For trading companies, salespeople are one of the most important assets, and excellent salespeople are especially valuable. Bosses often don't know how to treat them properly. Boss P is the owner of a trading company that started from scratch. Now the company has a certain reputation in the local FMCG (alcohol and beverages) circle. The sales team has grown from a few people to dozens, and they hold exclusive regional agency rights for several well-known brands, which is quite an achievement. In 2019, during business supervision, he suddenly discovered that a large number of "accounts receivable" had become bad debts that could never be recovered. Boss P began to reflect: Why had these business brothers, who used to drink and eat together, become so unreliable? What exactly went wrong? General Manager Z is the owner of a trading firm with a retail store and a warehouse/office rented elsewhere. He represents local liquor, beer from other regions, and various beverages. Despite the challenging overall business environment, his business volume has been rising steadily thanks to his careful management and the efforts of his team. Last year, he successfully secured the regional exclusive agency for a very influential local brand. During a conversation with him, he revealed that all his salespeople have been with him for over ten years, and the company's development would not have been possible without his sales team. How can an individual business owner keep a group of people loyal enough to follow him for over a decade without leaving? General Manager H partnered with a local liquor industry dark horse a few years ago and quickly became one of the top three liquor distributors in the region, with sales exceeding 100 million yuan. Just as H was about to accelerate and strike while the iron was hot, the sales director he had personally trained left, and worse, he took a group of salespeople with him to start his own business. "We agreed to grow old together, but you secretly dyed your hair." How should bosses treat their salespeople? This is a century-old question that every trading company boss must seriously answer. To answer it, one must first acknowledge their own concerns, understand the needs of salespeople, and prescribe the right remedies. Bosses' concerns about salespeople generally fall into two categories: few (or no) orders, and strong dependence on orders. Analyzing salespeople's needs involves these aspects: more money, a comfortable work environment, and career development. Good relationships between bosses and salespeople are built on providing wise and effective answers in these five areas, satisfying both parties. How to Handle Few (or No) Orders Few orders from salespeople may be due to poor sales ability, inability to close deals; going through the motions without effort; just collecting basic salary; or being disloyal, "using the boss's ox to plow their own field." For salespeople with poor ability, the company needs to address this through recruitment screening, self-training, internal training, and mentoring. For those who don't work hard or just collect basic salary, the company should first review its assessment mechanism, give them a chance to correct, and if they don't improve, remove them from the team immediately. For disloyal behavior like poaching clients, set clear rules in advance and remove them immediately once discovered, then reflect on the situation afterward. How to Handle Strong Dependence on Orders If a large number of orders come from a few individual salespeople, and they have accumulated a lot of customer relationships, their departure could significantly impact the company's operational stability. To address this, the company should implement a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system to lock downstream customers under the company's name, mitigating the risk of salespeople taking customers away. Additionally, the company should build win-win partnerships with customers by offering superior products and services. Furthermore, the company needs to establish its own brand within the industry, create a corporate brand image, and generate collaboration premiums. Finally, for excellent salespeople, the company should abandon the employer-employee mindset and provide a more relaxed and developmental platform. How to Meet Salespeople's Need for More Money Many bosses still have a zero-sum game mentality, viewing salespeople as a cost, thinking that if they pay employees more, they themselves will get less. But that's not true. In sales, "high pay equals high output." If you want more milk from the cow, you need to feed it well. Due to our work, we often come into contact with companies that design salespeople's income based on local average income levels, afraid of paying too much. The salespeople they recruit are often ineffective, not looking for ways to succeed but always making excuses for failure, full of negative energy. The ones who stay are either just collecting salary or just collecting insurance. As a result, the company's performance gets worse and worse, and confidence wanes. For salespeople, paying a bit more is not a bad thing. How to Meet Salespeople's Need for a Comfortable Work Environment A comfortable work environment does not mean letting salespeople do whatever they want. A comfortable work environment means fewer distractions outside of work, allowing salespeople to focus on business, less office politics, more fairness and justice, less muddling through, more accountability, and everyone doing their part. H Group is a beer company with annual sales of around 50 million yuan. They have a low retention rate for excellent salespeople, high turnover among new employees, and many aging business accounts. After in-depth contact, we found that there are endless pointless meetings, numerous ineffective reports, complex processes, logistics as the boss, and a disconnect between responsibility, rights, and benefits... Imagine such a work environment—would you dare to work there? How to Meet Salespeople's Need for Career Development Work is for earning a living, but it's definitely not just for that. Excellent salespeople or those who strive to improve value their future development and whether the company can provide opportunities for growth. A career path that is predictable and limited is unbearable for excellent salespeople. The company must consider career development channels for salespeople. To this end, the company can consider offering equity incentives to excellent personnel, allowing them to become partners and work together. It can also consider introducing an Amoeba model internally, creating independent business units, and making the company a platform. The company encourages employees who desire development to shine on its platform and maximize their potential. Looking back at the three cases at the beginning: Boss P's business has grown, but the management of salespeople is still in its infancy. In the future, he must improve internal management mechanisms and set higher requirements in terms of material incentives and career development. General Manager Z's business has maintained steady growth, largely due to his efforts in meeting the needs of his salespeople. In H's company, the business grew, but core salespeople left, mainly due to a lack of planning in meeting personnel needs. It's never too late to mend the fold after the sheep are lost. If H can quickly devise a concrete plan, he can turn the crisis around. Source: Huaxia Wine News (ID: huaxiajiubao) Tips will be paid 400-2000 yuan if adopted. 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