--- title: "Must-Read: Salesperson Survival Manual" description: "For an ordinary salesperson, doing the job well is enough; for one seeking rapid advancement, the ability to handle paperwork is indispensable. This article provides practical guidance on writing policy applications, sales plans, summaries, research reports, and sales diaries that win approval and recognition." author: "刘春雄" publisher: "New Distribution" email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com" telephone: "+8615854817671" published: "2017-11-04" language: "en" canonical: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/must-read-salesperson-survival-manual-e1f00054/" markdown: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/must-read-salesperson-survival-manual-e1f00054.md" original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/YCmRPFET45tNGo4bP_3k-g" translation: "https://xinjignxiao.com/zh/articles/%E5%BF%85%E8%AF%BB-%E4%B8%9A%E5%8A%A1%E5%91%98%E7%94%9F%E5%AD%98%E6%89%8B%E5%86%8C-e1f00054.md" attribution: "New Distribution — https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/must-read-salesperson-survival-manual-e1f00054/" usage_policy: "https://xinjignxiao.com/ai-policy.txt" --- # Must-Read: Salesperson Survival Manual > For an ordinary salesperson, doing the job well is enough; for one seeking rapid advancement, the ability to handle paperwork is indispensable. This article provides practical guidance on writing policy applications, sales plans, summaries, research reports, and sales diaries that win approval and recognition. By Liu Chunxiong / Teacher Liu's Forum (ID: liuchunxiong1964) For an ordinary salesperson, doing the job well is enough; for one seeking rapid advancement, the ability to handle paperwork is indispensable. 1. **How to Write a Policy Application Report That Gets Your Boss's Signature** **Reasons Why Policy Applications Are Not Approved** **Common Phenomenon 1:** At every sales meeting, salespeople complain about too few POP materials. Yet, whenever the boss visits the market, they see no POP, but find the dealer's warehouse walls covered with POP. If the boss discovers that policy resources are always wasted like this, will they approve your next policy application? > **Advice:** If the boss finds that policy resources are wasted, it will become more difficult to get future applications approved. **Common Phenomenon 2:** Every time a salesperson applies for a sales policy, sales increase rapidly in the short term. However, at year-end, total sales show no change. Will the boss approve future applications? > **Advice:** As long as sales policies do not lead to an increase in total sales, the boss will become increasingly cautious in approving them. **Common Phenomenon 3:** Sales policies are often intercepted by dealers. For example, dealers treat promotional policies as profit, so sales don't increase but profits do. Or dealers inflate advertising expenses and pocket the difference. > **Advice:** As long as it is discovered that sales policies are intercepted by dealers, future applications will be more difficult. **Common Phenomenon 4:** Some salespeople think the boss is afraid of spending big money, so they use a "fishing" tactic, breaking the application into small amounts that are easily approved. But once the boss sees through this trick, future applications become difficult. > **Advice:** Salespeople should not underestimate the boss and should avoid playing tricks. **The Boss's Mindset** Ordinary salespeople think the boss is most reluctant to spend money. They see the boss cutting applications in half as proof. This is typical of "measuring the boss's heart by one's own." The boss's mindset is: it's not that they are reluctant to spend money, but they fear the money won't be spent effectively. As long as spending a little can earn a lot, they dare to spend more. Therefore, the boss cares more about the "input-output ratio." **Common Misconception 1:** Salespeople often apply for policies with reasons like: "Our competitor's policy is very strong, we must follow." or "Sales in this market are declining; without policy, it's dangerous." This threatening approach may scare a few inexperienced bosses, but it's useless for most. The boss sees such words all the time and is used to them. Moreover, company policy resources are limited; some dangerous markets may be left alone since investment may not yield returns. **Common Misconception 2:** Most policy applications explain why money is needed but rarely state the expected results. The boss sees no output and may think it's a "policy bottomless pit." **How to Get Policy Applications Approved Quickly** **Recommended Practice 1:** When applying for policy, give the boss a bright future. Talking about opportunities is more effective than talking about difficulties. Opportunities excite the boss, who thinks about "more or less." Difficulties give the boss a headache, who thinks