023 Team DigitalGumma 1 Comment Distributor review, Distributor ROI, Fmcg Network, Fmcg Stake holders and channel partners, Sales Managers Guide To Distribution, Sales Training

Why discuss FMCG Distributors and Wholesalers?

Distributors and Wholesalers are both key FMCG customers.

Both are significant volume contributors.

Both provide access to retailers and other customers.

They have key differences, including goals, motivation, time horizons, resources, capacity, etc.

They are often lumped together as channel partners by FMCG management, creating an issue and potentially lost opportunities.

The Key Result Areas involved are:

Distributor Assessment – Ability to identify and rank the best Distributor/s.

Distributor Partnership – How to build a joint approach for sales and profit growth.

Planning & Logistics – How to improve DP operations.

Finance & Back Office – Understand credit risk & financial health of DPs.

What is the best way to partner and manage FMCG distributors?

What are the key areas to focus on or guidelines to remember when thinking about your Distributors and Wholesalers?

Distributor Key Focus Areas:

Distributors are not necessarily ‘better’ than Wholesalers, they are just different, and for many FMCG companies both are often, essential.

Assigned Roles

Distributors and Wholesalers have different characteristics and, in many cases, they perform (sometimes subtly) different roles for the FMCG Co.

One must determine for your organisation, the role each will play, as they will not be the same.

Customer Classification

Have clear classification criteria to determine what the differences are.

It is less important what names are assigned to Distributors, Wholesalers, Traders, Cash & Carry’s, Sub Distributors, etc. Rather, it is of paramount importance that you understand their characteristics and assign them a classification to facilitate effective management.

How to you sharpen and improve distributors performance?

What should Route to Market and Distributor Managers focus on to deliver an increase in indirect sales?

Motivation

What motivates a Distributor may have little impact on a Wholesaler. This needs to be identified and managed accordingly.

The biggest challenges that a Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) company face managing the ‘last mile’ of the Route to Market (RtM).

Distributor Management

Very often Distributors are treated as key customers and managed accordingly, while Wholesalers are often forgotten. It is essential that Wholesalers are recognised as key customers.

If you treat and manage Distributors and Wholesalers the same way, you will miss opportunities, and most likely cause commercial issues.

A clear set of rules must be established on how they will be managed.

It is essential that you should cover all the characteristics we have discussed previously (Agreements, Exclusivity, Management, Territories, Brand Range & SKUs, Remuneration, and Operations) when establishing any clear set of rules for the management of Distributors and Wholesalers.

Knowing the team you are working with is an absolute necessity in the world of sales. Not only do you need to know the obvious things — your salespeople’s names and faces — you also need to take the time to get to know sales-specific things about them, including their:

Selling style

Learning style

Motivators

Strengths

Weaknesses

All of these things will allow you to truly connect with your salespeople, which brings with it some great benefits.

When salespeople feel connected to their Sales Manager, they are more productive. In fact, according to a Gallup poll, companies whose employees are more engaged have 21% higher productivity rates than those who are disengaged and disconnected.

Train FMCG RtM or Distributor Managers, to drive and improve the performance of individual distributors on a dailiy basis.

A FMCG Co. has less influence over Wholesalers than Distributors. However, if the FMCG Co. has classified Wholesalers correctly, and has tailored their approach accordingly, they could, for example, design incentive packages for each classification.

This would provide Wholesalers the necessary motivation to deliver specific goals that have been identified by the FMCG Co. to be within their competency. This would allow the FMCG Co. to play to the Wholesaler’s individual strengths, rather than generating frustration from managing a Wholesaler the same as a Distributor. Far better results and sales would follow.

Leading Fmcg companies of the world operate by providing the product from one end of the world to every end, of FMCG and other related products.

Few companies remain on top even though there are thousands of competitors all around the market.This means there is a system behind it and we need to learn it.

But there is no book in the market which easily explains the minutes of the system and process of the successor.

Drive Competition

If you are looking for a powerful Distribution sales strategy to boost your team, creating a competition is a great option.

Here are few tips on how to create a successful sales competition:

Define a clear goal. Whether you want to improve customer service, increase sales volume or simply survive a seasonal slump, you must first clearly communicate the objective of your contest to your sales team.

Keep it simple. Try to focus on one goal during your competition. Also, make sure the rules are easy-to-understand so your salespeople can easily participate.

Have fun. Chances are most of your salespeople have a natural Competitiveness. Encourage friendly banter around the competition to make it more fun and interesting.

