Follow and star ↑↑「New Distribution」 **See how many friends are with you, paying attention to industry trends There are two extreme types of marketing management. One is extremely loose, so loose that salespeople are managed as customers; the other is extremely strict, so strict that customers are managed as employees. Most companies fall somewhere in between. Every so often, I encounter companies that manage salespeople as customers, and at a certain stage, this management model does seem magical. However, after a while, such companies are mostly nowhere to be found. Strong Chinese companies are not those with good brands, but those with good channel management. An important indicator is that channel management is an extension of internal management. Managing salespeople as customers generally leads to two outcomes: either the company collapses or it disbands. Managing salespeople as customers roughly has two prerequisites: first, the boss is not strong enough; second, by chance, there are a few exceptionally good salespeople who serve as role models. Here, the demonstration effect is particularly important. Because there is a successful example, others imitate and follow. The essence of managing salespeople as customers is that salespeople become "second bosses." Since they are "second bosses," they have the characteristics of bosses. The manifestations are: 1. Bosses do not need to be managed; 2. Without company investment, salespeople dare to invest themselves. Why do the outcomes end in disbandment or collapse? If the business is truly doing well, the "second boss" easily becomes the "big boss," and the original boss becomes one of the suppliers. If you treat him as a customer, he really becomes a customer. If the business is not doing well, the "second boss" cannot continue, salespeople do not dare to invest, and naturally, they disband. I have seen an extreme case. The original 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 disbanded. However, I have also seen a counterexample. This company also managed salespeople as customers, giving them bare prices, and salespeople added their own markup. Even more extreme, salespeople invited the boss to the market to attend customer meetings, and the salespeople paid the expenses. The boss attending the meeting had a good effect, but he also had to weigh whether it was worth it. In this company, salespeople truly became "second bosses." Some brought relatives and family members, even children, to work on the market together. So why did this company not lose control? Its approach was similar to the "Edict of Grace." Even if salespeople did well in the market, the market was continuously subdivided to prevent salespeople from "growing too big." Because the company had many products, many salespeople "cross-covered" 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 themselves, but in other markets, because no one had broken through, salespeople did not dare to invest. Thus, advantages in advantageous markets became more pronounced, while disadvantageous markets remained disadvantageous. Now let's talk about managing customers as salespeople. First, let me give a personal case. A company with a scale of about 200 million yuan had its boss meet a customer. The customer said, "Give me a certain market." The boss replied, "First, I'll give you a county. Once you succeed in that county, I'll give you a second county." The distributor was very angry 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 made people's hearts race. However, this company has now grown to several billion yuan. The distributors have also grown with it, learned real skills, and made money. Some say that strong management is because the scale has grown, and they have the qualification to be strong. I think the opposite: It is precisely because they are strong enough that they can grow big. This is determined by the characteristics of the Chinese market. There were many brands that were once popular, but without channel management capability, they could only be popular for a while. Chinese marketing has two characteristics that cannot be ignored: first, strategic gambling; second, management ruthlessness. 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 ruthlessness? Because China is in an era of transition between agricultural civilization and industrial civilization, the knowledge learned may be from industrial civilization, but the bones still retain traces of agricultural civilization. No matter your identity, 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 exposed. Under strict management, there will be more industrial civilization behavior. Moreover, once a marketing decision is made, individuals cannot judge right or wrong. Individuals in an organization have only two choices: either exit or execute. The Chinese market is very large, so large that when the market focus sinks, although it approaches the terminal, the internal marketing organization levels increase accordingly. The result of external flattening is internal hierarchy. I once said that in Chinese marketing, there is a phenomenon: [layer-by-layer veto]. Whether internal or external veto, if any link vetoes, the matter cannot be accomplished. From the decision-making level to consumers, there are about 4-6 links in total, internal and external. There are too many links. Only strong management can allow the leader's will to penetrate so many links. Source: Teacher Liu's New Marketing (ID: liuchunxiong1964) Tips will be paid 400-2000 yuan once adopted. China FMCG + Internet Professional New Media Committed to FMCG manufacturer transformation and upgrading and channel digital solutions If you like this article, click [Watching] and share it with friends