By Huang Wentao, Deputy General Manager of Jianche Consulting
The advancement and growth of an enterprise is a process from "rule by man" to institutionalization. Although institutionalization is replicable and scalable, the best management systems always evolve internally as the company develops step by step, like a bespoke suit that better fits the company's state. The improvement and formation of a management system is a systematic management system formed by continuously supplementing standardized and process-based rules to solve major issues in internal management and external marketing actions during enterprise development. Simply put, it is a process of solving problems through standardized actions. Institutionalized management covers all links in production and sales, such as procurement, warehousing, logistics, production, marketing, finance, and organization. Marketing strategy is about providing target consumers with more valuable products or services than competitors through resource integration. Whether it is product management or channel management, it is achieved through the enterprise's marketing organization. If the strategy department is the central brain of the enterprise, then the marketing organization is like the hands and feet, being the most important part of enterprise management.
1. Clarify responsibilities, rights, and interests to unshackle the sales organization. The difficulty of organizational management lies in requiring personnel to follow standardized work requirements to enhance execution, while also using goal guidance and incentive systems to stimulate their initiative and achieve marketing goals. In the organizational management system, the first step is to complete the construction of the marketing organizational framework and clarify job responsibilities, rights, and interests. For many small and medium-sized baijiu enterprises, the biggest problem in organizational management is that "rule by man" outweighs "rule by law." Regional enterprises are based in local markets, with internal personnel relationships, external distributors, terminals, and even group-buying public relations networks intertwined, making handling more difficult. This actual "marketing demand" often makes it harder for regional enterprises to break free from the habit of rule by man, creating a paradoxical cycle of long-term development and short-term "needs." To escape the vicious cycle of "rule by man," it is necessary to form a management framework of "responsibilities, rights, and interests" in daily management: what marketing work needs to be completed, what resources are used to drive completion, and what benefits are gained after completion. Use this management logic to drive organizational upgrading.
"Responsibility" (责) refers to the work content required by a position. It is the first of the three elements of organizational management to be clarified, indicating that the formulation of marketing goals and action decomposition take precedence over others. Establishing corresponding organizations and positions to match and drive the achievement of marketing goals is a sign of a mature management system. The allocation of responsibilities covers three specific contents. First, clarify job functions and scope of responsibility. For sales organizations, job responsibilities are assigned from low to high levels, with management content added at each level. Specifically, it is dominated by achieving sales targets, covering channel customer visits, inventory data statistics, product flow control, product promotion and display achievement, regional brand promotion activity execution, and competitor information feedback. Second, establish execution standards for routine work. Use daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual cycles to further refine job content, and clarify assessment indicators for each task in both quantitative and qualitative directions. Here, quantitative indicators for specific positions should be adjusted based on the actual development stage of the regional market, the number of outlets developed, and terminal types. Third, establish a mechanism for goal promotion, tracking, and feedback. Under the principle of "goal traction, process control, and result tracking," create a traceable and sourceable promotion process for the goals, progress, and results of job content. Through systematic processes, achieve real-time tracking and correction of marketing activity progress, rather than simply holding people accountable after results appear.
"Rights" (权) can be understood as the scope of responsibility and authority corresponding to a position. It specifically involves financial/material authority and management scope. All marketing work, after setting market goals, must be equipped with corresponding organizations and resources for promotion. This naturally involves the management of financial/material resources and organizational/channel authority. A sound accounting process and clear approval authority can effectively improve organizational efficiency and resource effectiveness. The establishment of authority levels for each position should match the market promotion direction and the competitive landscape at each stage, while also considering supervision and monitoring to ensure the effectiveness of resource investment.
"Interests" (利) refers to the material and non-material benefits corresponding to job responsibilities. It can be divided into three parts. First, regular salary income under normal assessment and non-regular stage rewards and incentives. Second, to help employees better complete their jobs, provide necessary learning environments, training opportunities, etc., to enhance their professional skills, personal qualities, or other aspects, or even use the enterprise as a platform to provide employees with greater growth space and broader network resources, all of which are important components of non-material rewards. Third, on the platform of enterprise development, provide employees with sufficient career advancement opportunities to fully display their personal abilities. The pyramid structure of the organization also corresponds to Maslow's hierarchy of needs: the higher the position, the higher the spiritual needs; the lower the position, the higher the material pursuit. In today's society, enterprises and employees are in a two-way selection state. Material needs are weakening with social development, and even the hardware configuration of the work environment and the soft working atmosphere have been raised to new heights. From "rule by man" to "rule by law," ultimately, "corporate culture" is needed to guide and cultivate a common ideology among employees. Only with value convergence can the team achieve "long-term stability."
