Click the image for details Introduction: When the regional team is unstable, distributors are considering changes, and the Spring Festival task is heavy, how can the new person in charge turn the situation around? Background 2016 was a painful year. The overall economic environment led to declining sales for various FMCG companies, and I won't dwell on that. JDB employees suffered even more, as from before the Mid-Autumn Festival, JDB was attacked by waves of rumors. In Henan, despite rapid growth over the past four to five years, there were shadows under the glory. Last year, although the region I was in completed the annual task early during the Mid-Autumn Festival, there were problems such as team instability, distributors considering changes, and market chaos. Under such circumstances, the company transferred the person in charge of the Nanyang region to the Xuchang area, and this adjustment achieved immediate results. As a witness to the whole process, I will tell you about his market operations today. His name is Niu Yingkui. He has been with JDB for 11 years, joining in Guangzhou in 2006. From Guangzhou to Hubei to Henan, he rose from a sales representative to a regional manager, and the regions he was responsible for all achieved good results. I have never written about a person's deeds in an article, but this time I make an exception because I think he fought this battle brilliantly. Stabilizing the Team Many people, when transferred to a new region, first feel that everything the predecessor did was wrong, thinking the predecessor left a pit and they are just filling it. They complain to their leaders every day, forgetting that the leader sent them to solve problems, not to tell the leader how many problems there are. Second, they label the people left by the predecessor: this one was on the wrong side, not loyal to me; this one got in through connections, no real ability; this one gave many gifts to the predecessor to get to the current position. They want to fire them all and replace them with so-called "my own people." Actually, we are all here to work. You are just inheriting a region, not a throne. Why make such a fuss? If you go to a region and immediately replace people, or tell the leader to transfer people from your previous region, does that show the leader that you have the ability to solve problems, or that your subordinates do? If you negate the existing team in one sentence, how long will it take to rebuild? The likely result is that before your team is built, the leader will have already replaced you. The market will fall into a vicious cycle of building, demolishing, rebuilding, and demolishing again. The real approach is: if you have real skills, you don't need to worry about the thoughts of the people below, because you can use your professional expertise to tell the original team: you still have shortcomings. If you want to improve, no matter how others viewed you before, I will still let you improve and progress. If your professional skills are lacking, you need to let the people below know that the resources you possess are what they lack—such as the leader's trust in you, and the promotion and salary increases that the team desires. As long as they do what you ask, you will fairly fight for what the team wants. In one sentence, as a person in charge, if your heart is upright, the team will be upright. Play the cards in your hand well and leverage the strengths of each market manager—that is the right path. (Good training leads to good execution) Old Niu's approach: Give full trust to the managers left by the predecessor, even more than the predecessor did, fight for the rights and interests of each manager, and let them see a brighter future. As an internal trainer, through repeated internal training, comprehensively improve the team managers' mindset, professional knowledge, and skills. Distributor Team Anyone in FMCG knows that distributor teams like to interact with senior management to show their abilities. Their catchphrase is: "I'll call which leader of yours to solve this." Some regional managers also like to stretch their hands too far, bypassing their subordinates to help distributors solve problems, in order to control them. But the consequence is that you play the populist, making it difficult for your subordinates to work. If they fail to complete tasks, they get scolded by the leader; if they are tough on distributors, distributors complain behind their backs, and they get scolded again. Who would want to continue working like that? Chinese distributors are the most shrewd group. If you let them get a bargain once, they will find a way to get it ten times. If you eat a bowl of ramen from them, they will make you return a bag of flour. The best approach for a regional manager is to learn to play the "black face and red face" with the distributor's direct manager. The manager must always play the black face, and the distributor's direct manager plays the red face, enhancing the dignity and status of the subordinates in front of the distributor, so that the distributor will cooperate better with your work. When it is necessary to replace a distributor, you must not be soft-hearted. What are the necessary situations? First, the distributor's thinking is outdated. Many distributors grew up with JDB. They might have been small second-tier wholesalers or small delivery points, chose the Wanglaoji brand, and grew under JDB's leadership. This growth can cope in peacetime, but in competitive times, they clearly cannot keep up with the thinking and refuse to change. Second, the distributor is very shrewd, moving among the upper levels, familiar with company resources, relying on relationships with upper management to get the lightest tasks for payment and distribution. They only pay after your salesperson receives payment from the second-tier wholesaler. They refuse to add people or vehicles, saying, "Your people do the orders first, and my people will deliver later." Third, they like to divert products (cross-region selling). As long as there is profit, they will do it. They use JDB just to rotate capital and then get loans from the bank. Fourth, they eat company expenses. For these four types of distributors, I suggest replacing them as soon as possible. Old Niu's approach: First, maintain distance from all distributors, always being the strictest in demands. Second, firmly replace distributors who distrust JDB due to rumors and who do not cooperate because of their relationships with upper management. As a result, the replaced distributors were the first to complete payment and distribution targets, with sales growth of about 19%. Third, stabilize the price system and strictly crack down on