Pei Qian remained silent for a moment.
Indeed, this so-called sales work had a massive gap compared to what he truly expected from sales work.
After organizing his thoughts, Pei Qian said, “Well, you can forget everything you mentioned earlier.”
“These things might be useful in other companies, but I can tell you very clearly that at Tenda, these methods aren’t just useless—they’re counterproductive and will only have negative effects.”
“So, forget them completely.”
“Now I’ll explain several rules for Tenda’s sales department. You must remember them firmly. Some are prohibitions, meaning they absolutely cannot be violated and must be strictly implemented. No one in the department is exempt.”
Upon hearing this, Tian Mo quickly pulled out a small notebook from his pocket, preparing to take notes.
Previously, when he worked at a real estate agency, he had been criticized twice for sitting through meetings without taking notes. Since then, he had maintained the habit of always carrying paper and pen.
Pei Qian continued, “First rule, all sales personnel are strictly forbidden from initiating contact with customers to promote business. Phone calls, distributing flyers, and so on are all off the table. Door-to-door visits are absolutely prohibited.”
“Only when customers actively approach us with inquiries can you answer their questions, and you can only honestly answer exactly what they ask. You absolutely cannot beat around the bush or deliberately guide the conversation toward sales content.”
“Second rule, there’s no need to deliberately practice your communication skills. Don’t learn or train in any sales scripts. Speak to customers the same way you normally speak.”
“Of course, basic courtesy is still necessary.”
“Third rule, don’t maintain relationships with customers. Don’t send mass greeting messages during holidays, don’t share random content on your social media accounts, and don’t try to get chummy with them—they don’t know you well.”
“Fourth rule, there must be no competitive relationships between employees in the sales department. No comparing, no using terms like ‘top salesperson’ or ‘performance’ to affect employee morale. No rankings will be made, whether in daily work or department summaries.”
“Fifth rule, customer relationships are not personal relationships. There must be no distinction between ‘your customer’ and ‘my customer.’ Everyone shares customers and serves them together.”
“Sixth rule, the department only offers fixed salaries, no commissions. How much business each person brings in is not directly linked to their salary. I’ll give you the specific salary standards later.”
“Seventh rule, when introducing products to customers, you must emphasize the product’s shortcomings and issues. You must be thorough and can’t omit anything…”
Tian Mo had been taking notes seriously, but the more he listened, the more he felt something was off. He kept looking up instinctively, fearing he had misheard.
This wasn’t right, was it?
Everything completely contradicted his shallow understanding of sales!
To summarize it simply, the guiding philosophy had completely changed.
In the traditional concept of sales departments, various methods were used to motivate employees, encouraging them to contact customers more frequently. Through phone calls, building relationships, and other approaches, they would establish a relatively tight sales network, pushing all salespeople to frantically chase performance metrics.
Whether it was so-called “expanding customer relationships” or “maintaining customer relationships,” including department meetings, team-building activities, public recognition of top salespeople, and high bonuses—all were designed to maximize sales personnel’s enthusiasm and encourage them to strengthen competition and obtain more business.
The more the salespeople sold, the more the company naturally earned.
But the points Mr. Pei raised clearly went against this approach. In one sentence: “Everyone eats from the same big pot.”
Salaries were fixed with no commission. Not only would top performers not receive extra bonuses, but there wouldn’t even be rankings or recognition in daily work.
Moreover, not only was there no need to expand the customer base or initiate contact with customers, but even when customers actively approached them, casually bringing up business-related content or promoting products was not allowed!
After writing these points down, Tian Mo was bewildered.
On one hand, his existing knowledge had been completely overturned. On the other hand, after this overturning of his knowledge, he felt deeply confused: if he couldn’t do this and couldn’t do that, what exactly could he do as a salesperson?
After Pei Qian finished speaking, Tian Mo asked, “Uh… Mr. Pei, I’ve noted down everything you said, but I have a question.”
“In my understanding, a salesperson’s daily work involves finding customers by making calls, distributing flyers, and so on, then maintaining relationships with them to promote products.”
“Now you’re saying we can’t actively make calls, and there’s no need to maintain customer relationships. Then… how do we get customers? Surely we can’t just expect customers to call us on their own?”
“If that’s really the case, I don’t think this department should be called a sales department—it should be called a customer service department…”
Pei Qian fell silent. Tian Mo’s words had truly stumped him.
Indeed, if they only responded when customers approached them, that really was something a customer service department should do…
Pei Qian had planned to set up a sales department, hoping to lose money through reverse sales tactics. But if it evolved into a customer service department, something seemed off.
He needed to find a way to differentiate this sales department from customer service.
Mainly, he needed to give the sales department a way to actively contact customers. He couldn’t completely block all avenues, or it would truly become a customer service department.
