I have always held the view that bosses who like to walk the market are more likely to succeed. When a company is small, many bosses enjoy going to the market to understand the situation, find problems, and tap market potential. But as the company grows and develops, bosses become aloof, claiming they have no time to walk the market and can't hear voices from below.
Many distributor friends also reflect this problem: bosses of companies with over 500 million in sales are rarely seen walking the market anymore. In the past, when the company was still small, they liked to go to the market with distributors to study it, research it, and solve market problems, but now it's hard to even meet them.
Recently, I attended a new product ordering conference for a listed company. I asked a provincial manager why their marketing president didn't attend. He told me that even he only sees senior leaders once or twice a year, and they basically don't work in the office. Of course, leaders are busy because they are busy studying major businesses like financing, investment, and capital operations. How could they have time to attend new product launch ordering conferences? But I believe that new product launch ordering conferences are also part of the company's business, and new product promotion is also part of the company's profit source. As the company's marketing president, not attending such a conference is, in my opinion, not very justifiable, because the marketing president's attendance signifies the importance attached to new products, gives distributors a sense of the company's emphasis and confidence in new products, and also encourages grassroots salespeople. For the president themselves, it also provides direct understanding of obstacles in new product promotion and a chance to listen to the most grassroots voices.
Not walking the market makes it difficult to grasp market trends, understand market changes, or know competitors' strategies and tactics. However, in the process of walking the market, many bosses fall into misunderstandings.
1. Walking the market only for relationship maintenance
The most common type of boss who likes to walk the market is that every time they visit a market, they just go to the distributor's place, sit for a while, chat, listen to the distributor's complaints about market difficulties, ask about local market differences and competitor performance, then give some promotional policies or approve some expenses, have a meal, and then head back. As for which channels our products have covered, which stores they entered, how many SKUs, what prices, how the merchandising looks, and how market personnel perform—they basically don't ask, and don't know how to ask or see. This is the most typical way bosses look at the market. This way of looking at the market basically can't identify any problems; at best, it improves distributor relationships, gives distributors some extra benefits, and makes them feel the boss is decent, personable, and generous.
2. Walking the market only looking at supermarkets
The second type of boss also sits with distributors for a while, but the difference is they proactively go to supermarkets to check displays, product performance, and understand some real market conditions. They conduct on-site work, requiring local salespeople to immediately solve some market problems, such as product prices, display positions, product freshness, etc., and propose strategic countermeasures for competitor performance. As for which types of stores to look at, which places to visit, who to communicate with, what process to follow, and whether to look at the market according to standards—there is no guideline. It's also a superficial way of looking at the market, aimlessly led by distributors and salespeople, making it difficult to understand deeper market content. Because the markets bosses see are excellent supermarkets and stores arranged by salespeople and distributors, no problems can be seen there.
3. Walking the market like leadership inspections
The biggest characteristic of this type of boss looking at the market is: like government officials, they pre-arrange for secretaries to notify subordinates, decide when to go to which market, and ask subordinates to be fully prepared. Then they bring a group of subordinate leaders and a photographer. I once saw a leader from a tissue paper company inspecting the Fujian market. The scene was that dozens of salespeople followed behind, all in uniform, looking majestic. The supermarket thought some provincial or municipal leaders were inspecting, and it was only missing a honor guard; otherwise, it would have been like an ancient emperor on a tour.
So, how should bosses walk and look at the market?
First, prepare well for market visits
Many bosses walk and look at the market with great randomness, basically without preparation, and their purpose is not very clear. Maybe after a long time without going to the market, they feel it's necessary to see the market and distributors, give them some confidence, and boost the fighting spirit of salespeople. Such bosses are probably problem-solving bosses. Some go because after sales problems arise, they can't find the cause in the company, and then think they must go to the market to see if products are not selling and why, so they go to the market as a last resort.
In fact, looking at the market requires preparation. What preparations should bosses make?
First, plan the time and route for walking the market. For example, one boss always goes to see some model markets one month after a new product launch, checking product distribution rate, display, shelf placement, and product prices. Another boss visits key customers and looks at the market from mid-year to year-end, preparing for what new products to launch the next year.
Second, when looking at the market, try not to let salespeople prepare. If they prepare, the market visit is useless and wastes market resources, because salespeople will use all resources to temporarily cope with the inspection, doing superficial work that doesn't help long-term market development and may even backfire. For example, deliberately lowering prices to create a false impression of good sales is a bad phenomenon.
Third, market visits must have clear objectives. Some are to check distribution rates in large stores or small stores, some to check market share, some to check execution, and some to research market demand. In short, each market visit should have clear objectives and detailed plans.
Additionally, list the purpose, content, time, personnel, locations, stores, and problem points of the market visit in a table and record them in writing.
Second, focus on discovering market innovation
Besides the above preparations, I believe that because bosses have limited time, they shouldn't just spend time solving market problems, but should fully use market visits to uncover innovative achievements from frontline personnel. Many innovations often come from the frontline market. Salespeople may not recognize them as innovations, and in monthly summaries, they basically don't get recognition from senior management because senior management always looks at performance. They review reasons for not meeting targets, but rarely pay attention to innovations that bring success. However, all innovative achievements need bosses to summarize and promote, otherwise they won't get the attention they deserve. But these innovations are the biggest driving force for the company's development, and sometimes may be the most effective way to change the company.
The company's goal is to create customer value, and through creating customer value, obtain profits and other goals. However, the frontline that best reflects customer value is frontline sales. Innovations in frontline sales are often intentionally or unintentionally ignored. But if bosses consciously pay attention to them, it may open a new path and be a major weapon for the company to catch up. For example, senior management at Liby told me a good example. Liby's Caiqi laundry detergent is another brand of Liby. Nationwide, Liby detergent sells better than Caiqi. However, in Chaoyang County, Shantou, Guangdong, despite having fewer resources than the Liby brand, Caiqi achieved better sales than Liby brand detergent. This result was discovered by Liby's senior management while walking the market. The bosses immediately summarized the experience and promoted it nationwide, requiring distributors and salespeople across the country to hold on-site meetings in Chaoyang County to learn this "refined distribution model." Another boss of a tissue paper company told me a secret to his success. He said his success relies entirely on product innovation. Their product packaging style always stays ahead of competitors, and the source of his product innovation comes entirely from his frontline salespeople and distributors, and even some promoters.
Whether it's market promotion models, product innovation, or management models, I think bosses absolutely cannot come up with them out of thin air while sitting in the office. Inspiration mostly comes from the frontline market, because frontline salespeople and promoters best understand consumer needs.
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