Reminder: Click the blue text above "FMCG Distributor Professional Consulting" to learn more about marketing and distributor internal management. A large amount of marketing practice tells us that if an enterprise cannot solve people problems, cannot build an excellent marketing team, and cannot mobilize employees' enthusiasm, then this will become the biggest trouble for the enterprise. So, as a distributor boss, how can you build an excellent team with "wolf-like" spirit? Employee problems are the boss's problems Employees lack motivation and loyalty, and many distributors think this is entirely the employees' own problem, unrelated to themselves. Distributors think that since we recruited them and pay them wages, they should work well for us. This is the concept of many distributors, but not the concept of employees. From a management perspective, the lack of employee motivation is first the distributor's own problem, not the employee's problem. What kind of boss leads to what kind of employees. So, instead of blaming employees, distributors should reflect on and improve their own management. The boss must not only be a business expert but also a human resource management expert. Distributors should establish a new concept: employees first, customers second. In the past, many enterprises' business philosophy was customers first; customers are the bread and butter of the enterprise. Now this concept is outdated. Globally, the new concept of "employees first, customers second" is becoming mainstream. The famous restaurant chain Haidilao adheres to this concept. Haidilao's managers all hold this view: moving 10 customers a day is not as good as moving one employee. If a distributor moves 5 employees every day, then these 5 employees will definitely move more than 10 customers every day. If the boss treats employees as first, employees will treat customers as first. This is the management rule of the 21st century. Management experts have concluded through surveys: for every 3% increase in employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction increases by 5%, and corporate profits can increase by 25% to 85%! Although Haidilao is not in the food distributor category, this concept is worth learning for all distributors. So, the primary task for distributors now is to replicate "caring people" like themselves, making employees care about and pay attention to every link and every problem in the enterprise. If distributors can successfully replicate a group of employees who care about and love the enterprise as much as they do, then the distributor's business will definitely be successful. Bosses must learn to share profits Many problems distributors encounter in their operations ultimately come down to people problems. Once people problems are solved, all problems are solved. The primary prerequisite for solving people problems is solving the problem of profit sharing. If the boss learns to share profits, then the enterprise becomes everyone's enterprise, and employees will care along with the boss; otherwise, the company is just one person's business. How should bosses share profits? Here I offer a few suggestions: Where rewards point, employees will run. Distributors should know that employees do not work for you; they work for money. So where your money points, your employees will run. This is very important for distributors managing their teams. Don't rigidly assign tasks; instead, break down bonuses. In the past, distributors would assign tasks to salespeople and then pay wages based on completion. Distributors might try a different approach. For example, if this month's target is to achieve sales of 1 million yuan, and the employee bonus is 50,000 yuan, the distributor can first take out the 50,000 yuan and tell employees this is this month's bonus. How to distribute it? The distributor can "break it down": a certain amount for distribution coverage, a certain amount for sales volume, and a certain amount for completing the 1 million sales task, etc. This reverses the previous model of task first, then salary. First determine the bonus, then determine the task, so employees see the bonus is there, and as long as they work hard, they can get it. This way, the boss is relaxed, and employees are motivated. Use tomorrow's money to reward today's team. A certain distributor implements reverse incentive measures: give employees money first, then see how much work they do. The specific method is: determine different levels of goals and bonuses; each person can voluntarily choose different levels of goals and receive the corresponding bonus in advance. After the assessment, employees who fail to complete the task must return the bonus. Would employees be willing to take money out of their pockets once it's in? If employees achieve the goal and receive the full bonus, they will definitely have a sense of accomplishment, which will motivate them to continue, keep up the good work, and strive for higher bonuses. It's not that good people get good rewards, but good rewards create good people. If distributors have good policies, good systems, and good incentive measures, employees will definitely work hard; conversely, if distributors do not have good policies, good systems, and good incentive measures, employees will not be happy working in your company and cannot earn money, then even the best employees will leave. So never reverse the cause and effect. Bosses must master the art of rewards and punishments Praise and criticism, rewards and punishments, are the oldest, simplest, and most effective incentive measures. But now many distributors have not applied these measures