At this morning's meeting, a colleague shared an interesting story: one day he suddenly noticed his cycling speed had slowed. At first, he thought he had gained weight. Later, other colleagues helped analyze it—some said he was getting older, his physical fitness declining, and he needed supplements; others said long-term desk work and high work pressure meant he was in a sub-health state. Hearing these analyses, the colleague genuinely believed he was ill and lived under a shadow until, by chance, he discovered the reason for the slower cycling was simply under-inflated tires. Finally, he analyzed this matter: why didn't anyone consider whether the bike tires were low? Because everyone approached the issue from a fixed mindset, assuming that if the tires were low, the rider would definitely feel it. But precisely because the rider didn't feel it, various versions of analysis emerged. Thus, thinking from ingrained habits often leads to erroneous conclusions, especially for those long engaged in one type of work, who are more prone to falling into fixed mindsets.

Similarly, for distributor friends who sell liquor year-round, some think business is just that way; others believe the living space is shrinking. These views seem correct but are often derived from a single perspective and fixed mindsets, leading to wrong conclusions. The author of "The World Is Flat" uses extensive evidence to prove that the world is flat, opportunities are equal, everyone stands at a new starting line, and everyone has a chance to rise. By breaking free from fixed mindsets, observing from the broader environment and multiple angles, and reinterpreting those misread views, distributors' space is equally broad.

View 1: Doing terminals is seeking death; not doing terminals is waiting for death. Reinterpretation: Not doing terminals is waiting for death; doing terminals may not mean death. "Doing terminals is seeking death; not doing terminals is waiting for death" is a popular saying in the liquor industry, reflecting manufacturers' and distributors' helplessness over increasingly high terminal barriers. Whether from the manufacturer's or distributor's perspective, controlling terminals holds strategic significance as a key channel for profits; hence, not doing terminals is waiting for death. But doing terminals is not necessarily seeking death. If one dies, it's either due to misunderstanding the meaning of terminals or using wrong methods. First, the extension of terminals has expanded—private clubs, tobacco and liquor stores, etc., have become new terminal forms, and consumers are also considered the "terminal of terminals." Second, consumers from traditional terminals like hotels and supermarkets are diverting to more new terminal forms. Therefore, discovering and operating these new terminals is not seeking death but finding new profits. From this perspective, terminals are also beginnings.

View 2: Distributors' living space is shrinking. Reinterpretation: It's not that space has shrunk, but that thinking has narrowed. Regarding the shrinking living space for distributors, this must be viewed dialectically. First, from national industrial policy, there is increasing emphasis on food safety, thus greater market regulation. For distributors operating non-compliantly, living space certainly shrinks, but for those operating as enterprises, market space expands. Second, manufacturers and terminals completed integration before distributors, directly prompting members of the industry chain to reposition and rediscover their value. In this situation, distributors in the integration stage have not yet repositioned themselves, are confused about future direction, cannot find their value coordinates, and naturally cannot find development space. Finally, as company leaders, distributors' personal thinking also limits the expansion of development space. "As big as the heart is, so is the stage." Only by truly breaking through mental constraints can distributors discover large spaces and achieve leapfrog development.

View 3: Patriarchal enterprises are not conducive to development. Reinterpretation: It can be a patriarchal enterprise, but not adopt family-style management. Most distributor companies start as mom-and-pop shops, with family members gradually joining, working together toward a common goal, accelerating the distributor's primitive accumulation. As the company grows, the distributor becomes the patriarch. When facing growth bottlenecks, some believe patriarchal leadership is detrimental to enterprise development. However, looking at currently successful distributor enterprises, their commonality is having an excellent leader, a good "patriarch." This "patriarch" has clear development thinking, can well grasp the pace of enterprise development, appoints people on merit without nepotism, and does not shy away from relatives if they are capable. A patriarchal enterprise does not adopt family-style management. In this regard, Henan distributor Hu Yanjun once described: "In my company, my relatives' salaries are lower than other employees', and I manage them strictly. For example, if a mistake occurs, other employees are fined 100 yuan, but my relatives are fined 200 yuan. Although somewhat harsh, I believe this is necessary in a distributor company."

View 4: Increase salaries only after employees perform well. Reinterpretation: To take, one must first give. On Southeast TV's program "Min Merchants Venture Across the Seas," a judge asked Lin Wenhong, the young leader of Shenzhen Tianlong Mobile Technology Co., Ltd., this question: In an era of global integration, enterprises can outsource everything—logistics, sales, factories. After outsourcing these, what remains of the enterprise? What is an enterprise? Lin Wenhong answered: I'm glad you didn't outsource my team. I believe the greatest value of an enterprise lies in its team. With a team, everything can be rebuilt. This view applies equally to distributor companies. So how to retain employees? Many distributors think of giving high salaries, but only after employees perform well—the logic being that only by creating revenue can one earn high pay. But in reality, when employees haven't yet achieved results, giving them tangible, visible outcomes first, then guiding and motivating their efforts, is more effective and lasting.

