---
title: "Small Distributors Rely on Intuition, Medium-Sized on Professionalism, Large on Management"
description: "The elimination and mortality rates among distributors are extremely high. How many distributors from 10 years ago have survived to this day? The wealth accumulated often follows the pattern of 'where did the money come from, and where did it go?' A cycle repeats every five years. In this cyclical process, do you see a strange fate or a clear path of business management?"
author: "New Distribution"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2016-04-19"
language: "en"
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original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/cgG_jPPA7C4ernqsIncN1A"
translation: "https://xinjignxiao.com/zh/articles/%E5%B0%8F%E7%BB%8F%E9%94%80%E5%95%86%E9%9D%A0%E6%82%9F%E6%80%A7-%E4%B8%AD%E5%9E%8B%E7%BB%8F%E9%94%80%E5%95%86%E9%9D%A0%E4%B8%93%E4%B8%9A-%E5%A4%A7%E7%BB%8F%E9%94%80%E5%95%86%E9%9D%A0%E7%AE%A1%E7%90%86-cec87750.md"
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---

# Small Distributors Rely on Intuition, Medium-Sized on Professionalism, Large on Management

> The elimination and mortality rates among distributors are extremely high. How many distributors from 10 years ago have survived to this day? The wealth accumulated often follows the pattern of 'where did the money come from, and where did it go?' A cycle repeats every five years. In this cyclical process, do you see a strange fate or a clear path of business management?

The elimination and mortality rates among distributors are extremely high. How many distributors from 10 years ago have survived to this day? The wealth accumulated often follows the pattern of 'where did the money come from, and where did it go?' A cycle repeats every five years. In this cyclical process, do you see a strange fate or a clear path of business management?

**Growth Laws**

**1. The main obstacle to distributor development is the 'founder's trap'**

In the early stages of entrepreneurship, the founder's courage and determination are the most primitive forces that support the survival of a young enterprise in a harsh environment. At this time, the growth of the enterprise hinges on the boss's single thought. 'I' (the boss) is greater than 'we' (the enterprise and all its people). 'We' is determined by 'I'. The boss's consciousness, style, and charisma determine everything. The enterprise's development relies on the boss seizing opportunities on the front line, which in a sense is 'playing speculation' and 'playing tricks'.

When a distributor develops to a certain scale, they fall into the 'founder's trap'. The spiritual strength that once supported the enterprise's development may become an obstacle to continued growth. As the enterprise expands, the relationship between 'I' and 'we' undergoes subtle changes.

**Past or Present**

**Past**: When making decisions, the boss had the final say alone, and couldn't even find suitable people to consult with.
**Present**: A proper decision-making team must be formed, and the boss needs to promote democratic roles.

**Past**: The boss managed everything directly, with all policies, systems, plans, profits, and losses stored in the boss's mind.
**Present**: Management levels have increased from one to two or three levels. Management requires systems, actions require plans, and profits and losses require accounting.

In the early stages, the boss is almost the sole driving force for growth. The development process is also a process where the boss's importance continuously decreases. If the boss still indulges in the 'lord of all' feeling from small business days, the boss becomes an obstacle to further growth.

To avoid the founder's trap, the boss must show determination when the enterprise reaches a certain scale: the individual is willing to submit to the enterprise. Only when 'we' is greater than 'I' can the enterprise truly grow and thrive.

**2. No grass grows under a big tree. A 'hero boss' often fails to create a 'hero enterprise'.**

Zhang Yue, the president of Changsha Broad, once said: 'When I first started, I found I could do the work of ten or a hundred people. But eventually I realized I couldn't do the work of a thousand or ten thousand.' A hero enterprise must find something that can do the work of ten thousand.

Comparing the 'small boss' of a small distributor and the 'big boss' of a large distributor, we find many differences in abilities and attitudes towards talent.

**Small Boss or Big Boss**

**Small Boss** often does not forgive subordinates' mistakes;
**Big Boss** often turns a blind eye to subordinates' minor mistakes. As the saying goes: 'Water too clear has no fish; people too observant have no followers.'

**Small Boss** encountering a subordinate with insufficient ability often says, 'I might as well do it myself,' so subordinates' abilities may never improve.
**Big Boss** encountering a subordinate with insufficient ability either trains them to be qualified or replaces them with qualified people.

**Small Boss** criticizes or even scolds subordinates when work is not done well;
**Big Boss** when finding the same problem, criticizes only if it's a responsibility issue, but guides and helps if it's an ability issue.

No grass grows under a big tree. The 'small boss's' excessive competence is often the reason subordinates are incompetent. Those bosses who can 'do the work of ten' or 'do the work of a hundred' will eventually find they cannot 'do the work of a thousand'. Therefore, cultivating subordinates and building a team is more important than leveraging the boss's personal talents. A 'hero boss' can only achieve a small enterprise; only a 'hero team' can achieve a large enterprise.

