Core viewpoints:

  1. Whether there is incremental growth determines the survival of a company. Increment cures all ills; without it, all ills arise.
  2. In the era of deep distribution, channels have natural increments. The salesperson's job is to grab a larger share of the natural increment.
  3. Currently, natural increments in channels have disappeared; whoever can bring increments to the channel will be entrusted with more of its existing volume, i.e., increments activate existing volume.
  4. Excellent salespeople are definitely doing work that is valuable for increments. Other work, though necessary, is just basic.
  5. When there are natural increments, work that contributes to sales growth is in-store (at the terminal), such as merchandising, vivid display, and customer relations.
  6. In the era of trading increments for existing volume, work that contributes to sales growth combines in-store and out-of-store efforts, i.e., integrated B2B2C operations. The two core tasks are: customer acquisition (online-to-offline traffic) and repurchase.

-01- Increment is the core issue in marketing At any time, the issue of increment is the core issue in marketing. In the early days of deep distribution, I proposed that the main criterion for judging whether a salesperson's work is valuable is: whether they are doing work that contributes to increments. A salesperson's work can be roughly divided into three categories: work that contributes to increments; work that maintains existing volume without decline; and work that interferes with increments. From 2008 to 2010, together with teacher Jin Huanmin, we spent three years publishing the "Sales Trilogy" . These are "Sales as King," "Sustained Growth," and "Let Growth Change Destiny." Before 2013, because the industry was growing, even if salespeople did work that did not contribute to sales growth, sales might still increase. It's like a person standing still on an escalator that is going up; the person rises with it. During this period, social growth drove industry growth, and industry growth drove corporate growth. In hindsight, deep distribution implied an important premise: channels have natural increments. Through deep distribution, one could grab more natural increments than competitors. Because there were natural increments, even if deep distribution work was slightly lacking, there were still increments, just a smaller share.****

-02- Growth cures all ills; lack of growth breeds all ills Chinese companies have a growth dependency. Growth cures all ills; lack of growth breeds all ills. Is there still room for increment in deep distribution? After 2014, most industries entered a downward channel. Like an escalator going down, if you don't move, you still go down. Unless your personal speed of ascent exceeds the speed of the escalator's descent. So there is no natural increment within the channel. In the deep distribution mindset, there is no room for increment in traditional channels, but it does not rule out that a brand can squeeze competitors' existing volume to achieve sales growth. But it must be a more powerful method than traditional deep distribution, such as technology-driven channel management. A typical case is Jinmailang. The logic of deep distribution is actually to divide up the existing sales volume of the channel, but before 2013, channel sales were growing. So it gave us the illusion that deep distribution could create increments. The work done by salespeople in deep distribution includes two types: one is customer relations with store owners; the other is terminal positioning work. Let's analyze. Building customer relations with store owners aims to get into the store and occupy a favorable position after entering. This work cannot bring increments to the store, but good customer relations can help grab more existing volume. Terminal positioning work includes distribution, merchandising, restocking, display, and vivid display. These tasks cannot bring increments to the store; if done well, they can also grab more existing volume. I find it strange that Chinese terminals actually allow manufacturers to do this work, and this work cannot bring increments to the store because it is all in-store. To my limited knowledge, in developed countries, whether large or small stores, manufacturers are not allowed to do this work. Because overall, this work is disadvantageous to the store. Deep distribution, early through customer relations, later through paid rent-seeking, obtained rights that originally belonged to the store. Now some stores have realized this problem and refuse manufacturers' salespeople to do merchandising and vivid display at the terminal. Terminal owners want to do things according to their own will to maximize the store's interests. However, because before 2014 the channel itself had natural increments, store owners welcomed manufacturers' salespeople to divide up sales through customer relations. After all, it feels good to have manufacturers build relationships. One aspect of deep distribution can bring increments to the terminal: consumer promotion. Promotion has the functions of customer acquisition, repurchase, and bulk purchase, so it has incremental value. Unfortunately, only Arawana and Uni-President treat promotion as a core task.****

