Image source: Yichan If there's one word that best describes 2018, it's probably "anxiety." Young people are anxious because they desperately want to stand out; middle-aged people are anxious because they fear being left behind by their peers. Similarly, a large portion of distributors are starting to feel anxious. Consumption upgrades, new retail, and a wave of creative buzzwords fill distributors' minds. Of course, we also need to spare some brain cells to think about how to choose new products, avoid price wars, retain employees, and generate more profits, which only adds to our anxiety. 01 When visiting the market, you often find some distributor bosses seemingly working all the time—either moving goods or doing accounting, and when they finally take a break, their phones keep ringing. What does this indicate? It shows that the distributor's business is thriving. However, their employees are playing with their phones in the store. Once, while chatting with a boss, I asked him, "Why do you personally deliver goods? Why do you personally do the accounting? And why do you personally contact customers?" The boss told me, "I feel at ease when I do the work myself. I feel secure when I keep the books personally." Later, that employee who was playing with his phone resigned... By chance, I ran into that former employee again and asked him why he left. He chuckled and said, "The boss didn't trust me and was always on guard against me. Even when taking inventory, after I finished counting, he would count again himself." That was the reason he left. Wang Shi of Vanke once said, "As a manager, I do three things: first, make decisions—whether to do something; second, use people—who will do it; third, take responsibility—once they make a mistake, you bear the responsibility, regardless of the reason." He regards using people and taking responsibility as the two magic weapons of management. An excellent distributor boss should know how to delegate and trust employees, assign appropriate tasks based on their abilities, and combine responsibility, rights, and benefits to stimulate everyone's initiative and ensure the work is done well. 02 Before the New Year, I chatted with a distributor friend who said his employee turnover rate was high and he couldn't retain them. I asked him why. He guessed it was because business was tough after the New Year. I then asked, "How do you compensate your employees?" He replied, "Base salary plus commission." So I said, "What about during the off-season when sales are poor?" He said, "Then they only get the base salary." I said, "If I were your employee, I would leave too." The boss asked, "Why? I pay wages on time every month." I told him, "If you were the employee, the boss gives you base salary plus commission, which is fine. But during the off-season, when the company has no new business or plans, and you only get the base salary, would you stay?" He fell silent. An excellent boss is definitely a master of motivation. Distributor bosses should use a fair, open, and just performance incentive mechanism to intrinsically motivate everyone's enthusiasm for work. Some distributors allocate a portion of net profit as dividends for management each year. Others adopt an employee shareholding approach to encourage everyone to strive for higher goals. 03 Some distributors have good company performance and incentive measures, yet employee turnover remains high. Later, it was discovered that employees who had been with the company for five years were still salespeople. What's worse, salespeople only focus on selling, and managers only manage salespeople. Even more alarming is that employees from management down to salespeople have no idea about the company's future development or their own career paths. So many people, after saving enough money and gaining experience, fly away. Because employees can't see hope, and perhaps the boss can't either!!!! Many small and medium-sized distributor bosses believe that as long as they pay enough, people will naturally stay loyal. If this were a decade or two ago, they would indeed have a group of loyal followers. But in today's era full of opportunities, employees value the company's development and their own career planning more. Can you expect a post-90s employee to be content being a salesperson for life? Dream on. Regardless of size, distributors must establish an organizational vision. Without a shared vision, an organization's morale is scattered and cannot last long. By setting organizational goals and vision together with employees and implementing them in stages, all employees can know where the future lies, what opportunities they have, and what challenges they will face. Perhaps one day, you will become stronger. 04 Many distributors started small and have endured more hardships than meals. A large number of distributors may not have high levels of education, but through their efforts, they have established a foothold in the industry and accumulated certain resources. Then they stop progressing. Yes, you read that right—they stop progressing. As a result, they feel business is hard, complain that manufacturers don't give enough profit, curse customers for being ungrateful, and blame employees for being wolves that can't be tamed. But a group of stagnant distributors always pushes another group forward. These distributors may have only primary school education, yet they read management books. They grow up in small cities but travel to major cities to attend exhibitions and forums. They adhere to the virtues of "benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness" and "gentleness, kindness, respect, frugality, and humility." They win people over with virtue and gather talent. They always have a dedicated and professional team, and thus they become stronger. 05 Distributors who are willing to learn and improve will definitely get better and better because they cultivate their minds and continuously refine themselves. They enhance their moral character through continuous learning, gain the ability to manage companies through learning, and meet more outstanding talents through exhibitions and forums. That is the secret to their success. Leadership is not about saying, "Take it or leave it; there are plenty of people waiting in line," nor is it about threatening, "If you don't complete the task, I'll deduct your salary," nor is it about thinking, "How can I trust such an important task to someone else?" Rather, it is about winning people over with virtue, being upright, giving employees maximum authority to develop freely, learning to share profits to make others happy, setting goals so employees can see hope, and of course, having unique charisma to win employees' hearts. As China's economy develops, distributors, as important participants, are increasingly facing wave after wave of survival tests. In the new retail environment, what are distributors' anxieties? They are product anxiety, competition anxiety, and marketing anxiety. In the same economic environment, while some distributors still tremble and resist at the mention of new retail, others have already reacted quickly and started running at full speed, striving to get a larger share of the pie even in unfavorable conditions. In fact, distributors should not remain immersed in anxiety for long. In the new market environment, the real competition among distributors is actually the competition of products and services. Complaining about the poor market environment and being overly anxious about the current situation will not help solve problems at all. Distributors, why are you anxious? Vent your frustrations in the comments section! -END-