On June 29, Zhenjiu Liquor Co., Ltd. officially started a special training camp. Two training sessions which have been finished during the first phase attracted 120 trainees and partners.

The training camp mainly dealt with such topics as corporate culture, brand story, product knowledge, brewing skills, business etiquette, and sales skills. It was carried out in stages under a systematic and continuous training system. 

The first phase of training was divided into three parts: self-learning one week before training, two-day on-the-spot training, and three-month practice sharing after training. The special training camp was practice based instead of traditional one-way lectures and offered special teaching, experience teaching, situational teaching, and interactive teaching. In addition to course explanation and theoretical study, an important part of the training was to train the ability of trainees to give speeches on the stage with courage, with skills, and finally with excellence. 

The trainees were highly motivated. Everyone experienced fear, cowardice, boredom, and conviction... It’s not easy to speak well and repeated practice was required, which made the three-month practice sharing particularly crucial for the first phase. All the trainees were grouped by department, and each week a representative had to give a speech about the training content. Then, he or she would receive review and comments from the department to help him or her improve and deliver better result next time. 

Xiong Ya, a trainee from the Integrated Operations Department, said that she found the task of sharing the origin of Zhenjiu very challenging although she was familiar with the corporate culture and brand knowledge. She was even too nervous to speak. The “pressing” training that included interesting scene performances and repeated, overwhelming speeches forced them to bottom out and unfetter themselves. Now they become very confident and skillful in telling the brand story and product core.

Some of the trainees are brilliant graduates who are specialized in the brewing profession from Guizhou University. They are very clear about the relevant brewing processes. In group discussions, they often shared their knowledge and cleared the doubts of other peers, making the atmosphere active. 

Why did Zhenjiu start such a special training camp? Hu Bo, general manager of Zhenjiu Liquor Co., Ltd., explained the reason at the opening ceremony. There were two purposes: One was to empower and improve the trainees; the other was to create a simple and happy working environment.

Hu Bo said that marketing innovation is not a business model or price war, but its core definition is to continuously improve the living quality of consumers and bring to them more valuable products and ultimate experience. Zhenjiu pursues the vision of being a leader of “craftsmanship value”and is committed to making “Zhenjiu •Zhenshiwu” a craftsman product that serves more consumers with high-quality Maotai-flavor liqueur. At the company, everyone is engaged in marketing. The purpose of marketing is not necessarily to sell liquor products, but the key is the ability to speak. It not only means to be familiar with their own culture and products, but also to spread the culture and products of Zhenjiu. That’s why it’s important for both employees and partners to fully understand the brand and product technology of Zhenjiu and the product features of “Zhenjiu •Zhenshiwu” and to introduce them to others skillfully.

As for enterprise management, a strict and efficient system and a united and dedicated team are both indispensable. Hu Bo insisted that the most important element in business management is a simple and happy working environment. It should not be ignored that working easily and happily can be efficient.

In terms of management philosophy, Hu Bo always emphasized that employees are the fundamental driving force for enterprise development and he pressed for service-oriented human resources management. Management is not to suppress or tame employees, but to better serve them. At Zhenjiu, employees are regarded as resources rather than costs. Employees see their potential explored and developed in a way that helps them realize their personal value rather than “constrained” or “restricted”. Putting action over management was a corporate philosophy that the training camp wanted to teach to all employees and even partners.

In terms of platform construction, a “horse race mechanism” and a training system are established. Zhenjiu advocates inclusiveness and rejects cliques. It provides opportunities and environment for fair competition, tries to avoid subjective limitations and one-sidedness in the process of discovering talents, and maintains healthy and long-lasting operation of the mechanism. The "horse race mechanism "replaces" picking horses" with "horse racing" to fully tap the potential of each person, and the talents at each level are supervised and driven by both pressure and motivation to meet the market demand. Zhenjiu provides an open, fair and just platform on which individuals will have the opportunity to succeed if they work hard.

"Looking into the future, Zhenjiu will be not only an learning enterprise that remains active in its evolution course, but also a company centered round shared platform and partnership system; it will be not only a brand evergreen enterprise like an aircraft carrier, but also a great enterprise that leads in craftsmanship value and a learning model in the traditional industry that promotes benign development of the market with its craftsmanship spirit," said Hu Bo.

At present, the special training camp of Zhenjiu has been planned to recruit market partners outside the province in 7 training sessions. What follows is the market training in Guizhou Province. The ultimate purpose is to empower and increase the value of employees and market partners all over the country.