Fifteen years ago, when I first entered the beverage business, I deeply admired a few sales superstars. I vividly remember that during one peak-season month, a wholesale salesperson named Zhang achieved nearly 200,000 in sales, accounting for 50% of the total sales of an 11-person team. On some days, his single-day sales exceeded what some salespeople made in a month, truly achieving the feat of one person doing the work of ten. Looking back, it was the extensive marketing and management models that created these FMCG elites, but as channel refinement became more widespread, these sales gods gradually disappeared. Today's competition is no longer about individual heroism but about team collaboration. Building a strong team is essential for achieving long-term, sustainable competitive advantage and is the greatest test for sales managers. -01- The following issues are the most common and troublesome in sales team management. 1. High turnover rate among frontline employees The direct loss is that the customers served by these employees experience a gap period, and worse, some take high-quality customers to competitors, doubling the loss, ignoring the gap between concept training and skill behavior. 2. Limited high-quality customer resources in the market New customers take time to cultivate, and new and old employees compete for customers, leading to overt and covert conflicts. Some even disrupt market pricing to grab customers, subsidizing their own commissions. New employees become disheartened, see no hope, and progress slowly in sales skills, while old employees watch coldly, neglecting the accumulation of practical case studies. 3. Sales managers fail to meet targets and complain about weak team capabilities Some directly bypass salespeople and work hard themselves, while salespeople follow along or have nothing to do. This is like a master-apprentice model, replicating low-level practices. 4. Sales managers cannot effectively understand and grasp market competition They cannot effectively follow up on team operations, and the sales policies and plans they formulate cannot seamlessly align with actual market conditions. Managers are busy with affairs and passively respond. 5. Frontline staff are dissatisfied with their direct leader's management style No effective synergy is formed, work assigned by leaders is done perfunctorily, numbness sets in, execution efficiency is extremely low, and necessary methods are not used. In response to the above issues, let's discuss several feasible steps to build an excellent team. -02- First: An excellent sales team needs team culture Just like the independent regiment in the TV drama "Bright Sword" has a wolf-like culture, team culture is the first key to building an excellent team. A company may have many cultures, such as wolf culture, family culture, military culture, PK culture, result culture, etc., but for a sales team, I suggest only one culture: wolf culture. For example, I remember working at Jinmailang Beverage in 2016 when the company had just launched its new super single product, Boiled Water. The first new territory was to be opened at the factory location. Upon receiving the company's order, team operations began immediately. The next day, the nearest team gathered, and for half a month, we assembled at 6:30 every morning, set distribution goals, and did not stop until goals were met, often finishing around 9 PM. The slogan was: Distribute to every sales point in the market. At that time, the 2-yuan water market was already dominated by Nongfu and C'estbon, but the collective effort resulted in over 80% of sales points having neat displays of Boiled Water on shelves, in coolers, and cut-box displays, astonishing the industry. What supported everyone was the determination to achieve the target. Without vehicles, some managers used their own cars for delivery; without time for lunch, they only ate a meat sandwich; without customer relationships, they paid out of pocket to treat customers to ice cream and fruit. This is wolf culture. Wolf culture needs to be introduced, and can be done from four aspects: 1. Have a common dream, introduced from mission and goals. In the Jinmailang Boiled Water campaign, banners were pulled every morning with goals and determination. 2. Introduce from vision and achievements. The vision of the Jinmailang Boiled Water campaign was: Without a successful model market, there is no successful experience; without successful experience, the market cannot be opened, and achieving performance becomes difficult. 3. Introduce from interests. The Jinmailang Boiled Water campaign required the team to calculate the policy rewards of Boiled Water and explore ways to make money in collective operations. 4. Introduce from reputation. The evening meetings of the Jinmailang Boiled Water campaign gave spiritual and material rewards to excellent groups. Second: An excellent sales team needs to do well in recruitment and pre-onboarding work

  1. The gap between people can sometimes be large, not in overall ability, but in whether they are the most suitable team members. Therefore, it is recommended that in recruitment, interviews should not be delegated to HR; the first interviewer must be the team's first leader. After screening, select your own team members, then proceed to the second stage.
  2. Intensive training for new hires: The purpose is to let them understand the company's culture, product knowledge, sales processes, use of mobile terminal systems, and understand various departments to seek help, etc.
