Don't be afraid of losing. As long as I lose less, I have a chance to win back if I don't make money, which is the greatest help to my study. I will not only learn the real tricks in the shop, but also learn to face adversity and resistance, still stick to the value I believe and move forward step by step. The so-called "the worst time is the best time" may be precisely this truth.
Life is like a football field. Even if we try our best, we may not be able to play a game that we win every game. Life cannot always be smooth sailing, smooth sailing. Just as players often face falling behind the standings, adversity will appear in our lives from time to time. My training tells me that good players can only play well if they are ahead of the scoreboard. More importantly, they should have enough toughness and perseverance to motivate themselves and their teammates to stick to it.
The incomprehensible membership fee forms a business dilemma. After entering the workplace, it may be because of the cultivation of players. I never refuse any overseas job. Although I have to travel around, I always think that these are good accumulations for myself, and therefore I get many promotion opportunities. Less than two years after I entered Costco, the company decided to explore the market in Taiwan Province Province. Originally, I was not a candidate for general manager, but because my colleagues who were scheduled to be general managers didn't want to work away from home, I became the head of COSTCO's exhibition shop in Taiwan Province. It's just that the challenge of opening up new markets is far more difficult than expected. Although Costco achieved good results in the United States, it was frustrated at the beginning of opening a store in Taiwan Province province.
After we decided to enter Taiwan Province Province, we chose sites all over Taiwan Province Province and started the whole Taiwan exhibition plan, including finding suitable locations to open stores in Taibei and Kaohsiung. However, in the process of site selection, some places need time because of the change of destination, and some places are still negotiating cooperation, so Kaohsiung became the first place on our pocket list, and Kaohsiung Store became COSTCO's first stop in Taiwan Province Province. I thought that as long as we copied the model of COSTCO in the United States and followed it, we would be able to operate smoothly and expand the business in Taiwan Province Province. Unexpectedly, the exhibition shop was not satisfactory, and adversity soon knocked on the door, which took five years to arrive.
At the beginning of the exhibition shop, I recruited only two employees, and the office was borrowed at that time. Three people have to use two telephone lines to make phone calls in turn. Without much resources, the Kaohsiung store was finally opened after two years of preparation, but it encountered many problems that the United States had not encountered. First of all, we underestimated the impact of having to pay membership fees before entering the store, thinking that as long as our products are good enough and cheap enough, we can attract consumers to the store. However, at that time, consumers in Taiwan Province Province had to pay the membership fee before entering the store, which was unimaginable. They think that if they don't buy anything, they have to pay the membership fee first. If the store price is not favorable enough or the goods are not easy to use, isn't the membership fee paid in vain?
Not to mention Kaohsiung at that time, even now, there are still a few shops with membership fees. When you walk into the beautiful department store, you can enjoy exquisite and considerate service. There are service ladies who bow 90 degrees in the elevator, and no membership fee is required. Entering COSTCO stores with cement floors, not only the goods are placed on pallets when buying, but also the goods are only displayed on industrial shelves. Does this store really charge membership fees? In contrast, many consumers in Taiwan Province Province could not understand it at that time.
No customers are foreign troubles, and employee turnover is internal troubles. 1997, for many people in Taiwan Province province, American stores are still unfamiliar places for consumption, so naturally it is impossible to imagine what to do in such stores. At that time, although COSTCO offered the highest salary in the industry, the service industry in Taiwan Province Province was booming at that time. COSTCO has to sweat and move goods in a warehouse-like store, but being a waiter in KTV is not only easy, but also a lot of tips to get. Without understanding the prospects and benefits provided by COSTCO for employees, it is inevitable that some people will think, why should we stay in COSTCO to earn hard money? So at that time, there were often interviews in the morning 100 people, and only 20 employees were left in the afternoon, and all the odd jobs ran away.
