How can a foreign trade manager do a good job in team management?

Question 1: Who is more suitable for novice or veteran?

Q: We are a company that sells electrical appliances for export. Two old salesmen recently gave birth to a second child. We are very troubled when recruiting new salesmen: some veterans with business experience are not high enough No, inexperienced newbies will have to train for a long time to make achievements. How should I choose?

Wu Weiyue: There are pros and cons to both options, but it depends on one's ability and quality, and it is best to have all kinds of people in the foreign trade team. Experienced salespeople can quickly bring economic benefits to the company. It is certainly good to recruit competent, experienced employees who can directly bring customers. After all, the cost of training new people is still relatively high. College graduates should not look down on the best and cannot bear setbacks and blows. It also depends on whether he has a professional service consciousness. The more accurate and meticulous the service attitude is, the greater the chance of making a deal.

Zhu Benyu: I have been working in a factory for more than ten years. I used to think that if I added money or bonuses to employees, they should be able to do their jobs well. Times are different now. As business leaders, we also need to learn more management skills in order to keep pace with the times. Since 2013, I have been going to charge and study often. Whether it is a boss or a foreign trade manager, if you keep sharing with everyone after you come back from your studies, there will definitely be a butterfly effect, and the people in your company or team will definitely change.

Our company mostly recruits through recruitment websites, and there is no limit to the work experience of foreign trade salesmen. I think that if you want to recruit suitable salespersons, you need to conduct some screening during recruitment, use assessment tools to recruit suitable people, and then put them into suitable positions.

lei: our company mainly produces furniture products, each person's character has a great relationship with his achievements, because character determines fate, as our trading company, we hope to recruit some wolves A salesperson who is flexible, has an order vision and can expand, and preferably has the spirit of diligence and perseverance.

I personally feel that there is no shortcut in foreign trade business. Only through accumulation and effective communication with customers can we achieve products that are really needed in the market.

Question 2: How does a foreign trade manager manage his team?

Q: I am a foreign trade manager. I have been doing business before. I have just been promoted. There are 5 or 6 salesmen, some of them are old salesmen, and some are newly recruited. I would like to know, how can we manage this team well, not only make performance, but also retain talent?

Wu Weiyue: Congratulations on your promotion to the management level, to meet more challenges and be responsible for more work content. Foreign trade managers are often promoted from salespersons and need to reposition their roles and focus on team building and team member training and management. The biggest difference between the manager position and the previous salesperson is to help the subordinate salespersons to complete orders. From the perspective of managers themselves, they need to improve themselves both technically and managerially.

In terms of technology, it is necessary to make good use of the latest tools of various promotion platforms, such as various reports, market analysis and special supplier catalogues of the Business APP of Global Sources, etc., which can better help foreign trade. The salesman understands the most popular search keywords of buyers; the increasingly perfect functions of the Global Sources system help to get rid of the trouble of jet lag, realize mobile office, and reply to buyers as soon as possible. Make good use of various forums, high-end training and foreign trade practical training opportunities provided by Global Sources, so that new salesmen can quickly master various functions and background operations of the promotion platform, and help them grow as soon as possible.

From a management point of view, no matter how good the product is and how high the market share is, it is still made by people. The foreign trade manager should build a good team structure, try to ensure that the team members have different characteristics, complementary abilities, and division of labor and cooperation. According to the changes in business development, we should also suggest more reasonable incentive mechanisms to the boss. Through the benign incentive evaluation mechanism, the potential of each salesperson can be effectively stimulated, so that they can have a good material guarantee while developing themselves and reflecting their value.

In addition, create a good learning atmosphere in the team. Build the team into a learning organization. For newly recruited employees, first cultivate a workplace mentality and pay attention to the rhythm of strategies. To be able to often empathize, deal with contradictions and conflicts.

Zhu Benyu: Our foreign trade sales team has no performance requirements in the morning meeting every day. We play games and engage in team building to create a harmonious and relaxed working environment so that everyone can work happily; the second method is to provide Teach the salesmen to master the business as soon as possible; the third is to give them learning opportunities and send them out for study or internal training.

In terms of assessment, our team takes the written test four times a month and once a week to see how familiar the salesman is with the product and business. Those who don't care to do it should be responsible for them as soon as possible.

Lin Lei: As a trading company, our foreign trade team is very diverse. There are wolf-like employees who charge in the front, and stable employees who can guard the rear. The teams complement each other. Such a sales team is paired with serious and willing technical engineers to jointly provide customers with high-quality services. I think people with different personalities should be placed in different positions in order to exert their strengths. A good salesman is not necessarily a good foreign trade manager. If he does not play a role in your team, even letting him do it will be very depressing.

* Note: The Q&A content of this article is from the Shanghai Station of the CEConline "Outsmart the Future Export Series Forum".

The host of this issue/Lifeng