---
title: "Not Teaching You to Be Bad – Unconventional Principles for Sales Managers"
description: "In the sales industry, some important principles are not found in books or training but are widely circulated. How to become a top-performing sales manager isn't just about the rules taught in books or by teachers—and are those rules really useful? I want to share some unconventional principles that, though not written in books, might still help you."
author: "俞雷"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2014-11-19"
language: "en"
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markdown: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/not-teaching-you-to-be-bad-unconventional-principles-for-sales-managers-8912e108.md"
original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/n9Eh9OMskiM24282lMp9Vw"
translation: "https://xinjignxiao.com/zh/articles/%E4%B8%8D%E6%98%AF%E6%88%91%E6%95%99%E4%BD%A0%E5%9D%8F-%E9%94%80%E5%94%AE%E7%BB%8F%E7%90%86%E7%9A%84%E5%8F%A6%E7%B1%BB%E5%8E%9F%E5%88%99-8912e108.md"
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---

# Not Teaching You to Be Bad – Unconventional Principles for Sales Managers

> In the sales industry, some important principles are not found in books or training but are widely circulated. How to become a top-performing sales manager isn't just about the rules taught in books or by teachers—and are those rules really useful? I want to share some unconventional principles that, though not written in books, might still help you.

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In the sales industry, some important principles are not found in books or training but are widely circulated. How to become a top-performing sales manager isn't just about the rules taught in books or by teachers—and are those rules really useful? I want to share some unconventional principles that, though not written in books, might still help you.

**The first principle for sales managers: Choose the right company.**
Everyone knows the benefits of graduating from a prestigious school, but few realize that working for a prestigious company is even more important than a prestigious school. Look at the resumes of successful sales managers—almost all of them have experience at outstanding companies. What can an outstanding company give you? First, confidence. Outstanding companies select the best talent, and being able to enter such a company proves your excellence. Confidence is not entirely innate; it is built up through such experiences. Mars' tough, even arrogant style is also related to what they call "the strictest interview in the FMCG industry." After rounds of eliminating competitors—even face-to-face eliminations—pride and a sense of superiority naturally arise.

Only in an outstanding company can you quickly learn the best and most successful sales techniques. Only at Coca-Cola can you deeply understand what impactful merchandising is; only at Procter & Gamble can you deeply understand what rigorous logical thinking is; only at L'Oréal can you deeply understand what truly building a brand means. With the same effort and time, at Master Kong you might just change your language habits, calling Chinese channels "通路" and marketing planning "企化."

Outstanding companies may not offer the highest salaries, but this experience will deeply influence you, change your thinking patterns, and leave a lasting mark on your career path.

**The second principle: Follow the right boss.**
Just like choosing the right company, following the right boss is crucial. A good boss not only provides guidance and encouragement within the company but also opens up promotion opportunities as your boss rises. When Yan Aijie switched to Langjiu, many who followed him were his former subordinates from Mars' northern region. Now he is the "first person in baijiu terminal sales," and many of his former subordinates have gained more opportunities; some regional managers' salaries are astronomical in the FMCG industry.

However, a bad boss is like a roadblock: when performance is good, he takes all the credit; when performance is poor, he shifts all the blame to his subordinates. He can't teach you anything, and he won't get promoted. And if he doesn't get promoted, it means your future is bleak, at least within that company.

**The third principle: Squeeze the last penny from your boss's pocket.**
We often discuss a very practical question: What has the greatest impact on performance? Many excellent sales managers unanimously say two words: resources.

Whose pocket are the resources in?
In the boss's pocket!
What to do?
Squeeze out the last penny!

Most companies are not profit-center based; they mostly use a quota system. Under a quota system, all your resources—personnel, promotions, expenses, etc.—are allocated by the boss. But is the boss always fair in allocating resources? Obviously not. So what do you do?

Shout!

When calculating performance, no one will ever ask about your resource allocation. If you fail to meet targets and blame insufficient resources, people often see it as making excuses. But think deeper: if you knew from the start that resources were insufficient, why didn't you fight for them from the boss? If you can't convince the boss, isn't that also your problem?

Knowing how to fight for resources is not a sign of incompetence; on the contrary, those who know how to fight are often capable. No matter how capable a sales manager is, you can't make bricks without straw. Resources may not be everything, but without resources, you can't do anything.

The old Chinese saying is always right: The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

**The fourth principle: Managing your boss is more important than managing your subordinates.**
But how do we convince our boss to willingly hand over the last penny from his pocket? Generally, you are not your boss's only subordinate, and asking for resources requires skill.

