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Mr. A joined a petroleum machinery factory in early 2014 as a salesperson for oil drilling equipment. At onboarding, the boss clearly stated that selling one set of equipment within three years would qualify him as an excellent salesperson. During those three years, he would receive a base salary of 3,000 RMB per month, with a 3% commission only after full payment for equipment sold. After three months of business and technical training, Mr. A headed to the Northwest market. In the following three months, he understood the sales process and entry points for oil equipment but closed no deals. Hearing that the company had over 70 million RMB in outstanding receivables, he proactively proposed to the general manager that he could collect these debts while traveling for sales. The general manager was delighted. Over the next six months, Mr. A recovered nearly 40 million RMB in bad debts, setting a record. The general manager was so pleased that he rewarded Mr. A with 1.5% of the recovered amount.

Mr. B initially joined a dairy company to manage the southern market. After two months of market research, he optimized the southern sales team and customers, and designed a more reasonable market investment plan. Within a year, sales in the south grew by 30% without increasing the sales expense ratio, and he rejected over 300,000 RMB in unreasonable or false expense claims. Through his efforts, the southern market became the company's core market, and it supplied five provincial managers to the company. At the year-end celebration dinner, Mr. B, emboldened by alcohol, told the boss: "My salary isn't paid by the company; it's paid by the market. And I've trained five provincial managers for free!" The boss, reflecting on this, found it hard to argue.

Mr. C joined a company in marketing when its warehouse was overflowing, even the general manager's office was used as temporary storage. He was truly appointed at a critical moment. The boss, Mr. Zhang, promised various favorable conditions if Mr. C could solve the inventory problem quickly. Within less than three months, all products were sold out, and there were even capacity issues leading to contract breaches. However, Mr. C received less than 30% of what was promised. Mr. Zhang had many reasons for not fulfilling his promises, all seemingly reasonable. After three months, Mr. C left quietly.

For marketing professionals, creating value is the true reflection of their own worth. Once you join a marketing team, you must assess how much your contribution adds to the team's overall performance. Those who merely go through the motions, hiding behind superficial efforts and excuses for poor results, seek positions that rely on past achievements to survive. "Muddling through" and "working hard" are entirely different concepts. The existence of a culture of mediocrity is a warning sign of team decline. Marketing is not about smooth talk; it's about real, tangible results. Those who rely on flattery and sycophancy to win leadership's trust and linger in marketing are unworthy of the profession. They should find careers better suited to such tactics. Marketing is about iron and blood, the crystallization of wisdom, hard work, and physical effort—not for those who wait for windfalls. Marketing professionals must stand tall and prove their worth through concrete results!

Companies must also value their marketing personnel. Those who are incompetent or lack accountability should be firmly removed. For outstanding performers, strictly implement performance-based compensation and pay what is due, avoiding egalitarianism that dilutes rewards. After all, marketing performance is measured by results. If companies rely on exploiting marketing personnel's surplus value as profit, they will doom themselves to mediocrity. Without a strong marketing team, a company will inevitably be relegated to the lower rungs of the market's biological chain.

Fellow marketers, have you delivered today?