Of course, this approach definitely couldn’t involve making phone calls or distributing flyers—those methods were too dangerous because they were low-cost.
With personal information leaks so prevalent online nowadays, anyone could spend a little money to buy a large number of potential customers’ phone numbers. Calling them one by one to harass, add contact information, and promote products was almost a zero-cost activity. As long as you had enough manpower and made enough calls, you’d eventually bring in a few customers.
Distributing flyers and other ground promotions were similar. As long as there were enough salespeople, they would inevitably have some effect.
Of course, if the entire sales department maintained a small number of people, say just a dozen or so, no matter how many calls they made or flyers they distributed, the effect would be minimal.
But the problem was that Pei Qian’s purpose in setting up this sales department was to spend more money. If he only employed a dozen people, even with the best welfare benefits, how much money could he spend?
So, he needed to find an approach that was relatively safe, expensive, and ineffective. This way, he could confidently recruit more people in the future and spend more money.
After thinking briefly, Pei Qian quickly came up with a good method that would allow him to spend a lot more money.
“Of course I’ve already thought about this point.”
“After you complete the initial preparation work, I’ll allocate funds for you to open a physical store. All your sales work will be conducted in the store. There’s no need to deliberately call or distribute flyers to contact customers—just wait in the store for customers to come to you.”
“As for the office area in Shenhua Haojing, that will serve as your headquarters where the core team works. The rest of the sales personnel will work in the store.”
This was the solution Pei Qian had come up with: when in doubt, open a physical store!
Undoubtedly, opening a physical store was among the most money-burning options.
Because having a physical store meant there would be rent, utilities, and various other expenses.
For typical telesales, the required costs were very low. Find a remote office area, set up dense workstations, give each person a phone and a computer, then pay them a base salary to make constant calls.
But with a physical store, there would be rent, utilities, and various other expenses. Moreover, for the company’s image, they’d need to provide uniforms for the staff, renovate the space, and so on—all of which would cost much more.
Of course, regarding physical stores, Pei Qian had some slightly unpleasant experiences.
For instance, with Slackin’ Internet Café, Slackin’ Delivery, and Tuoguan Fitness.
But overall, if physical businesses became profitable, he could continue to spend money by opening more stores, making the risk relatively controllable.
Besides, the Sloth Apartment and Headwind Logistics were still losing money, so what was there to fear?
Therefore, Pei Qian believed that with detailed planning and careful arrangements this time, plus having Tian Mo as the head of the entire sales department, things should be quite secure.
When Tian Mo heard about opening a store, he nodded slightly, thinking that at least this was somewhat normal.
If all the sales department people were crammed in here, not making calls or distributing flyers, how would customers find them in an office building?
With a store, at least customers could find the place, which seemed somewhat more reasonable.
Moreover, a store was also a symbol of strength.
Like large real estate brokerage companies such as Zhujia Group, their stores were spread throughout cities, with each store covering the surrounding area. This made it easier to understand the specific situations in each area and develop different strategies for different cities and regions.
Mr. Pei hadn’t mentioned what kind of store he wanted to set up, so Tian Mo didn’t think too much about it, assuming it might be similar to the stores of Zhujia Group.
Pei Qian calculated briefly that setting up a store would require some preparation time—location selection, renovation, the specific layout inside, as well as the clothing and training of sales personnel. All of these needed some preparation.
These preparatory tasks certainly couldn’t be handled by Tian Mo alone; professional personnel needed to be arranged.
It wasn’t that these preparations had to be done perfectly. The main concern was that Tian Mo, knowing nothing, might prepare too slowly. By the time of settlement, the sales department might not even be established yet, which would be too much of a delay.
With this in mind, Pei Qian said to Tian Mo, “Alright, that’s it for today.”
“I’ve already told you some basic rules for the sales department. When you go back, your task for this period is to firmly remember these rules, memorize them word for word, and always keep them in mind. Don’t violate them.”
“I’ll arrange for others to handle the preliminary preparation work. Once everything is ready, I’ll notify you.”
Tian Mo was taken aback: “Uh… is there any other work?”
“Other work? No,” Pei Qian shook his head. “In the short term, your entire job is to memorize these rules. The next time we meet, I’ll test you—it won’t do if you can’t recite them.”
Tian Mo quickly nodded: “Don’t worry, Mr. Pei. I’ll memorize them word for word!”
After confirming he had no other tasks, Tian Mo carefully put his notebook away and left Mr. Pei’s office.
Although he wasn’t clear about exactly what plan Mr. Pei had, Tian Mo felt a sense of awe. It seemed that as long as he seriously completed Mr. Pei’s requirements, all problems would naturally be resolved!
As Tian Mo walked out of Mr. Pei’s office, he suddenly felt full of confidence. Life was full of hope!