Tapped In Sales and Strategy for Beer Distributors

VXP Tech
  • 5.0 (11)
  • Business
  • Updated Weekly

Tapped In Podcast for Beverage Distributors that want to empower their sales team to drive business results. Hosted by Bud Dunn, Mikey Hall, and Ross Ackermann of VXP Tech.

  1. 2d ago

    122: Covering the Route vs. Selling the Route

    Two routes down 25% for the month means your whole company is down 5%. Most of us look at that number, say "Johnny was out," and move on. This week Ross brings a pattern he kept seeing across clients big and small: when a rep goes out on leave, the route gets covered haphazardly, the results tank, and everybody shrugs. Very few distributors have an actual plan for it. Mike has run those routes himself and walks through what really happens out there, from not knowing where the back stock sits to the fear of overselling an account the regular rep has to come back to. There's a real difference between covering a route and selling it, and most relief coverage is survival mode. We get into who should cover, whether burning a team lead is worth what stops getting done, and a more creative option: segment your impact accounts, build a sales rep in training tier, and slide everybody up the line so your best routes never get orphaned. Plus Diageo says it's rewiring distributor incentives toward rate of sale, and we have thoughts. Worth a listen if you're building coverage plans, training reps, or wondering where your points went last month.

  2. Aug 11

    121: Budget vs Goal: Which Number Should Move Mid-Year?

    July did not give anybody a soft landing. You either made your number or you got crushed, and almost nobody landed in between. We dig into what actually happened last month, why A-B houses slipped off their June trends while MC clients picked up a point, and why Florida and California grew while most of the country did not. Then it gets worse before it gets better. Gas prices bounced back up, and a new one showed up on client calls this month: electricity. One warm market saw prices double, and the numbers coming at us for a 1,200 square foot house sounded like a mortgage payment. There is even a point where it gets too hot to drink beer, and we have watched consumption nosedive in real time to prove it. August has a selling day missing and last year's Labor Day load week has moved into September, so we talk through how to set a goal reps will still reach for. Three clients already threw out their annual budget. Set the budget as a guide, not gospel. We also get into the hemp ban going down to the wire, 35 state attorneys general writing Congress, Kratom bans spreading, flavor carrying the whole category, and the final read on World Cup volume. Worth a listen if you are building sales plans, incentives, or goals right now.

  3. Aug 4

    120: They Told Us It Was 8 Super Bowls. The Scots Drank Boston Dry

    AB told Northern Eagle the World Cup would be like eight Super Bowls in their market. It was. Up in Boston, the Scots went through a full container of Tennent's in four days and Burke Distributing had to bring in a second one. This is a two part episode. First we sit down with Beverly Freitas, sales manager at Northern Eagle in northern New Jersey, which hosted eight matches including the final at MetLife. Then we talk with Kristen Burke, fourth generation president at Burke Distributing in metro Boston, which had seven games at Gillette and the Tartan Army parked in Faneuil Hall. Same questions to both. How do you forecast something you have no comp for? What do you staff up, and when? Which brands surprised you? And what would you do differently if you got the chance again? What comes out is a real operator playbook. Twelve months of planning and daily inventory calls. Six delivery days a week with no Sunday drops allowed. Non buy accounts that finally opened up. On premise up 75% week on week while off premise barely moved. And two teams that decided early that nobody was going to say "not my job." If a big event is ever coming to your market, this is the one to save. Listen, learn, and enjoy what you do.

