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| Suitable for Growth
Sales people, who consider the high-end market more prestigious to work in, are not
specific to emerging markets. However, loyalty among sales staff is a major challenge in
China, where employees in general have a higher turnover rate than other markets. This
is a particular challenge for SME's that typically are seen as less attractive than larger
multinational companies among talented Chinese people who, in a rapidly growing
market, continuously seek better opportunities.
Another issue of flexibility can arise when a high-end company reassigns sales staff to
scale up the business by reaching out to new customers in the mid-market. The sales
people may not be willing to leave their current safe position in the high-end market
and take on the risk of establishing a new market with new offerings and new custom-
ers. There are several reasons for this:
· Chinese sales people are more focused on products that can generate the highest
revenue with the lowest effort (=in the fastest and easiest way).
· The new customers may ask questions they cannot answer, which can be a problem
for the respect and reputation of the sales person (keeping face).
Therefore, it is important to make new mid-market products very attractive for the sales
organization to handle. One means is to introduce internal training of the sales people
and preparing sales tools, so they understand the new product and feel confident that
they can go out and sell it with the right arguments.
Sales people can, like any other employee, be motivated by the right incentives. How-
ever, if the established high-end position is not a burning platform, it takes more to
convince sales people to take a risk.
AGiLiTy OF OrGANizATiON
IKEA has not changed the designs or Swed-
ish names of their furniture. But the compa-
ny has had to accept that Chinese customers
use the IKEA stores differently. The cafeteria
has become a popular spot for eating and
dating, and it's common for visitors to take a
nap on the beds in the showroom.