FMCG DISTRIBUTOR MANAGEMENT
What is FMCG and Why are FMCG Products Important?
April 11, 2022
FMCG Distributors play a very important role in establishing a brand in the market. They are the last mile connectivity to the market. To ensure that the distributors stay with the FMCG company and keep performing, they have to be managed well. In this blog we discuss the various aspects of FMCG Distributor Management. Our Online Training course on Distributor Management covers everything that you need to know about this topic.
FMCG Distribution Management can be divided into four major parts, for easy understanding of the content we are describing the classification below:
- Company’s expectation from the distributor
- Distributors’ expectations of the company
- Managing distributor’s life cycle
- Joint business plan
These categories are of importance and can help you in choosing which distributor to appoint and when to appoint.
1. Company’s expectations from a distributor
When a company gets a distributor then there are certain expectations that a company desires or wants from its distributor. Below is a list of some of the expectations.
- Finances: This is the main requirement of a company from their Distributor. This includes the amount of fund required by the distributor to run the business.
- Infrastructure: The company expects a complete infrastructure from their distributors to ensure good service to the market
- Compliance with policies: Every company has certain policies in place for the smooth functioning of tasks, the expectation is that distributors respect these policies and be compliant with them.
All these expectations will be discussed in detail in the sales training program. Some of the other expectations are – Involvement in business, sales, services, etc.
2. Distributors' Expectations from the company
Just like companies have expectations from the distributors, there are certain expectations of the distributors from the company which should be met to create a win-win situation. Here we have mentioned a few of the major ones
- Fast Moving Products: Distributors want to deal in products that has high demand and sells out quickly from the retail stores.
- Healthy ROI: A Distributor is basically an investor who invests in a FMCG company to earn certain returns. A FMCG distributor expects high volumes along with higher returns.
- Sales support: A distributor also expects sales support from the company and is mostly dependent on the company for such support.
Apart from these, there are other expectations also such as the quick resolution of the issues, these will be discussed deeply in the course.
3. Managing Distributors life
Managing a distributor’s life cycle consists of 5 key areas with each holding its key importance in the process.
- Distributors profile: Before appointing the distributor, note down the desired profile of the distributor.
- Distributor selection: There are several steps in the Distributor selection process. Following proper process helps in the right selection that is beneficial for both – Distributor and company.
- Distributors operation: Setting up a distributor’s operation is important for enabling good and timely service to the market.
- Distributor Induction: Proper Distributor induction is also very important as it sets the platform for desired results.
- Distributor Evaluation: Periodic evaluation of the distributors helps in understanding the gaps and taking appropriate actions to improve performance.
Finally, distributor exit, all these will be explained in-depth in the online FMCG distributors training program for better understanding and action.
4. Joint Business Plan
This is a fairly new process in distributor management, it helps in getting the ownership of the Distributor. It has various sub-processes and formats.
- Process: A step-by-step approach in making the Joint Business Plan should be adopted to ensure are key elements starting from business development to market servicing and basic market hygiene is taken care of.
- Formats: The JBP format aids the FMCG company in executing it effectively.
This course is full of practical knowledge and execution tools that will help you in implementing the process in your daily work.
There are a whole lot of calculations involved in Distributors management which is tricky and tough to understand but with the guidance provided in the course module, one can easily access them and understand them better. For example, calculating distributors infra for business, ROI and many more.
Conclusion
If you have any queries or questions regarding DB management, then this course from skilltowill FMCG consulting company, is the best place to find answers and solutions. With a team of experienced professionals, skilltowill is committed to making every business venture a success. Having good DB management can help with increasing efficiency and reduction in operation costs.
If you are a company owner who has little or no knowledge about Distributor management then enrolling in this program can be your very first step. Handling Distributors carefully can make your company grow effectively while maintaining all the company values and policies.