  4. Jul 28

    119: Just Enough to Get Invited Back Tomorrow

    Five clients came to us in the last 60 days with the same word on their lips: complacency. Reps showing up just enough to get invited back to work tomorrow. But here's the uncomfortable question: is it laziness, or are your reps rationally optimizing their lives around the comp plan you built? Bud, Ross, and Mike work through where complacency really comes from, why pay curves are steepening across the client base, and how to audit your own program before it quietly costs you 5% volume a year. In this episode, we break down… 😴 What complacency actually looks like on the ground: order takers instead of sales professionals, and the bare minimum to stay employed 🏆 The seasoned vet trap: 15 years on the route, great relationships, hits most of his numbers, and hasn't noticed the market changing around him 💰 Johnny hits every supplier incentive and sits at the bottom of the profit leaderboard. Where is his mindset? Wherever the easy money is. 🔍 The self-audit: when was the last time you changed your comp programming, and how many of your PFPs are recycled month after month? 📈 Why customers are asking to steepen the pay curve, and why the optimal starting point may have moved from 70-75 to 75-80 ⏳ Return on effort: reps trading incremental dollars for a simpler life, and why that math has changed as the value of a dollar shrinks 🍺 News: Reyes closes the 11 RNDC territories, Southern Glazer's buys Eagle Rock, Sazerac lands with Reyes, and the Teamsters push a 75% tariff on Mexican beer Key takeaways: It's not laziness. Reps are optimizing their time and pay toward their own equilibrium. If they're optimizing away from your outcomes, your structure is the problem, not the rep. Show me the incentives and I'll show you the outcome. If 80% of rep pay is tied to supplier-funded programs, don't be surprised when your strategic priorities get ignored. The fix isn't more money. One client used the exact same dollars, changed how reps earn them, and went on a 16-month streak hitting GP and GP per CE budgets. Steeper curves fit performance cultures. Shallower curves fit relationship cultures. Neither works if it isn't authentic to who you actually are. If complacency is sitting in your gut, it's probably sitting in your sales team's lap. Put it on the agenda at your next management meeting and talk about it openly. This is a roundtable episode, no guest, no script. Bud, Ross, and Mike working through what five clients brought to the table in real time, including some hard reflection on the complacency Bud created himself back at Atlas Sales. If you're heading into budget and planning season wondering whether your comp plan is driving effort or entitlement, this one is for you. Listen, learn, and enjoy what you do. Catch the full episode on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Want to look at your own data and benchmarking, no sales pitch included? Email us at info@vxptech.com. Share with a friend if you love it.

  5. Jul 21

    118: Equal Opportunity, Not Equal Outcome

    We're at the midway point of the year, which means comp planning season is here. If you're thinking about moving off commission, restructuring routes, or changing how your reps get paid, this is the episode to start with. Bud, Ross, and Mike get into why commission structures quietly work against your business and what to do instead. In this episode, we break down: 💸 Why your comp plan should serve the business, not the other way around 📊 The hidden cost of commission: endless rerouting and punished top performers 🎯 Equal opportunity vs. equal outcome, and where pay disparity really belongs 🗺️ Why your biggest accounts aren't always your highest impact 🪜 Bands and buckets: a transparent roadmap reps can grow into 🩹 Rip the band-aid off: why you make all the changes at once 🗣️ How to roll out a pay change without losing the room Key takeaways: Volume can hide bad decisions. Align reps to impact, not case count. Reshuffling routes to feed commission kills the reason to grow a route. Put seniority in the base. Keep at-risk dollars equal opportunity for everyone. Reps assume a comp change means less money. Lead with the why. Train your middle managers first. They get the questions reps won't ask you. Chapters: 00:24 Challenges in commission structures 10:05 Transitioning to quota systems 20:14 Real-world applications and case studies 21:05 Equal opportunity vs. equal outcome 29:06 Implementing transparent pay structures 37:47 Effective rollout strategies for compensation changes Listen, learn, and enjoy what you do. If you're trying to make your sales plan clearer, this one is for you. Questions? Send them to info@vxptech.com. =============== YouTube: Watch on YouTube: Tapped In Sales Spotify Podcast: Listen & Watch on Spotify Podcasts Tapped In Sales Apple Podcasts: Listen on Apple Podcast Tapped In Sales =============== Connect with Us:   Follow us on LinkedIn for the latest episodes, industry news, and insights from the beer distribution world. About Tapped In Sales:   Tapped In Sales is a podcast dedicated to beer distributors and beverage industry professionals who are looking to elevate their sales strategies and drive profitability. Hosted by industry experts Bud Dunn and Mike Hall, we dive deep into real-world stories, actionable insights, and the latest trends to help sales teams and managers unlock their full potential. Each episode blends data, strategy, and motivation, making complex topics easy to understand and implement. This podcast is powered by VXP Tech – the leading Sales Strategy Management system designed for beer distributors. VXP simplifies the complexities of goal setting, variable compensation, and sales team performance, helping you master your market and grow profits, case by case. Stay tuned for expert advice, fresh perspectives, and tools to sharpen your sales approach! If you enjoyed the episode, don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a friend!

