How Do Manufacturers Choose Agents?

The fierce competition in the market economy has tightly tied the production enterprises and agents to the same chain of life and death. The common interests have urged them to unite and fight side by side.

In the path of product marketing, the position of agents is very important.

As a manufacturing enterprise, how can we choose an excellent agent without losing market opportunities?

First of all, it should be stated that although agents are also part of the distributor, not all distributors can be referred to as agents, because the agents we refer to are sole agents for a particular brand within the market specified by the manufacturer.

For different enterprises, their agents are different.

Some manufacturers only have general agents at the provincial level, such as the general agent in Sichuan, the general agent in Yunnan, the two or three tier (city or county) agent by the provincial agents, and some manufacturers directly choose the national capital cities to set up agents for the main market areas, such as the general agent in Chengdu and the general agent in Wuhan.

Although agents have different ways of setting up, the purpose of choosing agents is the same, that is, to quickly occupy the market by means of distributors' distribution channels and market networks.

Therefore, manufacturers must be careful in choosing agents.

First, the credibility of agents is not ambiguous. Businessmen first talk about credibility, and the reputation of agents is directly reflected in their business operations. To a certain extent, as the legal representative of agents (enterprises), their personal reputation directly affects the development of enterprises.

In 1998, a well-known enterprise in Guangdong chose an agent in Chengdu. Among the six enterprises finalists, a self-employed person started late and had a very small scale. There was no one even a delivery van, but it was the agent who got the agency right.

I couldn't understand it. Later, I asked the boss of this enterprise, he said: "at the beginning, I didn't have the qualification to compete with this company. I saw them in Southwest Food City one day. They were very good in service. I asked the assistant to pretend to be a special selling fake product. If they want to sell, we can give them a huge profit, and they will not sell it.

That's why I invited them to participate in the bidding.

On the day of the product launch, he arrived at the guesthouse in half an hour in advance, and some businesses were also late for dozens of minutes. What I am looking for is his personal reputation.

As a result, he did not only make the market, but also became a famous dealer in Chengdu, and now he is a food trade company with millions of assets.

From the above example, it is easy to see that the investigation and understanding of agents' business reputation is the most important link. For those businessmen who have a certain network of channels but have bad reputation, we prefer not to take the lead.

Two, the strength of the agents is very critical. The comprehensive strength of the agents is the key factor to determine the success or failure of the market. Generally speaking, as an agent unit, it should be a legal enterprise with a registered capital of more than 500 thousand and a legal person qualification, and should have more than two years' experience in the distribution of similar products.

In terms of hardware, there should be enough warehouses and pport vehicles, with certain terminal distribution capabilities; from software, there should be a certain network distribution channel; in terms of organizational structure, there should be a sound functional organization and management system, such as the marketing department and the finance department.

Three, having a high quality marketing team, a well-organized and well-trained marketing team is an important condition for us to distinguish between agents and general wholesalers.

A single wholesale business may be completed by a boss and a few small workers, but agents can do the market. The market here is not gatekeepers, but according to their marketing strategy, through professional marketing personnel to develop the market, is a product from the shelf to the next shelf process, and ultimately let the market accept and allow consumers to agree, the increase or decrease of market share is the most convincing persuasion.

So when choosing agents, do not just look at the size of the network, the amount of money, whether he has a good army or not, is the key to your product entering the market.

Four, team spirit, a good enterprise should have an excellent team. Every employee will regard the company as his own home. For the purpose of the company, they will unite closely and integrate the company's idea into every job.

A team spirit enterprise has its own affinity and cohesiveness. It can closely link the workers' hearts. They will consider more for their employees, so that employees can fully display their talents and arouse their centripetal force.

On the contrary, enterprises with weak team spirit are often disordered, brain drain, and management disorder, which are very harmful to the sustainable development of enterprises. If enterprises choose such agents, they can only be harmful, even if they succeed, they are only short-lived.

Five, how to do the investigation of agent selection, the investigation conducted by agents is not simply a few exchanges with a few distributors, not even a few leaders in a city, take a look at it.

Scientific market research should constitute special person or entrust a professional planning company to conduct detailed and in-depth investigation and analysis.

In the survey, we should start with the following main aspects: 1. Distribution of wholesale markets: for example, there are Huafeng market, Southwest Food City and Fu River Market in Chengdu.

2, distributors in various markets: including the name of the dealer, the business project, the person in charge and the way of contact.

3, the contrast of dealers in the same industry: mainly refers to the distributor's performance, reputation and the influence in the same industry.

4, understand the dealer's sales and service strategy: through the dealer's previous or ongoing products, in-depth analysis of their consistent market strategy and after-sales service work mode.

5, understand the dealer's sales network structure.

6, the dealer's capital and debt situation.

Finally, according to the investigation of dealers, elimination and screening, then the list of intentional agents is determined, and the best agents are selected through open bidding. Before that, the promotion and explanation of enterprise products is also a very important step.

In short, the choice of agents must be meticulous and rigorous, so that we can win in an invincible position.

Of course, apart from the above factors that affect the choice of agents, the size of the enterprise itself will also lead to the loss and gain of the market. The size of the enterprise and the ability of the intermediaries to cooperate, the product mix and marketing policies of the enterprises will also affect the planning of the channel.

Generally speaking, enterprises have the advantages of "large scale, high reputation, strong financial resources and strong management", so they will have greater initiative in selecting agents and controlling sales channels, so as to achieve win-win cooperation with agents.