As a model of national specialty stores, direct stores play an increasingly important role in the marketing system. It not only enhances the brand image, but also has a positive role in promoting consumer communication, market information collection, profit sources, and employee training. As a result, many manufacturers have established their own direct operating systems, but the confusion in the operation of direct-operated stores has followed. Below, we will make a simple analysis of the current situation of direct store operations through a real case.

In early 2007, in order to cater to the needs of brand development, a textile company set up seven directly-operated stores in Hubei, Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Unconsciously, one year has passed, what is the operating status of the direct store? To this end, the home textile company headquarters held a special meeting for the direct store. The chief financial officer first reported to you the current status of the operation of the direct sales store: in the seven directly-operated stores, except for one daily sales, the other six daily sales were ideal, but all of them were losses in terms of profit. The amount of losses ranges from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands.

“There is sales, no profit, and even sales and profits are inversely proportional to each other” has become a major confusion in the current operating process of direct stores. To crack the confusion, we must first find out the cause of these confusions. Otherwise, all efforts and efforts can only become a loss. However, in dealing with direct sales stores, we often only stay on the appearance of things to find the cause of the problem.

In the face of the report of the chief financial officer, everyone was extremely surprised and expressed their opinions. The sales manager said: “Directly operated stores are relatively difficult to manage from the headquarters, especially personnel management.” The marketing manager went on to say: “Direct stores are not subjective in terms of promotion, and they are in full swing in their peer activities. At that time, the application for the activity was submitted to the headquarters, and at this time, the market opportunity was basically missed.” The supervisor of the supervision department said: “The staff of the direct store lacks subjective initiative and is not in place in terms of display, environment and image. The chief financial officer added: "Although the daily sales of direct sales stores are ideal, the operating expenses are also too high. The serious imbalance between income and expenditure will inevitably lead to losses." The deputy general manager in charge of sales concluded later: "The key to creating a direct store today is the staff of the direct store. If the problem is not solved, the loss of the direct store will inevitably exist for a long time." After several rounds of discussion, the following has been reached. Consensus: The main reason for the losses in direct stores is the staff.

In the discussion of the direct store problem, everyone pointed the finger at the management staff of the direct store. So, the key factor in the loss of the direct store is not the staff of the direct store? The author does not agree with this view. Although the direct store staff is the direct operator of the direct store, it is responsible for the daily operation, promotion and customer maintenance of the direct store, but this is not the root cause of the loss of the direct store. If we blame the staff in the direct store for blindly, we will only make one mistake and then mistakenly push the direct store to the abyss.

As a result, the textile company made the following decision: from the company's internal distribution of business elites and professionals, sent to the various direct stores to replace some of the unfavorable staff. However, this decision did not bring the original seven directly-operated stores back to life, but it caused a heart-wrenching phenomenon. What is even more terrible is that there is no improvement in business performance. The chairman of the company has fallen into deep meditation on this: What is the root cause of the loss in the operating store? After a few thoughts, I still have no way to go. As a result, the textile company made a bold decision: to transfer all direct-sale stores at a low price, if it could not be transferred within a short period of time, it would close the door. A vigorous operation of the direct store was put on a pause.

The low-cost transfer of direct-operated stores is obviously something that operators are reluctant to see, but from this case we find that the staff of the direct-sale store is not the “culprit” of this tragedy. So where is the root cause? The author believes that the root cause of the tragedy of the direct store is not a certain person, but a lack of a perfect and reasonable system.

1. Lack of risk-sharing structure system.

The author believes that this is the root cause of the loss of operating in direct sales stores. In the current direct operating system, almost all business risks are borne by the company or the manufacturer, and the loss is less related to the staff. Working in such an environment, the staff of the direct store must not have too much work pressure, no pressure, and how to drive? Many store managers have been smug when they first started to be stationed abroad, but after a while, there is no pride, and later they become mediocrity. This is exactly the old saying: Born in sorrow, died in peace. It means that the hard living environment can train people's strong will and encourage people to keep making progress; the living conditions of easy life are easy to corrode people, and they will go to decadence and even demise. As a staff member of a direct sales store, if there is a long-term lack of a risk factor in the course of business operation, it will inevitably kill its fighting spirit. The author believes that to introduce a risk mechanism and maintain a strong fighting spirit, direct-operated stores must implement part of the risk-taking system. What is part of the risk-taking system? That is, once a direct store has a loss in operation or other aspects, the staff of the direct store will assume part of the responsibility. Of course, the more risks that bear, the more the corresponding rights will be enjoyed. Only in this way can we evoke the sense of ownership of the staff of the direct store and try to change the loss of the direct store.

2. Lack of effective performance appraisal. Many direct-sales remuneration assessments use the basic salary plus commission method. Usually, the headquarters assigns monthly indicators to each directly-operated store. If the sales target can be achieved or exceeded, the commission can be obtained. Otherwise, only the basic salary can be obtained. On the surface, this assessment method is more scientific and can stimulate the enthusiasm of the staff. However, this is not the case. In the process of chatting with some direct store staff, we found such a problem: most people think that such an assessment method is basically ineffective, because in the setting of monthly sales indicators. Without reference and scientificity, the general indicators are set to be high and cannot be completed at all. In the absence of a commission for several months, the staff of the direct-sales store slowly lost the determination and confidence to complete the indicators, and gradually formed a working mentality of “doing a day of monk hit a day”. Therefore, when formulating the assessment mechanism, we must focus on the core of “how to motivate employees”. Only by stimulating the potential and enthusiasm of the staff of the direct store can the vitality of the entire direct store be promoted.

3. Lack of effective monitoring of business processes. Since the direct store is far from the company headquarters, it brings great inconvenience to the management. When many headquarters personnel conduct inspections on direct-operated stores, they often find that there are people who are out of work and leaving the post. Moreover, in the process of strategy formulation, the company is often a “heavy result process”, that is, according to the completion rate of sales indicators, the quality of the direct store is good and bad, and the business process is neglected. From the perspective of dialectical relationship, the process and the results are complementary. The process affects the outcome, and the result stems from the process, ignoring any aspect can lead to problems. Therefore, it is necessary to effectively monitor the operation process of the direct store. In addition to using the advanced terminal software system to realize the data docking between the headquarters and the direct store, it is also necessary to strengthen the inspection of the direct store and establish a strong daily work. In the reporting system, direct sales stores must report daily sales records to the company.

Direct store management is a dynamic and systematic process. Only by establishing a sound risk sharing system, coupled with an effective performance appraisal system, and strengthening effective monitoring of the business process, can we truly get out of the direct store operation. confused.

Waist Belts

Disha Jewelry Co., Ltd. , http://www.zjbodyjewelry.com