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Firmness, Belief, Solidity, Perseverance — Exclusive Interview with Li Haiguo, 2012 Sales Champion of Qianchuan Wooden Doors

　　As the 2012 sales champion, Li Haiguo gave reporters the first impression of being low-key, steady, and reliable.

　　Li Haiguo, Regional Manager of the Northwest Branch of the Sales Department at Chengdu Qianchuan Wood Industry Co., Ltd., joined Qianchuan in early 2010 and achieved a breakthrough in his career in 2012 by winning the 2012 annual sales championship. The regions he was responsible for, Henan and Hebei, exceeded their targets in 2012, achieving 163% of the basic sales volume, a 63% increase over 2011, and 106% of the target sales volume. At the same time, he focused on cultivating four market terminals with annual sales over 500,000, fulfilling the key merchant support plan set at the beginning of the year.

　　Faced with such success, he showed his usual humble style: "This is not only the company's recognition of my personal work ability but also an encouragement for me to do well in future work. It is an honor and also a motivation. Sales work is highly stressful and challenging. To become a leader in the sales industry, one must endure pressure, face challenges, proceed step by step, and work steadily and attentively on every task."

　　Li Haiguo, Regional Manager of the Northwest Branch of the Sales Department

　　Talking about how he joined Qianchuan, he said that before joining Qianchuan, he was also engaged in home furnishing sales. By chance, he saw a recruitment advertisement from Qianchuan and, impressed by the company, casually submitted a resume. Unexpectedly, that casual glance and resume became the bridge between him and Qianchuan. "When I came for the interview at Qianchuan, I immediately became determined to work there. Qianchuan is a relatively large and formal enterprise in the wooden door industry, and what attracted me most was its strong corporate culture. When I first arrived, I saw cultural elements and maxims posted in the showroom, office area, and plaza boards, which immediately drew me in." Thus, Qianchuan Wooden Doors opened another door in Li Haiguo's life. During the conversation, the reporter found that his achievement as the annual sales champion was no accident; the hardships, sales journey, and philosophy behind it deserve careful interpretation.

　　Firm belief, using both head and feet to carve out a space

　　Everyone knows that starting a new job or task is very difficult at the beginning. Li Haiguo also mentioned that when he first joined Qianchuan, as someone with no foothold in the wooden door market, it was even more challenging. To establish himself in the wooden door sales market, he chose to carve out a space with his feet.

　　He frankly admitted that sales work is simply hard. As a regional sales manager, his responsibilities include completing the sales targets of the company's sales department in a certain province or region, developing the market and collecting market information, and maintaining and following up with customers in that area. Therefore, in the early stages, they had to continuously research the market and develop new exclusive stores.

　　Li Haiguo said, "We mainly build relationships with dealers in two ways: one is dealers actively contacting us because they see other Qianchuan exclusive stores doing well and want to join us; the other is that we actively discover and cultivate dealers." Once such an intention is agreed upon, the primary task is to inspect the market and select store locations. In talking with Li Haiguo, the reporter found that opening a new store is not a simple matter and involves many background factors. "When opening a new store in a place, we first need to understand the local city's consumption level and industrial structure. For example, the level of real estate development, housing prices, and the number of new housing projects. Is the area mainly agricultural or industrial? Are there large enterprises settled there? If the area is industrially developed or mainly coal mining, it indicates stronger economic capability, with higher income and consumption levels; if it is mainly agricultural, local residents' income may be lower. Since Qianchuan wooden doors are mainly mid-to-high-end products, market acceptance must be considered."

　　Therefore, with this psychological approach, since 2010, he has spent a lot of time doing these things. He said, "Thinking back to the early days at Qianchuan, it was really tough. I traveled more than 20 days a month, and when I returned to the company, I still had to handle various matters. Market development was exhausting; I had to walk two to three hours every day. When I went to a city, I mainly walked along several main streets to personally feel the local business atmosphere, which allowed me to investigate the market more deeply." Thus, relying on his own feet, despite sore legs, poor meals, and insufficient sleep, he traveled through many cities in Henan, Hebei, and other places, developing one high-quality exclusive store after another.

　　Firm belief in sincerity, serving customers with earnestness

　　Many people’s first impression of salespeople is that they are good talkers, and the reporter had the same idea. However, Li Haiguo’s views and facts overturned these assumptions. Through his narration, the reporter gradually understood that a good salesperson is not about slick talk or persuading someone temporarily but about speaking from the heart to meet the deepest needs of the other party. According to his approach, sales start with communication, understanding customer needs during the process, and then meeting those needs. He said, "Exclusive stores exist to satisfy consumers' needs, and we exist to satisfy the needs of the exclusive store owners."

