Distributor performance review checklist

A distributor you signed a year ago may be doing very well or sitting on your line. Without a regular review you find out when the territory has already gone to a competitor. A review checklist keeps each one honest and comparable.

This list is for manufacturers who sell through distributors and want to review each one every quarter or every half year. It assumes you already chose them with a distributor evaluation checklist and onboarded them. For the relationship day to day, read how to sell through distributors.

Gather the numbers first

Start with facts, before the meeting. Pull the same figures for every distributor so you can compare.

Check pipeline and market activity

Past sales show what happened. The pipeline shows what will.

Check stock, service and compliance

A distributor can sell well and still hurt your brand if the service is poor.

Hold the review meeting

Share the numbers ahead of time so the meeting is a discussion, not a presentation.

Agree actions and follow up

A review without actions is a report. Write them down, give each an owner and a date.

Say a distributor's target was 120 tonnes this half year and they sold 90. That is 75% of target. If their customer count is flat and two large accounts haven't reordered, the conversation is about those two accounts, not about the total.

The items people skip

• Same-period comparisons. A quarter can look weak only because last year's was a one-off.
• Lost quotes. The reasons tell you if the problem is price, product fit or service.
• Sell-out data. What they buy from you is not what they sell. Ask for it.
• Your own part. Late samples or slow quotes from your side are on the agenda too.

How PromptLab helps

Keep each distributor as an account, with the people as contacts and the agreement in its Files tab. Deals and sales orders sit on the same account, with quotes and samples on each deal, and reports and dashboards on pipeline and revenue give you the figures for the review. Deals a distributor brings you can carry the built-in Distributor Referral source, and lost deals need a loss reason from a fixed list, so you can see why they were lost. A task keeps each review action in front of its owner. See distributor solutions.

Frequently asked questions

How often should I review a distributor?

Review a new distributor every quarter during the first year. After that, a half-yearly review is enough for most, with a quick monthly check on sales and stock.

What KPIs should I use for a distributor?

Use sales against target, growth on last year, active and new customers, pipeline value, stock-outs, complaints and payment on time. Pick a handful and use the same ones for every distributor.

What if a distributor misses its target?

Find the reason first: market conditions, price, lack of training or poor effort. Agree an action plan with dates, and set a clear point at which you will reassess the arrangement.

Should I share my review with the distributor?

Yes. Send the numbers ahead of the meeting and the summary afterwards, so both sides agree the facts and the actions.

How is a distributor review different from onboarding?

Onboarding gets a new distributor ready to sell. A review checks how they are performing and what to change. Our distributor onboarding checklist covers the first.