When C-store accounts need extra pull-ups to fill the shelves before the weekend, what do you do?
Wholesalers knowingly or unknowingly allow sales teams to add a second delivery stop to accounts that should receive one-a-week delivery just to ensure the shelves are stocked for the weekend. Adding delivery stops can be an easy but expensive mistake.
The sales reps or sales supervisors often decide to use a second delivery later in the week to drop off products and fill shelves. For example, the sales rep sends in 100 cases on the first delivery and 50 cases on the second delivery instead of one order of 150. The sales rep doesn’t want to have to circle back and pull up the account, but they want to ensure the shelves are full for the weekend.
While they may think this is the best way to take care of their customers, this decision is not cost-effective, and the rep shouldn’t have added a second delivery as an option to ensure the shelves are full.
4 ACTIONS TO ELIMINATE UNNECESSARY DELIVERIES TO FILL SHELVES
1 // Verify whether the account can take one larger delivery or if it needs two deliveries.
Don’t take the sales rep’s word on verifying this. Send a manager to evaluate the account’s storage capacity.
2 // Schedule time in the sales rep’s day to circle back on some accounts that don’t take them out of their way.
Many sales reps have time on Friday to pull up large c-stores and independent stores.
3 // Use merchandisers to fill account shelves when the sales rep cannot consistently call back on the accounts.
To make this a permanent solution, build these pull-up stops into either the sales reps’ or the merchandisers’ daily routes.
4 // If reps and/or merch are unable to absorb additional pull-ups, schedule the 1x delivery for the end of the week.
If the delivery is moved from the first half of the week, find comparable Thursday/Friday accounts that can be moved to the first half of the week to backfill the volume and maintain balanced workloads throughout the week.
If wholesalers don’t control these unnecessary delivery stops, they will increase the workload of the drivers, increase load building and delivery costs, and exasperate turnover.
If no pull-up solution is provided, the account will be out of stock on the shelves and in the cooler for the weekend, and the wholesaler and retailer will lose potential gross profit.
Developing service policies that govern all the services the wholesaler provides retailers will enable wholesalers to reduce costs, ensure the right person is doing the right job, increase sales, and ensure the service provided is the best service justified by the account’s gross profit.