2. Establish a service supervision system to achieve organizational self-operation. In a narrow sense, the sales organization refers only to the sales department, but in a broad sense, any service organization that enables the company's products or services to provide target customers with value exceeding that of competitors can be called a sales organization. From the perspective of power balance and enterprise operation, the sales organization can be divided into strategy formulation and resource allocation departments, sales execution and promotion departments, and supervision and service departments. The establishment of the three departments adopts the principle of "separation of powers," with the internal logic of organizing along the lines of human/material resource allocation, use, and supervision, corresponding to the traditional strategic development department, sales department, and marketing department. The most core department is obviously the strategic development department, which should make major choices, plans, and strategies for the enterprise's development direction, speed and quality, key nodes, and core capabilities within a certain period. At the same time, it should formulate short-term strategic implementation paths and resource matching plans to achieve medium- and long-term development goals. In small and medium-sized enterprises, the strategic development department is often directly undertaken by middle and senior management or even the "top leader," which is why small and medium-sized enterprises have strategic shortcomings—they pay more attention to timeliness and short-term goals. Competition among modern enterprises is multi-dimensional. The formulation of strategic goals determines the weight and direction of resource allocation, and also prevents the enterprise from getting lost or deviating in long-term development. The execution of the sales organization directly affects the timeliness and output ratio of enterprise resource investment. This is also the difficulty of sales organization management mentioned earlier. An efficient execution organization can enable enterprise resources to reach the required links accurately and quickly, influence target units as expected, and promote the achievement of short-term strategic goals. The function of the supervision and service department is to ensure that resources are invested as expected and to summarize and evaluate the investment results. On the one hand, it provides content for sales organization assessment; on the other hand, it provides correction basis for the later promotion of strategic paths.
3. Avoid management "taboos" to enhance organizational effectiveness. As an enterprise manager, the top priority in management is to establish value standards that align with the enterprise's development strategy through the design of the organizational structure, the allocation of job "responsibilities, rights, and interests," and the reward and punishment system for core work. Several common shortcomings in small and medium-sized enterprises highlight the management weaknesses.
First is "expert management." Because sales is the top priority, the manager of the sales organization is often the strongest salesperson in the existing sales organization. This strong personal sales ability actually represents the upper limit of the overall sales organization. But enterprise management is not just about sales; as a manager, one should be the maker of rules and the driver, playing the roles of "clock builder" and "time teller."
Second is the "delayed rewards and punishments" problem. The development of an enterprise is like a moving carriage. Once there is a deviation in direction or execution problems, it needs to be quickly pulled back to the established track with a "whip." At the same time, when people or events that play a positive role and guiding influence in development occur, they need to be quickly rewarded. This makes the organization clearer about strategic direction and value orientation. Otherwise, when the enterprise encounters major setbacks, it not only loses the opportunity to avoid or save, but also cannot even find the reason for deviation or the time of deviation.
Third is the "position based on person" problem. This may be the most obvious sign of enterprise management advancement. From "position based on person" to "person based on position," it indicates that the enterprise has plans and goals, has formulated detailed implementation paths, and has developed matching organizational strategies to achieve strategic goals. This is an improvement in human resource management, a shift from "this person is very capable and can bring something to the company" to "what kind of talent does the enterprise need." Fourth is the "frequent changes in orders" problem. The lack of rigor in management systems, unclear organizational goals, and even lack of trust within the organization can cause repeated changes in corporate policies. This leads to employees being unable to work normally and always being chased by problems. Over time, employees may lose a sense of achievement in their work and confidence in the enterprise, while also highlighting the enterprise's lack of firmness in its goals and direction. To change this situation, start with organizational goals. The decision-making process should be a complete process rather than based on personal preferences or intuition. The simplest approach is to start with the most basic rules and regulations, conducting sufficient internal evaluation and external research. Flexible management is necessary. As long as the goal direction is determined, the enterprise needs to make timely adjustments in the rapidly changing market competition, maintain smooth communication mechanisms with employees, so that decision changes do not appear abrupt or arbitrary, and effectively avoid confidence crises and cognitive shocks.
Introduction: Huang Wentao (WeChat: xiayu719), Deputy General Manager of Jianche Consulting. Service projects: Sichuan Tuopai Liquor, Shandong Feicheng Kangwanghe Liquor, Shandong Guangrao Bingshengwang Liquor, etc.
Source: Wine Industry (ID: jiuyejia360)
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