about "yes or no." **Recommended Practice 2:** Clearly tell the boss: everything is ready except the east wind—the policy is that wind. Without it, all is lost. This implies: I've done my part; it's your turn. The boss may also fear responsibility, so now is the time to approve. **Recommended Practice 3:** Tell the boss that the dealer is willing to cooperate with the policy. Fear of dealers intercepting policies is a common concern. "If the dealer dares to contribute 20% of the cost, the company dares to contribute 80%," many bosses think. Also, if the dealer is willing to cooperate, it shows confidence, as dealers are even more frugal than manufacturers in using policies. **Recommended Practice 4:** Report the results of previous policies. Salespeople often apply for policies but never report the outcomes, or are afraid to. Some salespeople get approvals at first sight because they have earned the boss's trust; they spend money with results and evaluations. **Recommended Practice 5:** Apply for policies in small, promising markets. The boss's mindset is "water the seedlings." This is the "Matthew effect" in policy use: the better the market, the more willing the boss is to give policies generously. Therefore, doing a small good market is better than a large poor one. If the market shows promise, policy is likely. **Better to Rely on Yourself Than on Others** Companies are not banks, and policies are not money printers. Policy resources are always limited; most applications are rejected, and even if approved, they are often cut in half, possibly missing the best timing. Where do policies come from? They come from "price space," or policies are an integral part of price. Since that's the case, it's better to rely on yourself. Salespeople can "create policies" by "repackaging" the price of new products with dealers, leaving enough policy space. Thus, while others worry about applications, you may have a steady stream of policies to invest in the market. 2. **How to Write a Sales Plan That Reassures Your Boss** Most salespeople see writing sales plans as a chore or think it's the boss's "make-work." So they write plans perfunctorily. Most sales managers also treat plans as a routine, optional task. Without them, management seems incomplete; with them, they seem useless. **Typical Phenomenon 1:** When asked about their sales plan, the classic answer is: "I gave it to the manager." As if the plan is just for submission. Or: "It's in my diary." Plans are plans, actions are actions. **Typical Phenomenon 2:** When asked about each salesperson's plan, sales managers often say: "It's in the drawer." **Typical Phenomenon 3:** Most sales plans contain only two items: a sales breakdown plan, which salespeople can detail by time, region, customer, and product, but they know that in China's real marketing environment, the more detailed the breakdown, the more it's a trick. Second, a promotion or policy application plan, as if failing to meet sales targets is not the salesperson's fault if policies aren't in place. **Typical Phenomenon 4:** Some plans are very detailed, down to daily itineraries and tasks. This is also a meaningless fake plan because a small unexpected event can invalidate such rigid plans. > **Concept 1:** Excellent salespeople are good at making plans and executing them effectively. Excellent managers are good at making plans for others and supervising their implementation. > **Concept 2:** Having no clear picture but good performance is possible, but it's not universal, cannot be replicated, or promoted. **Recommended Practice 1:** Without a qualified sales plan, never let a salesperson go to the market. They may not create value but generate costs. Sales management must revolve around sales plans. Process management mainly checks if the process matches the plan. > **Case:** A food company once held a monthly planning meeting for over 10 days. When sales targets were assigned, salespeople quickly produced plans. As usual, they were just sales breakdowns and promotion plans, with no work plans. We required: "Monthly work plans must be detailed enough that anyone can see that if executed faithfully, the month's tasks will be accomplished. Only then are they qualified to go to the market." So, salespeople had to present their plans one by one before all managers and face questioning. As a result, the best salesperson revised their plan three times, and the most revised six times. **Recommended Practice 2:** Break down sales plans into "existing volume" and "incremental volume," and require salespeople to develop work plans for "maintaining existing volume" and "achieving incremental volume." Breaking down the "nature of sales" is more important than the "quantity of sales." Sales work is determined by the nature, not the quantity. To maintain existing volume, focus on old customers, channels, outlets, and products, using promotions and price cuts. To