Details determine success or failure. This applies not only to corporate management but also to the personal image of business owners.
Taking a business card and tossing it aside, deliberately arriving late to show importance, not bothering to stand up when seeing guests off... Do you know how many points these careless details deduct from you and your company?
Don't say Li Ka-shing and Ma Yun are too far away; the gap between you and the old hands lies first in the following six details.
The following cases come from the personal experiences of He Yifan, executive editor-in-chief of China Entrepreneur Magazine and a seasoned media professional, over the past decade. They are all true. If there are similarities, feel free to identify with them.
1**| Business Cards |** Throwing them away in front of you, picking nails...
In 2006, at a steel industry conference in Hubei, I met the chairman of a steel company. I respectfully went over to exchange business cards. He took it with two fingers, didn't even glance at it, and casually put it in his pocket. "I didn't bring my card; I'll send you a text message later."
Well, at least he kept the card. Maybe, just maybe, he'd remember?
A moment later, he got up and left. As he passed a trash can, he casually tossed out a small piece of paper. Fortunately, his aim was off. I picked it up and saw my name printed on it.
What you threw away was not a business card, but basic respect for a person.
You think that was the worst? Wrong.
I've encountered people who crumpled the card into a ball right in front of me, and others who used the card to pick dirt from under their fingernails... Was our card printed on coated paper with matte lamination just for you to pick your nails?
These small hand movements, even with the most charitable interpretation, are subconscious actions. From a psychological perspective, people who lacked security in childhood tend to fidget with things.
At the 2012 Two Sessions, I met Zong Qinghou, chairman of Wahaha Group. I handed him my card, and the old man casually put it in his pocket. "I didn't bring my card; I'll mail you one to the address on your card later."
Another "later"...
Two weeks later, I received a lightweight express package. I tore it open, and a business card fell out: Zong Qinghou.
Now you see the gap between you and the old hands? A business card is not ordinary print; it bears a person's symbol, their name. You may choose not to use business cards or print any contact information on them, but do not trample on others' names casually. At least not in front of them.
2**| Time |** Deliberately arriving late to show importance
When Hong Qigong was young, he once missed a major event because of his gluttony. In a fit of anger, he chopped off his finger with a knife, becoming the Nine-Fingered Beggar. Chopping off a finger is only momentary pain; how much more painful is washing dishes for a lifetime? So now, when I make appointments, I try to arrive half an hour early.
Some bosses are used to making others wait to show their "status."
In 2011, I went to Algeria for an interview. The locals had a very loose sense of time. For example, if two people agreed to meet at 9 AM, arriving before 2 PM was not considered late.
But some domestic entrepreneurs are even worse than our African and Latin American friends.
In the summer of 2010, a colleague and I went to Lido Hotel to meet the founder of a film company. We agreed to meet at 2:00 PM. We arrived at 1:30, and he arrived at 1:45. I was just about to praise him when he said, "You're here. Wait a moment; I'll have a quick meeting."
He then disappeared into the conference room, and we sat on the sofa in the lobby drinking tea.
The tea was good; even after the tenth infusion, it still had flavor. It was already past five o'clock when he came out of his office and found two living people still on the sofa.
"Sorry, sorry, I forgot I had an appointment with you."
At the eleventh infusion, I really wanted to throw the teacup in his face.
But that wasn't the worst.
Last Lantern Festival, two of my colleagues went to interview the founder of a startup star company. They agreed to meet at 11:00 AM, but he didn't show. At 11:30, he arrived but had to give a speech at Tsinghua University, so they followed him there. At 2:00 PM, they followed him back to the company. Other guests arrived, and they waited another half hour. At 3:00, he had a meeting. At 4:00, he still hadn't come out. They asked and learned he had just left for the airport to catch a flight.
Even if your time affects GDP, others' time is not like water from a toilet—flush and it's there. You invite someone over, not to humiliate them.
In this regard, a famous role model is Mr. Liu Chuanzhi, who is never late.
Not only is he never late, but if he arrives too early, he waits in his car to appear exactly on time, worried that arriving early might cause reception trouble for the organizers.
Now you see the gap between you and the old hands? If everyone has a reliability index, punctuality is certainly the most important indicator.
3**| Meeting and Parting |** Not even lifting your butt to see guests off
You can gauge a person's emotional intelligence by observing the moments they meet and part with strangers.
Initial meetings are inevitably awkward and unfamiliar, but you must not lose decorum; no matter how much you wish the guest would leave, don't show it on your face.
