Click 'Read Original' for details. On July 14, 2018, an article titled "Our Company Never Hires Fresh Graduates" argued that companies should cleverly shift the cost of educating and training new graduates to other firms rather than bearing it themselves. It drew heavy criticism in the comments section. Clearly, this value of using people without developing them does not sit well with the majority in our society. For small companies, especially small organizations like distributors, how can they balance the cost of training people with the efficiency of using them? They neither want to always be training newcomers for free, dragging themselves down with high trial-and-error costs, nor do they want to always pick ready-made talent and struggle with disloyal employees. Generally, the larger the company, the more it prefers to hire fresh graduates and train them internally. Large companies have mature corporate cultures and training mechanisms. A fresh graduate is like a blank slate, easily influenced by the culture of their first job. This is why giants like Coca-Cola, P&G, Uni-President, and Master Kong hire large numbers of fresh graduates year after year. But for small organizations like distributors, mass hiring fresh graduates is unrealistic, and spending a lot of time training novices is even more so. Are there quick and effective methods that can accelerate staff growth while reducing turnover? Distributors' organizational structures are relatively simple. Marketing personnel can be divided into two categories: frontline staff, who have direct sales output requirements, and mid-to-senior sales managers, who bridge the boss and frontline staff. From extensive visits to distributors' practices in training newcomers, we've seen many down-to-earth, grassroots methods that distributors have created to improve their training systems. The focus of training differs for frontline staff versus mid-to-senior managers. Distributors can try these approaches. For Frontline Staff: A common method is the mentor-apprentice system, where experienced employees teach new ones hand-in-hand. But its effectiveness varies. If the mentor is responsible, results are better; if the new employee is diligent, results are better. This hit-or-miss approach isn't what a system should aim for. So how can we make it more reliably effective? I categorize frontline sales skills into three types: product knowledge, sales techniques, and basic qualities. Basic qualities are largely innate, sales techniques can't be mastered overnight, but product knowledge can be quickly learned. Product knowledge itself splits into competitor knowledge and own-product knowledge. Competitor Knowledge: How can new employees quickly grasp competitor product knowledge? Some distributors use materials from upstream suppliers for training, with supplier reps speaking and employees listening. Others write their own materials, with the boss personally demonstrating competitor products. But teaching about competitors often feels like hitting a distant target—the trainer doesn't feel thorough, and the trainees don't seem to understand. In early 2018, I accompanied a client, Mr. Liu, on a visit to distributors. Yunnan was a newly developed market, and the client's partnership was recent. When we visited Pan, the boss of a trading company in Kunming, it happened to be a Sunday, and he had scheduled an interview with a candidate for a sales supervisor position for my client's brand. He invited us to join the interview. The candidate, a young man, had previously sold equipment and had little industry experience, so he wasn't familiar with the products. After a morning of discussion, his thinking and communication seemed decent, but Mr. Liu worried about his product knowledge, which was basically a blind spot. Hire him or not? Mr. Liu was hesitant. Then Pan, the distributor, broke the deadlock: "Lack of product knowledge is no problem! I'll give you a month. During this month, visit all the terminal outlets in Kunming. Listen to how competitors introduce their products. What are their strengths and weaknesses? What specifications do they have? How big is the industry, and who are the competitors? Ask, listen, and take notes. At the end of the month, give me a report. If you pass, your competitor knowledge is up to par. If not, I'll give you another month. Of course, I'll pay you standard wages for both months. Whether you can truly shoulder the responsibility is up to you!" Chinese distributor bosses are endlessly resourceful. Having competitors train your new hires is one of their great inventions. Own-Product Knowledge: The method I'll introduce next is mainly for quickly mastering own-product knowledge, but it can be extended to the other two skills, with adjusted assessment timelines. A distributor in Panzhihua, Sichuan, after hearing my sales training course, creatively adapted the "Sixteen-Character Formula" into a "Four-Day Accelerated Method." I found it effective and want to share it: The Four-Day Accelerated Method divides the four steps of sales coaching—"I talk, you listen; I do, you watch; you talk, I listen; you do, I watch"—into four assessable days. Day 1: Old employee talks, new employee listens. New hires can ask questions and take notes. On the first day, they only listen to the old employee introduce the product and memorize the 20 listed selling points. There's no assessment on Day 1, but on Day 3 they'll have to reproduce it. If they don't memorize it, they won't pass Day 3. Day 2: Old employee does, new employee watches. The old employee demonstrates the product using the 20 selling points from Day 1. The new employee can ask for each action to be repeated until they remember it. Day 3: New employee talks, old employee listens. From Day 3, the new employee performs. They must recite the 20 selling points verbatim from Day 1. If they can't, they can't leave work. Day 4: New employee does, old employee watches. The old employee acts as an examiner, strictly requiring the new employee to demonstrate all 20 selling points without omission. If actions are wrong, they're corrected until right. The distributor boss may also participate randomly to check results. These four days serve as the first assessment for new employees. It reflects whether the new employee is diligent and capable, and whether the old employee is thorough and responsible. For Mid-to-Senior Managers: The mentor-apprentice method isn't suitable for mid-to-senior hires. What problems do they most often face after joining? Subordinates may resist them, and integrating into the existing team is hard. Why? Mid-to-senior positions are like one radish one hole—when someone parachutes in, it blocks others' career paths. So, without a good integration mechanism, two situations may arise: either the new manager is undermined by close confidants of the boss, with repeated slander making them a figurehead, or the new manager adopts a "just doing a job" attitude, and the team becomes stagnant. The boss's original intention for hiring fails again. So how should mid-to-senior managers be used during their onboarding to protect them and help them thrive? Mr. Yin in Jinan, Shandong, hired a vice president with a management degree through a headhunter in 2017, mainly to help clarify organizational management functions and structure. This VP was under 40, with limited work experience but very smart. Limited experience often leads to idealism; being smart can lead to cutting corners. Mr. Yin values talent and knows how to use it. After the VP joined, what was his first assignment? Guess! He was put in charge of all company document and receipt distribution! Remember: distribution, not review. All receipts and documents were to be passed on and recorded by this VP. From the chairman's fixed-asset purchase approvals to warehouse keepers' overtime meal reimbursements, the VP had to record and deliver them on time. Missing a delivery or making a mistake would result in penalties. What's the brilliance of Mr. Yin's move? At least three birds with one stone. First, expense reimbursements involve nearly all departments and most people. Handling them lets the VP meet people at all levels and understand the organizational structure. Second, the company already has reimbursement processes and standards. This routine work doesn't involve decision-making or flexibility—if it's reimbursable, it's approved; if not, it's rejected. This kind of routine coordination helps the VP integrate into the company and build good relationships. Third, the flow of receipts and accounts is a window into the company's basic operations. If the VP is attentive, they can quickly learn about the company's operations from the documents. So, for mid-to-senior hires, giving them a period of routine, administrative work is a good way to help them integrate quickly. But this method is demanding; those with a fragile mindset may not survive it. -END-