SINO’s enterprise consulting service was not the company’s core business before 2020.

The founder of SINO has 18 years of logistics company management experience and 16 years of enterprise research experience. He has successively visited and studied more than 200 successful domestic enterprises, gaining profound insights and practical experience in enterprise management.

Before 2020, enterprise consulting services were mainly provided upon invitations from friends, referrals between acquaintances and recommendations from the Guangdong Association of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. We delivered simple consulting and training services for more than ten enterprises.

The main service contents include:

1. Discussion on management and operation models for logistics companies, led by the company’s founder and executive.

For example, there was a logistics company in Guangzhou. It started with a shopfront in Nanfang Building and developed over 9 years. Due to fierce competition at the premises, its profit gradually turned into losses. The company later withdrew from Nanfang Building and relocated near Yuncheng Road in Baiyun District. After shifting from the shopfront model to formal corporate operation, the management lost clear operational direction. Referred by a friend of a friend, we provided business consulting services for this logistics firm. The key consulting items were as follows: 

(1) The company had accumulated some customer resources under the previous shopfront model. After relocation, its sales team mainly followed up on existing scattered clients. We discussed the company’s future core business orientation. 

(2) Under the shopfront model, business mainly came from walk-in customers and advertising placements. After relocation, the customer acquisition model needed repositioning. 

(3) Sales team management transformation: shifting from a service-oriented team to a business development-oriented team, with new requirements for team management and performance incentives. 

(4) Internal corporate restructuring: cutting customer-service-heavy positions, prioritizing recruitment and performance appraisal, improving corporate management planning, establishing the core status and assessment standards for the sales team. 

(5) Leveraging logistics management systems, including SINO’s CMS corporate management system, CRM customer relationship management system and WMS warehouse management system. Some departments reduced headcount by more than half while achieving higher efficiency. 

(6) Upgrading management mindset: shifting from flat two-tier management to standardized three-tier departmental management, and moving from experience-based management to professional management.

The company achieved decent growth afterwards. Although not all recommendations were fully implemented, its business transformation was successful.

1. Consulting on transformation and upgrading models for logistics companies, led by the company’s founder and executive.

This was another Guangzhou-based logistics company located near Xiaobei. It mainly handled procurement agency and logistics shipping for goods to Africa, with years of operational history. The firm employed around 20 staff and shipped approximately 200 high-cube containers every year. Its female founder had a background in shipping line operations, with solid industry resources and ambitions for expansion.

The company was facing challenges including overly single business lines, a saturated target customer base and inadequate business development frameworks.

Our main consulting recommendations: 

(1) Upgrade the management structure immediately from two-tier to three-tier departmental management. Once a logistics company grows beyond 20 employees, regardless of its original operation mode, it needs to adopt departmentalized management. This frees the founder from daily trivial work to focus on strategic corporate decisions. 

(2) Build a dedicated sales team without delay. Relying on a single market with a capped customer base carries huge risks amid today’s rapidly changing business environment.

 (3) Expand business coverage while maintaining stable existing operations. As a dedicated DDP service line operator, exploring new markets is essential. Even though markets are saturated and entry means intense, sometimes cut-throat competition, there is no way to stand still. 

(4) Upgrade the corporate benefit distribution system. Implement an employee equity incentive scheme to support departmental performance management while fairly rewarding long-tenured employees.

 (5) Push for business transformation on the premise of stable existing operations. Building a sales team alone is insufficient; it is critical to establish the core role of the sales team together with performance appraisal systems such as KPIs. The exact appraisal framework matters less than nurturing the team as a sustainable source of new business. Take advantage of this stable transition period to complete business transformation. Market-oriented customer development represents the future for logistics enterprises.

The company’s business remained stable, and it was commendable that the management stayed alert to potential risks even in good times. For business owners, management transformation starts with changing their own mindset. Staff training or short, “fast-food style” management courses will not bring real change. Even when problems are obvious, transformation begins from within. Human-based relationship management has always been a hidden time bomb for small businesses in China. To upgrade management, enterprises need to follow the principle once proposed by Mr. Ren Zhengfei: copy and learn mature systems for three years before proposing custom revisions.

Corporate restructuring consultation for logistics companies at a certain development stage.

This was a cross-border e-commerce logistics company in Guangzhou. Its core business was picking up goods from cross-border e-commerce sellers, consolidating and sorting cargo at its warehouse, then dispatching shipments via different agents to earn freight margins.

We provided restructuring consulting for the company back in 2009. The founder was ambitious, decisive and visionary. At a certain growth stage, inspired by new national policies, he planned to restructure the firm into an employee-shareholding enterprise.

The company satisfied the preconditions for restructuring: over a decade of operation, mature business models, a proper scale, sound departmental management and a team of long-serving employees.

Specific restructuring recommendations: 

(1) Apply to establish a joint-stock technology company with registered capital of 50 million RMB and set up a joint-stock management committee. 

(2) The founder shall hold no less than 20 million RMB worth of equity. 

(3) Sell 30 million RMB worth of shares to employees at 1 RMB per share. 

(4) Encourage department managers to purchase shares to build an equity structure for the management team. 

(5) Require senior management to subscribe for more shares.

 (6) Implement the Amoeba management model within the sales team.

The founder fully executed the equity plan. After restructuring, he became the largest shareholder holding 20 million RMB equity; the deputy general manager held 10 million RMB equity; 36 department heads and employees together held another 20 million RMB equity. A company-wide mindset took root: “I am a shareholder, and I share in the company’s profits”. Within less than one year, the company expanded from dozens of employees to more than 300 staff, with 28 sales teams under the Amoeba model. A branch office was set up in Shenzhen. The small firm with an original registered capital of 2 million RMB was upgraded to a provincial-level joint-stock company with 50 million RMB registered capital, successfully achieving its goal of scaling up.

1. Sales team management and incentive schemes are the most frequently consulted and most critical topics.

Common pain points include insufficient business volume, low sales performance and high turnover of sales staff.

This dilemma troubles most logistics business owners, mostly caused by unreasonable incentive systems or flawed corporate frameworks.

Solutions must be tailored to individual circumstances, so no specific case will be elaborated here. Each enterprise faces unique challenges with no universal solution.

1. Core business challenges: confusion over the future direction of the logistics industry and lack of core competitiveness.

This is another frequently raised consulting topic.

It is an undeniable fact that all segments of the logistics industry are facing tough market conditions. Many business owners are concerned about future trends. The logistics sector has experienced dramatic shifts in recent years. Whether serving direct customers or agents, operating railway cross-border routes or supply chain services, it is hard to find a risk-free path. There are many debates over whether to follow popular trends such as cross-border rail transport and cross-border e-commerce.

We do not have a ready-made case to share on this topic. We simply discuss with clients amid uncertainty, to help them find a development path suited to their own business.