Click to read the original article for details 2020 is about to pass. For those working in the FMCG industry, this year has been turbulent (of course, all industries have been turbulent, but I don't understand other industries, so I have no say). The pandemic at the beginning of the year dealt a blow to gift-oriented products. These products usually rely on the Spring Festival for profits, but not only did they fail to make money, they even incurred heavy losses from a large backlog of gift boxes. As epidemic prevention became normalized, consumer spending remained sluggish for a long time, causing a significant shrink in the income of FMCG professionals. Thus, different voices emerge: some face it with a positive attitude, while others complain and slack off; we see different situations: some are striding forward, while others are falling behind and being eliminated. The pandemic is a mirror, reflecting both the extraordinary and the monstrous. At the end of the year, I'd like to share my thoughts on marketing personnel based on my over a decade of team management experience. -01- Most personnel lack a systematic marketing framework "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing" describes someone who has some skill but not to the level of mastery, often used to describe someone who is arrogant. I think this phrase fits most marketing personnel. First, take distributor personnel: they have rich experience in regional markets and can handle a single market or brand, but they fail to notice the competitive landscape and strategic moves in the regional market, usually knowing themselves but not the enemy. Second, take brand company personnel: brand companies have well-divided departments, with product operations split into marketing, operations, sales, e-commerce, finance, HR, etc. Each department's staff performs their duties and cooperates, cultivating a group of professionals in their fields. But they are merely skilled workers in one department, knowing little about the thinking and logic of other departments. So the biggest drawback of marketing personnel is the lack of systematic marketing logic. Systematic thinking is crucial for marketing professionals. Otherwise, it's like the blind men and the elephant: not only do you fail to understand the whole picture, but you also lack the correct logic and understanding of the cause and effect of a matter, seeing problems only from a single point. You can't connect the dots, let alone form a comprehensive view. This leads to one-dimensional market strategies, where success relies heavily on luck. For example, to make a product a hit in a region, you need to systematically execute the following steps: 1. Business Analysis:
Input: How much investment is needed in the market (promotion costs + operational costs)? Output: What returns will be achieved (sales contribution + profit contribution)? Frontline: What needs to be done in the market (coverage performance + terminal performance)? Backend: Who will do these things (distributor network + sales team)? 2. Strategy Formulation: Define market segments and confirm key segments Set sales targets and formulate frontline and backend actions Resource investment plan: how much to spend? how much to invest? who invests? 3. Project promotion plan, follow-up plan, and handling of special situations; 4. Evaluation and summary of results versus expectations, and improvement measures. Summary: The most lacking thing for marketing personnel is the systematic organization of their own marketing framework, leading to the saying in the FMCG world: "Without the platform, you are nothing; don't mistake the platform for your own ability." But in reality, this problem is easy to solve: think more, summarize more. Especially when brand company personnel receive policies from the corporate department, they should deeply consider why this is done based on the current situation, what the purpose is, and then reflect and summarize after seeing the results. In short, don't adopt a worker mentality and be a single-celled organism, only considering the few things in front of you. Otherwise, you will always be the croaking frog at the bottom of the well. -02- Open your mind to embrace new environments and improve adaptability **The longer you work at a company and the higher your position, the worse your adaptability becomes when you leave for another company. For example: A salesperson A from a first-tier brand, who rose from grassroots to marketing director, worked at the company for seven or eight years, then jumped to a second-tier company as vice president of sales. The two companies' business scales are: 20 billion vs. 3 billion, and team sizes: over 10,000 vs. over 1,000. A felt confident upon arrival, but after two or three months, everything felt wrong. People, things, and matters didn't progress as expected. He felt blocked at every turn, with hands and feet tied and no support, and resentment grew. He resigned hastily in less than half a year. It's clear that this sales director had poor adaptability and couldn't extricate himself from the previous corporate environment. There are no two identical leaves in the world, so there can't be two identical companies. If you don't break your fixed mindset, step out of your comfort zone, and improve your adaptability, you will never progress. Summary: Adaptability is the number one skill for marketing personnel. Companies have never faced so much uncertainty and risk as now, and sometimes in just a few months, a company can go from leader to follower in marketing. For example: What would you do if you were asked to come up with a brilliant idea in one day and test it the next? Companies want to test ideas and then roll them out to get immediate feedback. All companies want their marketing personnel to be highly adaptable. The only constant in the market is change, and now changes occur more frequently, making adaptability a continuous requirement for marketing personnel. -03- Continuous learning and summarization **I won't elaborate much on the importance of learning for marketing personnel, but many people only agree without acting. Many veteran FMCG professionals with 10-20 years of experience repeat the same mechanical actions day after day, year after year, while complaining about no promotion or salary increase and the unfairness of the world. Look at the learning insights shared by industry experts in my WeChat Moments: First, I particularly agree with Teacher Liu Chunxiong's learning method: reading books, reading people, reading events, and exploring new interpretations of the times at the forefront. 1. Reading books: Read classic books to understand basic logic. 2. Reading people: A word from a wise man is worth a decade of reading; deep communication to understand the latest thoughts. 