I want to discuss the steps to be taken before appointment of a right distributor for company.
But I feel that before discussing the steps to be followed for appointment of right distributor I think it is necessary to discuss the importance of appointing right distributor for company.
So today let us discuss the importance of appointing right distributors for company because right distributors help company march on path of progress and growth whereas “Not Right” distributors take company backwards. So let us now move on straight to the topic.
Pls note that Distributor or stockist or dealer means the same thing. Different companies use different terms for their channel partners who help in the sales and distribution of their products.
As I said earlier that the distributors play a very important role in increasing the sales of a company’s products by ensuring the distribution of company’s products in most of parts of their area thru the network of retailers and wholesalers. A Distributor is closest link of the company with its end customer i.e wholesaler and retailers. Retailer and wholesaler is the the most important link of the company with the end consumer i.e the person who consumes or uses the product made by company.
A good distributor on the basis of his ability to distribute the products of company to most of customers (i.e retailers/wholesalers) in his area of operation also helps in career advancement of the sales staff of that company. How ?
Let me explain
If a distributor sells the products of company to more no of his customers then it helps in increasing the sales of company . More sales by him of company’s products helps the sales staff of company which has been assigned to manage his operations, achieve their sales targets. And in private world sales target achievement plays a very important role in the deciding the salary hike the company employee will get and also helps the company sales staff earn promotions and rise in their career.
Good distributors helps in career growth and thus salary hikes of almost the entire sales staff of company at all levels right from Sales Rep up to G.M of company.
Good distributors play an important role in helping their companies get more market share and earning more profits.
Similarly on the other hand below average distributors is always a hindrance to growth of company sales and growth of the sales staff of company. A company and for that matter a sales professional can never grow if they have not so good distributors in their sales & distribution chain.
But in spite of the very important role of distributor in the supply chain it is matter of great concern that barring few top Indian and MNC companies, most of Indian companies ( i.e sales staff of the company) do not take proper care and do not do proper homework before appointing a distributor.90% of the time the Distributors are appointed in a hurry just to meet month’s targets. And this I am talking on the back of my more than 8 years of experience in the sale field in FMCG sector.
Before proceeding further I would like to give you a glimpse into the mistakes made by company staff in distributor appointment with my own experience of my first distributor appointment.
At the very beginning of my sales career i.e within one month of my joining the company I was handed over the task of appointing a new distributor for my company. I was sent straightaway to appoint distributor without any training and without any brief on how to search for and how to select the right distributor. And so I appointed first distributor in my sales career in Chennai (in TN) on the basis of my guts or say on basis of whatever experience I had gathered in one month of my association with my company.
I came back from my business tour after tasting my first success in the target achievement. I broke the news to my Boss and he was elated and patted my back on how good job I had done on my very first assignment. My chest swelled with pride on his encouragement and pep talk.
The goods were supplied to this distributor who was discovered by me. So now the sales have also happened and played a part in helping me achieve the sales target.
Next step was payment collection. I went to town to collect payment from my distributor (we used to call him dealer in that company) against the stocks supplied to him. He did not make payment citing some reason and asked me to come next time . So my visit to him for payment was futile the first time. O.k.Next time I will get payment, I re assured my self and continued on my remaining tour. To cut the long story short I have to admit that it took company more than six months to collect only part of payment from that distributor. Balance payment from that dealer had to be waived off
That setback in distributor appointment made me a laughing stock among my team members only for some time. I was held responsible for payment loss. My Boss too blamed me squarely for the this very first fiasco of my career.
But here the question is was I solely responsible for that fiasco?
Yes! And No!
Yes!
Because I went on to proceed to appoint new distributor without taking any kind of knowledge or any advice from my Boss or my experienced colleagues. I should have sought tips from my experienced colleagues on distributor appointment but in my over enthusiasm I did not and that proved counter -productive for my company.
No!
Because before sending a rookie, a novice in the sales line on business tour for appointing company distributor it is moral responsibility of the superior to train his ward on steps to follow before appointing a distributor . My superior must have guided me on procedure for appointing new distributor . He should have enlightened me on the qualities that I should have looked for in prospective distributor. But he did not.
OK due to his busy schedule or his over confidence in my abilities he did not think it necessary to train me before hand on steps and procedure to appoint a new distributor. But after my selection of new distributor of my company he must surely have taken time out of his busy schedule to talk to that shortlisted distributor over phone and should have enquired about the necessary credentials of the distributor selected by me. Here again he did not think it necessary to talk to new member of company in its distribution chain. He simply went on to invoice and send stocks to that distributor who ended up swallowing company’s money.
