Introduction Everyone knows the saying, "A rabbit doesn't eat the grass near its own burrow," but there is a second half: "A rabbit always returns by the same path." From this, we see that the wild rabbit dies from its own experience.

Pressure from Manufacturers "Half Joy, Half Sorrow" Task pressure. Manufacturers always set tasks for distributors. For example, one company requires its distributors to achieve an annual sales growth rate of no less than 30%; if they fall below 30%, the company drops them. Many distributors are unwilling, but they have to comply because that's how strong companies operate.

Capital pressure. The biggest issue now is that manufacturers and distributors deal in cash, while distributors and farms operate on credit, and wholesalers and secondary distributors also use credit. This creates trouble; many distributors are essentially "loan sharks," nothing more.

Burning bridges. What does "burning bridges" mean? After a distributor has developed the market for a manufacturer, the manufacturer's salesperson says, "We're not playing with you anymore," because they've found someone better. This is infuriating. Such manufacturers are abundant in our industry, so we must be wary.

I recall the famous poet Wang Guozhen wrote a poem called "A Mother's Heart," describing a mother's feelings toward her daughter. I think it also fits the relationship between wholesalers and their secondary distributors: Half joy, half sorrow, the hardest to express is a mother's love; hoping the fruit will ripen, but once ripe, fearing it will fall. You see, many distributors have similar feelings; we hope our secondary distributors will "grow up," but once they do, we fear they'll "marry someone else." There's no way around it.

Note that channel下沉 (channel sinking) is a trend that no one can stop. What's your response? You should align with the trend, not resist it.

Pressure from Competitors "Jumping into the Water, Half-Drowned" Promotional pressure. If you don't run promotions, competitors will, so you're forced to follow suit or risk losing customers. Promotions targeting end customers are endless: travel, conference promotions, product discounts—travel goes from domestic to international, from Asia to Europe.

Credit pressure. If you don't offer credit, competitors will, and once they do, you have to follow. So everyone "jumps into the water" and "half-drowns," or at least gets choked.

Service capability. When our downstream becomes stronger and more specialized, our original service capabilities start to fall short, unable to meet the higher demands of our downstream's growth.

Product pressure. What does product pressure lead to? You'll find that the better a product sells and the longer it's sold, the more profits decline. You can't refuse to sell it because customers demand it, but if you do sell it, there's no profit. Under regulatory trends, product pressure has two aspects: first, selling compliant products, which are transparent with low margins; second, non-compliant products, so-called "miracle drugs," which have high margins but high risk.

Pressure from Terminals Service failure. Our simple services used to suffice, but now they can't meet terminal demands.

Terminal rebellion. Somewhat larger terminals want to bypass distributors and deal directly with manufacturers.

Also, profit squeeze. No need to elaborate.

Pressure from Within "Working Without Results, or Slackening Off" Distributor team building. Many distributors lack personnel and teams. Some can't recruit, others are afraid to hire, and occasionally a few trained employees leave to start their own businesses.

Benefit distribution. I often say: training hardly changes attitudes. The effect of training on employee attitudes lasts no more than three days. Team change comes from benefit distribution, not training. When benefit distribution changes, attitudes change. Due to unreasonable benefit distribution, some employees work without results or simply slack off.

Organizational efficiency. Organizational efficiency relies on division of labor and collaboration. Distributors, especially wholesalers, need to improve team efficiency through organizational division. No one is a jack-of-all-trades; social progress and division of labor mean each person does what they're good at and leaves the rest to others. People are self-interested; they'll improve at what they can do and abandon what they can't. Trying to make everyone a generalist is doomed to fail. When someone becomes a generalist, they'll definitely change jobs or start their own business. Keep this in mind.

Operating costs. Ten years ago, hiring a salesperson cost about 1,000 yuan a month; a technician in 2002 got 800 yuan, which was high then. Now, a good technician who understands pig diseases and can treat them well commands an annual salary of at least 100,000 yuan; anyone cheaper is likely a "quack." In short, operating costs keep rising.

Resistance from Within "The Wild Rabbit Dies from Experience" Empiricism. I often tell the story of "trapping wild rabbits." Everyone knows wild rabbits don't dig burrows; domestic rabbits do. So wild rabbits find a nest under bushes or in hidden spots, which isn't easy.

To keep predators from finding their nest, wild rabbits travel an average of two to three kilometers to graze. Their habit is to sleep during the day and go out at night to eat, hoping to avoid predators. But a key trait: they always return by the same path.

This trait was discovered by clever humans. Especially in winter, after a light snow, we see a single trail of rabbit tracks. If the rabbit hasn't returned yet, we set a snare on the path, and the rabbit gets caught. That's the basic principle.

Everyone knows "a rabbit doesn't eat the grass near its burrow," but the second half is "a rabbit always returns by the same path." From this, the wild rabbit dies from experience. The path was safe when it went out, so it assumes it's safe on the return, but by then the environment has changed—humans have set a snare on its return path, and the rabbit doesn't know, so it's doomed.

Outdated knowledge. In the age of rapid internet development, our old knowledge can't cope with the current market. We used to rely on information asymmetry, but the future relies on knowledge asymmetry. I've stressed repeatedly that the internet has eliminated information asymmetry, making it harder to profit from it.

Backward thinking. Not seeing the industry's future, not using the future to guide the present, but using past experience to guide the present.

Herd mentality. What's herd mentality? Doing what others do. The classic example: at a tourist spot at lunchtime, with several restaurants, how do you choose? You go to the one with the most people, right? That's herd mentality. You don't know if it's good, but you think "many people means it's good."

Speculative psychology. This is another typical resistance. Grabbing a product and monopolizing it, selling it arrogantly, making a killing in one go—such opportunities are fading. Earning reasonable profits, earning what you should, is the way to survive in the future.

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