-03- First decide the direction of increment, then determine the method For the increment issue, first decide the direction of increment, then determine the method. The current direction of increment is clear: First, offline channels should seek increments from online; second, use increments to activate channel existing volume. Customer acquisition, fission, repurchase. This is the basic method of diverting traffic from online to offline channels. Internet tools are particularly suitable for customer acquisition and repurchase. Therefore, traditional channels can also acquire customers. Customer acquisition can bring increments. The internet is not only good at customer acquisition but also at user fission. Fission is faster customer acquisition. Online is already doing customer acquisition, such as Pinduoduo. Does offline customer acquisition have an advantage over online? There is an advantage. Online sales are essentially selling photos. Now live streaming is a bit better, with video. In this regard, online is fresher. What advantage does offline use to acquire customers? The biggest advantage of offline is scenario and experience. Online is photos and virtual scenes; offline is real scenes and real experiences.**** Therefore, the logic of offline customer acquisition is: offline scenario creation → user experience → fan operation. This is based on offline, entering online. It should be a more interesting play than pure online.

-04- How can offline channels acquire customers online? Channels creating increments require salespeople's work to evolve from deep distribution's terminal customer relations and product positioning to three new major tasks: terminal scenario creation, user experience, and fan operation. Terminal scenario creation is an upgrade of the original product positioning. In addition to distribution, merchandising, restocking, display, and vivid display, there is also scenario-based work. These tasks were previously to create conditions for terminal sales; now they are to create conditions for customer acquisition. For example, user experience and fan operation are centered around the terminal. Therefore, the terminal's scenario should be interesting enough. In the past, display and vivid display were mainly to attract user attention. Now, they mainly serve the experience, awakening users' emotions and purchase desire. Whether vivid display or scenario creation, both are completed in-store. But user experience and fan operation extend outside the store. Customer acquisition, precisely, is not in-store. Customer acquisition creates increments precisely because it is not in-store. In-store traffic is already declining, which is the premise for customer acquisition. Therefore, the salesperson's work, with scenario creation as the premise, customer acquisition as the means, and creating increments as the goal.

-05- Look beyond the channel to see the channel; the room for increment is unlimited Because sales are capped, terminal existing volume is already declining. Coupled with multiple new internet channels such as platform e-commerce, social e-commerce, and live streaming, which intercept B2B traffic with B2C models, terminal traffic has seriously declined. The power of the internet lies in its ability to connect with C-end, thereby intercepting terminal traffic. So, since emerging companies can use internet tools to intercept traffic, why can't salespeople use internet tools to intercept traffic? Or pull traffic back to the terminal? E-commerce sells pictures, and with product upgrades, consumption experience becomes more important. Experience, offline experience is much more flavorful than online pictures because offline can provide scenarios. Therefore, scenario creation is the premise for customer acquisition. Companies can completely turn terminal stores into experience venues, especially for high-value-added products, and discover fans through user experience. Although user experience is effective, it is inefficient and costly. If offline experience + social media dissemination can evolve into fan operation. Fan operation can lead to fission and customer acquisition. Customer acquisition means a fan, because they are satisfied enough, passes on to new customers through the trust chain. Even if the new user is not a customer of the original terminal store, they can place an order on the terminal store's new platform. Customer acquisition has three key elements: first, experience creates fans; second, the terminal store must have user fission tools, such as mini-programs; third, fan operation and user fission.

-06- Customer acquisition: using increments to force channel existing volume When salespeople have the ability to acquire customers, it is no longer about salespeople "building customer relations" with terminal stores, but about salespeople empowering terminal stores. Being able to empower gives leverage in negotiations with terminals. Whichever store cooperates with terminal work, traffic can be directed to that terminal. Therefore, it can activate the terminal. At the beginning of deep distribution, the "Eight-Step Deep Distribution Method" played an important role in rapid popularization. Currently, the three new functions of salespeople have basically taken shape and are forming new operational models. I believe new operational models for salesperson customer acquisition will soon emerge. Source: Teacher Liu's New Marketing If a tip is adopted, a reward of 400-2000 yuan will be paid.