Salesmen from Mars, dealers from Venus

At the salesperson meeting, an excellent salesperson was asked the following questions:

Q: Who is the most core and excellent dealer owner in your area?

Answer: XXX is the boss of the dealer in XX region. (This question can be easily answered by all salesmen.)

Q: What is the dealer owner's birthday?

A: (A little confused) I don't know.

Q: What's the birthday of the wife of the dealer owner?

Answer: (scratching his head) I don't know.

Q: What is the wedding anniversary of the dealer's husband and wife?

A: How do I know.

Q: What's the birthday of the dealer owner's child?

A: (The head is shaking like a rattle) I don't know.

Q: What's wrong with the dealer owner?

A: (Completely discouraged) I don't know.

This typical scenario of "one question and five unknowns" is that no matter how excellent the salesmen are, they may be asked to be speechless at the meeting of the salesmen of all manufacturers with dealers as the main channel. In all likelihood, the embarrassing scenes above will be repeated.

The salesmen of many manufacturers, especially some excellent salesmen, thought they had been doing business for several years, and they were very proficient. They knew the dealers very well. When asked the simple questions above, they found that they were so familiar with and unfamiliar with the dealers.

Now manufacturers are talking about moving business. They should not only persuade dealers, but more importantly, move dealers. They don't even know the basic information of their own dealers. How can we start moving?

Why does the seemingly simple question overwhelm most of the factory's salesmen?

It is most appropriate to use the title of one of the world's best-selling sex relations books, Men from Mars, Women from Venus, to describe the above phenomena. This global bestseller aims to explain the huge differences between men and women. Why are there so many contradictions and incomprehensions between men and women who have become husband and wife, and why is life together an extravagant hope for most modern people? Why do so many people who once vowed to love each other end up separated in sorrow and pain?

Because men and women are "animals" from two different planets. Men are from Mars, women are from Venus. Men always expect women to think and react in their way, while women expect men to feel and act in their way. They completely forgot about the differences between men and women.

Even couples who share the same bed and love each other may not know each other, not to mention factory salesmen and dealers who can't stay together for long a year.

The salesman is from Mars, and the dealer is from Venus!

Let's take a detailed look at the differences between the "animals" on the two planets.

1、 Differences in age groups. For the salesmen of most manufacturers, most of them are between 22 and 30 years old, and those over 30 years old are rare. Most of the people over 30 years old belong to the senior level of the marketing team, such as the level above the regional manager. If you are still working as a grass-roots salesperson in your 30s, you will have little face to do. To put it bluntly, most of the salesmen in most manufacturers are young men who, to some extent, also eat "youth food". However, most dealers in China are between the ages of 30 and 50, and most of them are in their 30s and 40s. It is a group of people who have passed their thirties and reached middle age, most of whom are the post-60s and post-70s. The way of thinking and behavior of this group is quite different from that of the post-80s generation.

2、 Differences in family status. For the salesmen of most manufacturers, most of them are "one person is full, and the whole family is not hungry". However, most dealers are "strong labor" families with "old people on top and small people on the bottom". They are "cash cows" of the whole family. Many dealers laugh at themselves and say that they are ATMs: "human flesh" cash machines that can be withdrawn by people at home with one button. If the dealer's business or health breaks down, it may have a fatal impact on the whole family (global brand network). The dealers at this stage are under great mental and economic pressure. This part of the dealers, over the age of 30, almost no body "parts" do not have problems. This is also the last question at the beginning of the article: ask the dealer why he is ill.

3、 Differences in social experience. Most of the salesmen of the factory are highly educated, and most of them are technical secondary school students and college students. In China, most dealers go to "social universities". There are many high school and junior high school graduates, and many have been in business for more than ten years. Compared with the "tender hands" of the manufacturer's business personnel, most of these dealers are "old fogies" who have experienced ups and downs in the business sea for many years.

4、 Differences in status and responsibilities. For most of the salesmen who are manufacturers, their position is to work as a migrant worker. They are not responsible for the final operating results of the enterprise. Most of them do not have much responsibility and loyalty to the enterprise. The dealer is totally different. He is a big or small boss and should be fully responsible for his own business results. Some even put their lives on the line. If they don't manage well, they may lose their money. This kind of risk and pressure cannot be really experienced by the manufacturer's salesperson.

5、 Differences in operating mechanisms. No matter how small an enterprise is, its dealers are all "big" enterprises that are stronger than themselves. The enterprises in which the salesmen work are mostly organizations operated by companies. Enterprises that do not operate by companies will certainly not do much. The way of thinking and behavior of the salesmen living under this corporate system has obvious corporate characteristics. However, most dealers in China are "mom and pop stores", which can be divided into small mom and pop stores and large mom and pop stores. This is obviously different from the operating mechanism of the enterprise in which the salesperson works. However, the salesperson of many manufacturers does not understand the mystery, so they copy some practices of the enterprise mechanically. The results are predictable.

6、 Differences in business outlook. The salesmen of manufacturers are often confused. They advocate how much money they will make if the business is done well. The dealers are often unmoved and hard to be "fooled". The salesperson was not clear. The dealer was thinking about the "subtraction" of the business, not the "addition" of the business, that is, how much money would be lost if the business was not done well, and could the money be borne? This is the business thinking of most dealers to invest in a project or product. And these are not known by the manufacturer's salesmen.

The difference between salesmen and dealers is far from the above, so the author will not repeat it. For the manufacturer's salesperson, it is very important to know the difference between themselves and dealers. Only by knowing and respecting each other's differences can we truly understand dealers, know how to touch dealers and how to manage dealers well. Because 98% of the contradictions among all manufacturers come from mutual incomprehension.

Salesman, please always remember that salesmen are from Mars and dealers are from Venus!