By Liu Chunxiong / Teacher Liu's Forum (ID: liuchunxiong1964) There are two extreme forms of marketing management. One is extremely loose, so loose that salespeople are managed as if they were customers; the other is extremely strict, so strict that customers are managed as if they were employees. Most companies fall somewhere in between. Every so often, I encounter companies that manage their salespeople as customers, and at a certain stage, this management model seems almost magical. However, after a while, such companies usually disappear. China's strong enterprises are not those with great brands, but those with great channel management. A key indicator is that channel management is an extension of internal management. 01 Managing salespeople as customers usually leads to one of two outcomes: either the company collapses, or it falls apart. There are roughly two prerequisites for managing salespeople as customers: first, the boss is not strong enough; second, by chance, there are a few exceptionally outstanding salespeople who serve as role models. Here, the demonstration effect is particularly important. Because with successful examples, others will imitate and follow. Managing salespeople as customers essentially turns salespeople into "second bosses," and since they are "second bosses," they exhibit the characteristics of bosses. This manifests as: 1. Bosses do not need to be managed; 2. Without company investment, salespeople dare to invest on their own. Why do the outcomes end up either falling apart or collapsing? If the business is truly doing well, the "second boss" easily becomes the "big boss," and the original boss becomes just one of the suppliers. If you treat him as a customer, he will indeed become a customer. If the business is not doing well, the "second boss" cannot continue, salespeople dare not invest, and naturally, the company falls apart. I have seen an extreme case. A former regional manager grew too big and became uncontrollable. The boss had no choice but to form joint ventures with employees in each region, with employees as majority shareholders and the boss as minority shareholder. Without doing this, the company would have completely disintegrated. 02 However, I have also seen a counterexample. This company also managed salespeople as customers, giving them bare prices, and salespeople could add their own markup. Even more extreme, salespeople invited the boss to attend customer meetings in the market, and the salespeople paid for the expenses. The boss attending meetings had good results, but it also required weighing whether it was worthwhile. The salespeople of this company truly became "second bosses," some bringing relatives and family members, even their children, to work the market together. So why did this company not lose control? Its approach was similar to the "Edict of Graceful Reunion." Even if salespeople did well in the market, the company continuously subdivided territories to prevent salespeople from becoming too powerful. Because the company had many products, many salespeople "overlapped" in the same market, and no salesperson dared to challenge the boss. Of course, this company also had problems. In similar markets, due to the demonstration effect, salespeople dared to invest, but in other markets, because no one had broken through, salespeople dared not invest. Thus, advantageous markets became more advantageous, and disadvantageous markets remained disadvantageous. 03 Now let's discuss the issue of managing customers as salespeople. Let me give a personal example. A boss of a company with about 200 million in revenue met with a customer, who said, "Give me a certain market." The boss replied, "I'll give you one county first. Once you succeed there, I'll give you a second county." The distributor was furious at this tone and left immediately. This company held customer meetings where distributors sat on small stools, just like salespeople. They checked attendance daily, and lateness was fined, with fines that were shocking. However, this company has now grown to several billion. The distributors have also grown, learned real skills, and made money. Some say that strong management is possible because the company has grown large and has the right to be strong. I believe the opposite: It is precisely because they are strong enough that they can grow large. This is determined by the characteristics of the Chinese market. Many brands have been popular, but without channel management capability, they can only be popular for a while. 04 China's marketing has two characteristics that cannot be ignored: first, strategic gambling; second, management toughness. Strategic gambling means that when the window of opportunity opens, you must dare to bet all your resources. If you miss the opportunity, you cannot catch up. What is management toughness? Because China is in an era of transition from agricultural civilization to industrial civilization, the knowledge we learn may be from industrial civilization, but deep down, traces of agricultural civilization remain. Regardless of your identity, these traces exist to varying degrees. What does this have to do with strict management? As long as there is no strict management, the traces of agricultural civilization in individual behavior will be more apparent. Under strict management, industrial civilization behaviors will be more prevalent. Moreover, once a marketing decision is made, individuals cannot judge its right or wrong. Individuals in an organization have only two choices: either exit or execute. The Chinese market is vast, so vast that when the market focus sinks, although it approaches the terminal, the internal marketing organization levels correspondingly increase. The result of external flattening is internal hierarchy. I have said before that there is a phenomenon in Chinese marketing: "layer-by-layer veto." Whether internal or external, if any link vetoes, the matter cannot be accomplished. From the decision-making level to consumers, there are roughly 4-6 links in total, internal and external. That is too many links. Only strong management can carry the leader's will through so many links. The 3rd (CFIC) China FMCG + Internet Conference will be held in Chongqing in November 2017. The conference will closely focus on the theme "New Forces, New Ecology," inviting 1000+ distributors, 500+ brand owners, 200+ B2B platform founders, and 100+ investment and financing institutions to jointly explore a new chapter of cross-industry integration! Core topics of this conference:
How can the FMCG industry leverage B2B to achieve new growth opportunities
How to build the new supply chain behind new retail
How can intra-city logistics help B2B achieve leapfrog development
Highlights of this conference:
The industry's first "2017 China FMCG B2B Industry Competitiveness White Paper"
Case sharing of excellent transforming distributors
Upgraded conference + exhibition, Hall 6 Internet Technology Exhibition strengthens docking
Alibaba Retail Link, Puhua Finance, Eternal Asia Supply Chain, Best Store Plus, Yijiupi, Hdware: leaders from the most well-known companies in various fields will give speeches and share pioneering views.
Registration is now open. Long press the QR code below or click "Read Original" to register. Add friend with note "Conference Registration" Click the links below to review the highlights of the 1st and 2nd FMCG + Internet Conferences: 2016 "FMCG + Internet" Summit Forum -END-