The details of how you treat people reveal a boss's character.
In 2012, I visited a big shot at an internet company. When I walked into his office, his secretary knocked first. He lifted his head, gestured to the sofa, and said, "Sit, sit, sit."
For the next fifteen minutes, he was on the phone, dealing with emails, and occasionally approving two documents.
It's an internet company, fast-paced, so we can understand.
Another time, I visited the founder of a steel company. As soon as we shook hands, his first words were, "Let's get straight to the point. What exactly are you here for?"
What exactly are we here for? Hadn't it been made clear on the phone? This isn't getting to the point; it's closing the door on us. Did you think we came to ask for money under the guise of an interview?
There are also those who are overly enthusiastic, like a fire in summer.
As soon as you enter, they pat your shoulder, list a bunch of your leaders' names, and ask about their families, just to imply, "I'm very familiar with your boss; our relationship is not on equal footing."
When leaving, even if you don't walk the guest to the door, you should at least come around the desk. If not around the desk, at least get up from your chair. But gravity doesn't affect everyone's backside equally.
Feng Lun often talks about his experience visiting Li Ka-shing.
Before the meeting, everyone had a preconceived scenario. He thought: Meeting the big brother is like meeting a leader. First, I might not see the big brother but his chair or sofa; second, since such a heavyweight has arrived, he won't hand out business cards; third, he'll shake your hand, and you'll stand listening to him speak, like being received. Finally, at dinner, there will be a main table, and the big brother will sit there, take two bites, and say he's busy and leave.
But this meeting completely overturned his expectations.
As soon as the elevator opened at the top floor of Cheung Kong Center, the 70-something big brother was standing there to shake hands with everyone. He took the initiative to hand out his business card first, and along with it, a plate with numbers. You took a card and grabbed a number, which determined which table you sat at for dinner, avoiding any hard feelings about who sat at table one or two. Later, we learned that photos were also taken according to this number; wherever you stood was fine.
After it ended, he didn't leave first. He shook hands with everyone, every single person present. There was a waiter standing in the corner, and the big brother went over specifically to shake his hand.
Now you see the gap between you and the old hands? It's about where you place yourself and others in the way you walk, sit, and lie down.
4**| Treatment of Subordinates |** Cursing them out in front of outsiders
Entrepreneurs always have subordinates. How a person treats their subordinates in front of strangers is a mirror of their humanity.
Once, I visited an entrepreneur in Hangzhou. We were walking outside, and a gust of wind came. I'm bald, so it didn't matter to me, but his hair got messy, with a small strand falling over his eyes.
At that moment, one of his directors (note: not an assistant) stepped forward, took a small comb out of his pocket, and carefully began to comb his hair. The director looked focused, as if performing a delicate craft, while the entrepreneur accepted it as if it were nothing, showing they were used to this daily routine.
I couldn't help but wonder: did all his nearly 10,000 employees carry a comb in their pockets? Otherwise, how could his hairstyle never be out of place?
A boss's attitude toward employees is a mirror of the company.
There was also an internet "old gun" whose temper was like a firecracker. We were chatting pleasantly when he suddenly started cursing at a subordinate who was listening in: "Your plan is like dog shit. Dog shit at least has a smell, but your plan doesn't even have that. Hurry up and bring it over for Teacher He to guide you."
Before that plate of dog shit was served, I fled.
It's not a flaw for entrepreneurs to manage with an iron fist behind closed doors, or to be domineering and tough. But always scolding "your own people" in front of outsiders makes you seem like you're going through menopause.
Only one person, when he got angry at a subordinate in front of me, actually seemed endearing.
One day in April 2015, during a cold snap, my colleague and I visited the Daxing logistics center of Haidilao with its chairman, Zhang Yong. At the entrance, Zhang Yong saw two security guards standing in the cold wind, shivering as they saluted him.
The first thing he did when he entered the meeting room was to call over the supervisor and demand, "Why make people freeze in such cold weather, saluting meaninglessly? Let them go inside and stay warm. Install two heaters; it doesn't cost much."
We felt a bit awkward listening to him scold his subordinate, but he wasn't putting on an act. He would flare up like this whenever he encountered similar problems.
Now you see the gap between you and the old hands? If you treat employees as people, they will treat customers as friends. If you don't treat employees as people, they will treat customers as enemies. Emotions are transmitted this way.
5**| Office |** Exclusive elevator, special "throne"...