**3. If not hands-on, a distributor cannot do well; if handling everything personally, a distributor cannot grow big.**

Distributors rely on feel when doing market work; without personally doing the market, they lose that feel. But if they are in the market every day, they experience sensory fatigue and also lose feel for the market—this is the so-called 'aesthetic fatigue'.

Distributors often make two extreme mistakes: either handling everything personally, spending all day in the market, equating themselves to a salesperson; or staying away from the market for long periods, only going to the front line when problems arise.

To grow big, distributors must rely on subordinates to do the market; the boss alone cannot do a large market. But relying on subordinates doesn't mean letting them cross the river by feeling the stones; subordinates need the boss's guidance. To command subordinates, the boss must spend 2-3 days each month personally experiencing the market, not just taking a cursory look.

**4. The more people a distributor can manage, the bigger the business they can do.**

**From the start of entrepreneurship, distributors typically go through the following stages:**

**Stage One**
Mom-and-pop shop. At this time, sales volume cannot be large; too many customers and they can't handle it.

**Stage Two**
Couple plus helpers. Helpers are mainly relatives, only doing odd jobs, with little effect on market development.

**Stage Three**
Boss plus salespeople. Sales may expand, but they dare not hire very capable salespeople.

**Stage Four**
Boss plus sales supervisor plus sales team plus service staff plus accountant. The market can expand indefinitely, with company-style management and specialized division of labor.

This is a process of increasing personnel, or rather, because personnel increase, business gradually expands. Many distributors don't grow big because they dare not hire people:

**First**, afraid sales are too small to support them;
**Second**, afraid their abilities are too poor to be useful;
**Third**, afraid they are unreliable, so they only use relatives, fearing excellent salespeople become competitors;
**Fourth**, afraid they don't know how to manage and don't know how to use people.

The actual situation is often: First, it's not 'sales too small to support', but 'dare not hire, so sales are small'. In the early stages of hiring, sales may not support people, but as long as you dare not hire, sales will never increase. Second, many distributors' ideal 'capable person' is their own 'shadow', leading to the phenomenon: too poor ability, useless; too strong ability, dare not use.

**5. Small distributors rely on intuition, medium-sized on professionalism, large on management.**

Small distributors rely on intuition, instinct, and insight, which come from front-line experience. We often see small distributors have many little ideas and tricks.

Medium-sized distributors need professional judgment; without it, they can't keep up with industry changes.

Large distributors have accumulated enough resources, not doing things themselves but relying on others. Lacking long-term front-line experience, their intuition and insight diminish. But with sufficient management ability, they can mobilize many employees and fully utilize their intuition and insight.

**6. Only when products have appreciation potential do distributors have operational space.**

Brand-name products sell well but don't make money; non-brand products make money but don't sell well. Almost every distributor is caught in this dilemma. The solution is to 'distribute products with appreciation potential'.

For example, some paint companies, after making a brand strong, establish a new brand. Distributors face the choice: continue with the 'old brand' or take on the 'new brand'. Most choose the 'old brand', but a few with foresight choose the 'new brand'.

Since the 'old brand' and 'new brand' come from the same origin, quality is similar, but the new brand's price is lower, so appreciation potential is much greater. Some distributors even sell the low-priced new brand at the old brand's price, earning excess profits.

Choosing products is like choosing stocks: neither high-priced nor low-priced, but potential stocks—stocks that are currently low but will rise in the future.

Only when products have appreciation potential do distributors have operational space and profit margins.

**7. Entrepreneurial distributors must either become professional managers themselves or hire professional managers; otherwise, it's hard to transform from a startup enterprise to a normal operating enterprise.**

Liu Bei was an entrepreneurial boss; Zhuge Liang was a professional manager. Liu Bei never transformed from an entrepreneurial boss to a professional manager, but by hiring Zhuge Liang as a professional manager, he achieved the tripartite division of the world.

Some enterprises are always in the startup stage, managing a scaled enterprise with startup management methods; they certainly won't grow big. Such enterprises are always seizing opportunities but not accumulating resources to maximize opportunities. They are always adjusting and trial-and-erroring, but not promoting what has been proven correct.

Enterprises always in startup mode are always in the excitement of entrepreneurship, while normal operating enterprises may be plain or even boring.

If a boss is addicted to entrepreneurship and cannot successfully transform into a professional manager, it's better to hand over daily management to a professional manager and focus on entrepreneurship. Because entrepreneurial success requires the boss, while normal operation requires professional managers.