In addition to internal and external troubles, there are also large losses. There can be no customers in the store, but there must be no goods, especially fresh ones, which have a shelf life. Without customers coming home to spend, the shelf life of things will soon arrive, and they can only reluctantly dump them every day. At that time, many employees felt pity after reading it, and suggested that I could sell the goods at a reduced price before the service life, at least to lose less money and earn some cost back. However, I am well aware of COSTCO's sales strategy and brand principles. I will always provide customers with the best and cheapest products, and will never sell products with quality problems for any reason. In order to strictly abide by the highest food safety standards and brand reputation, I still adhere to the company's consistent policy even if the inventory pressure on my shoulders is great. Even if I see that the goods have expired, I will never sell them to employees cheaply. I will discard them all according to the regulations.
The hardest thing is not what to do, but what not to do. It is hard to imagine. This loss lasted for five years.
In the case of failing to achieve the expected sales volume, various questions followed, questioning the value core that the company adhered to. For example:
"The competition in the retail industry in Taiwan Province Province is so fierce that shops that charge membership fees have no living space! 」
"Open for so long, the number of customers shows that this one can't work! 」
"No matter how good the goods are, no one knows if customers don't come to the door! 」
At that time, many employees who worked hard together, as well as friends who watched us work hard all the way, were unwilling to watch COSTCO continue to lose money, and they made suggestions. They suggested not to charge membership fees first, let customers come in to buy things first, and then began to consider charging membership fees when the business stabilized. At first glance, this suggestion seems reasonable and seems to be a shortcut to get out of adversity as soon as possible, but I know that COSTCO's value system is indispensable in all its characteristics. Membership fee is our differentiation and an important cornerstone for us to maintain service quality and product value. Taking away the membership fee will make other factors in the value chain unable to start. COSTCO can provide the best quality goods at the lowest price precisely because the membership fee supports us, and the membership fee also allows us.
When people found that I was unwilling to compromise on membership fees, they put forward various other suggestions, including "If the problem is that no one knows how good COSTCO is, then spend money on advertising". At that time, this kind of suggestion was also very relevant and could solve the urgent need, but I know that "advertising" is not a specific medicine for us. It is also our differentiation to devote all resources to serving our members. In order to provide members with the lowest price and best quality products, the gross profit of each product is kept at 10% to 12%, so we must calculate every cost and spend every penny in the most effective place. When the TV advertising agency broadcasts, most of the viewers we see are not our members. If you spend money, it may not be of any substantial benefit to members. If we can't let members buy more cost-effective goods, even if there is only one dollar, we shouldn't spend it. This is the principle of our business spirit. Therefore, I would rather save the advertising fee and give a discount in the "member passport" so that members can buy goods at a cheaper price.
Of course, losing money year after year not only puzzled our partners in Taiwan Province province, but even colleagues in the American head office began to question whether there was something wrong with our approach. After all, the membership system works well in COSTCO all over the world, so why not in Taiwan Province Province? Have I overlooked the point that consumers in Taiwan Province Province don't accept COSTCO?
However, once I went to the US headquarters to report on the operation of Taiwan Province Province. After hearing the report, Jim Sinnig, the founder, not only didn't criticize our performance, but even encouraged me: "Losing money at first doesn't mean failure! Tell me that Britain, Canada and Mexico all lost money at first. Don't be discouraged and work hard, but the pattern should be made and the physique should be established. Just like being a man, young people may not know when they will succeed in the future, but we must practice our physique and set a model. Even if you fail at first, believe that you will win it back one day.
His encouragement made me feel the fighting spirit of the players. The dilemma now is the same as the game on the court. In the competition, the strength of the two teams is very different. No one is optimistic about us. Teammates are tired and annoyed, and scoring is very painful. It's hard to go back. But once a player plays, he has no right to give up. Even if you are behind, you should believe in yourself and persist in leading the team to play every game well, as long as you lose less and less. Even if self-confidence is blind, you still have to believe in yourself and your teammates, and you will be able to turn the game around, and then defend one ball at a time and chase points one ball at a time. The identities of players and managers seem different, but the essence is to play our role in the team and help the team counterattack in adversity.
