---
title: "The Essential Daily Management Course for Distributor Owners"
description: "When it comes to management, the most important aspect is managing people. A company is made up of individuals, each with their own unique thoughts, so regardless of company size, managing people is an unavoidable required course. This article covers recruitment, managing the post-80s and post-90s generations, retaining key employees, selecting middle managers, and promoting department heads from within."
author: "New Distribution"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2016-04-04"
language: "en"
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---

# The Essential Daily Management Course for Distributor Owners

> When it comes to management, the most important aspect is managing people. A company is made up of individuals, each with their own unique thoughts, so regardless of company size, managing people is an unavoidable required course. This article covers recruitment, managing the post-80s and post-90s generations, retaining key employees, selecting middle managers, and promoting department heads from within.

****When it comes to management, the most important aspect is managing people. A company is made up of individuals, each with their own unique thoughts, so regardless of company size, managing people is an unavoidable required course.****
**1. On Recruitment**
**2. The Post-80s in the Company**
**3. Retaining Key Employees**
**4. Selecting Middle Managers**
**5. Promoting Department Heads from Within**
**On Recruitment**
As the company grows, recruitment becomes essential. Over the years, I've hired many people and found that recruitment is a skill with many challenges and nuances.
Initially, lacking experience, I always sought the best candidates. For a customer service position with a salary of around 1,000 yuan, I often hired graduates from prestigious universities, even requiring CET-4 English proficiency. Later, I realized these people couldn't be retained. Some simple jobs could be perfectly handled by vocational school graduates; hiring a key university graduate was unsuitable for both parties, the only benefit being bragging rights in the company profile. Also, during interviews, you can't fully trust what candidates say. Sometimes they've just lost their job and are feeling down, so they'll promise anything to get a new one. Once, we were recruiting for a business position with a salary of about 2,000 yuan. A girl applied with a bachelor's degree and 3 years of experience, her previous job at a foreign company paid 3,500 yuan. I asked if she could accept the lower salary, and she unhesitatingly said yes. Given her abilities and experience, she seemed suitable, so I hired her. Half a month later, just after the previous employee handed over work, she resigned, citing low salary, leaving the company in a difficult position. When rehiring, I chose a girl whose original salary was 1,500 yuan. Although not from a prestigious university, she was fully capable of handling the business role. She's been in the position for nearly two years now, performing well and satisfied with her salary. Generally, most people seeking new jobs (except during economic crises) expect positions and salaries to be equal or better than their previous jobs; very few are willing to take a step down.
My recruitment experience: better to miss a thousand than hire one wrong person. In my experience, it's more effective to hire at a lower tier but pay at a higher tier (i.e., hire third-rate talent, do second-rate work, pay first-rate wages. Of course, these tiers are relative). During recruitment, take the time to verify candidates' identities. A few years ago, three incidents occurred where new employees absconded with company funds. When we called, they were brazen: "My ID, diploma, and address were all fake, so you can't find me, and the police won't bother with a few thousand yuan." Indeed, the police said it didn't meet the threshold for filing a case. Now, for local hires, we verify personal information one by one; for non-locals, we require a local guarantor in addition to verification. Anyone found falsifying information is rejected. Though somewhat extreme, this has prevented similar incidents since.
**The Post-90s in the Company**
In recent years, the number of post-80s and post-90s employees has increased. They are mostly only children, differing greatly from the older post-70s and post-60s who have siblings. The post-80s and post-90s are quick, energetic, and flexible, but relatively self-centered, disloyal, and hasty. Often, they express dissatisfaction not with words but by leaving—you criticize them today, and they resign tomorrow. They also speak bluntly, consider issues from a self-centered perspective, and rarely hold back when expressing opinions. However, the increasing presence of post-80s and post-90s is an unavoidable fact for any company. How to effectively manage them has become a pressing issue.
Once, I asked a post-80s employee: "What kind of work do you hope to do, and what do you hope to gain from work?"
He replied: "The type of work doesn't matter, as long as I'm happy. I don't expect high income; if I run short, I ask my parents for money."
Everyone has their desires, but different people value different things. After all, few are truly desireless. As long as you identify employees' inner expectations and address them accordingly, whether post-70s, post-80s, or post-90s, all employees can be motivated to do their jobs well.
**Retaining Key Employees**
With rising prices and costs, every employee hopes for a significant salary increase, but an estimated 90% of small companies cannot achieve this. Facing these pressures, sometimes I, as the boss, feel like closing the company and investing in stocks or property for peace of mind, and I might not earn less.
