Notes from inside distribution businesses: the field, the distributor, the books, and the product.
Every serious buyer of distribution software in Pakistan has waited for a quote and then paid an induction fee. We decided the price list belongs on the website, with no setup fee and no induction fee.
The moment that decides whether a distribution business trusts its numbers is not the month end. It is the hour after the last delivery, when the van comes back and the cash is counted.
Most trade-promotion budgets leak in the gap between what head office announced and what the rep typed. Fixing it is not about trusting reps less. It is about giving the discount an order.
Total calls, productive calls, strike rate and call coverage. If your reports do not give you these four by rep before ten in the morning, you are managing the field by phone call.
The most expensive habit in distribution is waiting. Companies wait for distributors to send sales in a spreadsheet, then wait to reconcile it, then act on data that is two weeks old.
Returns, damages and expiries are where stock and money quietly go missing. The fix is a two-step rule: the person at the shop books it, and a manager confirms it before it counts.
Digital invoicing with the Federal Board of Revenue is now part of running a distribution business in Pakistan. Here is what it means at the invoice, and how it works inside Targets.
Plenty of field apps say they work offline. The question is what happens on the phone when there is no signal for six hours, and what arrives at the company when the signal returns.
