---
title: "4 Steps and 3 Dimensions to Build an Ironclad Marketing Team"
description: "Most Chinese enterprises' marketing management is not yet mature. By applying PDCA to marketing management and continuously optimizing each point of the management process, these points—independent yet part of a whole—can undergo qualitative and quantitative changes, elevating management to a higher level and achieving competitive advantage. Success is the result of models, and models are the result of thought; therefore, by consistently using PDCA, even amid drastic changes in the business environment, new and more suitable models will surely be found."
author: "陈小龙"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2015-03-25"
language: "en"
canonical: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/4-steps-and-3-dimensions-to-build-an-ironclad-marketing-team-4d248b24/"
markdown: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/4-steps-and-3-dimensions-to-build-an-ironclad-marketing-team-4d248b24.md"
original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/TncAbG6vAhwn2_PJhzOENw"
translation: "https://xinjignxiao.com/zh/articles/%E6%89%93%E9%80%A0%E9%93%81%E8%A1%80%E8%90%A5%E9%94%80%E5%9B%A2%E9%98%9F%E7%9A%844%E5%A4%A7%E6%AD%A5%E9%AA%A43%E4%B8%AA%E7%BB%B4%E5%BA%A6-4d248b24.md"
attribution: "New Distribution — https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/4-steps-and-3-dimensions-to-build-an-ironclad-marketing-team-4d248b24/"
usage_policy: "https://xinjignxiao.com/ai-policy.txt"
---

# 4 Steps and 3 Dimensions to Build an Ironclad Marketing Team

> Most Chinese enterprises' marketing management is not yet mature. By applying PDCA to marketing management and continuously optimizing each point of the management process, these points—independent yet part of a whole—can undergo qualitative and quantitative changes, elevating management to a higher level and achieving competitive advantage. Success is the result of models, and models are the result of thought; therefore, by consistently using PDCA, even amid drastic changes in the business environment, new and more suitable models will surely be found.

Most Chinese enterprises' marketing management is not yet mature. By applying PDCA to marketing management and continuously optimizing each point of the management process, these points—independent yet part of a whole—can undergo qualitative and quantitative changes, elevating management to a higher level and achieving competitive advantage. Success is the result of models, and models are the result of thought; therefore, by consistently using PDCA, even amid drastic changes in the business environment, new and more suitable models will surely be found.

**Process and Application**

**Step 1: Plan**
In the marketing management process, plans needed include five-year, three-year, and one-year plans, further broken down into monthly, weekly, and even daily plans. Various units of the marketing organization also need to formulate various plans. There are also new product launch plans, annual promotion plans, etc. Plans are everywhere.

The importance of meticulous planning has never been doubted. However, in actual practice, many people view standard marketing plan templates as mere formalities, tasks assigned by the boss, or pedantic stereotypes—believing that performance is achieved through action, not planning. Thus, at the end of each year, when comparing against the previous year's marketing plan, and when the boss asks which items were achieved and which were not, the huge gap between the plan and reality becomes apparent. Moreover, because the plan's budget was not fully prepared, marketing tasks often cannot be completed, and are often constrained by management and financial controls, making trust difficult to maintain. Furthermore, because marketing is so important, it absolutely cannot be done solely by the marketing department. The correct approach is to standardize the format of the "marketing plan." If anyone wants to change the format, they must provide extremely strong reasons for optimization before making changes.

**Step 2: Do**
After the plan is formulated, execution follows, including the eight steps of sales visits, route visits, face-to-face communication, impactful display, and negotiations for entry into chain supermarkets.

Even in marketing companies, marketing management is never independent of the normal operations of the enterprise; it often requires coordination from finance, procurement, production, management, and other aspects. Within the marketing organization, there is also coordination between the sales department and the marketing department, and among various sales sub-organizations. How to coordinate should be formed into processes and systems to solidify the effectiveness of this coordination, and in actual practice, through the efficiency of problem-solving, continuously optimize to improve organizational operational efficiency. When the enterprise and market environment are calm, no one feels how important organizational coordination is. But when problems arise, everyone painfully realizes that the enterprise has never understood "coordination," nor even made basic preparations; the enterprise has been "running naked" all along.

