Without the cover of planes and cannons, being airdropped alone onto a war-torn base, with ruins and desolation everywhere, I dubbed myself a "scout." Looking around, only the "old, weak, sick, and disabled" remained. As the saying goes, "Last night the west wind withered the green trees. Alone I climbed the high tower and gazed afar along the road to the horizon."

I believe that marketing personnel responsible for weak markets will have such feelings and memories. There are internal and external troubles: externally, clients lack enthusiasm, cooperation is low, profitability is poor, product sell-through is slow, there's no click-through rate, and prices are chaotic. Internally, the sales team is stagnant, morale is low, and people are disheartened. It's very tricky. To resist external aggression, one must first stabilize internal affairs. How to build a wild sales team is urgent. Before provisions, organization comes first.

Characteristics of a weak market sales team:

  1. Effort does not equal reward; more effort, less reward.
  2. No direction, no goals.
  3. Not valued by company leaders, few promotion opportunities.
  4. High personnel turnover.
  5. No enthusiasm, no combat effectiveness.
  6. Poor professional skills.
  7. Severe complaining; being assigned to a weak market is seen as bad luck.
  8. The capable have already left, the average are waiting, and the incompetent stay long-term.

Knowing the causes, we can prescribe the right medicine. The marketing team I built is called the "Crazy Marketing Team." Crazy, as the name implies, means unconventional or abnormal. But I believe that "doing sales with religious devotion and passionate madness" will surely boost morale and give a surge of energy. War is fought on morale, and what's needed is the spirit of the shining sword. I summarize the following points:

1. Creating a Harmonious Team Environment A drop of clean water in a cup of dirty water results in a cup of dirty water. First, rectify and optimize the poor team environment to create a harmonious and positive one.

Characteristics of a toxic team environment:

  1. Serious cliquishness.
  2. Firewall—newcomers can't integrate.
  3. Unfair, unjust, and non-transparent salary treatment.
  4. Pretentious people run rampant.
  5. Existence of special privileges for certain individuals.
  6. Serious self-serving mentality.
  7. Serious bureaucracy among leaders.

The team environment I cultivate adheres to the management principle: "The bolder the person, the higher the yield; the capable rise, the average yield, the incompetent fall; brains determine pockets; fairness, justice, and transparency." Discard all excuses and reasons that don't lead to performance. Evaluate a person objectively and fairly. Even if a team member, due to ignorance, does or says something contrary to management art, management should not suppress or stifle such behavior based on personal likes or dislikes. They must consider the overall situation: "One who doesn't plan for the whole is insufficient to plan for a part; one who doesn't plan for the long term is insufficient to plan for the moment." The team slogan I lead is: "We are special forces, we excel in land, sea, and air operations, and our combat capability cannot be replicated by the enemy."

2. Building Morale On a narrow path, the brave wins. Dare to show your sword, be good at it, don't believe in tears, and go all out. Firmly believe that there are no bad markets, only people who do them poorly. As management, you must first have confidence in victory. Even if you encounter objective difficulties in the market, hide them in your heart. Believe that "When Heaven is about to assign a great task to a person, it first tests his will, exhausts his muscles and bones, starves his body, deprives him of material comforts, and disrupts his actions, thus stimulating his mind, strengthening his nature, and enhancing his abilities." Even Tang Seng had to endure 81 tribulations to obtain the scriptures, let alone us. Eliminate the spread of negative emotions and advocate the fighting spirit of "losing again and again, fighting again and again, and getting braver with each setback." I remember a salesman who, after failing to conquer a distributor for three months, made a vow: "If I don't win over a distributor, I'll die out there." Sincerity can move metal and stone. In the end, he conquered the terminal, and his market work later flourished.

3. Leadership Self-Cultivation A soldier is a coward, but a general is a coward; the whole nest is affected. As the supreme commander of a team, you must fully leverage your personal charm and strengthen self-cultivation.

Self-cultivation:

1. Lead by example and be at the forefront. If the upper beam is crooked, the lower beam is crooked. As the ancients said: "If the person is upright, orders are followed without being given; if the person is not upright, orders are not followed even if given."

2. Professional skills and leadership art. Deep water attracts fish; old trees attract birds. To build cohesion and centripetal force, the post-80s generation has become the main force of work. Their desire is to grow and envision the future. If management's own business skills are mediocre, it's hard to manage the post-80s, let alone have followers. Conversely, if subordinates can absorb business knowledge from leaders and grow themselves, even if other aspects aren't satisfied, they will always follow.

