"Can you do it or not? If not, get out!" At the monthly meeting, the leader slammed the table and shouted, looking at the sales figures at the bottom of the ranking.
It is often said in the FMCG industry that salespeople eat "youth rice." Nowadays, even "youth rice" is hard to come by. Without performance, whether young or old, everyone is asked to leave.
In the past, only when annual performance targets were missed would senior managers consider replacing staff; now, if performance targets are not met for three consecutive months, staff are replaced immediately.
It seems that replacing people has become the go-to solution when a company struggles to meet its performance targets.
The reason behind this is: a good market strategy involves market analysis, comparison of strengths and weaknesses with competitors, strategy formulation, resource support, etc., which is a very painful and complex process; in contrast, attributing all market problems to people is much simpler—"sales are down because the salesperson isn't working hard," "channel conflict because the salesperson is inactive," "work is behind schedule because the salesperson doesn't take it seriously."
Replacing people is the easiest and most trouble-saving measure, and it serves multiple purposes: first, it signals to superiors that you are actively taking action to solve market problems; second, it allows you to shift blame downward. Look, "the market performance is poor mainly because the salesperson is incompetent"; additionally, it can spur others to work harder, think of ways to solve problems, and achieve results.
Thus, for managers, replacing people is the most convenient and self-serving option, leaving no other choice.
Don't Blame All Market Problems on Frontline Sales Staff
When performance growth is weak, various market problems surface, and senior leaders find it hard to calmly analyze the root causes, instead attributing everything to frontline sales staff.
"Did you execute as I required? Did you execute thoroughly? If you did and still didn't meet the target, you can come to me." This statement seems reasonable, but in reality, even if you execute, if the results are poor, it means you didn't execute properly or deviated from the leader's intentions.
In a major company, a newly appointed leader who had no sales experience formulated a market plan that aimed to cover everything, setting more than a dozen process indicators, such as the distribution rate for each key product and combined distribution rate. Fearing to miss any indicator, the policy failed to be implemented at the terminal, execution was a mess, and none of the indicator achievement rates exceeded 50%.
When it is generally difficult to achieve, it is likely a problem with the policy itself.
But the leader would retort: "In the same environment, why can others achieve their targets while you can't?"
The ability of salespeople is certainly an important condition for winning in market competition, but in the era of shrinking volume, it is not just a competition of salesperson execution, but also a comprehensive competition of the company's products, strategies, systems, etc. Moreover, the company's systems, products, and leaders' decisions often dominate over the abilities of salespeople.
Even the best sailors on the Titanic will sink with the giant ship.
Some market problems cannot be changed by frontline salespeople, no matter how excellent they are.
For example, in recent years, beer sales have shifted from restaurants to online platforms and new retail, and the capacity of beer in restaurants is declining.
In a major beer company, the salesperson responsible for the restaurant channel tried every possible means but could not curb the decline in restaurant sales; while those responsible for online platforms and chain convenience stores easily achieved their maximum targets every month.
But many managers still blame the restaurant salespeople for not grabbing competitors' share in restaurants.
The rise of new channels is precisely taking away sales from traditional channels; this is a confrontation between systems, not something an individual salesperson can change.
In addition, the common problems in the FMCG industry, such as price chaos and channel conflict, are essentially problems of the company's sales system.
The company has strict penalties for channel conflict, but the situation has not decreased at all. On the surface, "channel conflict is because prices are chaotic, and prices are chaotic because expenses lack control" or "channel conflict is because the promotional intensity for distributors is too high, giving them room to undercut prices"...
The deeper reason is: the manufacturer's sales targets increase year by year, and some targets even exceed market capacity. To meet sales targets, salespeople or distributors have to stock up, and to quickly sell goods and avoid losses from approaching expiry, they have to sell at low prices. Because if they don't meet performance, they might not be here tomorrow, while channel conflict, if not discovered, still offers a chance.
As a result, no matter how many rounds of salespeople are replaced, the old problems persist.
If the system is broken, replacing frontline staff endlessly is futile!