Am I the only one who committed mistake in appointing a wrong distributor for company without any training and guidance from company
Or Is my superior the last sales professional who did not bother to check on quality of distributor selected by his subordinate?
Answer to both the above questions is big NO.
In most of Indian companies even today same carefree approach is taken while appointing a new distributor.
Even now distributors are appointed by sales staff on basis of their gut feeling without any help or guidance from their superiors.
A big setback of appointing a wrong distributor is that the company loses out on sales that it would have got had a good distributor been appointed in the very first place. Some time bad distributors once appointed remain distributor of company for many years with the sales staff providing a big cover up to their company for all the follies and unethical business practices of company’s distributor. Why he does it, I will explain later.
Another setback for company is that the company may have to change wrong distributor very soon or may be in a span of one to two years. And once a company changes its distributor off and on then it affects the reputation of the company in the market and good distributors may no longer be interested in doing business with that company.
I took you through this rather long narration just to drive home the point of importance of appointment of right kind of distributors for company.
After discussing the importance of appointing right distributors (stockists or dealers each term means the same in FMCG Industry) now let us discuss the steps that should be followed to appoint the right distributors.
Before I proceed further let me ask you a question : who chooses the MLA or MP for their area. ?
Answer is simple : We, the people.
Why ?
Because an MLA or MP is elected to serve his society which comprises of people. It is prime responsibility of an MLA or MP is to serve the people of his area or his constituency. So people of an area are affected by the decisions and way of functioning of an MP and MLA. If MLA/MP is good, honest ,ethical, and attends to problems of his area then aam Janta read common man is benefitted and vice versa.
Why we are discussing MLA and MP here. Explanation follows:
All the retailers and wholesalers of a town or area of a town are affected by the quality and functioning of distributor.So if the distributor does not supply stocks on time or does not pass on company schemes, or charges rates higher than company rates, or does not attend to problems of his customers then his customers i.e. retailers and wholesalers suffer the most.
And when a distributor is good in all respects then his customers benefit the most.
So if retailers and wholesalers are so much affected by their distributor then they are the people who should choose their distributors.
As the people of a constituency know the reputation,style, way of working, character of people fighting election of an MLA orMP, in the same way the retailers and wholesalers of a town or area in a large town know very much about all distributors of the products which they sell or deal in. They are very much aware of distributors who are good or not good in terms of supply, in terms of offering credit in market, giving accurate schemes in market, selling at company rates in market. So they are the members of market who should choose and decide distributor of any company's products.
To cut long story short, before appointing any distributor, company's staff should go into the market and take feedback from retailer and wholesalers about distributors of products related to their company's products.
First and the most important step in appointing right distributor is that only ASM or person at supervisory level should search for distributor of a company (be it new distributor or replacement of old ineffective distributor ). Under no circumstances front level field staff should be allowed to do survey in market. SRs or TSIs have short term view and most of time do not think beyond their current month's targets. There is always more chance of their appointing wrong kind of distributors.
There should be synergy of distribution in their company's products and products which are being sold by the distributor.Synergy of distribution means that outlets being serviced by a distributor should be same at least 90% with the outlets in which your products will be sold.
For example sales staff of a company which manufactures and markets Biscuits should avoid appointing distributor of Asian paints or Fevicol, or a distributor which deals in medical products, as in this case outlets which sell or deal in Fevicol or Asian paints or pharma products do not sell biscuits. Similarly an outlet selling biscuit will not sell Fevicol,or Asian paint or pharma products.
So when a FMCG sales staff sets out for finding distributor for his company then as a first step he must carefully select only those distributors who reach,service and sell products in outlets where his products will be sold. So sales staff of a company which manufactures Confectionery should shortlist those distributors who distribute biscuits, or wafers or other confectionery items as these distributors will help in making his products available at right kind of outlets in less time.
So the next step in the direction of appointing right party as distributor is to findand select five or six of such parties who have synergy of distribution with products of a company. We will refer to such parties with synergy of distribution as RELEVANT DISTRIBUTORS.
After shortlisting five or such relevant distributors, the next step for staff of FMCG company is to take feedback of these parties from the retailers and wholesalers who sell his company's products. Feedback of all these relevant distributors should be taken on following parameters:
(a) Financial position of the distributor- Very important as distributor with good finance can invest in company's stock and invest in credit in market.
(b) Relations of distributor in market: In today's competitive market with very little difference in quality and pricing of different companies manufacturing same products, relations of distributors in market play an important role in ultimate success of any company's products in market.