Adversity refines the value that cannot be obtained in prosperity. In the process of trying to reverse adversity, some things have begun to change quietly. Although many people left their jobs at the beginning, the employees who stayed were more and more new. They watched the company lose money every day, but the salary didn't shrink. Everyone realizes that COSTCO's respect for employees is really not lip service, but a commitment to put it into practice. I have always believed that the most precious thing between people is a feeling of being kind to each other. When people realize that they are respected and treated well, they will show it in their work with the same attitude and spirit. Therefore, although there are still many customers in the store, a very valuable atmosphere has gradually formed inside COSTCO. Everyone is trying to think about what more can be done in their own jobs, or a little cooperation and change, so that customers can find COSTCO's good and be willing to come in and experience our service.
At that time, there were many examples of this kind of pleasure in suffering. I remember that the purchasing office was on the second floor of the shopping mall, and all the purchasing colleagues were wondering if the goods I purchased did not meet the needs of consumers, so things could not be sold. Therefore, whenever a member picks up a product and puts it in the shopping cart, the person in charge of buying the product will proudly say, "That's my responsibility! 」
At present, the number of people entering Neihu Store in half an hour is about 300 to 500, while the number of people entering the newly opened Kaohsiung Store is only about 35. For a long time, there are more employees than customers in the store, which has become the daily operation of COSTCO. I still remember that when I opened the store every morning, despite the bad business, my colleagues in the store would stand in two rows and greet the guests with a smile. When a client finally walked in, a colleague said that he was so excited that he almost applauded. From this sentence, I heard a wish like mine. I know our team is united. The experience on the court tells me that as long as a team is United and has the same goal, no matter how hard it is, it can't stop this team.
I think the five years of adversity may be the best time we have ever experienced. When my colleagues learned about COSTCO's business philosophy and confirmed that the company's commitment to its members was not just talk, everyone recognized our definition (positioning) in their mentality and adopted differentiation in recognition.
For example, although membership recruitment was the work of a certain department, all colleagues at that time realized that increasing membership was the urgent task for COSTCO's development in Taiwan Province, so no matter what job position, everyone regarded increasing membership as their own career and shouldered this difficult burden together. At the beginning of Kaohsiung store, many members, that is, colleagues, began to introduce themselves to their relatives and friends and signed back their membership cards one by one. For an enterprise that insists on not advertising in the media, word-of-mouth marketing between people is what we need most. Even my father is a member of this self-established "word-of-mouth power". Once back in Taiwan Province Province, in a Costco store, he heard a member next to him ask, "Can I only have a coke?"? Or can I have an unlimited refill? He volunteered to say to the members, "Of course, you can have a refill! Because you are a member, and COSTCO attaches great importance to members, so the beverage counter is placed outside, so that you can refill your drinks freely! 」
Moreover, during this time, my colleagues were not busy with their work because they didn't have many customers, and they didn't "earn a rest". Instead, they discuss with each other. How can we reduce the discomfort of the guests who come in? Is it necessary to change the monitor? Or goods? Constantly think about where the service quality can be improved. What else can be done to make members more satisfied? This adversity has turned into a process of team building, making Costco in Taiwan Province Province a cooperative enterprise in all aspects, constantly imagining how to make customers more satisfied. Even now, thirteen stores in Taiwan Province Province, although all of them are the same goods, are constantly changing and adjusting to meet the different needs of local consumers, and each store has the appearance of adapting to local conditions. Colleagues' recognition of COSTCO's definition began to diverge at work.
Experience plus community, one-point recycling and insisting on charging membership fees is the best shopping experience for members; We don't spend advertising fees, but we have to spend every penny on membership services. At that time, everyone thought it was silly to hold on to these two differences, but later, it was these two differences that opened up adversity for us.
With the concerted efforts of Qi Xin of Qixin team to solve the dilemma, I firmly believe that consumers should first know the value of COSTCO. After understanding consumers' doubts about the membership system in Taiwan Province Province, we decided to attract customers by experience marketing first, so we implemented the so-called "one-day card" and "one Zhou Ka" at that time to let consumers actually experience our products and services in the store by means of short-term membership.