The More Frequently a Market Changes Staff
The Worse the Results Become
In a major company, its share in Market A dropped from 30% in 2021 to less than 10% now.
From the regional general manager to the business manager, to the salespeople, and even the distributors, all were replaced, but sales continued to decline.
The cause: In 2021, the company continuously raised prices on main products, causing strong reactions at the terminal. The business manager reported the situation upward, but the senior leader was very assertive: "It must rise; if you can't do it, you're out."
Finally, the distributor gave up operating the brand. The manufacturer found a new distributor, who found that the terminal was extremely resistant to the brand's main products and was powerless. The main products plummeted, and the new distributor quit in less than a year. Another distributor was found, also lasting less than a year. Now it's the fourth distributor, with annual sales only a quarter of the 2021 customer's sales.
Many leaders think there is no shortage of people; if you don't do it, someone else will. When the market is not satisfactory, they think of replacing people and distributors, without paying attention to the root causes of the market's poor performance.
If replacing people could solve the problem, it would have been solved long ago, and sales would not be getting worse.
The greater harm is that frequent replacements can be devastating to the brand's local market.
1. Broken Customer Relationships, Weakening Distributor/Terminal Confidence in the Company
This year, while visiting a market with consecutive sales declines, a distributor complained: "I've been an agent for Brand A for 2 years, and I've seen 3 salespeople and 2 managers. The expenses promised before were not paid, the new manager doesn't care, and policies keep changing. Early this year, I took on other brands. Once you find a customer to take over, I'll quit."
At the terminal, it's the same. When a new salesperson visits, the store owner's first reaction might be "Why did they change again?" Frequent changes mean customer relationships need to be rebuilt constantly, previous promises and tacit understanding go to zero, and willingness to cooperate greatly diminishes.
2. Encouraging a Focus on Short-Term Gains
New salespeople learn from the lessons of their predecessors and focus more on short-term interests. A popular saying in the FMCG industry is: "Don't worry about next month; if you can't achieve this month, you might not even be here next month!"
So everyone goes all out, trying every possible means to pursue short-term sales, even if it means actions that harm the company's long-term interests, such as stocking up, channel conflict, and low-price sales. But in the long run, market problems will become increasingly prominent until the market completely collapses.
3. Constantly Familiarizing with Basic Work, Declining Terminal Competitiveness
With frequent personnel changes, new salespeople need to familiarize themselves with the market, and all basic work has to be redone and relearned. In the short term, the impact is not significant, but in the long run, product competitiveness declines, and the market declines severely.
Especially many major companies like to recruit young, fresh college graduates for sales.
A beverage distributor complained: "The new guy, Xiao Li, knows nothing, and there's no support. Competitors are making a big splash in the market, and many of our displays at the terminal have been taken by competitors. This year, sales have dropped significantly."
It takes at least two years for a newcomer to fully understand the market and truly help it develop. Today's market waits for no one; competitors are eyeing us, and missed market opportunities can never be made up.
4. The More Frequent the Changes, the Harder It Is to Retain People
After replacing people, newcomers see that the market is difficult, cannot meet performance targets, cannot earn money, and cannot stay. A market often has to wait until sales drop to a certain level and the company's targets are continuously lowered before there is stability in personnel.
In a certain market, a major dairy company's share declined year after year, and salespeople, business managers, and distributors were all replaced, with changes happening more than once a year. The current salesperson is the longest-serving in the past five years, having lasted over a year. Not because this salesperson is particularly capable, but because the company has significantly lowered its targets, allowing him to meet them and earn money.
A ruined market needs time to revive, but managers often are impatient, ignore the laws of market development, and demand quick results, which often backfires.
Empowering Salespeople Is the Key to Winning
Facing economic downturn and performance pressure, the most ineffective approach is to simply break down numbers and strengthen assessments. Supporting and empowering frontline sales development is the key to winning the market.
- Stabilize Morale
Some systemic problems cannot be solved in a short time; complaints will grow, morale will waver, and work will stall. In today's environment, stabilizing the team is crucial.