　　Regarding communication skills, he also has his own set of ideas. "Communication skills are important in the exchange process. It’s not about embellishing a matter excessively. Communication is a joint effort. Sometimes listening yields more than speaking. If mutual inner communication can be achieved, that is the best result." He emphasized that different questioning methods can achieve different effects. How can you get the information you want in a short time? To illustrate, he gave an example: "If I draw an animal on paper and you ask questions, how would you ask to find out the answer fastest?" For such an open and broad question, he said, "If you keep guessing, it’s too troublesome. If you ask me to describe the animal’s characteristics, you can easily find relevant features from the answers and get the most effective answer." Through such exchanges and communication, he said, one can truly open the customer's heart.

　　Regarding his attitude toward exclusive store owners, Li Haiguo said he sincerely treats them as friends and works with them to accomplish tasks together. "Only by treating exclusive store owners as friends and letting them feel our genuine desire to help them achieve sales will they wholeheartedly understand your sales ideas and better implement the company's arrangements."

　　The Hebei Renqiu exclusive store, which opened in 2010, grew step by step under Li Haiguo’s leadership. From a store with annual sales of about 200,000 to now about 800,000, he said this is the best-supported, developed, and guided exclusive store since he joined Qianchuan. Besides this, more merchants like the Renqiu store are gradually rising.

　　Consolidate the market, enhance combat effectiveness with perseverance

　　Regarding the relationship between sales and the market, Li Haiguo has his unique insights: "Sales open the market, and the market guides sales. The two are interdependent and mutually promoting. Sales continuously meet market demand and expand product market share; market demand continuously guides sales, enabling sales to be orderly and effective."

　　He stated that as a salesperson, one must position oneself correctly, understand one's role and the responsibilities that come with it. "From the moment the franchise cooperation agreement is signed, we need to guide them on how to decorate, select samples, and open the store. The most important thing is the market operations after opening, such as community promotion, building the market foundation, advertising, events, training sales assistants, and store layout, all of which require in-depth guidance."

　　This is just the beginning. Li Haiguo said that maintaining the market is the biggest job and the most demanding in terms of perseverance. To increase the sales of specialty stores, the market must be well maintained regularly, which requires several approaches. First, personally or by hiring someone to train sales assistants, instilling product knowledge, corporate culture concepts, and the company's development plans and prospects; second, store renovation and rectification to comply with market development rules and company requirements; finally, the operation of market activities and advertising. All these require him to work steadily and progressively. As the link between specialty store owners and the company, many issues need his coordination and handling, such as product production cycle delays and product quality-related matters. "With the increase in orders over the past two years, occasional product delays and quality issues have occurred, which require us to clearly explain the reasons to the specialty store owners or communicate directly with customers."

　　Meeting the market and strengthening the market are the only ways to continuously enhance the value of specialty stores, increase sales, and expand Qianchuan Wooden Doors' market share, which Li Haiguo has always insisted on.

　　Stay loyal to Qianchuan, pursue dreams with passion.

　　If a person wants to achieve a breakthrough in life value, it inevitably requires a good platform, which is the starting point for a person's leap. Li Haiguo said that Qianchuan has provided him with such a good platform. "Qianchuan has a large platform that allows us to fully utilize our talents; Qianchuan has a good corporate culture that motivates us to work better continuously; Qianchuan has a great team where we can complement each other's strengths and grow faster; Qianchuan has excellent strategic planning that makes you feel your career plans are being realized... These things allow us to stabilize, develop, and realize our life value."

　　There is a saying, "A single tree does not make a forest, a single log does not make a boat," and Li Haiguo always adheres to this idea: "If a person wants to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together." He places great importance on the Qianchuan team, "This team has given me a lot of help and solved many problems at work. Because of this, I have come this far and achieved what I have today." Regarding the achievements so far, he attributes much of the credit to the team.

　　Moreover, facing achievements like the annual sales champion, he only regards the current success as a small accomplishment. In his mind, success is not just about sales volume but about a person's sales philosophy and working style being recognized and accepted by industry peers and influencing more people. "Sales masters like Joe Girard, the American car sales legend, are truly successful people," he said. (Joe Girard is the greatest salesman in the world, holding the Guinness World Record for the world's number one car salesman for 12 consecutive years, with a record of selling an average of 6 cars per day for 12 years, a record yet to be broken.) In such conversations, the reporter saw a man's passion for chasing dreams and his persistence.

　　Regarding future development, Li Haiguo has great hopes for himself and Qianchuan and firmly believes that through his unremitting efforts, he will achieve even greater success. He said, "In future work, we will break conventions, strive for innovation, steadily and solidly build the market foundation, and sincerely serve customers; by developing quality merchants and cultivating benchmark merchants, we will consolidate the market foundation, achieve greater accomplishments, repay Qianchuan, and also repay ourselves."