Warm reminder: Click the blue text above “FMCG Distributor Professional Consulting” to learn more about marketing and internal management for distributors. Because of a few capable people, there is modest success; because there are only these few capable people, there is no growth. This is the biggest challenge for distributor bosses before they transform from businesspeople into managers.
The Realm of Employing People for Distributors How big a distributor can become, or whether it has a future, is determined by the realm of employing people. From the perspective of employing people, there are four realms for bosses.
Realm One: Being a capable person yourself and fully leveraging your own abilities. The boss is Sun Wukong, and employees are the imperial guard. Most grassroots distributors employ people this way. The "capable people" they want to use are usually their own shadows. Unfortunately, employees who can be like the boss will eventually not stay, and they can even be terrible employees. If the boss stays in this realm, the enterprise may forever remain at the stage of a self-employed business. Self-employed distributors may be very profitable at a certain stage, but mainly earn their own hard-earned money. They are both chairman and general manager, as well as purchaser, delivery person, salesperson, cashier, accountant, and even porter. After accounting for the wages paid for these "part-time" positions, does the distributor still have profit? Such distributors often like to use their own abilities to highlight the incompetence of employees, often saying "a bunch of idiots," of course, mainly referring to subordinates. Therefore, competing with employees for credit and competing with employees for ability are their basic characteristics. Such distributors may be good businesspeople, but they are not managers, let alone entrepreneurs.
Realm Two: Having a group of capable people and letting them leverage their abilities. With a group of capable people under command, the boss can confidently let them work, and the enterprise can reach a certain scale. The emergence of capable people is half due to the boss's cultivation and half due to luck. In my view, having some capable subordinates is truly a stroke of luck for distributors. Because of a few capable people, there is modest success; because there are only these few capable people, there is no growth. Because there are capable people, one sighs at their importance; because there are too few capable people, one sighs at the rarity of talent. The key is: how did these capable people come about? How long did it take to cultivate them? I know a boss who spent more than ten years cultivating more than ten "iron-blooded warriors," and the company's scale ultimately stayed at the level of these more than ten excellent salespeople. To expand the scale, only by cultivating more capable people. Unfortunately, the success rate of cultivating capable people is too low and the cycle is too long. How do capable people come about? In most cases, they are screened out through "waves washing the sand," where the gold is screened out, but the sand eliminated is countless. It is like "crossing the river by feeling the stones," where a few cross the river, but most fall into the river. Because of capable people, there is modest success; because of capable people, there is stagnation. Small and medium-sized distributors are mostly in this state.
Realm Three: Always achieving extraordinary results, unrelated to capable people. From a management perspective, the success of excellent employees is the success of employees, while the success of ordinary employees is the success of the enterprise, or the success of the boss. Small and medium-sized distributors rely on capable people, while scaled distributors need to build a platform to organize different people. This means the boss must completely transform from a businessperson into a manager. How to build a platform? There are two ways for qualitative change: one is from quantitative change to qualitative change, and the other is structural change producing qualitative change. The same carbon element, depending on its structural combination, can be graphite, diamond, or carbon-13. The formation of an enterprise's talent team also has two ways: One is the improvement of individual talent quality. This is a very difficult thing, or something that takes a long time to achieve; The second is a change in the combination of talents. Even if the enterprise is as powerful as Lenovo, Liu Chuanzhi said his talent combination is "the blind carrying the lame." Both the "blind" and the "lame" have defects, but their combination complements each other. The "ever-victorious general" Qi Jiguang in history was able to win consistently not because he recruited soldiers more capable than the Ming Dynasty army or the Japanese pirates. On the contrary, the Ming Dynasty army had stronger individual capabilities than the Qi family army, but precisely because the Ming Dynasty army wanted to train soldiers into a force proficient in "all eighteen martial arts," it always lamented the rarity of talent. In contrast, the Qi family army was basically composed entirely of farmers, but Qi Jiguang invented a "Yuanyang formation," changing the combination of talents. The primary feature of modern organizational methods is professional division of labor. After division, recombination produces management, and management requires designing organizational structures and processes. In organizational structures and processes, everyone can become a "standard part." Once people become part of an organization and process, they will become dependent on the organization. Once people become "standard parts," cultivation becomes relatively easy. An ordinary person in a successful enterprise, as long as they are competent, is certainly a talent. However, when they leave the enterprise, whether they are still a talent may be a question mark. When a distributor reaches the third realm, they can become a large enterprise. Such a distributor can no longer be called a merchant, but should be called an entrepreneur. Contrary to ordinary distributors who use their own abilities to contrast with employees' incompetence, entrepreneurs use employees' performance to prove their own abilities.
