Distributor Meeting to Office

| 11 minutes

The objective of this SOP is to ensure a smooth and productive visit for our customers to our office and/or factory in China, to provide them with a comprehensive understanding of our business operations, and to strengthen our business relationship.

A Distributor may request to come visit our office and/or our production facility(s). The reason for this may be one of the following:

  • Check if our company is legitimate
  • Check the finished products of their order
  • Inspection is required from our production facility for registration purposes

Note: Visits by a distributor facilitates our relationship and can serve to expedite the initiation of business. However, due to the time and resources required to prepare and execute such visits can be a lot of work, we generally want to try to avoid the distributor from coming to the office. Each distributor visit does require a degree of case-by-case assessment to determine how much time and resources we expend on preparations and execution of a distributor visit.

Pre-Visit Preparation:

  1. When the distributor contacts the salesperson to inform the request of the visit, Salesperson will need to understand the basics:
    • What is the purpose of the visit?
    • What is the duration of the visit?
    • Which product ranges or products are to be discussed?
  2. Salesperson will send a task to the Sales Manager in the Distributor Contact task to explain the purpose and cause of the visit.
  3. If the Sales Manager approves of the visit, the Salesperson will contact the distributor to confirm the date.

Invitation Letter for Visa

Due to the China regulations, any person(s) entering China will require a visa. For business purposes, an invitation letter will be required for the distributor to submit to the Chinese Consulate/Embassy in their country. There are 2 types of invitation letters, (1) from the company (2) from the government. The government invitation letter is difficult to acquire as it is a long process which requires many documents. Therefore, we only can provide the invitation letter from the company. This is generally acceptable to obtain a business visa.

  1. Inform the distributor that in order to fill out the invitation letter, the distributor must send a clear scanned copy(s) of their company business license and the passports of all people coming for the visit. This is the template of what information needs to be provided:

    2. Full Name of the Visitor as shown in the International Passport

    Date of birth

    Scanned copy of the passport

    The Visitor's address and phone number

    Company's name

    The Visitor's Job title

    The purpose of the trip

    Cities the visitor intends to visit in China

    Exact entry date

    Exact exit date
  2. The passport(s) and company business license will be saved in the distributor folder, under “DOCUMENTS FROM CLIENT” folder.
  3. Salesperson will prepare the invitation letter for the person(s) arriving in China for the visit.
  4. The invitation letter template is here:
  5. Z:\Shared drives\AdvaCare Sales Control\Templates\Invitation Letter
  6. Send task to Sales Manager to confirm the prepared invitation letter(s).

Scheduling Date and Time of Meeting

After the invitation letter is provided to the distributor, the distributor will submit it to the Chinese Consulate. Once the Chinese Consulate approves the visa, the distributor will buy the air flight tickets to China.

As soon as the distributor confirms the date of arrival:

  1. Salesperson is to follow up with the distributor regarding the date and time of arrival to China.
  2. Before scheduling the date and time of the office visit, consult with the Sales Manager, Business Development Specialist of the distributor and Sales Director to confirm their availability by sending a task in the Contact module.
  3. The relevant department attendees must discuss the itinerary and prepare for the meeting.
  4. Salesperson will create the itinerary and send to the Business Development Specialist and then to the Sales Manager to complete and confirm. The salesperson must get answers from the distributor of the questions posed in the itinerary PRIOR to the meeting so that adequate preparations can be made.

    5. Note: We do not want to cover new, expected topics in the meeting(s) with the distributor that result in an answer from our side of “We have to check on that and get back to you.” Instead, we want to be clear of what will be discussed so that we can be prepared on our side, with the goal of making decisions during the meeting(s) and getting answers to every question or outstanding issue that is sufficient to create an action plan from the information gathered at the meeting(s).

  5. The itinerary will be sent to the distributor.
  6. Add a Calendar Event to block out the date and time of the meeting and add all Attendees to this event.
  7. Confirm attendees of the meeting have updated business cards. If not, inform the Designer to update with the updated information and have the cards printed.
  8. If the distributor requests for the arrangement of transportation and accommodation:
    • Transportation from airport: Depending on the distributor, we will consider arranging for a car to pick them up from the airport to the hotel. Salesperson will need to get approval from the Sales Director.
    • Transportation to/from office: AdvaCare will arrange transportation. Salesperson may need to go pick up the distributor from the hotel.
    • Accommodation: We can provide the distributor with a list of hotels, if necessary. In this case, the Salesperson will ask the distributor the budget desired. If the distributor requests, AdvaCare can arrange for the booking of the hotel, but the distributor is responsible for the payment. Therefore, when booking the hotel, we must confirm with the hotel that we will only do the booking and when the guest checks in, they will pay.
    • If the lunch/dinner are planned with a distributor, specify with them if they have any food restrictions

