From depot to shelf: the insider’s guide to checking your distributors’ performance

Part 1: How to ace your distribution

In this article, we’ll delve into how to assess your distributors – the vital link between your products and the market. You’ll learn how to support and empower your distributors so they not only meet but exceed expectations, and truly become champions in your success story.

Understanding the distributor’s role

Distributors are more than just middlemen – they play a strategic role in making sure that your products reach retailers or end customers. Distributors are crucial for managing inventory, fulfilling orders, and sometimes even marketing your products – and understanding their performance is essential for maintaining a smooth and efficient route to market.

What to look for

To evaluate your distributors, focus on specific key performance indicators (KPIs):

• Order accuracy: measure how often orders are fulfilled correctly.
  
• On-time deliveries: track the reliability of delivery schedules.
  
• Inventory management: assess how well inventory is managed.

How to measure distribution performance

1. Regular performance reviews

Regular reviews help in identifying issues and aligning goals with your distributor. These meetings are crucial for maintaining a productive partnership.

2. Feedback from retailers and customers

Collecting feedback from retailers and end customers provides insights into distributor performance, helping to identify areas for improvement.

3. Continuous improvement

Encourage distributors to continuously improve by setting clear expectations and rewarding high performance.

Give gold stars on the go with Macmobile

Save time and money with FIELDForce, our distribution management solution that streamlines stock management and optimises delivery processes on the go.

FIELDForce speeds up the evaluation of distributor performance by providing real-time data on order accuracy, delivery timeliness, and inventory management. With our intuitive dashboard, you can effortlessly track KPIs, generate reports, and identity areas to improve.

Say goodbye to manual tracking and hello to automated, accurate performance assessments with Macmobile. Visit www.macmobile.software to learn more.

In the next article in the series, I'll discuss how to assess the performance of your retailers, the final link in your route to market chain.

Follow the series here

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