The article is narrated by JACK, a regional supervisor at a branch of a domestic home appliance group's China sales company, written by Ziye. Yidu Jun hopes more readers will share their workplace stories, not necessarily profound, but with a light humor and interesting spirit. I still remember that on June 20, 2013, I bid farewell to my classmates at the gate of Shanghai University of Science and Technology, and on July 1, I arrived at the group headquarters in Huizhou, where I joined over 1,000 newly recruited colleagues for a month of 'closed training' at a vocational college, thus beginning my sales career in appliances. We were divided into many classes and had many group activities. We slept at 1 AM, got up at 6 AM, and ran with the instructors. At that time, I was weak; after three laps, I was exhausted, then had breakfast, then classes and dancing all day. These 'trainings' were mainly for brainwashing. The company instilled corporate values and 'positive energy', making you feel that as long as you work hard, you can truly 'succeed'. We are salespeople; team awareness determines the company's competitiveness, so such training is necessary. For example, there was a game: you stand high, and below are your teammates; you must fall backward. When you stand there and shout, 'Partners, I'm coming down,' and they respond, 'We're all here,' you feel the closed door in your heart open... This is true. If that month can be described as painful but happy, then the following internship was truly hellish. That period completely destroyed my values and then rebuilt something new—what exactly, I can't say. My internship was in Xi'an. It was military-style management: uniform suits, uniform leather shoes, waking up at 7 AM, meeting at 8 AM, going to the store at 9 AM, standing all day. At 9 PM, the store closed, we returned to the company for meetings until midnight, then went back to do spreadsheets, sleeping at 2 AM. Monday was supposed to be rest, but it was actually for summaries and reflections. The purpose of the 'internship' was to push you to the limit, not let you be comfortable. For example, if you made a mistake, you'd get a scolding and punishment. If you came back with second place in sales, they'd ask: 'How did you get second?' If you sold one less TV, they'd ask: 'Why did you sell one less? Why didn't you sell it while another brand did?' Then 100 push-ups. Superiors were called 'boss', colleagues 'brothers'; if you called them wrong, another 50 push-ups. Sometimes in the morning, half-asleep, seeing a leader approach, I'd casually say, 'Good morning, manager...' Well, 50 push-ups. As a salesperson, you must be precise in your wording. For example, we can't call appliances by their names; we must call them 'products'. When introducing a TV to a customer, you can't say 'Please look at this TV,' but 'Please look at this product.' Once my phone broke, and I asked my boss for leave to repair it. I'd just said five words: 'Boss, my phone...' He immediately glared: 'Say that again?' 'Oh, sorry, boss, this product of mine is broken. I'd like to leave to repair it.' '50 push-ups, then go.' 'Yes, boss.' I've long lost count of how many push-ups I did, only knowing my arms are nearly two inches thicker. Many didn't accept this devilish training and quit midway. From then on, I realized: sales only looks at results; your process and excuses are fleeting. I've developed a habit of trusting only data, because it doesn't deceive anyone. At that time, we even got into a brawl with salespeople from other brands over the sales of a TV. For no other reason, we all had a firm belief: I am a salesperson; I can't lose to anyone. After the hellish training, we were officially assigned. I faced two choices: stay in the headquarters elite group or go to a branch. The elite group, as the name suggests, are the elites in sales, like special forces among soldiers. Every year, the headquarters selects the top performers from interns to form a 'special task force' that flies to cities with poor sales performance to 'put out fires', with significant results; usually, the second month after they arrive, product sales see a clear increase. Members earn about 6,000 yuan per month, which is quite good. I calculated that elite group members sleep no more than 4 hours a day, essentially earning money with their lives. Of course, there are rewards: after about three years, they are promoted to sales manager of a branch, with an annual salary of hundreds of thousands. After much deliberation, for the sake of my health, I decided to give up the elite group and go south to a branch, managing product sales in several cities in the Pearl River Delta. I stayed in the Pearl River Delta for three months, visiting every city, traveling, negotiating with clients, surveying the market, etc. In fact, since graduation, I've been living in hotels. Now I understand: you can happily stay a few days in a Home Inn, but you won't be happy staying for months... Moreover, once you enter sales, it's like the deep sea; there's much to learn about the drinking table. You drink and vomit, vomit and drink, for the sake of a deal. In college, I could drink at most four or five bottles of beer, thinking that was enough to 'roam the world'. Later, I proved to be too naive; these days, which client drinks beer with you? Every time I meet a client and see his beer belly, I'm scared. Sure enough, they drink baijiu as if it were red wine, red wine as if it were beer, and when thirsty, they drink beer as if it were water... I always think: if someone doesn't treat alcohol as alcohol, will they treat you, a salesperson, as a person? How can you be friends with such a tycoon? I remember once, to gain the attention of a female leader, I drank three cups for her one. In the end, I forgot how many times I vomited and how I got back to my room. But there was a result: she didn't approve of me before, but after that, she thought I was capable. If sales has nightmares, for me, drinking is the biggest nightmare. Even now, as I write these words, recalling those scenes of drinking to death, my hands still tremble. Although I deeply doubt whether this way of gaining clients and leaders' approval is worth it, when I sit at the table and raise my glass again, I immediately forget my doubts. As a good salesperson, I must also constantly monitor the sales volume of my market. Whenever sales decline, I have to trace from the source and grasp the main contradiction: for example, the promotional girls you hired are uglier than those of other brands... Solve them one by one, and sales will rise again. It's said that salespeople make big money, but sales vary; because our industry's sales are closely related to holidays, monthly income is not fixed. People say salespeople grow fast because the pressure is high, like being injected with hormones, ripening early. Rather than doing a mediocre job, I'd rather live a vigorous life for a while. Now my biggest problem is personal: flying around everywhere, how can I have a relationship that doesn't break up? However, I always tell my parents only the good news, not the bad. Maybe I was just scolded by my boss for poor performance, but when I enter the house, I still face them with a smile. Work and life are separate. But isn't work for life? -END- The best FMCG distributor learning platform in China Focusing on providing professional, practical, and applicable tutorials for enterprises and distributors Committed to helping Chinese FMCG distributors grow rapidly The most professional and practical knowledge base in the FMCG industry Reply with the red number below to get the corresponding content Reply with number 1 to view the complete knowledge base | 001 Excellent article selection | 002 Distributor market operations | 003 Terminal visit management | 004 Sales supervisor skills | 005 Sales improvement techniques | 006 Channel expansion | 007 Managing distributors | 008 Distributor development | 009 Distributor internal operations management | 010 Team management | 011 Efficient distribution techniques | 012 Sales manager's eighteen skills | 013 KA operation methods and strategies | 014 First lesson for new salespeople | 015 Internet, brands | 016 Distributor B2B transformation | [Long press QR code to follow]