The line that went to a rival
The Fox took a firkin of your best bitter every week for two years. At some point it became every fortnight, then there was a gap over the summer, and in October you noticed they had not ordered since August. When the rep dropped in, the handpull had a clip from another brewery, and the landlord said nobody from you had been in for months.
Nothing dramatic happened. No complaint, no argument. The account just faded, and nobody was watching the fade.
Why accounts slip away unseen
Order history is in your brewery system, but nobody reads it account by account. The owner or rep visits whoever is on their mind or on the way, and notes from visits are in a notebook or nowhere. A pub that orders every week stands out when it stops; one that orders every three weeks can go quiet for two months before anyone would notice.
- Nobody compares each account with its own normal ordering pattern.
- Rep visits are planned by memory and route, not by risk.
- Visit notes are not written anywhere shared.
- Changes of landlord or manager are learned late.
- Reports show total sales, which hide individual accounts dropping away.
What a lost line costs
Regular volume from that pub, and often more, because a pub that drops you rarely tells anyone why and other landlords talk. Winning a line back after another brewery has it is much harder than keeping it. The sales effort goes on new accounts while existing ones leak out of the back.
An early warning for every account
- We read each account's order history from your brewery system or accounts package.
- For each account, we work out its normal rhythm: how often it orders and what it usually takes.
- Accounts that have gone longer than usual without an order, or have dropped a beer they always took, are flagged.
- A weekly call list goes to the owner or rep, ranked by how unusual the gap is and how much the account normally takes.
- Each flagged account shows its order history, last visit notes, current balance and any complaints logged.
- Visit and call notes are recorded on a phone after each visit, including changes of landlord, new competitor lines and promises made.
- New landlords are flagged for a visit, because a change of tenant is the moment a line is most at risk.
| Signal | What it may mean | Suggested action |
|---|---|---|
| Longer gap than usual | Line under pressure | Call or visit |
| Dropped a regular beer | Replaced by a rival | Visit with a taster |
| Smaller orders | Trade falling or line shared | Ask how it is selling |
| New landlord | Everything up for review | Visit early |
| Recent quality complaint | Confidence knocked | Follow up in person |
Sales time spent where it counts
The rep visits the pubs that need it, not only the friendly ones on the way. Quiet accounts get a call while the line is still yours. Notes from visits are shared, so the owner knows what the rep promised and the rep knows about the complaint the office handled. You can see in one list which accounts are healthy, which are drifting and which you have lost.
It also stops the awkward visit where you arrive not knowing that the pub had a problem with the last delivery. The complaint is on the account screen before you walk in.
Is this happening to your accounts?
- You have found out months later that a pub stopped ordering.
- Rep visits follow routes, not account risk.
- Visit notes are not written down or shared.
- Changes of landlord are discovered by accident.
- Your sales reports show totals, not accounts drifting.