In a major beverage company's XX region, the personnel stability rate has significantly improved compared to before, and performance has also stabilized. The regional general manager responded: "We have an offline gathering every month, hold a meeting to discuss market issues, speak freely, and then do team building to relax; if anyone has market problems, team members will help solve them."
At the meeting, the senior leader also said: "When I come to your region, the biggest impression is that your team atmosphere is very good."
With cohesion, unity, and a stable market, development follows.
- Support Without Forcing Intervention
A beer business manager was transferred to a market with consecutive declines at the end of 2024. Many colleagues called him: "How did you get transferred to that dead place? It's the graveyard of managers; the previous XX and XX disappeared."
Hearing his colleagues' words, his heart was full of doubt.
Later, the senior leader communicated with him earnestly: "Go and visit the market quickly, come up with 2-3 key measures to solve the problem. No one will give you advice, nor will they interfere. The company supports any decision you make, but the premise is to achieve a stop to the decline and growth."
With the leader's support, the business manager's motivation soared, and in the first half of 2025, sales achievement and growth ranked among the top.
During the experience sharing, he first expressed his gratitude for the leader's support, saying that without it, he might have given up long ago.
Especially during the channel replacement process, some distributors threatened to come to his house to cause trouble, and others said: "You can replace me, but you have to pay XX money, otherwise no way." With the leader's support, he withstood the pressure and continued to push forward, ultimately revitalizing the market.
- Digital Tools Empower, Not Burden
Empowerment is not just a slogan but concrete support tools.
In recent years, the distributor churn rate in major companies has been increasing. However, in a certain leading beverage company's XX province, the distributor churn rate decreased by 46% this year, and the salesperson churn rate also declined correspondingly.
The provincial leader responded: "Every month, we use digital tools to analyze 'inventory in and out' and provide early warnings. Then, for at-risk customers, we organize business exchanges and analysis to understand the root causes of problems and formulate solutions. Led by the manager, we go deep into the frontline to understand the feasibility of the solutions, continuously optimize execution until the core problems are resolved."
- Multiple Incentives to Boost Sales Motivation Comprehensively
Traditional performance commissions are increasingly unable to motivate salespeople. Some major companies are already thinking of ways to improve sales staff compensation, adding 'new customer development awards,' 'old customer growth awards,' 'profit contribution awards,' 'innovation practice awards,' 'mentor incentives for experienced staff guiding newcomers'... to enhance sales motivation and stability.
True empowerment begins with managers letting go of the 'blame-shifting' mentality, starting from themselves, shifting from 'I want you to complete' to 'I help you complete,' and seeing themselves as the first responsible person for business success, not as bystanders or referees.
Leadership during economic downturn is precisely reflected in the willingness to share the storm with the team and find a way out together.
Final Thoughts
Market competition is not only about comprehensive strength but also about who makes "fewer and smaller mistakes."
Many market problems have their roots not at the frontline but in the company's "brain." Managers cannot just sit back and enjoy the fruits; they should not use the phrase "salespeople are incompetent" to shirk all their responsibilities.
A distributor said it well: "If a salesperson could handle everything, would they be content to work as a salesperson under you?"
In the era of shrinking volume, channels are being restructured, supply and demand are being rewritten, and organizations are being replaced.
When the industry's foundation is shifting, any single-point optimization is ineffective. If you don't upgrade the system, you'll have to keep replacing people; if you don't rebuild capabilities, you'll have to wait for the market to collapse.
This is precisely the core topic we will discuss at the 'China FMCG Distribution and Retail Conference' in March 2026.
At this conference, you will gain:
- In-depth insights from 200+ industry leaders, interpreting the latest trends in the FMCG industry
- 200+ brand executives, 300+ retail pioneers, and 800+ top distributors and platform representatives, sharing the most authentic market information and cases
- Comprehensive systematic interpretation of new and old channels, including regional B2b platforms, instant retail flash warehouses, discount retail, convenience stores, and overseas markets, to gain insights into future business opportunities
Welcome to join us, and together with 3000+ industry partners, move forward to the C-end!
Ticket consultation: Zhuang Jiting