**Transformation Laws**

**1. Distributors that never grow big have a 'standard face'.**

**If main business relies on the boss to close deals**, such enterprises are hard to grow big.
**If customers only recognize the boss, not employees**, such enterprises are hard to grow big.
**If a few sales champions account for the vast majority of sales**, such enterprises are hard to grow big. Because an enterprise with many marketing heroes is doomed.
**If employees are mainly relatives, friends, or children**, such enterprises are hard to grow big.
**If the wife and sister-in-law personally manage finances**, such enterprises are hard to grow big.

Distributors that don't grow often curse subordinates as idiots, but don't think about why they are idiots.

**2. Business-oriented distributors have a scale limit; entrepreneur-oriented distributors have no limit. If a distributor doesn't transform after reaching a certain scale, they hit a 'ceiling'.**

Business-oriented distributors can achieve 'from nothing to something', but only entrepreneur-oriented distributors can achieve 'from small to large'. Business-oriented distributors can become millionaires or ten-millionaires, but only entrepreneur-oriented distributors can become billionaires. Business-oriented distributors may manage a team of dozens, but only entrepreneur-oriented distributors can manage thousands.

Most distributors start as business-oriented, but those that survive in the end are usually entrepreneur-oriented.

If distributors don't transform, they inevitably encounter the growth 'ceiling'.

Business people and entrepreneurs differ not in shrewdness, scale, capital, or profit, but in marketing models, organizational systems, management systems, boss mentality, and management philosophy.

**3. Business-oriented distributors focus on results; entrepreneur-oriented distributors focus on process.**

Business people often say: 'No matter how you do it, as long as the result is good'—whether white cat or black cat, as long as it catches mice, it's a good cat.

Entrepreneurs often say: 'The quality of results is important, but more important is whether good results can be repeated. Only results that can be continuously repeated are good results.' That is, a cat that catches mice is not necessarily a good cat; a cat that can summarize the rules of catching mice is a good cat.

**4. Business-oriented distributors want 'capable people' but fear them; entrepreneur-oriented distributors can use both 'capable people' and ordinary people.**

Many distributors have the experience of 'raising a tiger from a cub, only to be hurt when it grows up', holding a contradictory attitude of desire and awe towards 'capable people'. 'Desire for capable people' because they feel their own abilities are insufficient; 'awe of capable people' because they fear capable people will set up their own businesses and become uncontrollable.

Why do business-oriented distributors fear capable people? Because the capable people they fancy are 'their own shadows'—people as capable as themselves. Such people are strong in individual combat and naturally easy to set up their own businesses.

Why don't entrepreneur-oriented distributors fear capable people?

Because they recruit professional capable people, each excelling in a specific professional field, and they only function through the boss's combination. Even if they leave, it won't cause serious damage.

**5. Business people often 'reward according to merit'; entrepreneurs usually 'do not use positions as a reward for meritorious officials'.**

How to reward meritorious officials? One is material rewards, called 'compensation'; another is position rewards, promoting to leadership, called 'empowerment'.

Using positions as rewards may result in 'losing a doer, gaining a non-manager'. Business-oriented distributors often have meritorious officials controlling 'the court'.

In entrepreneur-oriented distributor teams, positions are only given to those with ability, not meritorious officials. Even if someone was once an opponent, if they have sufficient management ability, they may be given an appropriate position.

**6. Business-oriented distributors trust loyal and reliable people; entrepreneur-oriented distributors trust the power of systems.**

'Use people without doubt; doubt people without using.' This is a typical characteristic of business-oriented distributors. Because they achieve this, they can develop rapidly even with imperfect systems and processes. To achieve this, it also determines that entrepreneurial personnel mainly come from past small circles—familiar with each other, so they can use without doubt.

After scale expansion, people from past small circles can no longer meet development needs, so recruitment must expand to a wider range. When personnel come from all over, if 'doubt people without using' is required, there may be 'no one to use'.

To achieve 'use people with doubt', systems and norms must be established, using supervision, avoidance, and processes to 'make it impossible for bad people to find opportunities to do bad things', thus becoming de facto good people.

**7. Business-oriented distributors love to stir things up, finding a path through constant 'trial and error'; entrepreneur-oriented distributors often adhere to the belief: 'Be cautious before choosing, persist after choosing'.**

Business-oriented distributors love to stir things up, have many ideas, and the result is often 'can't die but can't grow big'. Because they love stirring, they always find a way to survive; because they can't persist, they can't take one thing to the extreme. Entrepreneur-oriented distributors are very cautious before choosing a path; once they choose, they go all out to persist.

**This platform will soon organize distributor friends who intend to transform to B2B platform e-commerce to visit and learn from B2B platforms.**

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