Article by New Distribution reporter Yuan Huiwen, edited by Han Ying Introduction: When the wine industry faces the trend of 'strong differentiation and major restructuring,' flattening and refinement have become issues that wine sellers must confront. Just as trading companies actively transform and urgently need manpower to cope with competition, they find that the number of salespeople is decreasing. What is the reason? This issue, the reporter from New Distribution goes into the market and interviews resigned salespeople to understand their true feelings...

Boss Liu's Confusion Recently, wine merchant Boss Liu reported to the New Distribution reporter that his company is currently facing a very big bottleneck in its operations. From the beginning of the year to now, the company's sales staff turnover has been very serious. In half a year, nearly half of the company's salespeople have resigned, and the remaining half are also unsettled. The company has also taken corresponding recruitment measures, but the newly recruited employees have weak business skills and almost zero customer relationships. Sometimes, due to some market issues, he often has to personally resolve them. After a month, he is almost exhausted. Regarding the reasons for employee resignation, Boss Liu told the reporter that it might be due to the downturn in the wine industry over the past two years, coupled with the increasing requirements from the factory for refined market operations, which may have caused employees to feel too much pressure. The New Distribution reporter holds a reserved attitude towards such reasons. Because in the reporter's view, the initial motivation for employee resignation should be the issue of compensation. To this end, with the help of an industry insider, the reporter conducted a survey of several trading companies in Boss Liu's area, and the results were surprising. The employee compensation provided by Boss Liu was not low compared to the same industry, and even higher. A payroll provided by Boss Liu to the New Distribution reporter showed that the current basic salary for salespeople is 2,500 yuan, with a monthly full-attendance bonus of 200-300 yuan, plus a commission based on the amount of payment collected each month. The reporter looked at it: from March to June, the average monthly highest commission was 5,300 yuan, and the lowest was 1,100 yuan. On average, the monthly income of salespeople was around 4,800-5,500 yuan. Such compensation is considered upper-middle income in the local county town.

Interviewing Resigned Salespeople Thus, compensation should not be the core issue. So what reasons accelerated the employee turnover? To this end, the reporter asked the wine merchant to provide contact information for three resigned employees and interviewed them.

Interviewee 1: Resigned employee Li Li (pseudonym), interview partially abridged.

Q: Hello, I heard from your former colleagues that you did quite well at your original company, but later you resigned. Can you tell me why?

A: No particular reason, I just didn't feel comfortable.

Q: Why not comfortable? A: In the past, when we did market work, we decided which stores to visit each day. When we encountered stores that didn't want to stock, we would keep persuading and find ways to wait for the boss.

Although sometimes we only visited 2 stores a day, both had sales. With sales, there was commission. Now it's different. According to the factory's requirements, each person is assigned a phone, takes photos, and fills out forms.

After a day, we are exhausted and haven't accomplished anything. We could wait in the store for the boss to return to place an order, but now we can't; we have to take photos, and we need to take enough photos of stores a day, otherwise our salary is deducted.

And the boss, in the past, used to go to the market, but now he sits at home every day and tells us: 'So-and-so didn't visit enough today, so-and-so's photos are not standard.' If you were in my shoes, wouldn't you be annoyed?

Interviewee 2: Resigned employee Chen Jia (pseudonym)

Q: I think your original treatment was also quite good, so why did you quit later?

A: I couldn't last long; if I continued, I would ruin myself.

Q: Why do you say that? A: The factory is too strong-willed. Every time we offend the terminals, we have to bear the blame, and over time, the terminals no longer trust us.

You see, every time the factory does promotional activities, they know it will affect prices, but for the sake of sales, they say nothing.

When price problems occur at some terminals in the market, regardless of whether the terminals are willing or not, they cut off the fees that should be given to them.

We are scolded by the terminals, but now when they hear about promotions, the terminals simply ignore us. We lose one store after another.

Q: The factory is also doing this for the good of the market. A: The terminals don't think so. When others sell at a low price, if you still sell high, who can sell?

Moreover, the factory doesn't manage the low-priced ones, but instead breaks their promise and doesn't give them fees. Next time you talk about promotions, will anyone believe you?

Interviewee 3: Resigned employee Zheng Ding (pseudonym)

Q: I heard that you resigned shortly after joining the company. Why? A: Well, I worked for 4 months. I felt this company had no future.

Q: Why do you think there is no future? A: In my previous company, the boss only said in meetings to work hard, sell more, and learn more. It was too vague, and I was confused every day. In the company I work for now, the supervisor not only assigned me a district but also tells me every day which stores to visit, what to do when I get there—whether to promote policies, push new products, or arrange displays.

Sometimes the supervisor also regularly checks my district. Last week's monthly meeting, he praised me for doing a good job in creating a good atmosphere in my district. Do you think I feel motivated?

Through the interviews with the above three, we found that there are many reasons for employee resignation. For example, the first interviewee couldn't adapt to the new management model. Regardless of whether the model is right or wrong, the company should also listen to employees' opinions appropriately when formulating new models. The second interviewee resigned because he couldn't accept the factory's market adjustments. The factory may not be able to control the market rhythm 100% perfectly, but it is suggested that during adjustment periods, the factory should communicate more with frontline employees and avoid being arbitrary. The last new employee left because he couldn't find a sense of existence in the company. So, for new employees, besides helping them set goals, giving more specific operational details might help them improve work efficiency. The key to doing market work is still to rely on people to execute. So, for a trading company, how should it do a good job in internal employee management? To this end, the New Distribution reporter interviewed some industry experts on this issue.

Expert Advice Zhu Zhiming, chairman of Anhui Zhizhuo Marketing Consulting Company, said in an interview with the reporter: Currently, due to the difficulty of market operations, salespeople generally lack a sense of achievement. It is suggested that wine merchants focus their team management on enhancing employees' sense of achievement. For example, set a clear work goal, implement it step by step through layered planning, and provide specific methods and paths. This can satisfy employees' sense of achievement from continuous progress. It is worth noting that since most wine merchants currently invest relatively scattered market resources, it is impossible for every terminal to generate sales. Therefore, it is suggested that wine merchants focus their resources and invest existing resources into effective outlets.

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