Gain A Winning Advantage By Creating A Strong And Integrated Sales Distribution Network

By Author: Rakesh Kumar
Total Articles: 33
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Managing sales processes of goods across different channels is a critical & core activity. The present day multi-channel sales & marketing impacts the sales structure, people and processes. Furthermore, the foray into vast geographical markets has more reliance on external (third-party) suppliers and service providers. While multi-channel marketing and sales creates various opportunities for Manufacturers, like reduced TTM (Time-to-market) and delegations of tasks; it can create problems concerning inconsistent performance across channels. Rather, most of the concepts surrounding the sales and distribution network are related to time and cost. Hence to gain a winning advantage, one needs to create a strong and integrated sales distribution network.


Challenges in Multi Level Marketing& Sales

Most producers do not sell their goods directly to end users. As a marketing executive, their prime motive is to enhance customer experience and not to forget, the bottom line. But achieving this goal can be extremely tough in wake of the following prime challenges:

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... Accessing and managing different channels whilst maintaining economic margins
Visibility on secondary sales (2nd level) and tertiary sales (retailer to consumer)
Non synchronization of sales data resulting in mis-aligned and error-prone sales reports
Building and retaining strong profitable business relationships with distributors and dealers
Maintaining core focus on operational flexibility, leading to product and service focus

These challenges erupt in the absence of a strong and integrated sales distribution network. Since the sales distribution is a very critical process, there need to be a close analysis, monitoring and optimization. Moreover, there should also be a smooth exchange of information flow across the distribution network from top to bottom level and vice versa to succeed. Channel Sales Distribution Automation works best for FMCG products as the consumer demand for these products is quick, and short supply or empty shelves can very easily make the consumers switch to other brands since majority of the FMCG products are the basic necessities which consumers can’t do without. Similarly, strong sales distribution process is also the winning edge in cell phone business. Sales force play a crucial role in getting the best out of marketing channel, and with a lot of intermediaries’ viz., distributors, sub distributors, dealers, stockiest and C&F (carry and forwarding) agents involved in the distribution chain, it is important to keep close analysis on every level of product movement. Automating the sales and distribution channel can help you in the following ways:

Seamless visibility across all sales channels
Measure real-time sales performance
Detailed Analysis of Target Vs. Achievement
Quicker decision making and effective supply chain & production planning
Uniform information access and synchronization at all sales levels
Sales Distribution network can be successful only when the channel is tightly integrated and channel performance is closely analyzed and optimized at the right time. Companies who have envisioned and implemented an effective Sales Management Software that takes care of sales happening even at secondary/tertiary levels and equally facilitates price protection, stock transfer, sales return, etc have been able to gain additional revenues month on month by streamlining sales processes, increasing sales visibility, controlling sales force and optimize sales & distribution performance.

Rakesh Kumar is a business consultant of Zed Sales™. Zed Sales™ is leading sales management software in India. Zed Sales™ has lots of innovative features which fulfill your needs of online sales tracking software, target management software, payment management software etc.