(c ) Does he extend credit in market : Simple. If a distributor extends credit to his customers as is being provided by distributors of competitor's products then sales will grow faster.
(d) Distributor's own involvement in market : Here again if a distributor's involvement in market is good then his relations in market will also be good. The more he is involved in business of a company's products the better are chances for the sales growth of that company.
Company's sales staff then should visit the market and do survey in market of all the five or six relevant distributors selected by him.
To make his market survey (for new distributor or replacement of an old distributor) effective,he should take feedback of all selected relevant distributors from at least 30% of total outlets in a town or area of a large town or minimum 30 outlets. So for example if he is looking for a distributor in a town with up to 40 outlets then he should take feedback of relevant distributors from at least 30 outlets of that town.
But if he is searching for a distributor in a town with more than 200 outlets then he should take feedback about relevant distributors from at least 30% of outlets i.e 60 outlets. The larger the sample size (more the no of retailers or wholesalers from whom he takes feedback )for his survey the better are his chances of finding right distributor for his company.
Again to make his market survey for distributor appointment , company sales staff should cover small outlets (C class outlets who purchase very less quantity of his products, give payment to distributor after more than 25 days), medium class outlets ( B class outlets who sell maximum of his products, who give payment in two weeks) and A class outlets (Who purchase in good quantity, give payment in a week). Inclusion all types of outlets in his survey (to take feedback about selected relevant distributors) will give him fair idea about distributors who cover all types of outlets. There will always be distributors who cover only C class outlets or who cover only A class outlets. The success of any company depends on a distributor who covers and sells company's products at all types of outlets.
Again to fully fortify his survey the company staff must ensure that he covers some of outlets of each type in different markets or different areas of a town. This type of coverage of outlets in most of parts of town or most of markets of town will result in identification of distributors who cover all markets or all areas of a town.
In this market survey he should take feedback of all relevant distributors from retailers and wholesalers of a market on above parameters. He should ask retailers and wholesalers to rank all shortlisted five or six relevant distributors on a scale of 1 to 10 separately on each of above parameters.
After doing full market survey for all the selected Relevant distributors the company staff should do total of total scores of all relevant distributos as per marks given by different wholesalers and retailers to different relevant distributors on a scale of 1 to 10.
On basis of total scores of these relevant distributors his next step should be to shortlist at least three distributors ( Top three relevant distributors with maximum scores). He must shortlist minimum three distributors as a safeguard in case his top choice refuses to take distributorship of his company because of whatever reason. Then in such a case he can choose from the remaining two shortlisted distributors.We will call them Shortlisted Distributors.
Now the role of ASM or supervisory sales staff ends with shortlisting of at least three distributors.
The responsibility of appointing the right distributor out of three shortlisted distributor should lie with senior managerial level minimum RSM. An RSM with his experience and past mistakes can always select best of the three shortlisted parties.
Next step Before apporaching shortlisted distributors for purpose of appointing one of the shortlisted distributors as his company's distributors the RSM should have done thorough homework on the following factors:
(i) Estimated business or sales that the company expects from the distributor.
(ii)The investment that the company wants or expects from its distributor in town.
(iii)The infrastructure requirement i.e. godown space, supply units, salesmen etc from its
distributor.
(iv) The support that the company will provide to distributor to generate sales in market or town
i.e. no of days sales staff working, scheme, ATL/BTL support etc.
He should have concrete, specific and to the point answers and clarity on all the above parameters. his clarity on above factors will help him convince the shortlisted distributor on most of their queries.
The first question that RSM should ask each of shortlisted distributor is whether the shortlisted distributor is ready to expand his business or whether shortlisted distributor would be interested in taking distributionship of products of his company.? Only if shortlisted distributor agrees to the same then RSM should proceed with next step of evaluation of the shortlisted distributor.
If the distributor is ready to expand his buisness then the next step for the RSM or concerned mangaer should be do the thorough Need Analysis of prospective Distributor. Need analysis is done to understand in detail the real reasons why the prospective party wants to expand his business or wants to start a new business. If the need of prospective distributor is long term in nature and is not short term or is not impulsive only then the prospective distributor should be considered for taking the discussion forward. To further throw light on this factor if a distributor wants to settle down his son in business then his interest in business will be more serious as compared to a person who wants to get into business just because he has taken VRS and now wants to do business. His interest will be more fickle.
So more serious and more long term the need for business of prospective distributor better he will be as a business associate.