achieve incremental volume, focus on new customers, channels, outlets, and products. For example, "help dealers develop 10 secondary distributors," "help dealers develop 30 retail outlets," "assist dealers in promoting new products"—these are the tasks for incremental volume. **Recommended Practice 3:** Sales plans should have two goals: a "sales target" and a "work target," with the work target being more important. Failing the sales target affects monthly assessments, "hat" (position), and "ticket" (income). Failing the work target forces monthly "sales pushes." The work target involves improving market fundamentals and continuously increasing sales, including new market development, new product promotion, shifting market focus downward, developing secondary distributors and retail customers, and terminal promotion. Although important, it is often diluted or forgotten due to the more urgent sales target. Without improving market fundamentals, salespeople must frequently use promotions and price cuts to meet sales targets. Therefore, frontline managers should focus on achieving work targets to accomplish sales targets. Marketing management should arrange salespeople's work based on work targets, not sales targets. Process management mainly monitors work target execution. Result management mainly assesses sales target completion. 3. **How to Write a Summary That Earns You Recognition** **Manager's Mindset** **Common Phenomenon:** Some salespeople are indignant: why are those with good performance not praised, while some with average performance are appreciated? They conclude that leaders like flatterers. This is typical of "measuring the superior's heart by the subordinate's," due to not understanding the manager's mindset. **Manager's Mindset 1:** Many salespeople think leaders care most about sales performance, but that's an illusion. Leaders are most interested in work achievements—what valuable things you did. For outstanding sales performance, leaders give routine rewards. For outstanding work achievements, leaders give exceptional encouragement. Routine rewards are required by company rules; exceptional encouragement comes from the heart. **Manager's Mindset 2:** For those with merit, give material rewards, called "compensation." For those with ability, also give rewards, called "empowerment." More simply: don't use power to reward those with merit. Leaders always reward those with performance but promote those good at summarizing and refining, because they can turn others' experience into their own and individual experience into collective experience. Leaders may not have excellent personal performance but can lead others to achieve. **Manager's Mindset 3:** Achieving sales targets is just the "baseline," like not boasting about "not breaking the law." It usually only keeps your "hat" (position) and is not enough for recognition. To gain recognition, you must understand and grasp the company's "strategic intent," which is what the company currently "cares most" and "worries most" about. **Manager's Mindset 4:** Leaders praise "obedient" salespeople publicly but praise "disobedient" ones privately. Because leaders need many obedient salespeople to help achieve goals, but they also need a few disobedient ones to help break through goals. **What Kind of Summary Reports Do Leaders Need?** **Common Phenomenon:** Most summaries emphasize "how to execute company policies," "how to work hard and smart," and "how to overfulfill tasks." This is a summary that satisfies the leader, not one that moves them. **Recommended Practice 1:** Summaries should be written from the company's perspective, not the individual's. For ordinary salespeople, summaries are routine. For leaders, summaries are for finding ways to the future. For those summarizing from a personal angle, if they do well, the leader may show superficial recognition. For those from a company angle, the leader may promote them. Personal summaries make you a good salesperson; company summaries make you a potential leader. > **Case:** When an agricultural company entered the Guangdong market, 10 salespeople completed only 2 million yuan in sales in the first year, less than one salesperson in other regions. But the boss was satisfied because they found a way to solve the problem that "it's impossible to do business in Guangdong without credit sales." If summarized from a personal angle, that sales volume wouldn't interest the leader. From a company angle, solving the credit problem meant finding the golden key to the Guangdong market. **Recommended Practice 2:** If you have any innovative approach, even a small spark, be sure to summarize it. For leaders, people with execution ability are easy to find, but those with innovation are rare. **Recommended Practice 3:** Excellent salespeople not only achieve results but also summarize methods into patterns or models. Leaders care more about models than sales performance because models can be widely promoted, which is what leaders care about. **Recommended Practice 4:** If a leader's approach is widely criticized, adding fuel to the fire won't help. If you think the leader is right, prove it with actions and use your summary report to provide "timely help" when the leader is criticized. 