**Step 3: Check**
In the marketing process, checks include superiors checking subordinates' work, the company's inspection department inspecting various functional departments, the marketing department checking the use of marketing expenses in channels, and joint visits with follow-up line visits.

To ensure the achievement of the plan, the effectiveness of checks is reflected in several aspects: First, is the plan being vigorously executed? Many great plans fail because of laxity in the checking phase, leading to lax execution. Management sages were absolutely right: employees do not do what you tell them to do, but what you inspect and assess them on. Second, the necessity of checking is to discover parts of the plan that can be optimized, such as changes in new situations causing changes in the execution environment, potential deviations in direction, the emergence of new opportunities, imbalances in resource allocation, the generation of new methods, etc. We can even say that checking is the second life of the plan.

**Step 4: Action**
After problems are discovered, there are two directions for handling: one is to correct non-compliant behaviors, and the other is to correct problems in the plan itself. These ultimately form feedback reports and eventually become new systems and execution texts.

In the marketing process, compared to the sales department, the marketing department seems more critical in the application of PDCA. Since the marketing department's function is to determine the enterprise's marketing direction and involves significant expenditure, if details are not carefully considered, many problems will arise in sales execution, and it will also cause huge losses in money, time, and manpower. Generally, enterprise managers keep a close eye on employee wages and expenses, but from the financial statements, the actual cost spent on people accounts for only about 4% of total enterprise expenses, while marketing expenses account for 10% to 20%. A large amount of evidence shows that the waste of marketing expenses during the marketing process can reach 5% or even more. If PDCA analysis and review are repeatedly conducted, this waste can be reduced to below 3%.

**Adjustments and Directions**

**Direction 1: Management Maintenance (Continuous)**
Many enterprises, when taking stock at the end of the year, feel that the unsatisfactory marketing management of the year is due to the lack of better methods. Therefore, they constantly think about how to implement reforms or adopt new means in the coming year's operations. But when the next year comes, these new means are deemed not good enough, leading to disappointment or continued searching for new methods. Meanwhile, employees, amid constant changes, gradually become like the man from Handan who tried to learn to walk and forgot how to walk himself, ultimately not knowing how to proceed.

Marketing management, even in the most successful enterprises, often wins through solid fundamentals. Therefore, when problems arise, the enterprise should first reflect on whether its own marketing management system has been effectively and thoroughly executed. World-class companies like GE, Johnson & Johnson, and Procter & Gamble absolutely do not believe in the various excuses salespeople make, even if the market environment is poor or consumer purchasing power is limited. They prefer to believe that this is related to whether the marketing plan has been effectively executed. Therefore, the control method they adopt to ensure performance is frontline investigation. Frontline investigation can be conducted in two ways: first, supervisors and subordinate executives conduct joint sales visits; second, supervisors conduct unannounced field visits.

**Direction 2: Management Innovation (Incremental)**
Management innovation is the result of optimizing the existing system based on a well-established marketing management system. This result inherits and develops the original system, often bringing a comfortable atmosphere of unity and smooth implementation. Many marketing department heads require their team members to continuously devise various dazzling promotional plans because they face a problem: if promotions stop, sales stop. And if they continue using previous plans, they may think those plans are outdated.

In the training that Guangzhou Mingdao Consulting implemented for Qiaqia Melon Seeds, we found that many of Qiaqia's promotional activities were conducted by sticking yellow self-adhesive labels on the front of the outer packaging. Compared to normal packaging, this was eye-catching and prominent. Many companies in the FMCG industry do this, and they have used it for a long time, seeing no problem. Through our inspiration, Qiaqia's product managers gradually realized that if the yellow activity notice were printed directly on the outer packaging where the self-adhesive label was originally placed, it would be just as eye-catching as the original label, and it would save a significant amount of cost and the labor time of "sticking the label." All these costs are saved with this small change.

**Direction 3: Management Transformation (Radical)**
When an enterprise's development is stagnant for a long time or it wants to break through the limitations of the industry's growth model, management transformation is needed. Whether it is the determination of "to practice the divine skill, one must first self-castrate" or the courage of a warrior cutting off his wrist, these are decisions made by managers determined to change their fate. Management transformation is usually accomplished through external forces or external brains to achieve revolutionary breakthroughs, such as Lou Gerstner's parachuting into IBM; or initiated by newly appointed leaders who deeply understand the enterprise's underlying situation, such as Jack Welch taking charge at GE; or through think tanks providing hands-on coaching, such as McKinsey's coaching of Master Kong.