Experience can create public reputation, and the power of community marketing can build a solid membership base. Seeing that the number of colleagues introducing relatives and friends to become members is gradually increasing, we decided to send two free membership cards to each colleague, hoping that colleagues can start sharing with people around them and gradually spread the advantages and characteristics of COSTCO to more people around them.
Not only that, every holiday, we will go to various communities and downtown areas to hold various tasting, trial and promotion activities, so that consumers can directly use our products and feel that the products provided by COSTCO are worthy of the name.
Sure enough, with the two-pronged approach of community and experience marketing, everyone began to pass on word of mouth, and our popularity gradually opened up. More and more people agree with our definition and understand the benefits that can be enjoyed after joining the membership.
As a result, with the team's efforts day by day, we lose less and less every quarter. Finally, in the sixth year after the exhibition, Kaohsiung Store began to turn losses into profits and found a way to break through adversity. Later, no matter where we set up shop in Taiwan Province Province, we were able to move slowly and steadily.
Not what I decided to do at that time. I decided not to do it at that time. This is discipline. Adversity didn't make us compromise. We tried to tide over the difficulties, but we never gave up the core concept of Costco. However, sometimes it is more difficult to remain unchanged than to change, especially when we encounter difficulties, it is easy to lose confidence. However, the spiritual cultivation of the player era supported me through those difficult days. I'm not afraid of losing. As long as we lose less and less, we will win back one day. In the process, one day, as if the sky were open, those swamps suddenly stopped dragging us down. I know that adversity has passed and this process has passed.
Later, Neihu Store was the second highest single-point profit branch of Costco in the world for several consecutive years. I believe that this will not only be the achievement brought by Taipei's internationalization, but also the fact that Kaohsiung Store trained this group of employees to keep forging ahead in the face of adversity in the most difficult period, bringing such DNA into Neihu Store and making Neihu Store the second in the world. Many people think that if COSTCO opened its first store in Neihu instead of Kaohsiung, it might have avoided the losses in those five years, but I think those five years, though hard, were the best exercise given to me by God, because with these five years' experience, I got a group of teams who shared weal and woe and worked hard to create value. From this point of view, it doesn't matter whether the first store is opened in Kaohsiung or Neihu. What is important is this process, which will make us more stable, firm and modest in the future.
The worst time is often the best time. In fact, the team of Kaohsiung Store at that time is the core backbone of Taiwan Province 13 stores now. Among the first batch of cadres trained in Kaohsiung Store, five were store managers in different stores. In addition to Neihu Store, two COSTCO stores in Taiwan Province Province are ranked second in the world, namely Zhonghe Store and Taichung Store. It took Kaohsiung store five years to make money, Neihu store turned a profit in less than half the time, and Zhonghe store even made money in the first month of opening. I believe all the sweat in Kaohsiung in those years was not in vain. All my colleagues put their heads together and Qi Xin worked together to lay a good foundation for us in the future.
In the past, Kaohsiung store was our biggest adversity, because there were not enough members to come in and spend. But now, the Taiwan Province team has become the most recruiting team in COSTCO. Those years of experience have enabled us to accumulate a set of membership recruitment methods that even the American head office sent people to learn. Before opening a new store, our sales team will first develop new members in this area. Take Taichung Store as an example, 40,000 membership cards have been signed before the opening, which is a record that even the United States can't do, and it has also become a proud secret of the Taiwan Province Provincial Team.
At present, COSTCO has more than 2.5 million members in Taiwan Province Province, with an average annual growth rate of more than 10%, and the renewal rate of old members exceeds 90%. Except the United States, no other country in the world can achieve such achievements as Costco in Taiwan Province Province. I think, in these five years of adversity, we insisted on not giving up the membership system, and let everyone think clearly about how to develop, operate and serve our members. This ability also helped us create records that even we dare not expect in the future.
In retrospect, these five years can be said to be the most precious professional experience in my life. I learned the most because I didn't make money. I not only learned the real know-how of shops, but also learned to face adversity and resistance. Still have to stick to the values you believe in and make progress step by step. Isn't this the so-called "the worst time is the best time"?