Tell me about a time when you discovered a distribution gap in your territory. How did you identify it, and what steps did you take to close it?

Situation

While managing a territory in Pampanga for a snack food company, I noticed that our direct coverage was strong in urban centers but many sari-sari stores in remote barangays were buying our products from third-party wholesalers at marked-up prices, reducing their margins and our market data visibility.

Task

I had to assess the coverage gap's impact on sales and design a cost-effective solution to serve these underserved outlets within 30 days, without increasing fixed costs excessively.

Action

I conducted a GPS-based route audit with two reps and identified 45 uncaptured high-volume stores. I then negotiated with our existing distributor to add a sub-distributor on a commission basis for those areas, with drops twice a week. I created a simple ordering sheet and visited the stores myself for the first two weeks to build relationships and prove demand. I also adjusted rep territories to streamline the main routes.

Result

Within a month, sales from those barangays increased by 34%, and the sub-distributor became profitable. The distributor's total volume grew 12%, and we reduced out-of-stock incidents by 60%.