Chinasolved needs to come clean about something. We are blatantly unfair to the sales staffs that we train and manage.

As your sales team grows, you will be faced with some difficult choices. Many long-term expats come to feel that fairness should be their moral compass when deciding on issues like promotions, opportunities and compensation. Fight this wrong-headed impulse. Your job as a sales manager in China is to be as unfair as you possibly can.

The sales floor is no worker’s utopia. You’re not in this to make friends - just sales and profits.

Every China manager – particularly those with responsibility for sales – needs to remember these 5 basic rules of successful management.

1) Some of us have different skill sets and abilities.

Too often, fairness is achieved by demotivating your more talented sales people – not by magically bestowing new abilities on the weak team members. You need to make sure your strongest players have the opportunities and resources to do the heavy lifting.

2) Talent is expensive.

Performance needs to be incentivized. That usually STARTS with money and gets more difficult and expensive from there. There simply aren’t enough resources to go around.

3) The best performers will be the first to leave because they are the ones who CAN leave.

Senior management is willing to spread the pain of lean times or tight budgets – and your entry level and promotionally-challenged workers will have no big complaints about equally poor treatment. It’s your potential superstars that chafe at the idea of a situation that is uniformly bad for everyone. They are the ones who have the ability to do something about it – like accept another offer.

4) You don’t owe anyone a piece.

Chinese teams tend to impose their own order and moral code. Some managers get affected with the misconception that everyone is entitled to an equal share of the benefits and rewards from any group endeavor. No. This is simply wrong. The reason you’re here setting up a business in China’s newly privatizing markets and not working for a Chinese government-owned business in Newark is that capitalism works. Your obligations are to comply with the law and build shareholder value. You don’t owe anyone a job, opportunity, bonus or piece of the business.

5) You don’t get paid for being a nice guy.

Just the opposite. During the set-up process, many companies develop a healthy camaraderie and corps de esprit. That’s wonderful. But now that the business is up and running your job is to make sales and control costs. Many managers face a situation where either their shareholders or their clerical staff is going to love them – not both. Successful managers have found that it is much better to be beloved amongst the owners of the company than the sales assistants and clerks – even if the latter are more worthy.

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Because gravity happens everywhere.

China businesses have advanced quickly, and the set-up and logistics nightmares of a few years ago are already fading into memory. The new challenges are higher up on the org chart – how to hold on to the heavy lifting managers who keep your departments operating. There also needs to be a way of engaging your younger class of high-potential new super-stars who have recently joined your team.

You are familiar with key accounts and key suppliers. Time to apply the same principal of unfairly-excellent service inside your own shop.

Retention plans can be broad or narrowly focused. China managers and owners are familiar with the scattergun approach, but should now start introducing a more selective tack as well.

1) Tell them that they are on your radar.

This has a number of great results. First, it gives them some hint as to your thinking. Your new superstar may have no idea you think he has potential. This also gives you an opportunity to test the waters and find out if this person is worth the investment. Are they planning on running their family business in a few years? Or going back to business school? Have an honest dialogue with any high-potential young manager and find out how they feel about being fast-tracked for a higher management role?

2) It’s not supposed to be fair.

You know this – now they have to. You will be treating some members of your staff differently. They will get better compensation, better opportunities and more responsibility. Some of your young managers may find this stressful. Others will become power-crazed monsters. You will need to manage both,

3) Get them more involved.

One of the most frustrating periods for an up & coming manager is being told he’s being groomed for great things while he’s still sitting in a cubicle. Don’t send mixed messages. Development means activity. Get him involved in training & supervising others. Look for ways to increase his customer contact. Encourage input on strategy issues.

4) Better perks.

Senior management looks like a club from the outside, so use that to your advantage. Start paying for things like training and education outside the office – or maybe even in another city. Travel to trade shows and exhibitions can be win-win, since he’s doing something exciting – and you don’t have to go yourself. Give him a little discretionary spending and a wider range of decision-making authority.

5) Make them part of the family.

Or better yet – make their families part of the family. Get involved in the kids’ education or family healthcare plans. Financial planning is pricey, but nothing keeps your guy’s head in the game like a stable, healthy household. Once you have the wives and children on your side, the retention battle starts to look winnable.