3. Overcome bureaucracy. Come from the team, go to the team. Go deep into the team, understand each member's life and thoughts, and resolve issues promptly. Refuse to be aloof; truly provide strong support for team members.

4. Emotional self-control. Absolutely do not define a person in the team based on personal gains or losses, likes or dislikes. This requires strong self-control from managers; otherwise, it's hard to achieve.

5. Personal integrity and cultivation. Have a proper work style and no bad habits; otherwise, the whole team will be polluted.

6. Establish self-authority. In action, do what you say and follow through. Authority is built from details, from doing things bit by bit, self-discipline, timely fulfillment of promises, and showing dominance in times of crisis.

7. Magnanimity. The size of your heart determines the size of your vision. Don't worry that teaching apprentices will starve the master. I've seen many leaders who dare not cultivate subordinates, don't guide them, or even suppress them, relying on their own understanding. The problem is they fear subordinates will surpass and replace them. Perhaps they don't realize that the number of subordinates promoted is also a manifestation of their own excellent leadership.

4. Vision and Goals Napoleon said: "The starting point of all achievements is desire." Aim high to hit the middle; aim middle to hit the low; aim low to hit nothing. This shows the importance of goals. Goals are the driving force for a team to charge into battle. I believe goal-setting should follow these points:

  1. Is the goal reasonable?
  2. Is the goal clear?
  3. Was there communication and interaction in setting the goal?
  4. Are the measures to achieve the goal detailed and actionable?
  5. Are the reward and punishment measures for achieving the goal detailed?
  6. Avoid exaggeration and the "three claps" (clap head before setting, clap chest during setting, clap butt and leave after setting).

5. Personnel Management As the ancients said: "Look at what he does, observe his motives, and examine what he is content with." Knowing people enables good use. So use and cultivate people according to their abilities. Selecting, cultivating, using, and retaining people is not easy. I think the following points should be noted:

1. Absolutely do not use salespeople who are incompatible with the team culture. 2. Match people to positions—assign different markets and clients based on individual personality traits. 3. The art of communication. Everything lies in communication; change according to the person and choose different communication methods. 4. Humanization does not equal favoritism. Don't confuse work and life. A kind general doesn't lead troops. Don't equate humanization with favoritism just because the market is weak or for various reasons, fearing you can't retain people. In life, you can care like an elder and solve difficulties, but in work, you must act decisively when necessary. Normal criticism is for better growth, to teach him methods and skills—a life skill, a money-making skill.

5. Crisis awareness. Running water doesn't stagnate, and a door hinge doesn't get worm-eaten. Once salespeople stay for more than a year, slackness and procrastination become serious. So constantly inject fresh blood, or rotate the markets that salespeople are responsible for, to keep the whole team vibrant.

6. See more, listen less. For reported market conditions, management should verify and supervise more.

7. Assist salespeople in career planning so they have something to pursue.

8. Regarding rewards and punishments. Reward to make the heart bloom; punish to make the heart palpitate. Timely fulfillment of rewards and punishments; clear distinction between reward and punishment; timely recognition and affirmation. Self-satisfaction is placed at the last level of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. If good and bad are the same, why bother working hard?

6. Execution Regarding execution, opinions vary. I think execution means continuously tracking, implementing, and reviewing in a repeated process until a behavior becomes a habit. I once observed that at meetings, we talked about terminal visual merchandising, but the office's merchandising materials hadn't been touched for half a month. Later, every morning at the door, I required everyone to take a certain number of posters and push-pull stickers, and every evening I checked the photos they took of their postings. After a month, everyone developed a habit; not posting felt like something was missing.

7. Systems Nothing can be accomplished without rules. Systems are standards and levers. Systems cannot be changed arbitrarily. At the same time, there must be laws to rely on, violations must be prosecuted, and enforcement must be strict.

8. Cultivating Learning Ability Aiming is more important than shooting. On the battlefield, you fight fiercely; after the battle, you cultivate skills and methods.

Those united in heart will win.

  1. Regular meetings and on-site learning: organize meetings irregularly to discuss the latest market dynamics, review gains and losses in a timely manner; learn from markets that are doing well in real time, communicate and exchange ideas, and promptly propose improvement plans for the next step.
  2. Training—stones from other mountains can polish jade. Content includes negotiation skills, customer development and management, route visits, etc.
  3. Summaries: for example, each person in the office writes their experiences and insights in a unified notebook, forming a "Sunflower Manual."
  4. Drills: such as simulated negotiations.

Water has no constant shape, and soldiers have no constant formation. As long as everyone unites, the world is invincible. A weak market will surely become a strong market. Believe in the power of the team.

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