Realm Four: Leveraging the leverage effect of organization and talent to let more people create miracles. Leading enterprises or disruptive enterprises need to have such ability, and smaller or later-starting enterprises also need such ability. Few bosses can achieve this, especially distributors, so I will not elaborate here.
The Levels of Using Talent for Distributors If you find it difficult to break through the above realms of employing people, is there still a chance to do better? The answer is yes, and that depends on the level of using talent.
Level One: The level of "commanding soldiers" – the manager level. Liu Bang once casually discussed the merits of his generals with Han Xin, thinking they had differences. The emperor asked Han Xin: "For someone like me, how many troops can I command?" Han Xin said: "Your Majesty can command at most one hundred thousand." The emperor said: "What about you?" Han Xin replied: "For me, the more the better." The emperor, already smiling insincerely, asked: "If the more the better, why are you under my control?" Han Xin said: "Your Majesty cannot command troops but is good at commanding generals. That is why I am used by Your Majesty. Moreover, Your Majesty's ability is innate, not something people can achieve through effort." For the management of individuals or a few people, one can understand it through insight, but for the management of large organizations, professionalism is required. Han Xin was a professional manager, well-versed in military books, so he could command troops "the more the better." If Liu Bang lowered himself to the same level as Han Xin, he would be inferior to Han Xin, so he "could command at most one hundred thousand." Liu Bei has always been highly regarded. Cao Cao said, "The heroes of the world are only you and me." But before the "Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage," why did he always lose battles? Because Liu Bei was not a talent for "commanding soldiers," while Zhuge Liang, as a "professional manager," was a rare talent for "commanding soldiers." Many bosses do not trust others, only themselves, and if they always position themselves at the level of "commanding soldiers," it is difficult for the enterprise to grow big. Some distributors have recruited professional managers, either misjudged them or dared not give them important roles, but this does not prove that using professional managers is wrong, nor should it negate the value of professional managers.
Level Two: The level of "commanding generals" – the entrepreneur level Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, had a famous saying: "In planning strategies within a command tent, and deciding victory over a thousand miles away, I am not as good as Zifang (Zhang Liang); in stabilizing the state, comforting the people, providing supplies, and ensuring the grain route is never cut off, I am not as good as Xiao He; in leading a million troops, winning battles, and taking objectives, I am not as good as Han Xin. These three are all outstanding talents. I can use them, which is why I have the world." What does an entrepreneur do? An entrepreneur can do nothing, but must have professional talents to do things for them. If the boss is the chairman and hires a professional as the general manager, then you are an entrepreneur. If you also serve as the general manager, then unless you are a genius, it is difficult to do both positions well simultaneously. There is a saying in the industry about Haier: Zhang Ruimin dares to think, Yang Mianmian dares to act. Zhang Ruimin is the entrepreneur, Yang Mianmian is the manager. If you are a good chairman and find a truly suitable manager, the enterprise can grow bigger. The boss may not understand the profession, but must understand how to use people. The boss may not be able to grow the enterprise themselves, but there are always professional talents in the world who can. Not all professional managers are suitable for you, but there is always a suitable one. The first attempt to find a professional talent may fail, just as Liu Bei took a long time to find Zhuge Liang. As long as you search seriously, such a person will exist.
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