4. **How to Write an Insightful Research Report** **Common Phenomenon 1:** Many salespeople complain that leaders don't understand or support their work. Often, the fault lies not with the leader but with the salesperson. If the leader has no overall understanding of your market, why should they support you? Ask yourself: "What measures have I taken to help the leader understand the market situation? What measures to help the leader understand my situation?" Ordinary salespeople may understand their market, but excellent ones ensure the leader understands it. Remember, the leader learns about the market through you; the information you convey determines the support you get. **Common Phenomenon 2:** A company president sent two salespeople to develop the southern market. They were unsure and asked me for advice. I asked, "What do you plan to do?" They replied, "Find a few customers and ship goods first." I told them, "Do you really think the boss is foolish enough to send just the two of you to develop the entire southern market? The boss is uncertain and sent you to test the waters. If you do well, a larger team will follow. So your task is to thoroughly investigate the market through actual sales and explore a new model for developing the southern market." Going to market with a task → finding dealers → shipping goods → dealing with endless problems—this is how many salespeople enter a market. **Common Phenomenon 3:** Most research reports only state the market situation without analysis, and conclusions are simple like "sheep don't eat meat, tigers don't eat grass," which are meaningless for marketing. The primary task for salespeople entering a market is market research, not to investigate but to "insight"—to see the essence behind the surface. **Recommended Practice 1:** Whenever you enter a new market (even if it's new to you), give the leader a report on your overall understanding as soon as possible. When a new leader takes over, also provide a report on the market situation so they can accurately understand your work. **Recommended Practice 2:** An insightful research report should not just tell what the market is but provide three conclusions: First, is it worth doing—the market's value; second, can it be done—where are the opportunities; third, how to do it—where is the breakthrough. 5. **How to Write a Sales Diary That Records Your Growth** Ten years ago, when a young salesperson who had just graduated six months earlier showed me a diary, I found it full of questions and ideas. Many were naive and impractical, but some were feasible. I thought then that this salesperson would go far. Indeed, a year later, he achieved a market breakthrough and drove the whole company to a breakthrough. Now he has been promoted to general manager. There is a strong positive correlation between writing a diary and becoming a hero. While some marketing heroes voluntarily write sales diaries, they are becoming the "public enemy" of many salespeople. "It's a sign of distrust." "Rather than spending time on useless diaries, I'd rather visit more customers." These are common excuses—how high-sounding! Some say sales diaries have "original sin" because they assume salespeople are untrustworthy and need supervision. In fact, sales diaries are a tool for salespeople to "record their growth." Well-designed diaries are also effective workbooks, teaching you how to plan, summarize, and capture fleeting creative inspirations. Sales diaries are tools for self-reflection. We once surveyed and found that salespeople couldn't accurately recall their work from a week ago. Diaries provide a tool for systematic reflection and summary. Whether or not the company requires it, develop the habit of keeping a sales diary. **The 2017 (3rd) FMCG + Internet Conference** will be held in Chongqing in November 2017. The conference will closely focus on the theme "New Forces, New Ecology," inviting **1,000+ dealers, 500+ brand owners, 200+ B2B platform founders, and 100+ investment and financing institutions** to explore a new chapter of cross-border integration! **Registration is hot; only 20+ tickets remain... Scan the QR code below or click "Read Original" to register.** Click the links below to review the highlights of the 1st and 2nd FMCG + Internet Conferences: [2016 "FMCG + Internet" Summit Forum]() -END- --- ## Copyright and AI use This article is sourced from New Distribution. Search, quotation, summarization, and model training are permitted, but every use must credit New Distribution and retain the canonical source URL. Contact: zhaobo258@gmail.com · +86 158 5481 7671