Before July 1998, Master Kong's marketing management model was the large distributor system. In the same industry, almost all competitors adopted the same marketing model. However, Master Kong felt that this model could not break through. In 1998, Master Kong decided to invite the internationally renowned consulting firm McKinsey & Company to help. Based on their understanding of the Chinese market and Master Kong's current situation, McKinsey provided a solution called "Channel Intensive Cultivation." This solution enabled Master Kong to flourish everywhere, developing a large number of small regional distributors. This model helped Master Kong defeat one strong enemy after another in the Chinese market. Even when the entire industry was suffering losses, Master Kong maintained double-digit growth in sales and profits—truly a management miracle. If you can also continuously apply the magic of PDCA, you will believe that this is by no means a miracle.

_Note: This article is selected from Mr. Chen Xiaolong's gold training course "Building a High-Performance Marketing Team"_

Mr. Chen Xiaolong is a renowned marketing expert in the Chinese condiment market and currently serves as General Manager of Guangzhou Mingdao Marketing Consulting Co., Ltd. He has made outstanding contributions to the development of many domestic and international well-known brands in China, including Haitian Flavoring, Lee Kum Kee, Hengshun Vinegar, Jialong Food, Singapore Fuda Food (Master Soy Sauce, Guanghe Fermented Tofu), Meile Food, Bailee Food, Baiweijia Food, COFCO Group, Shuanghui Group, Yili Dairy, Mengniu Dairy, Hengan Group, Qiaqia Melon Seeds, Vinda Paper, Ximai Oatmeal, Xiaohutuxian Liquor, Danbaoli Yeast, etc. Since 2000, Mr. Chen has published research articles on the condiment industry in national newspapers and magazines. He has traveled extensively across nearly 30 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions in China, and has a thorough understanding of the distribution channels, distributors, new product launches, market environment, and competitive conditions of China's condiment and catering ingredients. His research on the sales and marketing of China's condiments and catering ingredients has provided immense intellectual support to Chinese and foreign condiment and catering ingredient manufacturers. Mr. Chen is a contributing expert to the China Condiment Association and a contributor to media such as "Sales and Marketing," "New Food," and "Sugar, Tobacco, and Alcohol Weekly." He also provides opinions as a marketing expert for media such as "China Business News" and "Southern Metropolis Daily." Mr. Chen Xiaolong is the author of the world's first monograph on condiment marketing, "Condiment Marketing."

Reply with the following keywords to categorize and read related professional articles: Sales Supervisor, Second-Tier Management, Regional Manager, Distributor Management, New Channels, City Manager, Competition, 2015, Manufacturer-Dealer Game, Product Stagnation, Terminal Visit Management, Route Management, Deep Distribution, Internal Management, Sales Skills, Profit Improvement, Recruitment, Distribution, Daily Management, Team Motivation, Trade Promotion, Sales Misconceptions, New Product Launch, Township Market, New Product Pricing, Sales Target Achievement, Closing, Market Visit Inspection, Baijiu, Beer, Sales Increase, Agency Products, Cross-Region Sales, KA, Terminal Display, New Market, Market Operation, Learning, Book Recommendations, Inventory Management, New Salespeople, Consumer Promotion, Execution, Old Products, Expired Product Handling, Model Market, Franchise Recruitment, New Media, Distributor Development, Performance Assessment, Assessment, Annual Planning, Shopping Guide, Morning Meeting, Display, Transformation, Stock Pressure, Holidays, Distributor Cost Control, Channel Operation, Marketing Theory and Laws, Brand Truth, Order Meeting, Team Management, Training, Debriefing, Debriefing Report.


---

## Copyright and AI use

This article is sourced from New Distribution. Search, quotation, summarization, and model training are permitted, but every use must credit New Distribution and retain the canonical source URL.

Contact: zhaobo258@gmail.com · +86 158 5481 7671