View 5: Taking on new products relies on intuition. Reinterpretation: Taking on new products is also a technical task, a systematic project. When one has thoughts about something but finds it hard to express in words, we describe this state as "only to be sensed, not explained." Many distributors have this feeling, stemming from years of market operation experience. In the era of earning profits through price differences, this experience helped distributors quickly seize business opportunities. But with increasingly abundant products and diversified consumer information access, this experience has failed. Because distributors must consider not only price space but also whether the product is recognized by consumers. Therefore, taking on new products has become a technical task, a systematic project. In many modern distributor enterprises, taking on a new product is not decided by the boss alone but requires multi-level validation from business managers, distributors, and grassroots sales staff.

View 6: Put potential products off for later promotion. Reinterpretation: Integrate promotion of potential products into daily work. Health wine and yellow rice wine have always been considered sunrise industries, typical potential products. But due to product characteristics, their market capacity is relatively small compared to other liquors. Some distributors have a sense of occupying positions, grabbing well-known brands of yellow rice wine and health wine as reserve products. However, they believe these products need manufacturer cultivation and consumer maturity, so they don't promote them, treating them merely as accessories to baijiu, or some simply promote health wine and yellow rice wine the same way as baijiu, resulting in meager sales that cannot support terminal costs, leading to even less attention to these two categories. In reality, the overall trend for health wine and yellow rice wine industries is steadily rising. If a distributor's main products are other liquors, then for health wine and yellow rice wine, they should not shelve them but integrate product promotion into daily work, such as understanding market information and conducting irregular product publicity. This way, when the growth period for health wine and yellow rice wine arrives, they will certainly become the biggest beneficiaries.

View 7: Add products to share costs. Reinterpretation: Increasing sources is a method, but it can also be a burden. Rising costs are a major issue distributors face. To address this, distributors generally introduce more products, hoping these products bring new profits to share costs. But often, as products increase, personnel costs and sales costs also rise, and distributors do not achieve their original goal. From the perspective of profit sources, there are three approaches: first, product-oriented, continuously exploring product functions; second, opening profit channels by sorting out each link; third, providing value-added services to customers. When the first approach cannot bring new profits, distributors can adopt the other two: strengthening enterprise management to reduce costs through management and increasing customer services.

View 8: Developing own brands is the future path for distributors. Reinterpretation: Developing brands requires attention to resource allocation. Distributors often compare agency brands to raising someone else's child—no matter how good, it's still someone else's, so why not have your own? Thus, many distributors enter the realm of developing brands. But looking at these developed brands, few survive well. Why? Because distributors' existing resources do not match developing brands, or it can be said their capabilities are insufficient, so such brands naturally die young. Some distributors say, "Look at that big distributor developing many brands and thriving. Should we learn from them? When we grow big, we should also do our own brands." In reality, large distributor companies today, in a sense, already possess enterprise characteristics, with strong capital and mature networks, so developing own brands is feasible. But blindly following the trend of self-branding often lacks self-awareness. Seizing opportunities beyond one's capabilities is often the beginning of a nightmare.

Reply with the following keywords to categorize and read related professional articles: Sales Supervisor, Second-Tier Management, Regional Manager, Distributor Management, New Channels, City Manager, Competition, 2015, Manufacturer-Dealer Game, Product Slow Sales, Terminal Visit Management, Route Management, Deep Distribution, Internal Management, Sales Skills, Profit Improvement, Recruitment, Distribution, Daily Management, Team Motivation, Trade Promotion, Sales Misconceptions, New Product Launch, Township Market, New Product Pricing, Sales Target Achievement, Closing Deals, Market Visit Inspection, Baijiu, Beer, Sales Increase, Agency Products, Cross-Region Selling, KA, Terminal Merchandising, New Market, Market Operation, Learning, Book Recommendations, Inventory Management, New Salespeople, Consumer Promotion, Execution, Old Products, Expired Product Handling, Model Market, Franchise Recruitment, New Media, Distributor Development, Performance Appraisal, Assessment, Annual Planning, Sales Guide, Morning Meeting, Display, Transformation, Inventory Pressure, Festivals, Distributor Cost Control, Channel Operation, Marketing Theory and Laws, Brand Truth, Order Conference, Team Management, Training, Work Report, Work Report. Reply with number 1 to enter the document library for categorized browsing;