The most revealing enclosed spaces for a person's character are elevators and offices.
A company in Ningbo owns an entire building. The chairman's office is on the 12th floor. The elevator comes down from the 15th floor. Whenever he goes down, the secretary clears the elevator of anyone from the 15th floor down, so he can ride alone. From the 12th to the 1st floor takes less than 60 seconds, but he doesn't want to share that minute with employees.
Do you often have an exclusive elevator?
Truly powerful companies have dedicated elevators for their chairmen. When visiting a home appliance company, I saw that even when other elevators had long queues, the chairman's dedicated elevator remained empty.
Many people spend more time in their offices than at home. Every detail in the office reveals your taste and habits.
How you decorate your office is your freedom. Even if you wrap the windows in gold foil, keep a swimming pool of feng shui fish, set up an indoor golf course with a dozen holes, and hang photos with political leaders from various countries—these are all annoying, but they pale in comparison to two things: the height of the chair and the width of the desk.
When visiting a manufacturing CEO, we were about the same height standing up. But once seated, he looked like Yao Ming and I like a Hobbit. Looking closely, he sat on a high executive chair adjusted so his feet barely touched the ground. Besides that chair, all other chairs in the office were fixed height, a full 50 centimeters lower. He could not only look down at the traffic on the North Fourth Ring Road but also look down on everyone in the room.
Unless you don't want to talk to people from behind a desk, it's best not to use a desk wider than 1.5 meters. An overly wide object between two people makes the guest feel like there's half a basketball court between you.
Since JD.com moved its headquarters from Olympic Village to Yizhuang, Liu Qiangdong finally has an office spacious enough. He likes to pace while thinking; a small office restricts him. His new territory is at least 120 square meters, but being in it doesn't feel awkward.
His office is open and uncluttered, with only a large tea table and a circle of sofas in one corner. When chatting, he personally brews tea for guests. If subordinates accompany him, he fills their cups too. If a subordinate offers to brew tea for him, he refuses.
The process of serving others is sometimes the process of organizing your own thoughts.
Now you see the gap between you and the old hands? If you want to create a better atmosphere in communication, don't always try to overwhelm the other person with form.
6**| Listening and Speaking |** Interrupting others, talking endlessly yourself
Learn to listen and speak, and life becomes clear.
Learn to listen and speak, and life becomes clear.
The chaotic rhythm of speaking and listening is precisely the most common mistake entrepreneurs make. It's simple: they're used to having the upper hand in conversations within their own companies.
The founder of a real estate company has a brain comparable to Google's AlphaGo. You say the first half of a sentence, and he knows the second half.
Worse, he'll say it before you do.
"You want to ask about ***, right? Let me tell you directly (blah blah)."
"What you want to say is this, right? (blah blah)"
In chess, if you meet such an opponent, you're doomed. In conversation, if you meet such a person, you're annoyed.
What's more annoying is that it's hard to interrupt him. He's completely immersed in his own logic, talking endlessly and going off topic.
"Mr. *, why did your company report a loss of 320 million RMB in the latest annual report? Is it due to difficulties in transformation?"
"Our direction of serving the country through industry will not change. The current environment for private enterprises is not good. If private enterprises lack motivation, how many tax and employment issues will be affected?"...
Half an hour passed.
"Thank you, that was very insightful. Actually, I wanted to ask about a micro-operational issue, like last year's loss."
"Speaking of losses, there's a lot to say. Some companies lay off employees when they lose money. Did we lay off? No. We only reduced executive salaries. I only take 1 yuan in annual salary. You can write more about this..."
Another half hour passed. You'll never want to meet this person again in your life.
Ma Yun and Teacher Yu Minhong are the most gifted speakers among entrepreneurs. Each can give a four-hour speech without stumbling. However, in face-to-face communication, they are particularly good at controlling the pace of conversation, never rambling. They listen attentively, grasp key points quickly, and constantly observe the audience's reactions, adding interactive words and gestures like "What do you think?" and "You're right."
Now you see the gap between you and the old hands? Communication is a two-person affair. Only the restless fear they haven't said enough.
The above six points only address one issue:
Entrepreneurship is hard, and entrepreneurs deserve respect, but don't neglect the small beauties of human nature while chasing goals. Because many people's big matters may be small matters to you, and your small details may be big matters to many. A truly good image comes from "caring about what others care about."
- END-
China's best learning platform for FMCG distributors Dedicated to providing professional, practical, and actionable tutorials for companies 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]