“Our company dissolved the entire operations department, and those willing to stay were transferred to sales positions,” a former FMCG colleague recently told me.
Office workers used to sit in air-conditioned rooms, completing routine tasks, occasionally enjoying afternoon tea, and chatting about gossip. Life was comfortable.
Now, in the FMCG industry, manufacturers face severe challenges. Office workers live in constant fear, worried that their leaders might think their workload is insufficient, and that they might be suddenly optimized out. So they always find something to do, even if it's meaningless.
The development difficulties in the FMCG industry affect every practitioner, and office staff are no exception.
More and more office functionaries are being forced to transition to sales
“The end of FMCG is sales,” and in today's market environment, this saying has finally become a reality.
1. The primary targets of layoffs are office functionaries
Manufacturers demand annual profit growth, and when growth is weak, reducing headcount is the general trend.
In recent years, FMCG manufacturers have faced increasingly tough times, and layoffs have become routine. Many companies conduct layoffs almost annually, with office functionaries being the primary targets.
Most FMCG companies, to avoid compensation, call it a job adjustment and transfer office staff to sales roles.
Everyone knows that forcing functionaries into sales is a tactic for layoffs. On one hand, it avoids severance pay; on the other, it cuts costs. If you move to sales, you have to rely on performance to support yourself. If you fail to meet targets, you won't earn money and will likely resign voluntarily.
In the era of growth, some functionaries voluntarily requested transfers to sales, at least to meet targets and earn more money, and many even rose to higher leadership positions. But now, more are being forced into sales merely to survive.
2. Companies do not keep older grassroots functionaries
More and more companies are making age a hard criterion for promotion. For some functionaries who exceed the age limit, promotion paths are clearly blocked.
Grassroots functional positions are basically impossible to hold for a lifetime, because as age increases, efficiency in handling routine tasks declines, and they no longer meet the company's development needs, especially the ability to work overtime.
Additionally, leaders in functional departments are younger and find it hard to tolerate a team of older employees. They may even find ways to squeeze out inefficient older workers.
“I can hire a fresh graduate who can do better than you,” a new leader slammed the table and shouted at a specialist who had worked for over 10 years.
It's increasingly rare to see grassroots functionaries over 40. In contrast, older salespeople are more common; as long as they meet performance targets, the company can provide them a place.
Currently, companies of any scale have age requirements for recruitment. Older functionaries will find that if they leave the company, they may not be accepted elsewhere. For survival, they are forced to transition to sales, which becomes the better option.
In short, transitioning to sales might be the company's most dignified way to say goodbye to functionaries.
Transitioning from function to sales: a narrow escape
Those who avoid being laid off by being forced into sales still find it hard to survive. Especially in the current downturn, it's even harder: performance pressure, execution of various process indicators, dealing with inspections... Most functionaries who have transitioned to sales cannot last more than a year.
A financial specialist at a major company transferred to sales and after a week lamented, “Sales is too hard. I used to think it was simple—just place orders with distributors. But after just one week, I have to visit a sufficient number of terminals daily, get pushed by leaders for orders, and attend evening sales review meetings. Even the seemingly simplest ordering requires dozens of phone calls to coordinate...”
People once thought sales was easy: if you get a good market, you can just lie down and complete the task. It's clear that functionaries severely underestimate the work involved in sales. Functional roles often only handle one part of the sales process, not the whole. As outsiders, it looks simple, but it's not easy at all. Moreover, the skills required for sales cannot be learned from books; they require long-term practice to develop.
In short, functionaries who transition to sales often don't last long for various reasons.
1. Leaders want you gone, so they assign you to a bad market
If you're forced into sales, you're often assigned to a market that has been poorly managed. Because high turnover in bad markets creates vacancies.
A former colleague at a major milk powder company worked in promotion for six months. When the company's performance fell short, the promotion team was downsized, and he was transferred to sales. After visiting customers, he immediately felt he couldn't continue: “The previous salesperson had stocked at least three months' worth of inventory, and half of the distributor's sales were from unauthorized channels.”
Within a month, he resigned voluntarily.
2. Failure to meet targets forces you out
“After three consecutive months of missing targets, I only got a base salary, which wasn't enough to cover expenses, and I had to ask my family for money,” said an employee at a major company who quit just three months after transferring to sales.
The skills needed for sales are honed through practice. Due to lack of sales experience, it's normal to miss targets early on, but companies often don't give you enough time to grow. The cold, hard targets hang over your head, and if you don't meet them, you can be asked to leave at any time.
What's worse, in today's market, even experienced salespeople find it hard to meet targets, let alone “newbies” who just transferred.
3. Insufficient psychological resilience and poor stress tolerance
Sales requires strong stress tolerance. When starting out, with insufficient experience and mismatched abilities, you'll face many problems, such as customer rejections and performance pressure. What seems like a small issue to veterans can feel like the sky is falling to you. Continuous setbacks can lead to severe self-doubt.
A graduate student in agronomy, previously working in a lab with little communication, was quiet and honest. He was transferred to sales. Once, a distributor said in front of many people, “You're really not suited for sales; you can't express yourself clearly.” He could only stay silent and nod. Soon after, he resigned and went back to his hometown to do technical farming.
Especially when you miss targets, you'll be constantly warned by superiors, even scolded. “Can you do this or not?” “If you can't, leave now.” “I want results, not problems. You're here to solve problems. If you can't, what use are you?”...
Many people can't stand being spoken to like that, unlike seasoned salespeople who are used to it.
4. Clear career positioning: sales is just a temporary transition
Some functionaries have a clear career plan and know that sales isn't for everyone.
“I won't stay in sales long-term. My goal is the planning sector. I want to use this time to learn more about the market and then look for external opportunities,” said a former planning colleague who had just transferred to sales.
Even when forced to transfer, they remain more composed. All their actions are aimed at accumulating strength for their career development.
Don't become the one eliminated by the workplace
It's foreseeable that the living space for functionaries is shrinking, and their career cycles are shortening.
Many large companies reduce office staff every year; small companies use office staff to the extreme, often requiring them to wear multiple hats.
Despite this, most functionaries still face the dilemma of shortened career cycles. Because grassroots functional work is easily replaceable, and with so many graduates each year, bosses prefer to hire fresh graduates—low salary, high energy, and better cost-effectiveness than older office workers.
Facing career bottlenecks, many functionaries have already taken action.
Xiao Li, a functionary at a major company, rose through the ranks by writing PPTs for leaders, becoming a trusted assistant.
A HR specialist turned her experience into courses and became a trainer.
A former colleague said that an office clerk at their company voluntarily applied for a sales role. When she stood on the award stage and shared her early sales experiences, others marveled at how she endured, and it became her most valuable asset. Later, she joined the company's management team...
Many functionaries have successfully transitioned, but they all share a common trait: they are vigilant in times of peace, continuously “deepening” and “expanding” their professional skills, rather than becoming mechanical tools, and they dare to actively try and truly take action.
Now, if you're unwilling to learn new skills or take initiative, you can only wait for death. What awaits you is not just being eliminated by the company, but by the entire workplace.
Final Thoughts
We must face a reality: only a few functionaries can move up; the vast majority struggle in grassroots positions.
The day you're eliminated by the company can come at any time. Don't wait until that day arrives to realize you've been abandoned by the workplace, leaving you with endless sighs: “Besides making spreadsheets, I can't do anything!”