Then on next step ,RSM should judge and evaluate all three shortlisted distributors on following criteria
Financial position-Asking and checking (if shortlisted distributor agrees) to bank statements of shortlisted distributors. Checking his purchase and payment record with other companies in which the shortlisted distributors deals.
Checking his infrastructure: He should check whether infrastructure like office or godown or suppy vehicles of shortlisted distributor is owned or rented. If owned he can always ask for property papers (if shortlisted distributor agrees for the same). He can chekc RC of supply vehicles of distributors.
If a distributor owns supply vehicles then his chances of remaining in distribution line are more as compared to distributors who operate thru rented supply vehicles or who hire vehicles from market to supply stocks.
He can always informally ask the staff of distributor like salesmen, godown keeper, accountant etc about their association with distributor, since when they are working with distributor etc. These informal discussions with distributor staff yield great insights and information about the shortlisted distributor.
He should also take feedback of each of shortlisted distributor from sales staff of other companies whose distributionship is being held or managed by shortlisted distributor.
After satisfying himself on above parameters the RSM should take final decision of appointing distributor of company.
The last and most important step in appointment of right distributor is to brief the shortlisted distributor (who has agreed to take distributorship of products of his company) about the following facts:
(I) History of company.
(II) Management of company.
(III)Distributor margin in %age.
(IV)Margin of retailers in terms of %age.
(V)Minimum Number of days stock that he needs to maintain in his godown. Here most of sales staff lie. And this incorrect briefing to distributor in the beginning result into long term problems in the times to come.
(VI)Minimum investment from him in company's business. Here correct estimate of investment should be given to distributor so that he can plan his funds and infrastructure accordingly. With objective of getting Yes from shortlisted distributor most of sales staff lie here.
(VII)Requirement of godown space for keeping stocks of company.
(VIII) Minimum sales he will get from company in a month or in a year as the case may be. Here genuine sales figure should be given to earn distributor's faith in the long run. If sales staff give higher sales figure and actual sales is less than the committed or promised sales figure then distributor's faith in company sales staff will be reduced.And this is one area where most of sales staff give wrong information deliberately just to trap unsuspecting distributors.
Sales support provided by company (in terms of company's sales staff working in his town or market).
Sales promotion support being provided by company ( schemes, BTL,/ATL support which leads to sales growth in his market).
Damage policy of company i.e. how the company settles claims related to unsold , expired or unsaleable products of company lying in market and at godown of distributor.
Minimum order in quantity or value that distributor needs to place to company or its SS or its CFA.
After briefing the shortlisted distributor on above factors, if the shortlisted distributor agrees to join hands with his company as a distributor, RSM should go ahead and appoint the shortlisted distributor as his company's distributor.
So that's it on steps to be followed for appointing right kind of distributor in right manner.
Before I proceed further let me ask you a question : who chooses the MLA or MP for their area. ?
Answer is simple : We, the people.
Why ?
Because an MLA or MP is elected to serve his society which comprises of people. It is prime responsibility of an MLA or MP is to serve the people of his area or his constituency. So people of an area are affected by the decisions and way of functioning of an MP and MLA. If MLA/MP is good, honest ,ethical, and attends to problems of his area then aam Janta read common man is benefitted and vice versa.
Why we are discussing MLA and MP here. Explanation follows:
All the retailers and wholesalers of a town or area of a town are affected by the quality and functioning of distributor.So if the distributor does not supply stocks on time or does not pass on company schemes, or charges rates higher than company rates, or does not attend to problems of his customers then his customers i.e. retailers and wholesalers suffer the most.
And when a distributor is good in all respects then his customers benefit the most.
So if retailers and wholesalers are so much affected by their distributor then they are the people who should choose their distributors.
As the people of a constituency know the reputation,style, way of working, character of people fighting election of an MLA orMP, in the same way the retailers and wholesalers of a town or area in a large town know very much about all distributors of the products which they sell or deal in. They are very much aware of distributors who are good or not good in terms of supply, in terms of offering credit in market, giving accurate schemes in market, selling at company rates in market. So they are the members of market who should choose and decide distributor of any company's products.
To cut long story short, before appointing any distributor, company's staff should go into the market and take feedback from retailer and wholesalers about distributors of products related to their company's products.
First and the most important step in appointing right distributor is that only ASM or person at supervisory level should search for distributor of a company (be it new distributor or replacement of old ineffective distributor ). Under no circumstances front level field staff should be allowed to do survey in market. SRs or TSIs have short term view and most of time do not think beyond their current month's targets. There is always more chance of their appointing wrong kind of distributors.