cross-region selling. Cooperation with Other Departments Where there are Chinese people, there is intrigue; where there is intrigue, there is power struggle. Somehow, companies have become like dynasties. It seems you are not working but guarding imperial power. This region must decide who is the boss, and everyone must listen to me. Other departments are like the harem; I can torment them as I please. If I am happy, I talk to you; that is a favor. If I give you a dirty look, you have to endure it. Maybe that's why palace intrigue dramas are so popular now. The Qing Dynasty ended over a hundred years ago, but the imperial mindset still lingers in Chinese bones. It seems if I don't trip you up today, I can't feel my existence. To such people, I want to say: Go to Hengdian and act in costume dramas. Old Niu's approach: All departments work together to achieve our sales goals, and we give each department due respect. Finance helps us calculate and verify expenses; assistants help us monitor various data; supervision and inspection ensure our regional operations do not deviate from the track. The promotion department's promoters directly help clear inventory, and their expenses are also my bargaining chips with distributor bosses. A true team cannot lack any role. Layout and Execution The regional office manager is both an executor and a planner. As an executor, the regional manager must implement various projects according to the overall requirements of the sales company. As a planner, when resources are limited and our strength is less than competitors', we need to figure out how to fight this battle, use expenses more targeted, determine what our monthly work is, how to achieve progress, and how to persuade the distributor team to reach goals, and make specific project plans for our region. For the 2017 Spring Festival, the distribution target for Old Niu's region increased by 14.2%. How can we give distributors confidence that we can achieve the goal? 1. Data Control Understand the overall size of the herbal tea market and conduct a feasibility analysis for distributors to achieve their goals. Last year, JDB's sales in Xuchang accounted for 56% of the herbal tea market, and the herbal tea gift market has grown at over 18% in the past three years. This year, we only need to grow 14.2% over last year to achieve the "Million Golden Color" target, which is lower than the growth rate of the herbal tea gift market. Our goals can also seize share from other gift markets besides direct competitors like Wanglaoji and Six Walnuts—as long as we are fast enough to grab terminal displays and terminal expenses in advance. JDB's Spring Festival campaign starts in mid-October, while most companies start in December. We have two months to grab displays and expenses. 2. Understanding Competitors Generally, Wanglaoji's policies come about 10 days later than JDB's. We cannot compete on strength, so we must compete on time and execution. Seize the opportunity of competitors being 10 days later, hold ordering meetings early, treat them as the real start of the campaign, and plan the details in advance. Do not turn ordering meetings into a gathering for second-tier wholesalers. I have seen many companies' ordering meetings, basically like a wedding banquet in a village. JDB's ordering meetings combine all the brand strengths of distributors and try every way to stimulate the psychological needs of second-tier wholesalers. Attack competitors' weaknesses in staffing and service. Wanglaoji will do large-scale credit sales 20 days before the Spring Festival (in this regard, Wanglaoji's distributors are stronger; when the company split, many large distributors favored that brand). What we can do is grab positions in advance, use the service of salespeople and promoters to intercept consumers in front of our products, and through years of education, consumers have accepted that JDB is 3-5 yuan more expensive than Wanglaoji. The number of ordering meetings held was double that of last year, and payment collections increased by 2 million yuan. 3. Time Management As a leader, you must know the key matters for each month, and the content should not exceed 5 items per month. Once there are too many items, salespeople will not know what to track; often, the more you set, the worse the execution. Leaders must have confidence in their plans and experience. Once goals are set, do not change your thinking due to external factors. We see some managers who, when their progress lags, like to call other regions for help and overturn the established plan. Such managers are usually accustomed to special offers rather than planning. 4. Tracking If you don't track the plan, it will come to nothing. As a regional manager, you don't have to lead by example in everything, but you must learn to track everything. Remember, no one remembers things for more than a month, and everyone has inertia, procrastinating as much as possible. So even if it seems like a waste of time, pull the business managers back for meetings every week, have them report their weekly progress, and repeat what you emphasized before. In fact, business work is about making progress through daily repetition. 5. Clear Rewards and Punishments Use current information tools to give timely comments and encouragement on each business's work, so everyone knows that your efforts are seen and will yield results. Increase team cohesion. Set PK goals, involve salespeople and distributors, reward those who do well, and punish those who do poorly. Punishment is not the goal but to seek common progress; pay attention to team interaction at all times. Of course, everything is results-oriented. For the 2017 Spring Festival, Old Niu's Xuchang region achieved a payment rate of 127%, distribution rate of 103%, and inventory rate of 7%, rising from the last place in the Mid-Autumn Festival to the fifth place (out of 15 offices). Old Niu says: I have rambled through the Spring Festival campaign, mainly talking about the pitfalls many people encounter when entering a new market, and also detailing our layout and execution throughout the Spring Festival. I hope other companies can work together to expand the Spring Festival gift market. Only when the cake is bigger can companies get higher profits, so I am not afraid of Wanglaoji learning (actually, others learn very fast). I hope more beverage and food companies truly treat the Spring Festival campaign as a war. Now the festive atmosphere is getting weaker. A single tree does not make a forest. No matter how hard JDB tries, one company cannot create the Spring Festival gift-giving boom. It indeed requires the efforts of the entire industry. So, let us share and work together. -END-