Non-alc beer was growing 18% a year ago. Today it's closer to six, and everybody who ran their models on the old number is feeling it. Now the same rush is happening in hard ades. In this news episode, Bud, Ross, and Mike work through six weeks of beer business headlines from the distributor's side of the table. We start in Colorado, where Constellation, Mark Anthony, and Sierra Nevada all terminated Coors Distributing Co., and ask what a franchise is really worth when winning supplier awards doesn't protect you. Then we get into Constellation buying SpikedAde, why momentum brands are suddenly back on the menu, and Ross's warning to watch the growth rate instead of the growth. Mike breaks down how PFP plans and incentives are shifting toward ades and what gets left behind. We cover the consumer squeeze, from real wages to gas prices, and close with the NBWA distributor panel and why "grow beer" isn't a strategy until you name the account, the brand, and the occasion you lost. If you're heading into 2027 budget season, this one is for you. Listen, learn, and enjoy what you do.

An annual salary is management math. Rep math is paycheck to paycheck. If the first check after a pay change comes in light, you’ve already lost the rep, no matter how good the year looks on paper.

A listener rolling out a new pay plan asked us what he’s going to hear from his team after the kickoff, and how to handle it. Bud, Mike, and Ross have been through more than 100 of these, and the pushback almost always comes down to four fears: you’re cutting my pay, I have to wait until the end of the month to get my money, I don’t trust the goals, and this is just another program that’ll be gone in six months.

We break down why a quiet kickoff isn’t buy-in, why reps need to see how goals get set, how pay calendars and draws keep cash flow steady, and why we’d rather wait for buy-in than rush a go-live. Technology is easy. People are hard.

If you’re getting ready to change how your reps get paid, this one is for you.

Listen, learn, and enjoy what you do. Share with a friend if you love it.

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/0UTOjAJePFo
Learn more about VXP: https://vxptech.com
Questions for the show: info@vxptech.com

Take away the PFP plan. Would your reps still know what to sell? That one question separates good reps from great reps, and the good news is the difference is coachable.

Recorded live at the NBWA 89th Annual Convention in Orlando, Bud, Moneyball Ross, and Data Mike walk through the five behaviors that separate the rep who covers the route from the rep who grows it: try something new, walk the whole account, sell to the buyer's problems, run the route like it's theirs, and make trade-offs out loud. Every behavior comes with a ride-with question you can ask on Monday, because most of us spend ride-withs asking what got done on PFP instead of asking what the rep is actually thinking.

Along the way: the rep whose account was down 13% in volume but up 10% in GP, and why. The team lead who led a rep down the hallway and let him open the door to the spirits section himself. The Atlas rep who failed PFP, went rogue, and grew volume anyway. And why "call Mike, he'll fix it" is the fastest way to build a team that never thinks for itself.

If you manage reps, this one is for you. Six months from now, what should they be able to do that they're not doing today?

Listen, learn, and enjoy what you do.