Reopening negotiations? Start by looking at your sell-outs.

Claire Brunaud
3 days ago
4 min read

For a Key Account Manager, sales negotiations are always a strategic moment . Agreements are discussed, conditions are set, and volume targets are laid out. Once the contract is signed, everyone leaves with the understanding that the framework is clear.

But a few months later, the reality on the ground is sometimes different .

Some products are progressing more slowly than expected. Negotiated volumes are not always met. Promotions seem to have had a limited impact. And when discussions resume with the distributor, it becomes difficult to pinpoint exactly what happened .

In these situations, the temptation to reopen negotiations is strong. However, before getting to that point, an essential step is often neglected: the analysis of sell-out data.

Because to understand if a trade agreement is really working, you first have to observe what happens once the products leave the warehouse .

Trade agreements: often only partial monitoring

When a commercial agreement is concluded with a distributor, several elements come into play: pricing conditions, expected volumes, promotions, visibility commitments, and product listings.

On paper, everything seems structured .

In practice, monitoring these agreements still largely relies on sell-in data, that is, the volumes sold by the manufacturer to the distributor. This information is obviously important, but it only provides a partial view of performance .

A distributor may order large volumes to build up inventory, without actual sales to end users immediately following suit. Conversely, some products may sell very well without these dynamics being clearly visible in sell-in figures.

Without access to sell-out data, it becomes difficult to know if commercial commitments actually translate into market performance .

Sell-in and sell-out: two very different interpretations of performance

For a Key Account Manager (KAM), understanding the difference between these two indicators is essential .

Sell-in measures sales made by the manufacturer to the distributor. It is the traditional indicator used to track revenue and volumes delivered .

Sell-out, on the other hand, corresponds to the sales made by the distributor to end users. In other words, it reflects the true market dynamics .

This data allows us to answer much more operational questions:

Are the negotiated references actually selling in warehouses or points of sale?
Did the promotions generate additional sales or simply increased stockpiling?
Do some distributors perform better than others with the same products?

For a Key Account Manager, this information is invaluable . It allows them to understand whether the negotiated terms are actually producing the expected results.

Identify the discrepancies between the agreement and reality

Analyzing sell-out data often helps to highlight situations that would otherwise go unnoticed .

For example, a product may be well-listed but not frequently ordered by end users. In this case, the issue is not necessarily related to pricing, but rather to product visibility or product range awareness .

In other situations, certain products may perform very well with one distributor while stagnating elsewhere. This difference can reveal untapped growth potential .

Analyzing sell-out also allows us to assess the true effectiveness of promotions . A temporary increase in sell-in can sometimes mask a simple stockpiling phenomenon, without a lasting impact on sales.

These elements provide a much more nuanced understanding of commercial performance and help avoid reopening discussions on incomplete grounds.

Better prepare your discussions with distributors

When trade negotiations resume, having a clear view of actual sales is a considerable advantage .

Rather than only discussing delivery volumes or pricing conditions, the KAM can rely on concrete data to analyze product performance at the distributor .

These indicators make it possible to precisely identify areas for improvement: strengthening the visibility of certain references, adjusting promotions or reworking the assortment.

The discussion then becomes much more constructive . The distributor and the manufacturer can analyze performance together and identify common growth drivers.

This approach promotes a more balanced business relationship , based on facts rather than perceptions.

When data facilitates internal collaboration

Sell-out data is not only useful in the relationship with distributors. It also plays an important role in coordination between internal teams .

Sales management, category managers, and regional managers can rely on the same indicators to understand market dynamics .

Field managers can more easily identify the warehouses that need support. Category managers analyze the performance of the products and adjust activation strategies.

This shared understanding of performance facilitates decision-making and strengthens the consistency of commercial actions.

KaryonFood: a tool to manage your distributor performance

In many agri-food companies, access to sell-out data remains complex . The files transmitted by distributors are often heterogeneous and require significant consolidation work before they can be used.

The KaryonFood platform was designed to simplify this work .

It automatically centralizes and harmonizes sell-in and sell-out data from different distributors. Key indicators are then accessible in dashboards designed for sales teams.

This allows Key Account Managers to easily track the performance of their distributors , identify gaps between sell-in and sell-out, and analyze the real impact of sales actions.

This visibility allows us to prepare for negotiations with solid arguments and to manage the distributor relationship with a much finer understanding of the market.

Before reopening negotiations, understand what is really going on.

When a trade agreement appears not to be producing the expected results, the first reaction is often to consider renegotiation .

But in many cases, the key lies elsewhere .

Analyzing sell-out data helps to understand how products actually perform in the market, to identify discrepancies between distributors, and to detect areas for improvement.

This more precise understanding of performance transforms the way business discussions are approached . Decisions are no longer based solely on delivery volumes, but on the reality of sales.

Do you want to see how to easily leverage your sell-out data to manage your distributor accounts?

👉 Request a KaryonFood demo and discover how the platform helps you track the real performance of your trade agreements .