****-01-** Staring at "slip on with a kick" versus "step on to wear," what do you feel? Any key difference? No feeling? Is nitpicking over words boring? Exactly. Because that one word wasn't changed for you; it was changed for its users. Zulijian elderly shoes, the perfect idol for the middle-aged and elderly. In 1990, the nationwide phenomenon TV drama "Yearning" featured Liu Huifang; in 1992, "Auntie Kaili Explains Science"; Zhang Kaili endorsed, and left-behind elderly couldn't part with the TV big screen, with CCTV ads playing continuously. In the hidden corners you don't see, others are always watching. You hear "kick on with a leg" and feel nothing, but the elderly have their own sensitivities. If your ad dared to say such a thing, they'd surely send you all kinds of greetings: "You're the one who kicks on, your whole family kicks on." This word made the elderly uncomfortable, so change it. Where customers stare, you strike; you won't lose out. What is this? This is truly focusing on users. Pretending to focus on users is like pretending to have corporate culture: print an employee handbook, publish an internal newsletter, organize a team-building event everyone hates, functional departments still block business departments, HR still doesn't understand frontline operations, the annual meeting sings "Grateful Heart," and on stage they give pep talks. You've long been used to such scenes, so when "corporate culture" is mentioned, you smile knowingly and stay silent. Pretending to focus on users has also become something that makes people smile knowingly. If you don't tear it apart, it will tear you apart. Either you can't find where customers are looking, doing useless work and deceiving yourself, or you find where customers are looking but can't figure out how to implement it, hating yourself. Fake user focus makes onlookers smile knowingly, but the doers can't smile. If you don't tear it apart, it will tear you apart. -02- Pretending to focus on users is bad because it gives you false hope, deceives you into false struggle, draining your drive and time, cheating you out of your effort and money. Treating yourself as the user, often saying "As a consumer, I..."; Treating market research results as the user, often saying "Data tells us..."; Treating channels as the user, often saying "Customer feedback, market demands." In reality, these are just one part of understanding and paying attention to users; the more crucial part is the subsequent insight. Once you're like the blind men and the elephant, the direction goes wrong. Naturally, it becomes "Joyfully focusing on users, but feeling chilled by the results." If you can't find where customers are looking, you can't answer Mr. Drucker's "What is our business?" If you can't think of how to implement, you can't think of "the specific layers of our business." "Customers want a hole in the wall" is the abstract layer of business; "what kind of drill bit can drill the hole customers want" is the concrete layer of business. Truly focusing on users requires grasping both layers, and both must be strong. Truly focusing on users, the keywords are humanity, experience, resonance, satisfaction, recommendation, community, and lifetime value. Truly focusing on users focuses on what doesn't change, tests insight, and builds relationships. "The essence of man is the sum of all social relations." -03- Haidilao is famous for "focusing on users," so let's use it to illustrate the "abstract layer" and "concrete layer" of focusing on users. First, look at their practices:
Recruitment: The boss recruits employees from his hometown, building relationships not only with employees but also with their families. In the early days, the boss visited homes with gifts. Compensation: Through piece-rate systems, they reduce staff and increase pay; through customer praise, they reward employees, widening the gap with colleagues and peers. Trust: Management is a night watchman, not a supervisor. Functional departments reduce staff and increase efficiency, shifting from control to service, evaluated by business departments. Empowerment: Employees have discretion over how to make customers enjoy life. Rewards and Punishments: Being praised always brings material rewards—an apple, a bottle of shampoo—refusing mere verbal praise. Human Touch: In the early days, the boss bought snacks, took employees to parks, and spent a lot on film for photos and printing. Fairness: In the early days, the boss and employees all earned 50 yuan; each customer praise earned the employee 5 yuan. Autonomy: Managers don't understand the job; employees set the operating standards. Haidilao is famous for "focusing on users," yet the lessons summarized are all about "focusing on employees." How to understand this? -04- Understand from STP. Everyone is doing hot pot (4P's product), so at the S (market segmentation) level, there's no difference. Prices (4P's price) are similar, store location logic (4P's place) is similar, dining style (4P's promotion) is similar, so at the T (target market) level, there's not much difference either. Only the P (positioning) level remains, where you need to differentiate. Market positioning can be divided into three layers: mind positioning, functional positioning, and culture. Mind positioning easily falls into the "egg theory": Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Did your success cause the category to be bound to your brand? Or did you bind the category with your brand out of thin air, leading to your success? When interpreting the success of established companies or products after the fact, it's easy to mistake the first causality for the second. Because the second fits the psychology of those eager for success, success literature sells better than hard knowledge. Functional positioning: You sell drill bits, but your customers are focused on the hole in the wall. You sell hot pot, but your customers are focused on a few hours of enjoyment. Eating hot pot is just a means; enjoying life is the end. So here's the first layer. Mr. Drucker asks: What is our business? What is the abstract layer of our business? Where does it stand? What is the concrete layer of our business? Where does it stand? If you understand that the purpose of eating hot pot at the abstract level is to enjoy life, your cognition is already a level above your peers. **To turn cognitive advantage into actual advantage, you must implement the abstract layer into the concrete layer. Good dishes and environment are basic; making customers moved and spontaneously spread the word—how? That's the concrete layer. Haidilao's answer is "start with employees." Hot pot, the industry determines that employees interact frequently with customers; whether customers enjoy life depends on employees. Recruitment, compensation, trust, empowerment, rewards and punishments, human touch, fairness, autonomy—all truly corporate culture first makes employees enjoy work. The industry determines that focusing on users means focusing on employees first. Haidilao can lock in users through employees; that's the secret. This is Haidilao's abstract and concrete layers of focusing on users. -05- From industry characteristics, from the roughest understanding, step by step refine, layer by layer lock in, finally find what to recognize and what to implement—this is the practical function of STP advocated by Mr. Kotler. For the hot pot industry, P is the key layer; for other industries, different layers of STP have different key importance. Using STP analysis, you can always lock in several key layers and key actions. The difficulty of focusing on users is that users are not within your direct operational scope; you can't directly command users, nor can you force them with a knife; you can only indirectly influence customers. Humanity, experience, resonance, satisfaction, recommendation, community, and lifetime value—these keywords are all indirect influence. The difficulty of indirect influence is that you need to understand the whole, organize the whole, and align the whole. Only then can you screen out key layers and key actions. Therefore, Mr. Kotler's STP is called "the core of market strategy." From the STP perspective, all marketing actions revolve around users and the whole. "Customers are the company's only profit center," and here is "the company's only strategic center." Source: Lao Miao Tears Marketing (ID: yiheyingxiao) Author: Han Shaochun Tips: 400-2000 yuan will be paid once the tip is adopted.