Keep hype up about the competition by posting news and sending out updates via email.

Whoever ends up winning the competition, be sure to recognize and reward them for their accomplishment.

Understand Your Sales Team’s Differences

Inspire Your Team

Successful Sales Managers understand the importance of inspiring their team.

In fact, they use inspiration as one of their top sales team management strategies. They do so by helping each salesperson see how successful they can become, and motivating them to maximize their potential

Inspiring Sales Managers are often described as:

Energetic. Having a positive, uplifting attitude that is contagious

Appreciative. Truly showing gratitude for the hard work of the sales team and recognizing/rewarding them accordingly

Mother-hearted. Caring about the success of the sales team more than personal gain

Accountable. Taking personal responsibility for what happens, even when the consequences are unpleasant

Honest. Always telling the truth to both co-workers and customers

Creating an environment in which your team feels inspired will motivate them to excel at work.

And you know what that means — better sales results and greater revenues.

One-on-One Coaching

In fact, companies who provide solid coaching to their team see a 16.7% growth in their annual revenue.

Encourage Continued Learning

Starting your salespeople off on the right foot with comprehensive sales training ensures you avoid many common problems that plague the sales industry.

However, a study by Harvard Business Review found that 87% of what people learn in a live training is forgotten in a mere 30 days.

Streamline the Sales Process

Build a Winning Sales Team

As a Sales Manager, you are no longer able to ensure sales by going into the field yourself. Instead, you need to place your trust in your sales team to do the job.

Cultivate a Winning Sales Team

Beyond building a winning sales team — you also have to nurture it for continued success.

Invest time and resources to help your team hit their quotas.

Ensure your approach is best for your team.

Create your own goals and track your progress.

Sales Managers Can Establish a Good Company Culture

Though having a strong company culture has always been important, its importance has become increasingly important to employee satisfaction lately.

Why is that? Millennials.

Millennials, according to the Pew Research Center, rule the U.S. workforce. In fact, there are nearly 54 million of this generation’s people working, and they place a lot of importance on a company’s culture.

Thus, it is in your best interest to find ways to improve your company culture and provide your employees with some key things, including:

Flexibility. This can be flexibility in scheduling, in the location they work from or the way their office is set up.

Professional development. Millennials are looking at how to advance in their careers, and want positions at companies that will help them develop and grow.

Reputation. Reputation is important not only within your industry, but also when it comes to being a socially responsible company. Make sure your company is donating, volunteering and practicing sustainability.

Other powerful sales management strategies to improve company culture include:

Creating a positive physical and social environment

Celebrating employee achievements

Showing appreciation for salespeople on a regular basis

Organizing events and competitions to keep salespeople engaged and excited about coming to work

Identify Sales Team’s Barriers to Success

Fear of being rejected

Work with your sales reps to change their perspective on rejection. Do not let them assume that a cold call will result in a rejection. Rather, help them be hopeful that a cold call will result in a sale.

Poor communication

Did you know that 92% of all customer interaction happens over the phone?

Lack of content and/or social media marketing

With 90% of marketers stating that social media has increased exposure for their business, there is no denying its importance.

In fact, sales teams have been shown to improve their closings by 67% when working together with the marketing team.

Role of Fmcg Sales Manager in Distributor Management and Supply Chain Management

Advantages of Sales Managers Review Visit with Distributor Management.

Complete Visibility on Secondary Sales Execution: FMCG companies earlier had to wait for the collection of data about secondary sales execution from the distributor. With DMS, companies can have a complete visibility of the secondary sales execution in real time.

Better Inventory Management: With information about sales and stock provided to you in real-time, efficient inventory management becomes seamlessly easy. Further, it aids you in making better business decisions with regards to demand and supply of the products in the market.

Increased Efficiency with Reduced Costs of Operations: Distributors can now avoid investment in workstations and human resource. Furthermore, it reduces the revenue loss to company by cutting off the extra costs on pilferage & damage.

Time management: When you have all your business processes working in a streamlined manner, the saved time can be utilized to strategize, plan, and innovate new ways to retain/better your position in the market.

Give Your Team Detailed Feedback

When a manager places focus on employee strengths, workers are 30 times more likely to remain engaged in their work.

Further, 65% of employees have admitted they wish they got more feedback from their managers.

Make Sure The Sales Team Knows Competitors’ Offers

Reserve Daily Time to recognize and celebrate wins in your sales team can yield major benefits, including increased job satisfaction, productivity and motivation.

In fact, 78% of employees say that recognition makes them more motivated in their work.