There should be synergy of distribution in their company's products and products which are being sold by the distributor.Synergy of distribution means that outlets being serviced by a distributor should be same at least 90% with the outlets in which your products will be sold.
For example sales staff of a company which manufactures and markets Biscuits should avoid appointing distributor of Asian paints or Fevicol, or a distributor which deals in medical products, as in this case outlets which sell or deal in Fevicol or Asian paints or pharma products do not sell biscuits. Similarly an outlet selling biscuit will not sell Fevicol,or Asian paint or pharma products.
So when a FMCG sales staff sets out for finding distributor for his company then as a first step he must carefully select only those distributors who reach,service and sell products in outlets where his products will be sold. So sales staff of a company which manufactures Confectionery should shortlist those distributors who distribute biscuits, or wafers or other confectionery items as these distributors will help in making his products available at right kind of outlets in less time.
So the next step in the direction of appointing right party as distributor is to findand select five or six of such parties who have synergy of distribution with products of a company. We will refer to such parties with synergy of distribution as RELEVANT DISTRIBUTORS.
After shortlisting five or such relevant distributors, the next step for staff of FMCG company is to take feedback of these parties from the retailers and wholesalers who sell his company's products. Feedback of all these relevant distributors should be taken on following parameters:
(a) Financial position of the distributor- Very important as distributor with good finance can invest in company's stock and invest in credit in market.
(b) Relations of distributor in market: In today's competitive market with very little difference in quality and pricing of different companies manufacturing same products, relations of distributors in market play an important role in ultimate success of any company's products in market.
(c ) Does he extend credit in market : Simple. If a distributor extends credit to his customers as is being provided by distributors of competitor's products then sales will grow faster.
(d) Distributor's own involvement in market : Here again if a distributor's involvement in market is good then his relations in market will also be good. The more he is involved in business of a company's products the better are chances for the sales growth of that company.
Company's sales staff then should visit the market and do survey in market of all the five or six relevant distributors selected by him.
To make his market survey (for new distributor or replacement of an old distributor) effective,he should take feedback of all selected relevant distributors from at least 30% of total outlets in a town or area of a large town or minimum 30 outlets. So for example if he is looking for a distributor in a town with up to 40 outlets then he should take feedback of relevant distributors from at least 30 outlets of that town.
But if he is searching for a distributor in a town with more than 200 outlets then he should take feedback about relevant distributors from at least 30% of outlets i.e 60 outlets. The larger the sample size (more the no of retailers or wholesalers from whom he takes feedback )for his survey the better are his chances of finding right distributor for his company.
Again to make his market survey for distributor appointment , company sales staff should cover small outlets (C class outlets who purchase very less quantity of his products, give payment to distributor after more than 25 days), medium class outlets ( B class outlets who sell maximum of his products, who give payment in two weeks) and A class outlets (Who purchase in good quantity, give payment in a week). Inclusion all types of outlets in his survey (to take feedback about selected relevant distributors) will give him fair idea about distributors who cover all types of outlets. There will always be distributors who cover only C class outlets or who cover only A class outlets. The success of any company depends on a distributor who covers and sells company's products at all types of outlets.
Again to fully fortify his survey the company staff must ensure that he covers some of outlets of each type in different markets or different areas of a town. This type of coverage of outlets in most of parts of town or most of markets of town will result in identification of distributors who cover all markets or all areas of a town.
In this market survey he should take feedback of all relevant distributors from retailers and wholesalers of a market on above parameters. He should ask retailers and wholesalers to rank all shortlisted five or six relevant distributors on a scale of 1 to 10 separately on each of above parameters.
After doing full market survey for all the selected Relevant distributors the company staff should do total of total scores of all relevant distributos as per marks given by different wholesalers and retailers to different relevant distributors on a scale of 1 to 10.
On basis of total scores of these relevant distributors his next step should be to shortlist at least three distributors ( Top three relevant distributors with maximum scores). He must shortlist minimum three distributors as a safeguard in case his top choice refuses to take distributorship of his company because of whatever reason. Then in such a case he can choose from the remaining two shortlisted distributors.We will call them Shortlisted Distributors.
Now the role of ASM or supervisory sales staff ends with shortlisting of at least three distributors.
The responsibility of appointing the right distributor out of three shortlisted distributor should lie with senior managerial level minimum RSM. An RSM with his experience and past mistakes can always select best of the three shortlisted parties.