  3. Special training on sales mindset and skills before "going to market": I have deep feelings about this. At the beginning of this year, our company expanded its business scope and recruited heavily, expanding the sales team by 1.5 times in a short period. A large number of new people flooded in, and the internal sales team could not digest and integrate on its own. Helplessly, we had to organize managers to conduct "new hire training," teaching specific practical sales experience. After training, a mentor would take two or more new hires to the market. But in fact, training first and then practice is just paper talk for new hires. The result was that we lost nearly one-third within three months, which had a greater impact on the overall team. —Conclusion: Business training cannot stay in office training; it must be combined with actual operation, otherwise the "casualty rate" for new hires will be high. Therefore, before new hires "go to market," the following basic work must be done. a. Help team members adjust their mindset: As the economy declines and consumer purchase channels diversify, the success rate of salespeople in a specific channel is gradually decreasing. So they must learn to accept rejection, overcome fear and frustration, adjust their state, and face every terminal store owner. b. Locking and developing target customers: There are many terminal customers in the market. New salespeople entering the market will be confused and not know where to start. Teach them the criteria for target customers, how to approach target customer owners through phone calls, referrals, etc., and how to communicate to close deals quickly. c. Familiarize with corporate background and product differentiation: The key point is to let terminal stores understand the company's credibility and capability. Respond confidently to various questions from terminal store owners about the product. d. Understand customers' purchasing psychology and benefit needs: In FMCG, profit factors are only sales volume and per-unit profit, both relative to competitors. How to make your product move faster (through vivid execution) and how to make your sales policy more favorable (know the policy well and promote it locally) are key to closing deals. e. Master methods to handle different voices: In daily work, customers ask all kinds of questions, such as: Why is this month's promotion smaller than last month's? Why can't the same price be combined into a package? Why is this product's capacity lower than that one? Salespeople must have the basic skill to distinguish truth from falsehood, summarize issues, and answer fluently. f. Familiarize with every sales and business process: With the development of technology, various software is maturing. FMCG inventory management has long been integrated through terminal mobile systems, so the requirements for salespeople are higher. They must be proficient in product outbound, order packages, exchanges, handling damages, etc. g. Familiarize with internal company processes and market resources that can be applied for: At high-quality sales points, market display support is needed. How to apply through the process, estimate how much support can be applied for, how to report orders and settle accounts, etc. Understand that you are not fighting alone; the support and resources of the logistics department are always with you. h. Familiarize with relevant management systems during sales execution: Every company has bottom lines that cannot be touched. Some companies require orders not to be overnight; as long as there is an order, it must be delivered the same day, otherwise heavy penalties. Some companies require payment not to be overnight; received payments must be turned over to finance no matter how late. Inform team members in advance to avoid penalties and emotional damage due to ignorance. The above issues are practical details; building an excellent team requires attention to all aspects. Third: An excellent sales team needs to do well in co-visit coaching for new hires Regarding co-visit coaching, I think the best beverage company is Nongfu Spring. Nongfu Spring has always had a good habit (of course, this habit is forced by the company's assessment system): sales directors, sales managers, regional operations general managers, and regional general managers must conduct co-visit business visits to the market according to company regulations. Co-visit business visits are also called "co-visits" within Nongfu Spring. It requires that on the day of the co-visit, the superior puts down all work and only does business assistance. From the first store visit to the last store visit of the day, no store can be missed; otherwise, it is considered an invalid co-visit and unqualified. Specific requirements are set for the number of co-visits per month and the number of co-visits for new team members. If a manager misses one co-visit, 50% of the monthly performance salary is deducted; if two are missed, the manager is advised to leave. The high frequency and strict requirements of co-visits are worth learning from peers. To build an excellent team, you must know your team members thoroughly. Attitude and skill issues can only be fully discovered through continuous co-visits, allowing you to fill gaps and improve comprehensively. Fourth: An excellent sales team needs to do periodic rotation training, and check at all times and for everything The best way to improve combat effectiveness is training and learning. During my market visits, I found that some issues were repeated in meetings, and I believed all members had mastered them. But in reality, that was not the case; it was just my assumption. Some things I thought were too simple to explain, but in actual operation, team members still made mistakes. So periodic rotation training is a struggle against collective forgetting. Forgetting exists all the time, so rotation training must follow closely. Second, learning content must be checked at all times and for everything. The closed-book exam from student days is a good choice. Fifth: An excellent sales team needs high-EQ managers, a harmonious atmosphere, and work that is balanced with relaxation. Organize team-building activities periodically, etc. I won't elaborate on these. Final Thoughts: This article is actually a reflection and summary of my efforts this year to build an excellent team. A few points worth reminding: First, an excellent team is the primary productivity of a sales company. Team building should be gradual, and the size should not expand rapidly; otherwise, even excellent team members may become mediocre due to lack of attention. Second, team building should have processes and methods to follow, and systems to rely on, ensuring every step proceeds in an orderly manner. Finally, building an excellent team requires patience. Give full time for everyone to leverage their strengths and avoid weaknesses. Not everyone in an excellent team is an all-rounder; the team leader puts the right people in the right positions to do the right things, unleashing their maximum potential. Do not be impatient or seek quick success. Extended Reading:

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