How to Handle Inactive Distributors

| 3 minutes

One of the main responsibilities of a Salesperson besides processing orders is to engage with inactive distributors. Inactive distributors stand for Customers which have not been placed an order for some time. The best way to track the progress of an inactive distributor assigned to Salesperson accounts is to have them in a separate tab in ‘Client Status Sheet’ Excel and constantly update it:

Template: Z:\Shared drives\AdvaCare Sales Control\Templates

The colorcodes are used to distinguish ordering account (blue), cancelled account (dark grey), accounts which are waiting for registration process to be finished in order to be able to place orders (purple), inactive accounts which have nothing going on (white).

Salesperson is to report on the assigned accounts performance every Sales Meeting.

In order to engage with an Inactive Distributor, Salesperson must consider the below:

Inactive Status

Ways to engage with Inactive Distributor

Distributor just shipped the order/received the goods
  • Get the information on the following:
  • Timeline for distribution of the ordered products (Basically, for how long they will have the stock of the ordered products available for their customers before they will have to re-stock again) and use this information with accordance to the average production time of the order + shipping to get started with the order
  • Depending on the product range the distributor is working with, get more clarity on what the products the client is currently selling are, where he is buying it from, would he be interested in replacing them with AdvaCare branded products (mostly applicable if the products do not require registration)
  • See if distributor has a demand on a specific product at the current moment, which could be his specific market trend or seasonal demand (for ex. COVID-related products)
  • Check with distributor if their company is open to launch a new product range, other than the range which is being ordered already
  • Get information on the Customer’s distribution channels and think of what else can be suggested (for ex. If the Customer buys Vet. Products for Veterinary clinics, he might be interested in med. Devices used in the clinic and pet supplements; or if the customer sells to pharmacies, consider suggesting OTC products and supplements in premium packaging which will be end-users oriented)
  • See if there are any confirmed orders with other Customers for the product that the Distributor is normally buying or might be interested, so it is possible to offer to add some quantities to the other Customer’s order, which can provide a better product’s price or lower the product’s MOQ

Distributor has not placed orders for 3-6 months since the last order arrived
  • Check on the Customer’s stock availability from the received orders and suggest to keep procurement cycle rolling considering the production + shipping time

Distributor has only 1 order placed a year
  • Check on the MA (Manufacturing Agreement) which every Customer signs to be granted distribution rights. MA states the quantities and value per order/year. Salesperson can pressure to follow the upon agreed in the signed MA

Distributor has no orders this year
  • Select what is applicable from above depending on the reason why the Customer has not placed any orders. Knowing the reason will lead to a solution.
  • New ranges/products can be presented to the Customer which have not existed when the Customer placed the order last time.
  • Always ask what the challenge is and see if there is anything Salesperson can do about

Distributor has not been placing orders for over a year and more
  • Follow-up with the distributor asking if he is still in the business
  • Provide with updated catalogs
  • Present new products/range
  • Check what the Customer used to order and offer the updated price

How to handle engaging Inactive Distributors

The report on the actions taken towards engaging the Inactive Distributor to place a new order has to be provided by Salesperson to Sales Manager. The report has to be updated daily in the ‘Client Status Sheet’ Excel. The activities set up by Sales Manager under the Customer contact card have to be responded in a timely manner.

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