Preparing the Office

3 Days before the Visit
  1. Office must be cleaned up: no promo or boxes in the lobby, all desks must be cleared of boxes, papers, or useless items, nothing under people’s desks.
  2. Spot paint walls if there are marks on the wall.
  3. Send a task to Marketing to bring up 1 sample of each promo item for the meeting, if necessary. Set activity for the next day.
  4. Check if there is any samples from ongoing orders with this customer that we can show.
  5. Prepare the products and promo samples to gift to the customer.
1 Day before the Visit
  1. Inform all staff in AdvaCare Staff Odoo chat to inform:
    • time the distributor will be coming to the office
    • AdvaCare polo shirts must be worn while the distributor is in the office
    • desks must be clean and organized
  2. Confirm with the distributor the time of the meeting and pick up time from the hotel.
  3. Everyone attending the meeting must be well dressed (business casual), no sneakers or sandals allowed.
  4. Set-up meeting room:
    • AdvaCare samples must be set up on the meeting room table as per the photo attached below.
    • Distributor samples from the order: if the distributor is coming here to check samples from the order, set up on the meeting room table.
    • Promotional material of the distributor: if the distributor is coming here to check samples from the order, also set up 1 sample of each promo item on the meeting room table.
    • Prepare AdvaCare fabric bag(s) for each visitor with AdvaCare Brochure and include business cards of attendees. Include samples of products or ranges the distributor is interested in.

Day of the Visit

  1. Check the meeting room is set-up properly for the meeting: AdvaCare samples, Distributor samples, promotional materials, print out itinerary
  2. Set up the projector, AdvaCare laptop with the AdvaCare Presentation open.
  3. Set up AdvaCare laptop, pen on the table where the distributor(s) will be seated. The distributor(s) will be seated closest to the glass wall, facing the AdvaCare map.
  4. Schedule the car for pick-up of the distributor from the hotel. When ordering Didi or other car service, choose the 6 seater van. The Salesperson may have to go to pick up the distributor.
  5. Upon arrival to the hotel, greet the distributor by informing them your name and position.
  6. Try and engage with the distributor with small talk during the ride to the office.

    7. Note: Avoid discussion of any specifics related to the company so that anything discussed during the meeting does not conflict. Inform the distributor that we will be sure to cover all topics during the meeting, and deflect questions to small talk about his travels, plans for his trip in China, questions about his country, etc.

Arrival to Office
  1. Send a Wechat message to the Sales Manager when the car has arrived to the office.
  2. Take the distributor upstairs to the meeting room upon arrival at the office and guide them to their seats.
  3. Offer beverages: water, coffee (ask if they would like milk and sugar) or tea.
  4. ALWAYS close the door when going in and out of the meeting room.
  5. Other attendees should introduce themselves when entering the meeting room.
  6. If dinner with the distributor is requested, ask the distributor of any food restrictions or preferences (such as Halal, vegetarian, etc.). Have the Office Manager make dinner reservations.
Conducting the Meeting
  1. Provide a brief company introduction of AdvaCare and the purpose of the visit.
  2. Allow the distributor to provide a brief introduction of their company.

    3. Note: It is likely the distributor will not have a formal presentation prepared, so you can guide them to provide an informal, basic explanation about their company.

  3. Follow the itinerary. Answer any questions the distributor may have and address any concerns that they may have.

    4. Note: We want to be sure to not provide any conflicting information about the company, status of registration, or any other information that might lead a distributor to assume we are unorganized or not being truthful. In such a case, defer the question to the Sales Manager, or if not available for any reason, inform the distributor that you will check on the specifics and get back to them on that question.

    Note: Account Manager is responsible for cleaning up the meeting room after the customer meeting is over including removing the product samples from the table and putting then back in the container.

Post-Visit Follow-Up:

Email to the distributor:

  1. Thank the distributor for visiting and express our appreciation for their business.
  2. Provide the distributor with any additional information or materials that they request or you assume they may need.
  3. Follow up with the distributor to gauge their feedback and ensure that their visit was satisfactory.
  4. Address any issues or concerns that the distributor may have raised during the visit and take appropriate action as needed.

Salesperson to input information in Odoo:

  1. Create a summary of the meeting and save it under:

    2. Z:\Shared drives\AdvaCare Distributors Control\[DISTRIBUTOR FOLDER]\CLIENT FEEDBACK

  2. Share the summary under the customer contact card in Odoo by sending a task to all participants and related departments. For example, if the distributor discussed promotional items or other points related to marketing, include the Promotional Specialist and Marketing Manager in this task.
  3. Send a follow-up email with the Summary of the meeting to the Distributor and address any points which the distributor requires an answer to.
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