Next step Before apporaching shortlisted distributors for purpose of appointing one of the shortlisted distributors as his company's distributors the RSM should have done thorough homework on the following factors:
(i) Estimated business or sales that the company expects from the distributor.
(ii)The investment that the company wants or expects from its distributor in town.
(iii)The infrastructure requirement i.e. godown space, supply units, salesmen etc from its
distributor.
(iv) The support that the company will provide to distributor to generate sales in market or town
i.e. no of days sales staff working, scheme, ATL/BTL support etc.
He should have concrete, specific and to the point answers and clarity on all the above parameters. his clarity on above factors will help him convince the shortlisted distributor on most of their queries.
The first question that RSM should ask each of shortlisted distributor is whether the shortlisted distributor is ready to expand his business or whether shortlisted distributor would be interested in taking distributionship of products of his company.? Only if shortlisted distributor agrees to the same then RSM should proceed with next step of evaluation of the shortlisted distributor.
If the distributor is ready to expand his buisness then the next step for the RSM or concerned mangaer should be do the thorough Need Analysis of prospective Distributor. Need analysis is done to understand in detail the real reasons why the prospective party wants to expand his business or wants to start a new business. If the need of prospective distributor is long term in nature and is not short term or is not impulsive only then the prospective distributor should be considered for taking the discussion forward. To further throw light on this factor if a distributor wants to settle down his son in business then his interest in business will be more serious as compared to a person who wants to get into business just because he has taken VRS and now wants to do business. His interest will be more fickle.
So more serious and more long term the need for business of prospective distributor better he will be as a business associate.
Then on next step ,RSM should judge and evaluate all three shortlisted distributors on following criteria
Financial position-Asking and checking (if shortlisted distributor agrees) to bank statements of shortlisted distributors. Checking his purchase and payment record with other companies in which the shortlisted distributors deals.
Checking his infrastructure: He should check whether infrastructure like office or godown or suppy vehicles of shortlisted distributor is owned or rented. If owned he can always ask for property papers (if shortlisted distributor agrees for the same). He can chekc RC of supply vehicles of distributors.
If a distributor owns supply vehicles then his chances of remaining in distribution line are more as compared to distributors who operate thru rented supply vehicles or who hire vehicles from market to supply stocks.
He can always informally ask the staff of distributor like salesmen, godown keeper, accountant etc about their association with distributor, since when they are working with distributor etc. These informal discussions with distributor staff yield great insights and information about the shortlisted distributor.
He should also take feedback of each of shortlisted distributor from sales staff of other companies whose distributionship is being held or managed by shortlisted distributor.
After satisfying himself on above parameters the RSM should take final decision of appointing distributor of company.
The last and most important step in appointment of right distributor is to brief the shortlisted distributor (who has agreed to take distributorship of products of his company) about the following facts:
(I) History of company.
(II) Management of company.
(III)Distributor margin in %age.
(IV)Margin of retailers in terms of %age.
(V)Minimum Number of days stock that he needs to maintain in his godown. Here most of sales staff lie. And this incorrect briefing to distributor in the beginning result into long term problems in the times to come.
(VI)Minimum investment from him in company's business. Here correct estimate of investment should be given to distributor so that he can plan his funds and infrastructure accordingly. With objective of getting Yes from shortlisted distributor most of sales staff lie here.
(VII)Requirement of godown space for keeping stocks of company.
(VIII) Minimum sales he will get from company in a month or in a year as the case may be. Here genuine sales figure should be given to earn distributor's faith in the long run. If sales staff give higher sales figure and actual sales is less than the committed or promised sales figure then distributor's faith in company sales staff will be reduced.And this is one area where most of sales staff give wrong information deliberately just to trap unsuspecting distributors.
Sales support provided by company (in terms of company's sales staff working in his town or market).
Sales promotion support being provided by company ( schemes, BTL,/ATL support which leads to sales growth in his market).
Damage policy of company i.e. how the company settles claims related to unsold , expired or unsaleable products of company lying in market and at godown of distributor.
Minimum order in quantity or value that distributor needs to place to company or its SS or its CFA.
After briefing the shortlisted distributor on above factors, if the shortlisted distributor agrees to join hands with his company as a distributor, RSM should go ahead and appoint the shortlisted distributor as his company's distributor.
So that's it on steps to be followed for appointing right kind of distributor in right manner.
annually. I am fortunate enough to be speaking at a few events while I am in town but I can remember a time when I came to events like mid-year before anyone ever wanted to hire me or even knew my name. There were some people around me that would question me about why I would go to a place where I didn’t know many people. They wanted to know, “What is the point?”