A few days ago, I had coffee with an entrepreneur who adheres to the 'Three Refusals' principle. The 'Three Refusals' means refusing interviews, refusing research, and refusing visits, mainly as a counter to the prevailing 'Three Prominences' in the startup world—promoting oneself, promoting oneself, and promoting oneself.
If he were just a hopeful entrepreneur, his experiences and insights might be seen as a beautiful vision, admirable but not necessarily robust. However, this 'Three Refusals' gentleman has, in just four years, captured about 60% of a relatively niche female consumer market, essentially achieving a 'brand equals category' strategy, with online and offline sales contributing 60% and 40% respectively, and both channels consistently profitable.
Yes, this company is only four years old and has a few hundred million in revenue. Compared to 'Old Money,' it hasn't crossed the sea of suffering to reach the other shore, but considering how many startups die in their first three years, we should take note of what practices have been proven effective in China's unique entrepreneurial environment.
First, it's reassuring that although the 'Three Refusals' gentleman has 'shamefully' attended Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, the business school system has had minimal 'poisoning' effect on his entrepreneurial journey. As a seasoned management consultant, after hearing his full startup story, I had to tip my hat in admiration: 'Congratulations, this is a company that hasn't had its worldview destroyed by traditional management consulting!' When I asked him where his main inspiration for running the business came from, he grinned mischievously and confessed: his marketing experience comes from courtship, and his team management from gaming. Wow!
His favorite topic is 'how to move a girl 10 times with 150 yuan.' After hearing this ultra-positive secret, as a loyal customer of the company before I even met the boss, I could appreciate the marketing wisdom he extracted from courtship: deep insight into human nature and understanding of target consumers.
For example: two years ago, I ordered about 200 yuan worth of products on the company's website. When the delivery arrived, I was surprised to receive a huge package. Opening it, I found seven gifts stuffed inside! There was also a pink letter with a handwritten note in a coquettish style: 'Dear, these beautiful towels, bath balls, shampoo, mouse pads, etc., are all gifts from us!' followed by the customer service representative's signature. As for why they included a mouse pad, the 'Three Refusals' gentleman explained: a mouse pad costs 1.6 yuan, but if well-designed and made, it can occupy a permanent spot on the customer's desk, so it should be seen as an advertising space. Similarly, the more a gift, the better the quality of the towel, so that the towel with the brand logo can occupy the customer's bathroom.
So, while others do customer management, this company 'courts' customers: by encouraging customer service to interact deeply with customers with enthusiasm, and by using a long-term strategy of giving many gifts and handwritten letters, they satisfy two psychological needs of female consumers: the desire for small bargains and the need for small care. Over time, they turn customers into lovers. It's said that some customers even sent wedding candy and gifts to their Taobao customer service reps when they got married.
Of course, without satisfied employees, there are no satisfied customers. 'Encouraging employees to interact deeply with customers' is easy to say but hard to do, because employee enthusiasm is often not at the same temperature as the boss's. This brings us to the team management logic that the 'Three Refusals' gentleman summarized from his long gaming career. A notable difference in this company's HR policy is the 'monthly salary increase' strategy. That is, everyone knows that as long as the company's overall performance grows, employees will get a raise every month, and the newer the employee, the larger the raise.
This is typical gaming logic: in the early stages of a game, you must level up quickly to cultivate addiction! Traditional salary systems are built on a top-down control logic, where lower-level salaries are relatively fixed and higher-level salaries have larger floating ratios, naturally creating a situation where pressure is concentrated on managers and frontline employees passively watch. By using this 'gamified' approach, the company maintains the vitality of the frontline team, giving them a strong sense of ambition and desire for growth, pushing the whole team forward from the bottom up. For the company, 'carrying on the back is the same weight as holding in arms,' as long as the overall performance grows rapidly, raising salaries is purely a technical issue, not a matter of principle.
Never underestimate the incentive and stimulation effect of 'cash' on people. There's a more direct experiment that illustrates this gaming HR theory. The 'Three Refusals' gentleman is preparing to open a restaurant. Like all Chinese restaurants, high-level service is a super challenge, and experienced, positive, and stable service staff are scarce in the job market. What to do? When I shared his solution with another restaurant tycoon who has a net worth of over a billion and has been in Chinese cuisine for over a decade, he slapped his thigh in admiration: 'I don't know how the food will be, but I can tell from this method that it will definitely solve the service problem!'
The method is simple and direct: provide high-level service but charge customers a service fee. At the end of each day, settle the service fees and distribute cash to the service staff on the spot based on their service quality. This way, everyone can feel the benefits of good service and customer satisfaction, and this feeling comes in high-intensity, high-frequency stimuli. Of course, there are other supporting measures, but I won't reveal their trade secrets. I've actually tried this myself: in a temporary project team of master's and doctoral degree holders, with heavy tasks and tight deadlines, we took the bonus that would normally be paid at the end of the project and paid it out in cash every evening based on workload. The result? I can only say: miraculous.
In addition, building a super fun office comparable to Google, providing employees with chefs, nannies, masseuses, hairdressers, and other 'extreme pampering,' and giving every job applicant a thank-you gift package—these are just a few of the tricks the 'Three Refusals' gentleman uses with ease.
Business is nothing but human nature. The 'Three Refusals' gentleman's brilliance lies in his instinctive grasp of this essence, and then he goes straight to the point without any waste or hypocrisy. As I pressed him, 'How come you run a company like it's a game?' This online game enthusiast widened his eyes in disbelief and retorted:
'Tell me, when are people most serious?'
'When they're playing.'
This article is excerpted from 'Bad Words About Companies' by Li Tiantian.
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