3. Reading events: Success is the mother of success; on-site study tours to familiarize with the latest models. Here, I emphasize study tours: seeing, listening, and learning with personal experience and expert comments, which is an efficient new learning model that has become increasingly popular in recent years. 4. Reading books, reading people, and reading events are all indispensable. If you only read books but not people or events, you become a bookworm. Second, the explanation of the "curse of knowledge" shared by Mr. Zhao Bo, founder of New Distribution, in his WeChat Moments also illustrates a learning method. The curse of knowledge means: It's hard to explain what you know to someone who doesn't understand, or you can't understand why others are so slow to learn what you've already mastered. Think of parents on Douyin teaching their kids homework, muttering "biological child" every day. The corresponding way to break the curse of knowledge is called the "Feynman Technique," which means explaining a concept to someone who knows nothing about it. When you can clearly explain the content of a book, it means you've thought it through and can describe the logic behind the knowledge in a paragraph. How can you quickly master this "Feynman Technique"? Method: Efficient input + efficient output. For example, when you read a book, buy related books as well, view it from multiple dimensions, and after reading, you must write some reflections. Why? Steven Pinker said, "The difficulty of writing lies in expressing network-like thoughts in a tree-like structure, presented in linear sentences." This sentence basically describes the three thinking states from input to output. From fragmentation to logic, to linear output. This is very challenging; only by completing this step can you truly complete learning. Only then will the curse of knowledge not happen to you. -04- Eliminate the habitual mindset of "wait, sit, and rely." **Recently, I collaborated with a brand on a project and encountered some typical "wait, sit, and rely" marketing personnel. They only move when pushed. When problems arise, they don't solve them; they wait until asked and then list a bunch of reasons. Their common phrases: "We are different," "Our market situation is different," "Our people are different." Years of practical experience have not accumulated into improved business skills but into a growing collection of excuses and reasons. I just want to say: If everything were the same, why would we need you! The "wait, sit, and rely" phenomenon has multiple manifestations: 1. Some corporate managers never personally visit the market or call on customers; they habitually sit in offices reading daily reports, asking for information, listening to briefings, and relying solely on issuing documents and telegrams; 2. Some corporate managers avoid difficult market problems; instead of going deep to actively solve them, they pass everything up to superiors or headquarters, and once reported, they consider it done; 3. Some "old birds" rely on experience; they dare not do things they haven't done, don't do things without established routines, and believe it's better to do nothing than to cause trouble; 4. Some corporate managers, when facing sudden market situations (e.g., competitors making big moves to overturn the current competitive landscape) or new problems, don't actively seek solutions but wait for notices, documents, policies, leadership statements, or others' experiences; 5. Some corporate managers avoid tough issues, fear offending people, prefer to smooth things over and play peacemaker, don't dare touch difficult problems, and push or delay as much as possible; some don't solve problems that should be solved, and when given tasks, they raise conditions and requirements, listing a pile of difficulties. These habitual mindsets not only waste time, lose opportunities, and ruin markets for the public good, but also erode personal morale and weaken abilities. Therefore, if a marketing person wants to progress, get promoted, and earn a raise, they must eliminate the "wait, sit, and rely" mindset. Final Thoughts: Diligence is one of the important qualities of business personnel. Let me emphasize the concept of "fake diligence." Renowned psychologist Professor Jordan Peterson: "Fake diligence" has 4 manifestations: 1. Spend a lot of time on the easiest part of a task and show off: even without merit, there is effort. 2. Delay in the name of "preparation," looking busy but making no progress. 3. Never verify work results, not knowing whether it's done well or poorly, just burying your head in the work without looking up. 4. Read many books but never summarize patterns; even if you summarize, you don't apply them in practice. I hope everyone understands what true diligence means and doesn't fool yourself with effort to numb yourself. Finally, 2020 is about to pass. In 2021, I hope FMCG professionals adopt a new attitude for the new year: employees get promotions and raises, entrepreneurs make a fortune, and I also hope China's FMCG industry continues to maintain rapid and healthy growth, benefiting society and the people. The authoritative self-media public account "New Distribution" in the FMCG industry: Author of columns such as "Practical Operations for Bottled Water Enterprises," "Practical Operations for FMCG Regional Managers," and "Digital Transformation for Manufacturers and Distributors," publishing nearly 70 professional articles on FMCG industry trends, distributor practical operations, professional manager skill improvement, and digital implementation for manufacturers and distributors. Serving Nongfu Spring and Jinmailang Beverages, with over a decade of beverage operations experience, possessing rich practical experience in bottled water marketing. He has turned his operational practice into a series of articles, focusing on decomposing market actions, thoroughly explaining a market point, adhering to the philosophy of "no data, no decision; no data, no operation," and has successively guided dozens of large trading companies in implementing digital distribution management. If you wish to communicate with the author Major Conference Announcement! January 19-20, Jiangsu · Wuxi New Distribution will join hands with 500+ FMCG distributors from five provinces in East China to gather in Wuxi, Jiangsu, providing a conference for brand owners and distributors aimed at product selection and cooperation exchange. Plan before the year, start after the year! Don't wait until after the Spring Festival to plan! Interested brand owners or distributors are welcome to contact us. Please scan the WeChat QR code below to register for attendance or exhibition. Exhibition Contact: Tips will be paid 400-2000 yuan once adopted.