We all know the importance of managing subordinates, but few mention the importance of managing your boss. Your boss also needs management. If most of the information he gets about you comes not from you but from your colleagues or subordinates, your situation won't be good.

Your boss's time is precious, so when communicating with him, don't be long-winded. Use concise language to state your views, but also have solid reasons—otherwise, you're just asking for a scolding. Most importantly, be very confident. If you lack confidence, your boss will lack confidence in you, and lacking confidence in you means lacking confidence in your plan (which is to get resources to achieve your sales targets).

A friend once asked me this question: At a sales meeting, his boss proposed a sales plan and set targets. When it was time for everyone to "show determination," his boss asked him, "Do you have confidence?" But my friend felt there were flaws in the plan, so he replied, "Um... ah..." As a result, the meeting atmosphere became quite tense. His question was: How should one handle the boss in such situations?

In reality, at such "united and victorious" meetings, the boss's most important need is atmosphere. He is smarter than you and knows that plans can't keep up with changes. Plans can be revised, but if you ruin the meeting atmosphere, your credibility with the boss will suffer greatly. You need to help the boss create the atmosphere. You can raise issues privately afterward. First, gather enough information, propose a complete solution, and preferably have two or more options with your personal preference indicated. Remember, never give the boss a problem without an answer. The boss only does multiple-choice questions, not open-ended ones. If you need the boss to solve everything and have no ideas of your own, why are you being paid?

**The fifth principle: Don't treat the village chief as not an official.**
In any company—big or small—sales is always just one department, now and in the future.

Sales managers cannot achieve sales targets without the cooperation of other departments. No matter how skilled you are, without the support of finance, operations, transportation, and production, you can't do anything.

Where there are people, there is "class struggle." Sales managers must face this fact and navigate complex interpersonal relationships with ease.

Salespeople like to think they are the most important department, but that's not the case. The bigger the company, the more bureaucratic, and the more restrictions sales faces. The order-processing department knows that orders guarantee their salaries, but they often prefer fewer orders so they can work more easily.

Building relationships within the organization is crucial. Treat these "village chiefs" like your customers. Learn to say "thank you"—even though it's their job—and learn to say "my plan is..."—even though planning is supposed to be their job.

These "village chiefs" can help you a lot. In a bureaucratic system, we must learn to find loopholes to counteract the negative effects of bureaucracy on sales. Otherwise, these village chiefs will say things like:

"Well, according to procedure, it's like this..."
"Well, this isn't our department's business..."

**The sixth principle: Distributors speak nothing but nonsense.**
The customer is God?
Oh?
In the distributor sales field, unlike direct sales where you only sell products, through the distributor channel, you sell not just products but also interests.

China's distributors are still in a transitional stage, with poor credit and a common trait of "muddling through." If you treat them all as gods without distinction, you'll be taken advantage of.

What do distributors like to do? They like to repeatedly apply for listing fees from your company, getting approval from one branch and then another; they like to attribute all personnel costs to you and then take money from other companies; they like to inflate inventory price-difference claims, saying one is two and two is four, to get more compensation from your company. Are they still gods then?

Sales managers walk a tightrope, balancing company interests on one side and the distributors' "muddling" on the other. If you are completely rigid and don't adapt, that's also wrong. Company policies are often products of bureaucracy and may not fit actual situations, but you can't use that to justify distributors' "muddling" or believe their nonsense.

Distinguishing between human words and nonsense requires accumulated experience. But you should assume everything they say is nonsense, then, based on that, identify which parts sound somewhat human, and those might be worth considering...

**The seventh principle: Be ruthless! Ruthless! Ruthless!**
The sales target is a gun. Would you rather have your boss point it at you, or you point it at your team and your distributors?

No one wants a gun pointed at them, right?

Don't give your sales team or distributors any excuse for missing targets. "Successful people find methods, failures find excuses." What you need to do is ruthlessly dissect their excuses. The key is to be serious. If they stubbornly make excuses, you stubbornly get to the bottom of it. See if there's a real problem or if it's your sales team or distributors that have the problem.

Sales managers need keen professional instincts to spot the essence of sales performance problems at a glance. If heads need to roll, roll them; if issues need handling, handle them. If you hesitate, the market will kick you out.

All these principles shape the personality of an excellent sales manager: decisive, sharp, knowing how to persuade the boss, how to handle relationships, manage colleagues, and fight for resources. They know how to analyze the essence of problems. Most importantly, they know how to achieve 100% of their targets.

I wish you success too!
You can definitely do it!

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Contact: zhaobo258@gmail.com · +86 158 5481 7671