Selling

How to add new shops to your beat: finding, opening and keeping them

The cheapest growth is the shops your vans already drive past. How to list them, which to pick first, how to win a trial order, and how to set them up so they stay.

4 October 2026 · 6 min read

Short answer

Walk each beat and list every shop that does not buy from you yet. Start with shops already on the van’s route. Ask for a small trial order. Give each new shop a fixed visit day and a low credit limit that grows as it pays. A shop on the way costs almost nothing extra to serve.

The easiest growth for a distributor is not a new area. It is the shops on roads your vans already drive, which buy from someone else or not at all. Every one of them is a sale with almost no extra diesel.

Step 1: Make a list of shops you do not serve

Once a month, ask each salesman to note every shop on his beat that sells your kind of products but does not buy from you. Name, area, owner’s name and phone, and what they buy now. Most salesmen pass these shops every day without stopping.

Step 2: Pick the best ones first

On or near an existing route.
Sells your category, with steady customers.
Owner usually at the counter.
Pays its current suppliers reasonably well (other shop owners will tell you).

Ten good shops are worth more than thirty scattered ones.

Step 3: Visit and ask for a small order

Spot the shop
on an existing route
First visit
ask, listen, no pressure
Trial order
a few lines
Fixed visit day
same day every week
Regular shop
credit grows with trust

Most new shops become regular through reliability, not a big first order.

Visit on the day the van is already in that area. Ask what they need and what bothers them about their supply. Ask for a few lines, not a big order. See how to win a shop from another distributor.

Step 4: Set it up properly

Add the shop with its correct name, owner, phone and location.
Give it a fixed visit day on the right beat.
Start with cash or a low credit limit.

See how to set a credit limit for a shop.

Step 5: Keep the beat in shape

Add new shops to the beat for their area, not to whichever van has space. Otherwise your routes slowly turn into zig-zags. See beat planning and how to cut van diesel cost.

Set a simple target

“Two new shops per salesman per month” is easy to understand and easy to check. Praise the salesman who opens new shops, out loud, in front of the team.

How Mulberry Sales helps

A salesman can request a new shop from his phone while standing in it, dropping a pin on the map for its location, and the office approves or rejects the request. The office can also add a shop itself and set its location by pasting a Google Maps link. Each weekday has its own shop list, so a new shop goes onto the right beat, and every shop can have its own credit limit from the first bill. Shops with a saved location are included when route optimisation orders the day (Business plan). See van sales software.

Questions people ask

How can a distributor increase the number of shops (outlets)?

Walk each beat once a month and list every shop that sells your category but does not buy from you. Visit the best ten first, on the day the van is already in that area, and ask for a small trial order. Give each new shop a fixed visit day and a low credit limit to start.

Which new shops should I add first?

Shops that are on an existing route, sell your kind of products, have steady customers, and whose owner is usually present. A shop on the van's way costs almost nothing extra to serve.

Should new shops get credit?

Start with cash or a very small limit for the first few orders. Raise the limit once the shop has bought and paid on time a few times.

Found this problem in your business?

Don't estimate it. Run one van on Mulberry Sales for 14 days with your own shops, products and salesman, and measure it. One price covers your whole business, not each salesman.

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