Four Reasons Why Manufacturers Do Not Manage Distributors Well

"Managing distributors well" is a slogan or a wish.

From a realistic point of view.

Marketing managers at all levels of production enterprises are having a headache every day for managing this dealer.

The negative consequences of this distributor are obvious, for example, the sales market is not in place, and the sales volume is slow.

Market dynamics are not timely.

The safety of the assets of enterprises is not guaranteed, and the selling expenses continue to increase. Excellent dealers are often taken away by competitors.

The reason why manufacturers do not manage distributors well is mainly in four aspects.

First, the understanding of dealers is far from enough.

All the contradictions in the world come from the asymmetry of understanding. The asymmetry of understanding comes from the ignorance of the two sides. The contradiction between manufacturers is also the same. Manufacturers' understanding and knowledge of distributors is very limited. Because there are few dealers in the manufacturing enterprises, it is impossible for them to really understand and understand distributors.

Or, of course, look at distributors.

Many of the top executives of the factory regard dealers as simple and backward self-employed individuals or regard dealers as enterprises like themselves or even some uneducated upstarts.

As a result, the first line business personnel of the factory are also looking at the distributor. In fact, the distributor is neither a self-employed nor an enterprise, but a situation between them. It has its own unique form of organization, profit mode and value.

The key is that many of the dealership's thinking patterns are exactly the opposite of manufacturers.

Manufacturers hope that dealers will specialize and make special market inputs.

Dealers hope that they will not be too deep in a profession or industry, and they will not be able to invest too much in the market.

Manufacturers hope that dealers can make market achievements first, then consider giving certain market policies and resources support, while dealers hope that manufacturers will give market policies and resources support first, and then do good market results.

The manufacturer hopes that the distributor can make the profit of the product appropriately thin, so that it can benefit the lower channel members so as to increase the sales volume, while the dealer hopes to increase the profit of the single product, and at the same time, control the overall sales volume of the product to a certain extent. Because this amount is large, the turnover capital will be very high, and the management cost will also increase synchronously.

Manufacturers hope dealers will use the market cost and channel policy that the manufacturers give to the establishment of market construction and channel relationship, and lay a good foundation for long-term market operation, while dealers consider short-term profits. They often trap manufacturers' market fees and channel policies, and become distributors' profits directly.

Manufacturers believe that innovation is the soul of enterprise development, so they are constantly innovating in product and marketing mode, while dealers consider the safety and stability of the business, and prefer the traditional marketing mode and mature products.

Manufacturers are doing work according to the trend, such as industry development trend, market change trend, market space capacity and so on, and this trend is the guideline of the work, and the distributor is doing the work according to the result. This result is often how much money we intend to make this month, how much money we intend to make this quarter, how much money we intend to make this year, and so on, and then confirm the current development goals and revenue orientation under the premise of determining the results.

The communication level is sometimes hard to guarantee, and there are many innate deficiencies in the communication and cooperation between the front-line business personnel and the distributors. For example, the front-line business workers of the factory belong to the workers, while the dealer bosses are full sense bosses. The education level of the first-line business operators is generally not much higher than that of the dealer owners, but the business experience of the manufacturers is generally lower than that of the dealers. This will inevitably cause great obstacles and difficulties to the communication between the two sides. For example, many examples can be cited. In short, the incompatibility between manufacturers is caused by various aspects, resulting in difficulties in understanding each other. The difficulty of understanding naturally leads to many contradictions and disputes. In addition, manufacturers are mainly engaged in front-line business operators. Generally speaking, the quality and professional level of the first-line business personnel vary from company to company.

Transposition thinking can solve many problems, but really pposition is not an easy task.

After all, the overwhelming majority of people are still subjective, and are accustomed to considering problems from their departmentalism.

So is the sales staff of the manufacturer. So is the dealer boss. Everyone is waiting for the other party to take the initiative to understand himself.

Two, only focus on the front desk of dealers, basically do not consider the background of dealers.

From the top of the factory to the front-line salesmen of the manufacturers, the concerns of distributors are basically focused on the sales status of their own products.

Dealer's attention to the products of our factory;

Progress of sales plan;

The use of the manufacturer's market charges;

The performance of our products in channels and terminals;

Are other similar manufacturers trying to pry up existing distributors?

The inventory and delivery of our products at the distributor's office;

　　以上這些問題，我們稱之為廠家與經銷商之間的前臺問題，其實，這些問題的利益出發點都是站在廠家的角度上，核心是為了廠家的利益最大化，而很少去考慮經銷商自身的利益問題，或者說把經銷商的利益問題單一化了，認為自己廠家的產品就是給經銷商帶來了利益，其實，經銷商的利益一定是整體上的，是帶有全局性的，而不僅僅只是通過經銷某一個廠家的產品而帶來的利益，作為一個經銷商老板，他所要考慮的問題必然是全局的，整體性的，由內到外的，例如，經銷商自身的發展問題，公司內部的人事管理問題，新廠家新產品新市場的開發問題，下線渠道和終端的管理問題，資金周轉問題，經營和管理成本的控制問題，面對同行的競爭問題等等等等，這些都是與經銷商的整體性利益有著密切的關系，這些問題，我們稱之為經銷商的后臺問題，而這些經銷

What are the background concerns of business owners? How many of the top executives or business people are concerned? What's more, even if there is a relationship, can they help dealers solve the backstage problems?

Three, pay attention to the struggle for the status of the two parties and the dispute of interests.

Between manufacturers, on the surface is the community of interests, the pursuit of win-win situation, in fact, the competition between manufacturers is more interests, manufacturers are striving for dealers to focus on their products, and strive to occupy more dealers' purchase funds and market resources, and dealers are constantly trying to get manufacturers to take out more market costs and policies to support them. Manufacturers and distributors are trying to shift business costs and risks to the other side. This is a fact that we can not avoid. No one wants to put these problems on the table, nor does he seriously consider opening the problem to find out the balance between the interests of both sides.

As a manufacturer, on the one hand, they try to get more money out of the dealer's pocket. On the other hand, they also claim that the distributor should be obedient and easy to manage. The dealer is not a fool. If he wants to pay for it, he has to obey it. How can it be possible?

Four, homogenization management ideas

The vast majority of manufacturers think about the management of distributors equally, and the same behavior leads to the same behavior. The same behavior leads to the similar management situation of the distributors, and then the excellent management methods and cooperation methods are not worth much after being widely copied and widely used. Many manufacturers have been innovating in product innovation and marketing mode. However, there is little innovation in dealing with distributors and enhancing cooperation with distributors. In reality, we can easily find out that the business people of various manufacturers are doing almost the same thing, even when they see the distributor, and they speak the same words. How can the dealer manage well?