  6. Jul 14

    117: The Drive to Socialize: Why Beer Demand Is Stronger Than You Think (ft. Andrew Heritage, Beer Institute)

    Everybody wants one reason the beer industry is soft. Gen Z quit drinking. Spirits stole the share. Pick your headline. The Beer Institute's Chief Economist Andrew Heritage came on to blow most of those up with actual data. The short version: demand is a lot stronger than the doom takes make it sound. The consumer is just stressed, and beer is still the drink people protect when they go out. In this episode, we break down: 🍺 Who actually makes the beer (2-3% of breweries move 96% of the volume) 📊 The Gen Z myth and why they spend the same on alcohol as every generation before them ⛽ How gas prices and a stressed consumer, not category abandonment, are driving the soft weeks 🌡️ The weather math on beer sales ⚽ The World Cup effect on concession and on-premise sales 🥂 The drive to socialize and why on-premise keeps outperforming off-premise Key takeaways: There is no single reason for the softness. It is a stressed consumer, not people walking away from beer. Gen Z is not quitting. They are broke, and they still pick beer over the emerging categories. On-premise is holding because people protect the occasion, not just the beer. Weather and gas prices explain most of the week-to-week swings. Build the occasion and they will come. You have more control locally than you give yourself credit for. Andrew Heritage is Chief Economist at the Beer Institute, covering roughly 90% of industry volume. If you want someone who can separate the myths from the math, this is the one. Want the deck? Email info@vxptech.com and we will share it. Listen, learn, and enjoy what you do. Share with a friend if you love it. 🎧 Also on YouTube | 🔗 LinkedIn: Tapped In Sales / VXP

  7. Jul 7

    116: Double Tap: When Brands Don't Compete, They Multiply

    Every supplier talks about pod gaps. Almost nobody talks about which gaps are worth chasing. Matt Moberly does. Master's in chemistry, 25 years in beer, and he runs the number one New Belgium market in the country, and he treats selling beer like a science experiment. We get into why the account closest to a rep's house is usually the wrong one to chase, how Two Hearted and Oberon make each other bigger instead of stealing from each other, and where the data stops and the human side of this business takes over. In this episode, we break down: 🍺 Why the pod closest to home is usually the wrong pod to chase  📊 Quality-weighting distribution gaps instead of treating every POD the same  🍻 The Double Tap: why Two Hearted and Oberon sell more together, not less  💸 FOLD (Fear of Lost Dollars) and why it moves reps and distributors  🧪 Running sales incentives like a chemistry experiment  🗺️ Carrying the right things, not everything, and the on-premise data void  🤝 Where AI stops and the human side of selling beer begins A few things worth stealing for your own market: Not all PODs are equal. Chase placements that rebuy and stick, not checkbox pods that die in the back room. Double Tap is real. Accounts pouring both Two Hearted and Oberon saw roughly 4x the combined volume of the median single-handle account. FOLD moves people. If you're not getting those go-get dollars, your competition is. Run it like an experiment. Test, measure, adjust, repeat. Carry the right things, not everything. Discipline by style beats stacking five IPAs. Matt started street-level at Bell's, built their national accounts and business insights teams, ran sales and marketing for all of Bell's, and now leads Michigan for New Belgium. Chemistry brain, on-premise heart. Worth a listen if you're building distribution goals, incentives, or trying to get more out of your data than a stack of reports. Share with a friend if you love it. 📩 info@vxptech.com =============== YouTube: Watch on YouTube: Tapped In Sales Spotify Podcast: Listen & Watch on Spotify Podcasts Tapped In Sales Apple Podcasts: Listen on Apple Podcast Tapped In Sales =============== Connect with Us:   Follow us on LinkedIn for the latest episodes, industry news, and insights from the beer distribution world. About Tapped In Sales:   Tapped In Sales is a podcast dedicated to beer distributors and beverage industry professionals who are looking to elevate their sales strategies and drive profitability. Hosted by industry experts Bud Dunn and Mike Hall, we dive deep into real-world stories, actionable insights, and the latest trends to help sales teams and managers unlock their full potential. Each episode blends data, strategy, and motivation, making complex topics easy to understand and implement. This podcast is powered by VXP Tech – the leading Sales Strategy Management system designed for beer distributors. VXP simplifies the complexities of goal setting, variable compensation, and sales team performance, helping you master your market and grow profits, case by case. Stay tuned for expert advice, fresh perspectives, and tools to sharpen your sales approach! If you enjoyed the episode, don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a friend!