Once, I asked a sales department employee to submit a store contracting plan. After completing it, he said it was a conservative plan that balanced the interests of the company and the contractor. When I calculated, I was furious. According to his plan, when the store's gross profit was 10,000 yuan, the sales staff's wages and bonuses would already reach 15,000 yuan, excluding insurance costs. Moreover, the higher the profit, the higher the bonus percentage, so regardless of profit, not a cent would be left for the company—and this was his "conservative" plan. Most people's pursuit of money is endless, so satisfying everyone is impossible. Nevertheless, I can try to satisfy the 20% of key employees.
**First, develop key employees as shareholders.** I sold company shares to key employees at half price with a buy-one-get-one-free offer. If they withdraw within five years, they only get back the principal; after five years, I redeem at three times their actual investment. Additionally, I distribute 60% of annual net profit as dividends—after all, sharing profits. However, rights come with obligations: if a shareholder does something against the company, they face double penalties, and losses are deducted from their shares. This has worked well; in the past five years, no shareholder has left, and key positions are held by shareholders, saving me management effort.
Why not give shares for free? It's not about the money; it's that people don't cherish what's free. Also, the investment serves as a deposit to prevent misconduct. Moreover, shareholders can recoup their investment through dividends within five years—no input, no output.
Once, I overheard a shareholder telling others that a competitor was trying to poach him with a much higher monthly salary, but he stayed because of his shares. I was gratified: being a shareholder makes a difference. **Second, significantly increase key employees' income.** Although the company's current operations can't substantially raise everyone's income, we can ensure key employees earn above industry average. We increased their base salaries while setting higher performance targets and raising commission rates for frontline staff who meet targets. This has been quite effective; most people leave with smiles after receiving year-end bonuses.
**Third, provide development space.** As the company grows, new departments are established and old ones expand, requiring more management positions. Our company generally promotes from within, rarely hiring outsiders. So, for employees with potential, we hint early that if they reach a certain level, they'll be promoted at the right time. This boosts their confidence in staying. Additionally, we have a policy: if an employee feels unhappy or sees no growth in their current role, they can request a transfer, and we'll try to accommodate their preferences internally.
These measures have been effective; the turnover of key employees, especially in management, has remained within tolerable limits, and daily operations have been unaffected.
**Selecting Middle Managers**
When selecting middle managers from ordinary employees, my initial principle was to pick the most capable.
From experience, I've learned: for cadre selection, 30% depends on ability, 70% on responsibility. No matter how capable a person is, without responsibility, unable to see the big picture, or consider others' and collective interests, they can't handle a management role. Conversely, someone with moderate ability but strong responsibility, tolerance, and willingness to sacrifice can become a management talent. A good leader should have a team of talented people, ideally each surpassing the leader in at least one aspect, which demonstrates leadership. As a manager, it's a blessing to suffer losses; you should yield benefits to subordinates. If a commander always retreats first and charges last, how can soldiers fight for him?
**Promoting Department Heads from Within**
Almost all departments have managers or supervisors, except the telemarketing department. This is mainly because the salespeople there joined around the same time, are all highly capable, and none is willing to submit to another. To avoid unnecessary disputes, no manager was appointed.
Gradually, I realized this couldn't continue. Without a head, training couldn't be arranged, meetings were inconvenient, new hires had no mentors and didn't stay, and I had to personally handle cross-department coordination.
At that time, the telemarketing department urgently needed expansion. So, we hired many new people and assigned them to the experienced salespeople to mentor. The rule was: if a new hire could independently meet the company's targets, they'd be confirmed; after confirmation, the mentor would get another new hire. Within a certain period, whoever mentored a certain number of confirmed new hires could form their own department and become its head. If someone failed to mentor even one confirmed new hire, they'd be transferred to another department under its head.
This sparked unprecedented enthusiasm for mentoring, and the department's performance soared. After a while, the differences in mentoring ability became clear: the best mentored three qualified apprentices, while the worst mentored none. With no room for argument, according to the agreement, the telemarketing department split into two sub-departments, each with four or five people. The team expanded, and supervisors were smoothly appointed.
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