Introduction

This interactive course is for anyone whose role touches the marketing, sales, distribution and services channels of their industry. It is designed for anyone whose responsibilities include generating demand and fulfilling customer needs through the provision of products and services, it is for the managers of the businesses that market, distribute, sell and service the products and services of other suppliers and it is for anyone who is involved in the frontline of these relationships.

Course Objectives

On completion of this course you should be able to:

• Understanding marketing distribution business models as is critical to business success.
• Optimize routes to market through using numerous real-life examples, and industry's activities.
• Explores the chain that makes products and services available for market.
• Understand how to make the most of each step of the ongoing processes.
• Defining the role and significance of the various partners involved, including distributors, wholesalers, final-tier channel players, retailers and franchise systems.
• Gain an understanding of the entire go-to-market process, while also explaining channel partners' business models and how to engage with them for effective market access.

Course Outline

How to get the best out of this course

• Who this course for
• What do you mean by business model?
• How the course is set out

The business of getting products and services to market

• Distribution matters
• Challenging business dynamics
• Business models are key to value propositions
• A structured approach to positioning tour value proposition

The role of the distributor

• Distributors/ Wholesalers
• Customer role – core functions
• Supplier role
• Supplier role – core functions

How the distributor business model works

• Role defines business model
• Profit is very small number between two very big numbers
• Managing working capital is a balancing act
• The measures that matter and how to manage with them

Margins and Profitability

• Multiple margins
• Gross margin and value add
• Margin mix or blended margin
• Contribution margin
• Net margin and operating margin

Working capital

• Working capital management
• Supplier credit
• Inventory
• Customer credit
• Working capital cycle

Productivity

• Earn and turn
• Contribution margin return on inventory investment
• Returns on working capital

Sustainability

• Sustainability – longer term business health
• Return on net assets and return on capital employed
• Return on invested capital
• Value creation
• Managing value creation on an operational basis

Managing growth

• Growth dynamics
• Internally financial growth rate formula
• Economies of scale - profitability
• Economies of scale – working capital management
• Risk of growth – diseconomies of scale

How to sell to distributors

• What we mean by selling to distributors
• The sales process
• Managing the account relationship
• Some rules of the thumb for making compelling business cases