The three pillars of an e-commerce company: rewards, penalties, and training

Nowadays, domestic e-commerce companies are gradually developing and starting to compete with each other, but they all have a common goal of selling more goods. E-commerce companies have the same idea, but they implement it very differently in terms of reward and punishment training. Let's take a look~

There are quite a lot of e-commerce companies in China. Take Pinduoduo as an example. Behind every store there is an e-commerce company. Even if it is a personal store, once it becomes bigger, it will develop in the direction of an e-commerce company in the future.

According to my understanding of different e-commerce companies, almost all of them have a common demand: to sell more goods.

Why do e-commerce companies hire e-commerce operators? It’s not because they have more money and want to share employment pressure with the society, but because they hope these e-commerce operators can create greater value for the company. Why do they hire e-commerce customer service? The purpose is not to improve user experience, but to reduce the platform’s after-sales penalties. E-commerce companies are profit-driven, and everything starts from selling goods and making profits.

In order to make more money, e-commerce companies will formulate various rules and regulations to achieve their goals. There is a saying: When the big river has water, the small rivers will be full. As an e-commerce operator, I naturally hope that all e-commerce companies can make a lot of money, so that each e-commerce operator can get more.

Although every e-commerce company has the same idea, when it comes to implementing the system, the strategies of different e-commerce companies are very different. Let me briefly talk about it here.

1. How to award

Rewards are money. E-commerce operations of e-commerce companies are equivalent to sales. Sales rely on commissions to make a living, so the way of distributing money is particularly important. Unlike administrative and financial positions with fixed salaries, there is no hope no matter how well you work.

Since e-commerce operation is equivalent to sales, if you want to increase the enthusiasm of e-commerce operation workers, you will naturally get more money.

People are very realistic. They are all busy with profit. They work hard to add links and optimize materials every day in the hope of increasing profits and getting more. However, when it comes to sharing the money, I find that the boss's pattern is fully revealed.

Let’s talk about the way of dividing the money first. The one based on sales volume is relatively simple so we won’t talk about it. Let’s talk about dividing the money based on a percentage of net profit.

Some companies give 2-30% of net profit, while others give commissions based on goals. There is a big difference between these two methods. The first method is to get as much as you work, for example, if the commission is 1%, then if you earn 1 million, you will definitely get 10,000 yuan in commission. This method is more fair and just, and how much you earn depends on your personal ability.

Another way is to distribute money according to the target achievement rate. If you make the same 1 million, but the target is 2 million and the actual completion rate is 50%, the commission will be halved. Many companies like this model, which can motivate e-commerce operations to create higher performance. Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages.

Why do we say that the type of reward can reflect the boss's vision? Because in e-commerce, making money or not is a matter of a few days. In one case, a company hired a powerful e-commerce operator, promising to make 1 million yuan a year and a commission of 300,000 yuan. Then the e-commerce operator stayed up late and worked overtime, worked hard, and completed the first year and got 300,000 yuan.

In the second year, the boss thought, "Now that the performance is stable and you are relatively idle, you are of no use. If I still give you 300,000, wouldn't that be stupid?" So he started to find excuses to reduce the commission to less than 50,000.

People with high abilities will not endure it, and will change platforms to work. Then the old employer cannot recruit new people to keep up, and the performance will be lower and lower, and finally the profit will be far less than before.

2. How to punish

Where there is reward, there must be punishment. People are driven by profit, but there are only a few e-commerce operators who are truly proactive. Most e-commerce operators need to pay equal attention to rewards and punishments to stimulate their potential. Punishment refers to the punishment for failure to achieve goals, mistakes in operation, etc.

The purpose of punishment is to make people pay more attention to their work. In e-commerce operation, if an operation is not set up correctly, it is very likely to cause great losses to the company. However, some e-commerce bosses regard punishment as a way to increase the company's profits, which is not advisable.

There are many examples of Taobao's e-commerce operations being set up incorrectly, resulting in store closures due to being fleeced, warehouses sending the wrong goods, causing the after-sales rate to soar, and Pinduoduo's customer service missing the after-sales time limit, resulting in only successful refunds, etc. These can all be avoided by formulating penalty rules.

For example, when e-commerce operators make links, they can formulate penalty standards according to the ABC file of operational accidents. For example, if the price is set incorrectly or the order is placed at a loss, a percentage penalty can be imposed based on the amount of loss.

For example, when linking to an event, the selling price and coupon are superimposed. For example, when reporting a brand flash sale, the coupon must be cancelled. Failure to cancel the coupon in time will result in a loss. When I report an event normally, if the number of orders increases sharply, my first reaction is to check whether the price is correct. Don't set the wrong price or else you will suffer a big loss if a large order is placed.

If there is a penalty, the intensity should be controlled. E-commerce companies give rewards and punishments, some of which are light rewards and heavy penalties. Such companies are doomed to fail. This is because penalties are meant to avoid problems, while rewards can motivate e-commerce operations to achieve performance.

What I advocate is to be diligent in giving out money and deduct less. After all, no one wants to make mistakes. Only companies that can give out money generously can become bigger, such as Pang Donglai.

3. How to do training

If an e-commerce company wants to grow, training is absolutely necessary. Let’s talk about the company’s products first. Except for the old employees, there are few who are familiar with the company’s products. Without training, e-commerce operators will not know the advantages of their own products after working for a year.

If you don’t understand the product, what’s the point of promoting it? As for the company culture, although it’s very empty, training is still necessary, such as the culture of overtime. Without training, who would be willing to work overtime with the boss?

Training should be done regularly, such as at the end of each month, and experience sharing can be done once a week. E-commerce operation is an industry that relies on experience. If someone has established a connection, it would be a waste if they don’t have experience sharing training.

For e-commerce veterans to share their experience, they can give some cash rewards, such as 500-1000 yuan red envelopes. If the people below learn it, the profits brought to the company will be far more than this, so bosses should be more open-minded.

If you don’t have the ability to provide training yourself, you can find external courses, such as courses on e-commerce platforms or outside courses, and organize employees to watch them and then write their impressions. Although I am also quite averse to taking up everyone’s time for training, the short-term pain in exchange for long-term rewards is worth it.

It is rather difficult for a company to create an atmosphere of regular training and diligent learning, and success or failure depends on the kind of person the boss is.

4. Final

Rewards, punishments, and training are the three weapons in the hands of e-commerce companies. If used well, the company's performance can rise against the trend and prosper. If used poorly, the company will be close to bankruptcy.

Based on my experience over the years, whether these three weapons can be used well depends 80% on the boss's vision. So, as a boss, do you have the courage to share the money? As an e-commerce operator, do you have the willingness to work hard to make money?

Author: Tiger Talks Operations, WeChat Official Account: Tiger Talks Operations