  8. Jun 30

    115: That's Not Vibes, That's Hope and a Prayer

    That's Not Vibes, That's Hope and a Prayer | ft. Sean Baker, Rarig Pacific A distributor told Sean Baker he was making decisions "based on vibes." Sean's answer stuck with us: that's not vibes, that's hope and a prayer. Too many distributors are running operations on assumptions instead of truth, and it's costing them on the shelf and on the bottom line. This week we get out of the sales seat and into the warehouse. In this episode, we break down: 🍺 Why "running on vibes" is really hope and a prayer  📦 What overs & shorts are actually costing you  🔍 Operational truth: you can't manage what you can't measure  🤖 Why the goal is augmenting your people, not replacing them  🚚 Old habits worth breaking, from U-boats to the duo lift  💰 The right way to structure warehouse and delivery comp  🤝 Why the whole industry wins when partners stop building walls Who is Sean Sean Baker has touched nearly every corner of this business. He started downstacking cases off a side loader in 2003, moved into warehouse ops, ran a route selling to Kroger and the corner liquor store on the same day, became a sales trainer, worked the supplier side at AB and Heineken, and now leads technology commercialization at Rarig Pacific. He's not a vendor reading from a script. He's an operator who connects how a decision in the warehouse ripples all the way to the six-pack on the shelf. Connect Learn more about Rehrig Pacific Company at rehrigpacific.com Questions for the show? Email info@vxptech.com and we'll pass them along to Sean. Listen, learn, and enjoy what you do. Share with a friend if you love it. =============== YouTube: Watch on YouTube: Tapped In Sales Spotify Podcast: Listen & Watch on Spotify Podcasts Tapped In Sales Apple Podcasts: Listen on Apple Podcast Tapped In Sales =============== Connect with Us:   Follow us on LinkedIn for the latest episodes, industry news, and insights from the beer distribution world. About Tapped In Sales:   Tapped In Sales is a podcast dedicated to beer distributors and beverage industry professionals who are looking to elevate their sales strategies and drive profitability. Hosted by industry experts Bud Dunn and Mike Hall, we dive deep into real-world stories, actionable insights, and the latest trends to help sales teams and managers unlock their full potential. Each episode blends data, strategy, and motivation, making complex topics easy to understand and implement. This podcast is powered by VXP Tech – the leading Sales Strategy Management system designed for beer distributors. VXP simplifies the complexities of goal setting, variable compensation, and sales team performance, helping you master your market and grow profits, case by case. Stay tuned for expert advice, fresh perspectives, and tools to sharpen your sales approach! If you enjoyed the episode, don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a friend!

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Tapped In Podcast for Beverage Distributors that want to empower their sales team to drive business results. Hosted by Bud Dunn, Mikey Hall, and Ross Ackermann of VXP Tech.

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