Focus on "sell-out" not on "sell-in"

You don’t want to sell in to your distributors.
You want to help them to sell out.

Walk in their shoes:
Distributor management is one of the most misinterpreted words.
It sets the wrong expectations.
It’s not about pushing your brand.
It’s not about asking them how much they’ve sold this quarter.
It’s about setting clear mutual expectations.
It’s about having clear targets that are mutually agreed.
It’s about measuring KPIs.

Brands are built bottom up, listening to whom is closer to the market.