well. So how exactly should rewards and punishments be clearly distinguished? How to reward employees Rewards as the main approach, punishments as supplementary. In the management field, there is a very famous book called "The World's Greatest Management Principle," which states: People will do things that are rewarded. What does that mean? Employees will not do what you ask them to do, but they are happy to do things that receive your praise and encouragement. So if distributors want employees to work well, do not be stingy with your praise. Because many employees have this psychology: criticism can make me progress, but praise shows I have already progressed, so I prefer praise. Fully utilize the role of bonuses. Distributors generally pay wages by combining base salary and bonus, which does not do much to improve employee motivation. A certain distributor, when giving bonuses, does not transfer money to the salesperson's card but holds a salesperson meeting and places the bonus on the podium. The boss calls employees up one by one, comments on each person's monthly performance, and then hands the bonus to the salesperson. This public bonus distribution method not only motivates high-performing employees but also stimulates those who did not perform well, thereby inspiring their work enthusiasm. Public praise. A certain distributor annually selects sales champions, runners-up, and third place. At the award ceremony, the boss personally presents two custom-made imitation "medals" of different sizes, both inscribed with "XX Company Marketing Champion XXX." The small "medal" is pinned on the winning employee's chest by the boss, and it is stipulated that in future company commendation meetings, they must wear the small "medal." The large "medal" is hung on the winning employee's wall at home. Later, the company found that all three large "medals" were taken back by their parents to hang on the wall at home, which also gave employees a great sense of achievement. Timely rewards. Delayed rewards, like expired food, lose their original value. Henan Yixing Company is one of the top ten liquor distributors in the country selected by "Sugar, Tobacco, and Wine Weekly." Its rewards to employees reflect timeliness. When the month's task is completed, the salary is raised by one level; if the next month's task is also completed, on the basis of the floating increase, the salary is raised by another level. If the month's task is not completed, there are corresponding punishment measures. Rewards and punishments are both immediately implemented, which has created annual sales of several billion yuan for the company. Rewards must be fair. Some distributors are happy to give rewards to salespeople they like and are keen to praise them; but they are indifferent to employees they do not like, and even if employees make a small mistake, they do not let it go. This is a manifestation of unfairness and can easily dampen the enthusiasm of some employees. How to punish employees Although people like to hear praise, sometimes appropriate criticism is also necessary. So how can criticism be effective without dampening employee enthusiasm? The principle of heavy punishment. Distributors should make rewards so attractive that others are envious, and punishments so severe that they hurt. Distributors either have a broad mind and do not implement a punishment system, or they implement a heavy punishment system, which is effective. Public praise, private criticism. Praise employees in front of everyone, but criticize in private. This way, praising one person can drive a group, while private criticism preserves the employee's face and does not dampen everyone's enthusiasm. Praise before criticism. If an employee makes a mistake and the boss immediately scolds and criticizes, the employee will definitely not be convinced, and such criticism will have no effect. So distributors should learn the art of criticism, usually in the form of "praise—criticism—praise." Address the issue, not the person. If an employee does something wrong, the employee himself may be very good; it is just that the method is wrong. But in reality, some distributors will indiscriminately criticize the employee's character, which will definitely make the employee uncomfortable. Do not dwell on past mistakes. Just address the matter at hand; do not bring up old grievances. Distributors should not become "historians" and hold onto employees' past mistakes; they should see employees' contributions more. Do not compare in criticism. Do not compare Zhang San with Li Si when criticizing Zhang San. If you do this, you may inadvertently create an "enemy" for the employee, causing internal strife between the two. The purpose of criticism is improvement, not venting anger or revenge. A certain distributor, when punishing employees, used to make a punishment form listing the mistakes the employee made, the losses caused to the company, and the punishments to be received according to company rules. But later the boss found this was not effective, so he changed the punishment form to an "improvement form," and on the "improvement form" wrote a sentence: Correcting mistakes is to move forward better! This lets employees know that the purpose of punishment is not to target people but to better help employees progress, and it achieved good results. Finally, on the issue of motivating employees, I would like to give readers a few more sentences: pockets have money, future has prospects, going out has face, and going to work is happy. For small and medium-sized distributors, doing well in these aspects is enough. --------------------------------------------